carwrecks

1. Always wear a safety belt. Safety belts save lives and help reduce the risk of serious injury in the event of a crash. Every passenger should wear a safety belt for every car ride, no exceptions.

2. Only use hands-free mobile devices. This year, vow not to call, text, sort music or otherwise play with your mobile device while behind the wheel. If you must talk on the phone while driving, use a hands-free headset or pull over to a safe location first. In 2009, 36 percent of crashes were caused by distracted drivers, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Enforce the rule with young drivers in your house too. Fifty percent of teens admit to texting while driving, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA).

3. Keep your cool. Let go of road rage. That means taking a deep breath when someone cuts you off rather than honking your horn or tailgating. It also means slowing down and steering clear if you see a driver acting erratically. The risks are real: Up to 56 percent of fatal crashes are caused by aggressive driving behavior according to the AAA Foundation.

4. Follow the speed limit. You may be in a hurry to save some time, but slowing down could save your life. According to NHTSA, speeding is a contributing factor in 31 percent of fatal crashes. Male drivers age 15 to 24 are particularly at risk—37 to 39 percent involved in fatal crashes were speeding.

5. Stay grounded in a skid.  Electronic Stability Control (ESC) applies anti-lock brakes (ABS) to individual tires to help keep your car going straight in a slide. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration requires all 2012 vehicles to include ESC, an improvement estimated to save up to 9,600 lives and prevent up to 238,000 injuries each year.  If your car does not have ABS, tap your brakes to avoid locking your wheels and going into a slide.

One-third of automobile collisions are rear-end collisions.  If we could only figure out why they happen so frequently, perhaps we could avoid those collisions.

Researchers have been working on this problem for a long time.  In 1974, a psychologist named John Voevodsky decided to test his theory that drivers needed to see a dedicated brake light that would illuminate at the same time as the other two brake lights, thus forming a triangle of brake lights.   He added his third brake light, mounted in the base of rear windshields.  When drivers pressed their brakes, a triangle of lights warned following drivers to slow down.

To test whether such a small addition would make a significant difference, Voevodsky equipped 343 San Francisco taxicabs with the third brake light and left 160 taxis with no additional light as a control group. Taxi dispatchers then randomly assigned taxi drivers to taxis with or without the third light.

At the end of a 10-month experiment, taxis with a third brake light had suffered 60.6% fewer rear-end collisions than had the control-group taxis. 

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) repeated Voevodsky's experiment on a larger scale, and concluded that Center High Mounted Stop Lamps (CHMSLs) reduce accidents and injuries. As a result, NHTSA required all new cars (starting in 1986) and all new light trucks (since 1994) to have a third brake light.

Unfortunately, subsequent research shows that the CHMSLs now only reduce rearend collisions by about 5%.  The effect of the triangle of brake lights has apparently worn off.

Researchers now consider what else to do.  For example, at Virginia Tech, the latest idea is a flashing light that shows a difference between whether a car is slowing or stopping.

The problem researches are trying to solve is that drivers find it difficult to judge whether the car in front intends to stop. The solution may be smart brake lights that glow amber in the center when a vehicle is slowing and flash red when stopping. When deceleration is rapid, all of the lights flash red.

The flashing is supposed to alert the driver behind the brake lights.  According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, “Driver inattention is the leading factor in most crashes and near-crashes.”

The smart brake system developed by Virginia Tech isn’t implemented in cars yet, but research is now being conducted on buses because they make frequent stops.

Intersections with flashing lights have three times more accidents than those with only stop signs and intersections with highway frontage roads are high risk, a University of Texas study released Monday said.

A civil engineering research team led by professor Chandra Bhat determined which intersections were the most dangerous so that future studies can consider how to make them safer. They used data collected by the Texas Dept. of Transportation.

Roughly 40 percent of all traffic accidents take place at intersections, Bhat said. His study could not determine if flashing lights at intersections confused drivers or if traffic engineers have placed flashing lights at the most dangerous intersections.

Drivers exiting highways are also more likely to crash, either because they are going too fast or switching lanes in a dangerous manner.

"Understanding their causes should be a priority for transportation and safety professionals, so that we can develop countermeasures to reduce the high incidence of crashes and resulting deaths and injuries at intersections," Bhat said.

A key finding of the study is that intersection accidents are affected by the larger traffic network around them, and that fixing a dangerous intersection will reduce accidents on neighboring streets.

"If you don't account for this dependence, which is what almost all earlier studies have done, you underestimate the value of roadway and traffic control improvements," Bhat said.

Intersections with traffic lights are the safest, the study found. But once an accident begins to develop, it is harder to stop, Bhat said.

Researchers will present the findings at the National Transportation Research Board Meeting in Washington next month.

Source: UTexas.edu

Texting and talking on cell phones are distractions that cause collisions.  There were an estimated 3.092 deaths in crashes affected by distractions in 2010, according to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.  Overall, 32,885 people died in traffic crashes in the United States in 2010.  The good news is that represents a 3 percent drop and the lowest number of fatalities since 1949.  Traffic deaths have been declining steadily for several years.  Why?  Better designed and equipped cars.  Bucking the trend, there were 4,502 motorcycle deaths in 2010, a 0.7 percent increase.

