Road Safety News

Please always bear in mind that news and information from other countries can be important because -- irrespective of irrelevant things like which side of the road people drive on -- the laws of physics are exactly the same everywhere, and by checking data from around the world you will gain access to "best practice" and techniques which may not have been considered in your own country/community. Information is deliberately included here from "first world," "developing" and "third world" nations, as no one country has all the answers. Please note, also, that in some of the articles 'Drive and Stay Alive' writers will include glossary-type definitions for readers in different countries. For example, the word "pavement" in America means the road, but in Britain and elsewhere it means what Americans call the "sidewalk" so 'translations', in parentheses, may be given.

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Although Maltese roads might seem more than a little crowded during the rush hour, the island registered the lowest rate of fatalities in traffic accidents in the European Union.

carsEurostat figures estimated that for every one million registered vehicles 61 persons lose their lives on Maltese roads.

In turn, Latvia recorded the highest rate of fatalities in road accidents, with 752 persons losing their lives per every one million registered vehicles.

Sweden, the United Kingdom, Holland and Germany also had low average rates with 117, 121, 126, and 129 dead respectively, per one million registered cars, reported HotNews, quoting the Eurostat report.

Similarly to Latvia; Romania, Lithuania and Slovakia recorded high averages of 752, 749, 571 and 507 persons respectively who all deceased in car crashes for every one million registered cars.

Young drivers account for more than two in five road deaths, according to new research by safety campaign organisation Brake.

Brake says that 1297 of the 3201 deaths in 2005 involved a motorist or rider aged between 15 and 25, according to figures supplied to it by the Department for Transport and the Northern Ireland Police Service, despite the fact they account for just one in eight licenses....

AT least eight people died here yesterday after a commuter bus carrying students from Meriwa, Kisasa and Doreta secondary schools was involved in a headon collision with a bus owned by the Scandinavian Bus Services Company.

The deceased were identified as Josephine Nyanda, a student, the driver of the commuter bus, who was identified only by the name Ali, and its conductor Clemence Ndimizi. The identity of five others is yet to be known, according to the acting Dodoma Regional Medical Officer, Dr Mzee Nassoro.

Eye witnesses said that the commuter bus was flattened by the Scandinavian Bus, which remained intact and had no casualties. Police said they were still investigating the cause of accident....

February 13, 2007: Cut-Price Training Plan to Slash Young Drivers' Death Toll

Young drivers are to be given help towards the cost of advanced road training in an effort to cut the rising death toll among the under-25s.

The pilot plan will operate for six months in the North-east, which has Scotland's highest death rate for young drivers. Under the scheme, the Executive will pay for half the cost of advanced driver training for 17-25-year-olds in Moray, Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire....

February 12, 2007: Stringent Regulations for Young Drivers are Working, Experts Say

As Illinois lawmakers consider a proposal that would make the state's teen driver licensing system one of the nation's most stringent, top researchers say such laws are saving young lives in states where they have been enacted, but much remains to be done.

Placing restrictions on teen licenses "is clearly the best policy intervention we have so far to reduce teen driving deaths," said Daniel Keating, who studies adolescent development and the teen brain at the University of Michigan. "It has the biggest bang for the buck."

Every state has some component of Graduated Driver Licensing, or GDL, but the rules vary greatly, creating a patchwork of systems with varying restrictions. In states with the most limitations, researchers say, fatality rates have declined in recent years....

At least 10 people have been killed in a road collision between a commuter minibus and a trailer at Kyabadaza, 25 km south of Kampala, capital of Uganda.

The Mpigi district Police Commander Ivan Nuwamanya was quoted by state-owned New Vision on Thursday saying that the driver of the minibus, which was heading to Kampala on Wednesday lost control after a tyre burst and collided with a trailer.

"The taxi staggered into the path of the trailer that was moving to Rwanda," he said.

The trailer dragged the commuter taxi into a valley and flattened it with all the passengers inside, he added.

"We have already removed nine bodies but there are still more under the belly of the trailer," said Nuwamanya.

Another six people were injured including the driver of the trailer and his colleague in the accident.

February 8, 2007: 16 People from Chinese Wedding Party Killed in Road Accident

An overcrowded passenger vehicle returning from a wedding party plunged off a cliff in central China, killing 16 members of an extended family, state media reported Thursday.

Another 16 people were injured - six of them seriously - when the small truck packed with 32 wedding guests "veered off the road and over a cliff" in central China's Hubei province, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Xinhua had earlier reported that the groom, Li Zhimin, who was driving the truck, had died at the scene of the accident but later said he had survived but was in critical condition.

Liu Xiangdong, deputy head of the provincial safety office, blamed bad weather and overloading of the truck for Wednesday's accident.

"The truck was only allowed to carry four people, but the actual passenger number was eight times more," Liu was quoted as saying.

February 8, 2007: Programme Aims to Shock Young Drivers into Changing Behaviour

A programme aimed at shocking dangerous young drivers into changing their behaviour has been launched by Manukau City Council and several local agencies.

Programme director John Finch says a variety of shock tactics will be used during the 42-hour intensive programme, including a visit to Counties Manukau police cells and to the Otara Spinal Unit .

February 7, 2007: Police Crack down on Speeding near Schools after Chase Deaths

From this morning, police say they will strictly enforce the speed limit near schools.

It is part of a new Speed Kills Kids campaign which police are launching because they say speeding around schools is a major issue.

Between 2001 and 2005, about 500 child pedestrians and cyclists were killed or injured during school terms.

National Road Policing Manager, Superintendent Dave Cliff says that has to stop.

This comes shortly after yet another police chase has ended in death - this time of a 14-year-old in a stolen car who failed to stop for police and led them on a long distance, high speed chase.

February 7, 2007: Five Killed, 13 Injured in Traffic Accident in South Russia

Five people were killed and 13 injured in a traffic accident early Wednesday morning on a federal highway linking Moscow and the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, the local emergency situations ministry said.

The tragedy occurred in the Voronezh Region, about 310 miles south of Moscow, when a Setra bus with two drivers and 18 passengers aboard collided with a Kamaz truck, a spokesman for the ministry said.

On Tuesday afternoon, at the 97th kilometer (60th mile) marker of the highway in the Moscow Region, a truck driver lost control of his long-haul vehicle, sending it skidding sideways along the slippery highway and causing about 30 cars to crash into it.

February 7, 2007: Young Drivers 'Still Ignoring Speed Limits Despite Carnage'

YOUNG drivers throughout the north-east of Scotland are continuing to ignore safety warnings and to drive recklessly and at high speed, despite recent carnage on the roads, Grampian Police warned yesterday.

Two weekends ago three people, aged between 17 and 20, were killed in a series of crashes in Moray and Aberdeenshire.

Grampian Police yesterday revealed that last weekend one teenage driver had been clocked at 104mph - 44mph over the speed limit - on the main Aberdeen to Elgin road, while another young motorist was caught doing 70mph on Aberdeen's beach front - more than twice the legal limit....

A truck carrying over 40 people plunged off a cliff killing at least 10 in Hubei Province this morning, Xinhua news agency reported.

The truck was driving from Sangzhi County to Hefeng County around 10am when it fell off the cliff, a witness said.

More than 10 bodies have been found at the scene and eight victims have been sent to hospital, the reported said.

A deputy director of the Hubei work safety authority rushed to the scene around 2pm, heading a task force.

Authorities are unsure of how many people were on the truck at the time and rescue work is still underway.

More than 400,000 motorists in Bahrain were caught breaking the law last year, according to police figures released yesterday.

Speeding topped the list, with 72,520 bookings, following by 26,752 for not wearing seat-belts.

There were, 23,114 bookings for unregistered vehicles, 12,885 for failure to obey traffic lanes 1,647 for driving with children aged under 10 years in the front seat and 179 for drink-driving, to give just some examples.

The figures were revealed as General Directorate of Traffic (GDT) director-general Colonel Shaikh Khalifa bin Hassan Al Khalifa put the responsibility for death and injury on Bahrain's roads squarely on the shoulders of bad drivers....

     Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) will consider holding its Road Safety Awareness Campaign every year to help inculcate safe driving habits not only among students but also the public.
     Its Vice Chancellor, Prof. Datuk Dr Mohd Noh Dalimin, said the campaign has proven to be successful and meaningful for the students as well as the public and therefore should be carried out annually.
     He said this while closing the campaign at the UMS campus here Saturday, which was opened earlier by Infrastructure Development Ministry Permanent Secretary Pengiran Hassanel Datuk Pengiran Mohd Tahir on behalf of Assistant Minister Datuk Aklee Abas.
     Mohd Noh said a lot of the programmes such as exhibitions, quizzes, contests and ceramahs were able to help students and the public prevent accidents inside the campus as well as while motoring on public roads.
     He said the students faced the risk of accidents not only on public roads but also inside the campus and thus, it is important to expose them to safe driving.

February 4, 2007: New Zealand: Speed Kills Kids Road Safety Campaign Extended

      Motorists who speed near schools and pre-schools can expect to be ticketed as part of a tougher approach to the police 'Speed Kills Kids' road safety campaign, timed to start with this month's beginning of the academic year.
     Senior Sergeant Doug Rowan, Wellington District Road Policing Group, said motorists who are caught travelling at more than 54km/hr within 250 metres of a school boundary will be issued with an infringement notice - unless there are exceptional reasons not to do so.
     The national police campaign - introduced a year ago - has been extended this year to include kindergartens, play centres, pre schools and Kohanga Reo facilities. The police imposed time restriction of 7.30am to 9am and 3pm to 4.30pm on school days has also been removed.

Nine people were killed and eight injured when the three-wheeler tempo they were travelling in was hit by a speeding truck near Firozabad, 60 km from here, news reports said Sunday.

The accident occurred Saturday on the Delhi-Kolkata highway near Firozabad. Army personnel of a passing convoy helped in pulling out the injured from the debris.

February 4, 2007: India: Television Actor Switches Role to Become Road Safety Activist

Television-artist-turned social worker, S. Suresh, has turned to creating more awareness among road users about road safety. He has launched a few programmes to highlight the issue in Chennai. At 37, he plans to give up his acting career and take safety issues to more people on the road, as he explains to P. Oppili.

His quest began when he saw an advertisement in a local neighbourhood newspaper about the death anniversary of an IIT Student Sameer Anand. It set him thinking on the importance of road safety.

Mr. Suresh says: "Sameer was intelligent and had donated blood several times and refused to go out of India even after he was offered a huge salary and other facilities. He wanted to serve his own people but, sadly, died in a road accident.
Full article, from The Hindu [SW]

February 3, 2007: India: 19 Killed, 20 Injured in Jammu and Kashmir Road Accident

At least 19 persons were killed and 23 others wounded when an overcrowded Matador minibus they were traveling on skidded off a road and fell into a deep gorge near Dabhar in the mountainous Nowshera area of Jammu and Kashmir's frontier district of Rajouri on Friday.

According to media reports, the area's senior superintendent of police, Farooq Khan, told reporters that the wreckage of the ill-fated minibus was found in a 150-ft deep gorge and some of the bodies of the dead and the injured were scattered downhill.

He added that rescue teams were immediately rushed to the spot to save the lives of the critically injured, who were rushed to nearby hospitals.

Reports said that 13 of the seriously injured have been admitted to Jammu's government-run Medical College Hospital whereas 10 others were being treated at the district hospital in Rajouri.

Reports further said that the passengers of the minibus were on their way to a function being held to mark guru Ravi Dass' anniversary.

WA is a hotbed of hoons, with police impounding one car a day and kamikaze drivers raising hell on country roads.

Official police statistics obtained by The Sunday Times show that 905 vehicles have been impounded since anti-hoon legislation came into force in September 2004.

The data shows about a third of hoons caught in WA did not have a full driver's licence - 276 were probationary drivers and nine were learners.

And the state's most irresponsible drivers prefer to ``light up'' country roads, with 551 seizures in regional WA.

But police have warned the statistics are just the tip of the iceberg, with hundreds of offences going undetected....

The deaths of teen drivers and their passengers have dropped by about 40 percent in Colorado over the last four years, according to statistics released Thursday by the Colorado Department of Transportation.

Young drivers have been required to log more time behind the wheel with an adult since July 1999, when the state's graduated driver's license law took effect. The law was prompted by the deaths of four teens in a crash in Weld County....

Police today claimed that Northern Ireland's speed camera programme has saved lives as they revealed that there has been a 41% reduction in the number of serious or fatal collisons in areas where cameras are located.

Figures revealed by the PSNI's Central Statistics Unit also showed that the number of deaths and serious injuries at sites where there is a fixed camera are down by almost 75%.

Northern Ireland has four fixed speed cameras - on the Saintfield Road, the Antrim Road, the Upper Newtownards Road and the Springfield Road in Belfast. They were introduced in July 2003.

In addition mobile cameras using laser technology are deployed on 33 roads across the province....

Distractions on the road might have contributed to the deaths of three El Paso-area teenagers who were killed this month in car crashes, a finding that's supported by a new study that examines teenagers' driving habits....

The study, released Thursday, which was conducted by the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and State Farm Insurance Co., found that teenage drivers have become more cognizant of the importance of wearing seat belts and of the dangers of driving while intoxicated.

But the study indicates teenagers on the road are prone to accidents because of risky distractions such as the use of hand- held electronic devices, cell phones and loud music.

The study also found that teenagers can fall victim by engaging in risky driving behaviors, such as driving more than 10 mph over the speed limit and driving while fatigued.

Advocates urging motorists to take care on the road cited education as a key component to ensuring young drivers refrain from distractions, including alcohol, that might lure their eyes away from the road....

A study, 'Driving Through the Eyes of Teens,' released Thursday by the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and State Farm Insurance Co., indicates teenagers are increasingly aware of the dangers of drinking and driving.

But other distractions, such as use of cell phones and hand-held electronic devices, smoking and loud music, may also be contributing to crashes that can be deadly.

The study, done through school surveys, focus groups and surveys of about 5,600 teenagers, examined through the National Young Driver Survey the habits of young drivers....

The Iowa Attorney General's Office has announced a new campaign aimed at keeping young drivers safe on the roads. The AG's office is partnering with the Ad Council and Students Against Drunk Driving to reduce reckless driving.

"UR the Spokesperson," encourages young adults to speak up when they are in a car with friends and don't feel safe. Attorney General Tom Miller says, "Research shows teens worry they'll be seen as uncool if the complain about a friends driving, but the research also shows teen drivers will listen because they don't want to damage the friendship."

About 100 16 to 24-year-old drivers are killed in traffic accidents each year in Iowa.

Five people were killed and 20 others injured in a road accident in Morocco on Thursday morning in the rural district of Saada on the national highway N. 8, MAP agency reported.

The accident occurred as a result of a head-on collision between a bus and a trailer truck which was ferrying sand.

Local disaster and emergency services visited the scene of the accident where they administered help and evacuated the victims and the injured to Ibn Toufail hospital in Marrakech.

In the aftermath of traffic crashes that have claimed the lives of teenagers, their passengers and other motorists, the AAA Clubs of New Jersey remind parents of new drivers that teenagers have the highest collision rate of any age group and teenagers who have driven a year or less have the worst crash rates.

According to a press release, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that pedestrians, passengers and occupants of other cars account for nearly two out of three fatalities in teen crashes....

and GLOBAL January 13, 2007: Qatar: Automakers Work on Safety Systems

Called the Kanagawa project, automakers in Japan are studying a system that alerts drivers to the presence of children in a busy urban neighbourhood.

As part of the experiment, Nissan Motor Corp. is placing bracelets on young children that relay signals to vehicles in the area. Drivers passing through are told, “Children nearby, please be careful.”

...Safety remains a competitive issue for manufacturers and a major selling point at dealerships. A recent poll conducted by AP-AOL Autos found that 21 per cent of consumers wanted side air bags as an option, the most popular choice, followed by 20 per cent seeking antilock brakes. The telephone poll of 1,004 adults was conducted on December 19-21, 2006, and the margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.
In Detroit’s auto show, the interest in advanced safety measures was apparent. Volvo Cars introduced an XC60 crossover concept with a radar system that monitors vehicles about 20 feet in front of the car. When a collision is likely, the technology helps the driver avoid a rear crash by automatically activating the car’s brakes...

Motor vehicle data recorders are saving lives but provoking privacy concerns amongst the public, says a leading accident researcher and consultant with Western's Multi-Disciplinary Accident Research Team.
"Studies have shown that when drivers are aware of Event Data Recorders, the frequency of crashes is reduced,"

     Dr. Robert Green told a gathering of senior alumni in the McKellar Room.
     "Increased knowledge of crash type and severity also helps trauma centres treat patients better," says Green.
     Green is Professor Emeritus of Western's law faculty and a former Ontario coroner. He is an internationally recognized authority in motor vehicle accident reconstruction and has testified at more than 350 trials...
Story, from Western News.    [SW]

Texas lawmakers have been slackers in enacting laws to reduce the state's highway deaths and injuries, a coalition of highway safety groups said Monday.

The state needs laws requiring all motorcycle riders to wear helmets, for young children to ride in safety booster seats, alcohol and drug testing for drivers killed in traffic accidents, and sobriety checkpoints, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety said in a report.

Texas has a ways to go in enacting the 15 laws that the group's research has shown will make highways safer, said Judith Stone, president of the alliance of insurance, consumer, health, safety and law enforcement organizations, which lobbies for state and national highway and vehicle safety policies.

The group's "2007 Roadmap to State Highway Safety Laws" ranked Texas in the "yellow" group of 31 states that have middling records of adopting its recommended laws. No state has enacted all the laws.

The group gave Texas a 9.5 rating out of a possible 15.

There are 16 "green" states deemed to have done a good job and three "red" states that have fallen "dangerously behind" in protecting drivers and passengers.

The 2006 analysis comes after a year in which deaths in traffic accidents jumped. In 2005, 43,443 people nationwide died in highway crashes, the highest number since 1990, when 44,599 people died...