The hit and run driver leaves a mess in his wake:   unpaid property damage, unpaid medical bills, unreimbursed lost wages, and frustration that someone would flee their responsibility.  

Texas law requires drivers to carry a minimum of $30,000 in liability coverage to protect the other driver from harm that might result from a collision; however, if a driver flees and no one can identify him, then no insurance claim against the negligent driver is possible and the victimized driver will have to turn to his own automobile insurance for Uninsured Motorist coverage. 

Hit and run accidents are a perpetual and growing problem.  While state law requires that those involved in a collision to stop and exchange information, statistics indicate that the number of reported hit and run accidents increased almost 20% over the past decade.

Some believe that the problem may be related to the growing number of illegal immigrants. After all, if an illegal, unlicensed immigrant causes a fatal accident and remains at the scene, he or she might risk detention and deportation.  If the driver flees, that driver might not get caught and might suffer no consequences from the fatal act. But if the driver remains at the scene, the prospects aren't good.

But illegal immigrants do not account for all hit and run accidents. Legal citizens of high status who don't want to risk bad publicity might flee the scene of an accident that has left injured or wrongfully killed victims. Drunk drivers who don't want the consequences of a DWI arrest will often try to flee if they can. People driving without a valid license or under a suspended license will try to flee so that they don't get caught for their crimes. And sometimes ordinary citizens who just don't want to take responsibility for their mistakes will flee the scene of a fatal accident.

What is the solution?  Like many complex problems, there is not an easy answer.  Protect yourself by having UM/UIM coverage on your own automobile.

Imagine that you have just been in a wreck.  You expect that the other driver will come over to your car and check on you, so you can exchange information.  Instead, the other car drives away.

For a fleeting moment, you get a look at the license plate, but it's just gibberish and you cannot recognize and remember it.

That scenario plays itself out daily.

Part of the problem is that states are making license plates that are hard to read.  Colorful backgrounds, eye-catching logos, state slogans, and an inconsistent numbering scheme all combine to make license plate numbers hard to see and remember when you only get a moment.

Here is what a good license plate used to look like:

This is clean. Three letters and three numbers.  TNF 990.  Even if you only get a moment as the vehicle flees, you can remember TNF 990.

Then the state started moving the letters and the numbers around.  Sometimes the letters and numbers were mixed in the same grouping.

Do we really need the space shuttle, cowboy and the slogan to clutter up this license plate?

Now, let's really mess it up.  This is the current license plate with scrambled letters and numbers, as well as background color.

Very pretty, but very hard to read and memorize. 

So, of the three license plates, which is the best for its intended purpose?  Which is the best for allowing you or a police officer to quickly identify a vehicle? 

For Texas License Plate history and images, take a look at http://www.15q.net/tx.html

Texas Gov. Rick Perry vetoed the Legislature’s plan to ban text messaging for all drivers.

Perry called the distracted driving legislation a “government effort to micromanage the behavior of adults.” The veto came June 17. The law would have taken effect Sept. 1, 2011.

“The keys to dissuading drivers of all ages from texting while driving are information and education,” Perry said in his veto statement. He is campaigning for president, wooing voters on the right.

About a dozen bills addressing texting and driving were considered during the 2011 session.

Two new Texas distracted driving laws are in effect:

One banning teen drivers from using cell phones and text messaging devices;

the other prohibiting drivers from using handheld cell phones in school crossing zones.

Current prohibitions:

* Drivers under the age of 18 are prohibited from using wireless communications devices.

* Learners permit holders are prohibited from using handheld cell phones in the first six months of driving.

* School bus operators prohibited from using cell phones while driving if children are present.

* Drivers prohibited from using handheld devices in school crossing zones.

* Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, Amarillo, Galveston, El Paso, Missouri City and Stephenville are among the Texas cities that have enacted local distracted driving laws.

Read the Texas statutes.

Text messaging and cell phone use while driving are bigger problems than five years ago, Texas motorists say. 85 of drivers interviewed said text messaging was worse, while 80 percent agreed that cell phone use had become a bigger problem than a half decade ago. (The Texas Transportation Institute interviewed 1,167 motorists at Texas Department of Public Safety Driver License Offices in fall 2010.) Supporters of a ban on handheld cell phone use while driving outnumber opponents by a two-to-one margin. Aggressive driving ranked with distracted driving as a danger cited by the drivers. (View a video about the Texas driver safety survey.)

Missouri City’s ban on texting while driving went into effect June 1, 2010. Law applies when vehicle is stopped. Fines up to $500. The city posted traffic signs stating: “No Texts Emails or Apps While Driving.”

Galveston has banned text messaging while driving within city limits. Fines up to $500. The City Council voted to outlaw texting for motorists on Jan. 14 and the ban went into effect immediately.

Source credit: http://handsfreeinfo.com/texas-cell-phone-laws-legislation

A new study shows that texting while driving basically doubles a driver’s reaction time and makes the driver less able to respond to sudden roadway dangers, but do people really realize the danger?