Full article, from statesman.com [SW]

The practice of "trunking" has been around ever since teens began sneaking into drive-in theatres. But the growing phenomenon of people riding in the trunks of cars has led to tragic results, with dozens killed and injured across North America over the past few years.

A 16-year-old Ottawa youth who was riding in the trunk of a Chrysler Intrepid is in guarded condition in hospital, after the vehicle swerved off the road and crashed into the front of a house Tuesday morning.

Charges are pending against the 19-year-old driver, one of six people who were in the vehicle. Two teens were riding in the trunk: the injured teen and a 17-year-old.

The accident happened a day after a law came into effect in the state of California banning trunking. The state also bans teenage drivers from having teenage passengers in a car without a licensed driver over 25 years old...

Full article, from CTV [SW]

January 3, 2007: Vehicle Safety Check Before Winter Travel
Arriving safely should be every driver's primary concern. While winter weather, increased traffic, driver fatigue and shortened daylight hours can make driving more hazardous during winter, a poorly maintained vehicle shouldn't be added to that list of potential driving hazards.

Here are some simple vehicle safety checks that drivers can do, starting with the front windshield.

More than 75 percent of all accidents that occur during severe weather are due to impaired visibility...

     You"ve heard the statistics from the government safety groups: "Wearing three-point seat belts reduces the likelihood of dying from crash injuries by 45 percent in passenger car crashes and 60 percent in light truck crashes."
     A majority of people wear safety belts while driving, including you, but it was just a trip down to the gas station, you thought. Perhaps you have watched too many prime-time TV shows - at least, if a couple of researchers" observations hold truth.
     A recent article on LiveScience.com says a new study found America"s prime-time TV shows do not accurately reflect safety habits of motorists, motorcyclists and bicyclists when it comes to use of seat belts and helmets...

At least 351 people were killed in road accidents and 3,970 injured over a five-day New Year period in Thailand.

More than 3,500 road accidents occurred between December 28 and January 1, as Thais travelled from cities to beaches and mountains in large numbers, said Anucha Mokkawej, chief of the Interior Ministry’s Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Centre.

Most holidaymakers will be returning to work tomorrow morning, but the centre will be keep count of accidents until the end of the day.

About 47% of accidents were due to drink-driving and 25 per cent were attributed to fast driving. Motorcycles were involved in 88 percent of vehicles that had accidents.

January 2, 2007: Fewer Road Deaths, but Still a Long Way to Go in New Zealand

The road toll last year was the lowest in 46 years despite the deaths of six people in the last 24 hours of the year.

It was the first year since 1963 in which fewer than 400 people died on the roads and the total of 387 was the lowest since 1960, when 374 lives were lost.

National road policing manager Superintendent Dave Cliff said despite a spate of accidents after Christmas things were "quite positive"....

The Member for Maroochydore, Fiona Simpson, says there needs to be more funding for police after the north coast region recorded the highest number of road fatalities in Queensland.

Sixty-four people died in traffic accidents in the region during the year, more than any other region in the state.

In total, 337 people were killed on Queensland roads last year - the highest in eight years.

"We can't be blase about death tolls on the roads and I think that the number of people dying in this region really requires us all to say, 'how are we driving?'" she said.

"Are we taking our own personal responsibility and also for our loved ones? But I think it is time that we looked at the laws. How do we increase the police resources to assure there is greater attention to the issue of poor driving on our roads?"

Tougher driving tests for young drivers are being considered by the government to cut the number of road accidents.

The Driving Standards Agency (DSA), the body responsible for the driving test, has been asked by the Department for Transport to review the testing and training regime for drivers.

One possible change could be an expansion of the existing 40-minute practical driving test into two stages. The new-look test might cover a broader range of skills, including driving at night and on different types of road....

POLICE and road safety bosses will tackle the rising death toll on Suffolk's roads with renewed vigour this year following a sharp rise in the number of people killed in crashes.

Final figures for 2006 show 47 people were killed on the county's roads in 40 separate collisions - 30% higher than in the whole of 2005, which saw 36 killed in 33 accidents.

The grim death toll is the highest in Suffolk since 2003 and has dismayed road safety campaigners....

The number of deaths on the roads of Queensland, West Australia and Tasmania rose in 2006, while all other states and territories recorded falls to record or near record lows.

But in NSW where police put the provisional road toll at 510 for the last 12 months - six fewer than for 2005 - Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) figures showed a 28 per cent rise in deaths involving P-plate drivers.

"The number of persons killed in crashes involving a P-plate driver increased this year, from 73 in 2005 to 94 in 2006," the RTA said....