Bumper sticker evidence, or this case a window sticker on the back of an SUV in Sugar Land, Texas, suggests that we are getting the message.

After determining that it's not safe to get behind the wheel after taking even a single drink of alcohol, researchers at the University of California, San Diego want the nation’s states to lower their legal blood alcohol content (BAC) limits.

In all states, a blood alcohol content level at or above 0.08 percent is the legal limit for operating a motor vehicle, reports the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Researchers at the university found that even lower levels may put drivers and their passengers at risk, however.

A little goes a long way

Led by sociologist David Phillips, researchers at the university analyzed data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), which includes information on all people in the U.S. who were involved in fatal car accidents. They looked at nearly 1.5 million people involved in fatal accidents from 1994 to 2008.

Drivers who believe they can drive with an alcohol “buzz” without putting themselves at risk are very much mistaken, says Phillips.

"We found that injuries from automobile accidents were more severe when drivers had any blood alcohol content, even as low as 0.01," Phillips says. "The rate of serious injuries among buzzed drivers was clearly higher than for sober drivers."

Phillips says the problem could stem from buzzed drivers being more likely to speed and less likely to wear seat belts. They also are more likely to crash into other cars, causing serious injuries. "When you have any alcohol in your system, not only do you drive poorly, but also your ability to make sound judgments worsens," he says.

Alcohol impairment can lead to crashes, lawsuits, jail time – and higher car insurance rates.

Researchers want states to reduce BAC limits

Phillips believes the evidence from the study is strong enough for every state to consider lowering its legal BAC. Until recently, some states had set their BACs at 0.10. As of this year, the legal limit was 0.08 in all 50 states, though some states such as Colorado can impose penalties with a BAC of .05 percent.

Phillips wants the U.S. to join countries such as Czech Republic, Brazil and Hungary, where it is illegal to drive with any alcohol in your system. If that's not realistic, he says the states could lower their blood-alcohol limits to 0.02 or 0.03 percent. Some other countries have adopted BACs of 0.02 percent, while others allow up to 0.05 percent.

"We hope our study, which provides empirical evidence for lowering the legal BAC even more, might influence U.S. legislators," Phillips says.

Concerns from MADD

Jan Withers, recently named president of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD), says she is not surprised by the study’s results. "We've always known that your judgment goes out the window the more you have to drink, and that when you get behind the wheel of a car drunk or buzzed you're putting not only yourself but others on the road at risk."

MADD wants people to choose a designated driver who will stay sober while the rest their party drinks. "That's our message over and over again, because it's so important," she says.

Despite the findings of the University of California, San Diego, Withers, whose daughter Alisa Joy was killed in 1992 by a drunk driver, doesn't believe states should lower their legal BACs any further.

"With every drink our sobriety levels go down," she says, "but at MADD we support the 0.08 blood alcohol content because that's the level the science and research shows is effective. MADD doesn't have an interest in pursuing anything lower than that."

Determining your BAC

Your blood alcohol level reflects how much alcohol is present in your blood as you drink. How much you can drink and still have a blood alcohol level below 0.08 depends on your gender, weight, the strength of your drinks and how much you eat while drinking.  A 120-pound woman typically would exceed the legal limit by consuming two drinks within one hour. A 180-pound man would hit the limit by consuming four drinks during the same period.

Source:  Beth Orenstein, written for www.insure.com

Drunken driving incidents have fallen 30 percent in the last five years, and last year were at their lowest mark in nearly two decades, according to a new federal report.

The decline may be due to the down economy: Other research suggests people are still drinking as heavily as in years past, so some may just be finding cheaper ways of imbibing than by going to bars, night clubs and restaurants.

"One possibility is that people are drinking at home more and driving less after drinking," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC statistics — released Tuesday — are based on a 2010 national telephone survey of about 210,000 U.S. adults. The respondents were kept anonymous.

Nearly 1 in 50 said they'd driven drunk at least once in the previous month. That equates to about 4 million Americans driving drunk last year.

About 60 percent said they drove drunk just once, but some said they did it daily.

That led to a CDC estimate of more than 112 million episodes of drunken driving in 2010. That's more than 300,000 incidents a day.

CDC officials lamented that finding; still, it was the lowest estimate since the survey question was first asked in 1993, and down significantly from the 161 million incidents in the peak year of 2006.

Young men ages 21 to 34 were the biggest problem, accounting for just 11 percent of the U.S. population but 32 percent of the drunken driving incidents.

The overwhelming majority of drunken driving incidents involve people who had at least four or five drinks in a short period of time. But binge drinking has not been on the decline, other health research suggests.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has also noted signs of an apparent recent decline in drunken driving. According to that agency's latest data, the number of people killed in U.S. crashes involving alcohol-impaired drivers dropped from 11,711 in 2008 to 10,839 in 2009.

"While the nation has made great strides in reducing drunk driving over the years, it continues to be one of the leading causes of death and injury on America's roads — claiming a life every 48 minutes," added David Strickland, the agency's administrator, in a prepared statement.

Source:  http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns