Comments

The following messages are currently from 18 different countries

Found unexpectedly on the Chevron Corporation’s safety website:

[The] Drive and Stay Alive website.  Founded by Eddie Wren (see our PEOPLE page), this site goes deep into comparisons of teaching methodologies and articles from around the world. A MUST SEE site for anyone researching driver safety.”

Thank you, Chevron. (March 2006)

 

Thanks for the great website….   🙂

Lori Harp-Lizotte, Norman, Arkansas, USA (Dec 28, 2005)

 

Thanks for this great site….

  1. Ford, Candor Trust (Campaign Against Drugs on Roads), New Zealand

(Dec 26, 2005)

 

Your write-up on Ford putting computers in cars was excellent. That drivers could soon be out there chatting on their cell phones AND emailing is madness, not to mention that a reputable car maker clearly has such lack of regard for its customers’ lives. (The article may be viewed here)

(name withheld by request) Illinois, USA (Oct 31, 2005)

 

Your website and editorials are outstanding.  The DSA website is the most compre-

hensive, informing and entertaining one concerning road safety I have ever had the pleasure to come across. I admire your writing, use of wit, insight and experience….  Thank you…for your dedication and talent in promoting safe driving awareness.

Dawn Mathews, Co-Director, Roadside Memorial Project, USA (Oct 25, 2005)

 

Warm Greetings. I am just a common citizen of India who can no longer turn his face at the alarming rate at which this epidemic is tearing the economic and the emotional fabric of my country and indeed the whole world. The appalling thing is that while tons of ink and money are being spent on fashionable issues like AIDS and lifestyle dysfunctionalities, a fraction of it is being done for this small thing of road accidents!

It wouldn’t be long when this epidemic starts entering our homes in  big way, if it hasn’t already. The scary part is people are accepting it and carrying on with their lives as if nothing has happened!

I am sorry to have vented out a bit, but my primary purpose was to praise you for your efforts. I bow my head humbly to you in acknowledging your efforts to make a difference.

Kshiteesh Deshmukh, Pune, India  (Oct 7, 2005)

 

Cher Eddie,  I see that you are doing a good work with your global attitude…. In [the] developing world one could do so much with so little. Keep it up!

Amitiés, Ari Vatanen, MEP (i.e elected ‘Member of the European Parliament’) forFrance. (Oct 4, 2005)     Ari was also the World Rally Driving Champion, 1981.

[Read Mr. Vatanen’s report to the European Parliament: Cutting Road Accidents by Half by 2010]

 

Congratulations! I have finally found a kindred spirit in my philosophy on driving and driving instruction. As owner of a driving school, and as President of our state association for instructors, I have worked hard to try to spread the word of actual driving habits, as opposed to “how to pass a test” practices. I have only glanced over your site, but I intend to return and spend MUCH more time poring over your information….

Glenard A. Munson, California Driver Education Association  (Sept 26, 2005)

 

It’s a great job you are doing out there. Please keep it up. Most people believe accidents can’t happen to them till it happens… I am highly passionate about issues concerning road safety and am fanatical to do something to improve the situation. From the statistics, we can see that [here] in India, this issue is not being taken as seriously as it should be.

Adishankar, India  (Sept 9, 2005)

 

…..I have been interested in improving my driving skills, as I do not like driving, and therefore wish to become better so I can be safer.

I was interested to find your article on moving over to give clearance for emergency vehicles and personnel.

I have a good friend who drives a tow truck for a living, and this past winter, he was hit by the side mirror of a car that was too close while assisting another motorist. He was lucky, in that it only gave him some back problems. As it happened on a highway, it could have been far worse.

I’m pleased to know that sites like yours are reaching out to drivers and helping save lives with good advice.

Keep up the good work.

Anthony Densmore, Manitoba, Canada  (Sept 4, 2005)

 

I had a look at [the DSA website]; it is very rich!  Thank you for… passing [our] information to more people….

Bernard Keller, La Prévention Routière, Paris, France  (July 6, 2005)

 

It’s good to have people involved in helping young drivers be safe. Great web site!

Michael Ortiz, Los Angeles, USA  (July 2005)

 

I saw your letter in Jerusalem Post.  Its nice to know that someone [else] cares about what happens on [the roads of Israel] too…. I will  take a good look at your website to see how we can be mutually beneficial….

Zelda Harris, PR Director of Metuna, Israel (June 2005)

 

Your article on the use of Learner and Provisional plates in the United States really makes sense. I passed my driving test 6 months ago and feel that I am still in the “learning” phase and wish that I could put “P” plates on my car — it’s a safety issue, as you write, and nothing to be embarrassed about — after all, every driver out there was once at that stage of his or her driving. In all probability, if a learner driver or newly licensed driver feels embarrassed about such plates, then they probably lack the maturity to be driving out there on their own.

Thank you for creating such an informative website.

Sandra McGuinness, Illinois, USA

 

Your website has valuable information and I applaud you for your efforts.

Angelo Telesca, Florida, USA  Anthony Telesca Memorial Foundation (June 2005)

 

Kudos on such a comprehensive web site on auto safety issues.
Can you share with me… how you came to put the extraordinary effort into setting up and maintaining such an impressive web site?
David Biss, Maryland, USA  (June 2005)

 

Thanks for your continuous great initiatives to unite road safety professionals by providing every possible informations.

Engr. Syed R QuddusSecretary General, Development of Traffic Sense and Road AwarenessDotara, Bangladesh  (May, 2005)

 

I suggest that roads should be more wide instead of tiny roads I have been seen all over my country; such roads contribute very high to the accident occur everyday.

My name is Musa Abubakar from Ghana.  (May, 2005)

 

I’m very grateful for you highlighting our initiative and website on your own site. I hope the international road safety community find what we’re doing interesting and I must say I’ve looked at your site before to see what everyone else is up to!

Andrew Wake, Neighbourhood Road Safety Initiative, Manchester, UK  (April, 2005)

 

I read the [DSA] mirror adjustment article .. my 18 year old was instructed to set his mirrors wide … and our 15 year old (permit) driver has been told the same  🙁

I was taught, the conventional way of adjusting mirrors  🙂

Great website – I’ll visit again.

Elaine Robertson, USA  (April 27, 2005)

 

I found your website by chance. I recently retired from the UK Police Service (after 30 years) – 20 plus on Traffic as a Class 1 driver. I finished up (last 7 years) teaching Advanced driving to Police officers at the Northumbria Police Driving School….

I congratulate your efforts in trying to promote road safety and improve driving standards. None of us ever stop learning. As a regular visitor to the USA I was amazed to find in some States how easy it was to obtain a driving licence following basic exercises not even conducted on the Highways. I wish you every success with this venture and will monitor your site with interest.

Best regards Tony Jerrard, England  (April, 2005)

 

….Governor Blagojevich has made highway safety in Illinois one of his highest priorities. The Illinois Department of Transportation is committed to reducing the number of people killed on our roadways each year. We strongly believe that the Illinois comprehensive Highway Safety Plan will be critical in helping us accomplish this goal….

We plan to use the Drive and Stay Alive, Inc., website for the valuable resources that it has to offer as we continue in the planning process.

Timothy W. Martin, Secretary, Illinois DOT, USA  (Received April 2, 2005)

 

….Let me congratulate you for maintaining such a wonderful website having info about the global road safety activities. I am from India and engaged in conducting several Road Safety Awareness and Education activities.

Sony Thomas, Kerala, India  (March 2005)

 

I have spent quite some time surfing your site, and as an Advanced Driver must compliment you and your colleagues for the tremendous amount of information there is, especially relating to road safety and the International section. Nice to know how other countries are coping with motoring problems.

Alan Goodwin, BC, Canada  (March 2005)

 

I read through the webpage for young drivers, and all in all it was good. My only gripe, however, is that the content is mainly based on American things. I understand why this is but it just makes it less interesting to me.

‘Azza’ Gooner, Australia  (March 2005)

Editor’s reply: Thanks, ‘Azza’. Yes, we do confess that it is hard to maintain a balanced multi-national coverage and we strongly invite drivers from all over the world — particularly young drivers — to send us URLs for any good websites they find, so that we may review them and add them to the DSA site where appropriate.

Meanwhile, please have a look at our International Road Safety Links page.

Eddie Wren, Executive Director, Drive and Stay Alive, Inc.

 

I am a sorta new driver (22 years old) and I appreciate this site. Can I make a donation with my credit card through pay pal, or do you have an online donation site?  I’m a proud American, but it seems like the Europeans are light-years ahead of the US on road safety. Everything from how we deal with drunk driving to how our laws allow SUVs and light trucks to proliferate is bad. Good luck with your efforts.

Vinay Tripathi, USA  (March, 2005) [Donations page here, and thank you, Vinay, for your generosity]

 

While doing some research for an article, I came across your site. FANTASTIC!!!! What a great job you are doing! I recently started my own traffic safety blog –http://roadbrains.blogspot.com . Only three articles on it so far. Anyway, traffic safety is a key issue that crosses all political dividing lines. I was very pleased to find your site. Let me know how I can help. Thanks.

Ken West, USA  (February, 2005)

 

[In response to an exchange of e-mails about a dreadful problem with which this lady approached DSA]

Thank you so much for your email. Even if there is nothing you can do, your kind words and understanding mean a great deal to me. Thank you.

Loan-Anh Tran Kao, Texas, USA  (January 2005)

[For those of you that wish to see the devastating effects of what may best be described as corporate or political intransigence — especially if you live in Texas — click here.]

 

Thanks for your hard work in keeping road safety a priority!

Mick Farmer, Uganda  (January 2005)

 

 

January 24, 2005           (To ignore this particular message and go to the more usual comments, click here.)

After 19 months of existence, now with more than half a million site hits per month, and Drive and Stay Alive has just received its first uncomplimentary comment. But it has always been our policy that we would publish criticism as well as praise, so here it is:

“I think your website does a diservice to the public. You state things as fact, when nothing is further from [the] truth. We continually see the eroneous numbers purported as fact when in fact they are not.” [sic]

The writer then makes reference to “the 17,000 lie” and to MADD, which would imply that he/she is referring to NHTSA figures which state that there are around 17,000 alcohol-related road deaths in the USA each year.

The DSA Response:  We have no reason whatsoever to doubt the NHTSA figures, given that they do specify “alcohol related” and not just “drunk driver related,” so it is the writer of the above comment and not the NHTSA with whom we strongly disagree.

We have taken the liberty of not reproducing the one other sentence in the original message as posting it here would merely give publicity to a pro-drink-driving organization with which we also strongly disagree.

To those who believe that the dangers of drunk driving are overstated, we can only suggest that you view the DSA table showing legal BAC limits for over 80 countries. The fact that only one country is believed to have a limit higher than the 0.08% legislated in the USA, Britain and 19 other countries is telling, but not as telling as the fact that at least 59 other countries have limits that are significantly lower than 0.08% (not including countries that are known to have a zero BAC limit specifically for religious reasons). Drive and Stay Alive, Inc., would suggest that the ratio of three-to-one, among governments of the world, in favor of BAC limits of 0.05% or less, is a weighty factor in this entire debate.

Eddie Wren, Executive Director, Drive and Stay Alive, Inc.

 

 

We get the up to date International Road Safety News at single place through this website. Road Safety efforts taken by all concerned agencies in Mumbai, India, should also be taken into account as due to Aggressive Road Safety Campaign road accidents, injuries and fatalities due to Road Accidents have reduced which were otherwise on increasing trend. My best wishes to the all concerned for launching and updating this valuable website in the interest of Road Safety.

K.T.Golani, Regional Transport Officer, Eastern Region, Mumbai, India.  (January, 2005)

 

At last, a real resource within the driver training world. I came across your site as I was looking for well written articles which would compliment my driver training and trainer training website….

Colin Scott, Director of Training, Driving Innovation Ltd., United Kingdom.  (December 2004)

 

Thanks so much for your detailed reply….

Andrew Kintu, Sweden  (December 2004)

 

I am absolutely thrilled with your website; it is very very interesting. In fact it must be one of the best I have ever looked at, there is so much information there for everyone, from the novice to the most experienced of drivers….

Annette Gamble, IAM Observer and Trainee ADI, England  (December 2004)

 

I find your site the right way to warn people to drive carefully….

J.L.M. van Baal, Euro Road Cruise, The Netherlands  (December 2004)

 

I found your website very helpful because I have a driving phobia…

Kali‘, California (November 2004)

(DSA note: anybody in this predicament please see our Fear of Driving FAQ page)

 

I added your site to my list of links.  You’ve put together an excellent site.

Bernie Wagenblast, editor of the Transportation Communications Newsletter, U.S.A.(November 2004)

 

I truly enjoy your website — what a great reference tool!   Very impressed with all you put on there.

Kristin Backstrom — S2W — Safe Smart Women, Inc., U.S.A. (November 2004)

 

Your DSA website is quite informative. I’ve looked it over quite a few times and have spent hours going to your links…  I travel to Europe often and when I’m there I use limousine service…. a number of the London chauffeur services advertise that they use only retired policemen, so you and the other policemen must be top drivers.

Martin Brooks, U.S.A.  (November 2004)

 

At last I am encouraged to find a website editor in America who is passionate about and truly understands what “Advanced Driver” really means. Attending a two day “High Performance” or “Advanced Driving” school on a track does not make “Advanced Drivers”. They may have learned some new skills, but the real problem is understanding the difference between ‘driving’ and ‘car control’ at the highest level.

Please continue to be passionate about your vision and quest, to reduce the simply appalling annual number of USA traffic fatalities.

Gordon BoothChief Instructor, Drivetrain USA  (Oct. 2004)

 

You are doing a fantastic job with the site. The detailed information is something I rarely see available to the public. I sincerely hope that you continue the success of bringing this information to the public and driving professionals.

Captain Travis Yates — Team Leader with the Tulsa, Oklahoma, Police Law Enforcement Driver Training Unit and editor of:  www.policedriving.com  (Oct. 2004)

 

On behalf of volunteers and members of Prompt Assistance To Victims Of Road Accidents (PATVORA), a Nigerian based road accident victims’ caring NGO, I wish to acknowledge your efforts in addressing the problems of global development, especially through your website… We at PATVORA, appreciate your work on road safety.

Chude Ojugbana, Nigeria  (Sept. 2004)

 

I am so much surprised, and I am so, so glad to get a valuable reply from you, sir…

… I really need your warm cooperation, help to fight in [these] road safety sectors. I need your valuable advices from you, my friend. may you [live] in peace. all of your family also in peace.

‘Jewel’, Himalaya Road Safety, Bangladesh  (Aug. 2004)

 

Congratulations for your article about BAC… I referred to your “International Blood Alcohol Limits” web page. Of course this web page is very useful, and serves not only to compare the BAC’s, but to analyze if this factor makes one country more safe than other concerning alcohol drink.

Jesús Gómez, Technical Consultant in Traffic Safety Education, Automóvil Club del Ecuador — Aneta   (Aug. 2004)

 

I find your website an amazing source of information, particularly from around the globe…. you might be interested to know that [we] have driver safety training for staff who drive on company business.

Mark T. Rhodes, GlaxoSmithKline.  (July 2004)

 

I have looked at your website and find it to be very interesting with some potentially useful articles in there for us — it is also bang up-to-date. You may be aware that we also have website at www.highways.gov.uk

John Bagley, Divisional Director, Network Strategy North (UK Highways Agency) July 2004

 

I was… thinking [about] how modernization is costly to our daily life, specially in my own country with so many accidents. I clicked on Google and found your very informative site. I was in total shock [about] what goes on in the rest of the world and the preventive measures that are taken.

The site is very good and informative. I will suggest to many of my friends to look it over and learn something.

Dov Eckstein, Jerusalem, Israel  (July 2004)

 

Just browsing the internet for some facts on driving and I came along your site. I like how the statistics are there and not biased completely by the writer to get his own point across. “Kuji” (July 2004)

 

Many congratulations on the [CARSP] award for your web site. I have just taken a look and can’t believe how much information (and all so relevant and up to date!) you have in one place.

Sarah Bailey, press office, Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), England  (June 2004)

 

[In response to information supplied by DSA, on request, about the dates of auto shows in USA, during 2005]:  “Good morning, Eddie [and] thank you!!!  Have a good day!  Best regards from Rome.”

Francesca, Kuoni Gastaldi Tours, Italy

 

…May I congratulate you on a very informative web site. I am a final year student at Dundee University and am currently working on my dissertation on shock advertising. I was wondering if you would have any information or opinions that would help me with my studies in the area of shock tactics used in road safety advertising… [DSA comments were supplied]

Barry Strachan, Dundee, Scotland

 

A great website. Very informative for someone in the motor industry. I visited your website recently and was very impressed with its contents and presentation.

Sheran Fernando, Ceylon Motor Traders Association, Sri Lanka.

 

It’s a terrific website… I just spent about 30 minutes browsing those [road safety news] stories…

Bob Buckel, publisher. The Azle News, Texas.

 

V…V… Good

M.G.Karrunanithi, Award Trust, Nungambakkam, Chennai, India.

 

I have only just come across this site and have found it both informative and entertaining.

Acting Senior Sergeant Clint Wilson; Traffic Branch, Victoria Police, Australia.

 

I must say this is one of the best sites for information on all aspects of driving. It is easy to navigate. Its also very informative. Thank you for doing this website. If it can help save just one life then your purpose has been served.

Dee, New Hampshire, USA

 

Since my sister gave me your URL, I have been visiting your website. It is simply tremendous!… I have bookmarked, because it’s one of the most useful sites I have ever seen.
Elin Woodger Murphy, an American living in England.

 

Having taken some time to fully understand the nature of the Web site, I can see that you must have been very busy trying to locate and collate all the information.  It appears to me to be very professional and yet contains humour and wit.  I have to say that I am very impressed as I am sure most of the people who read it are.

John Thorburn, Penrith, England.

 

“I found your discussion on mirror setting to be a valuable addition to the debate on how to set mirrors…”

Kelly Taylor — Automotive Editor, Winnipeg Free Press, Canada.

[View the DSA article here]

 

“I found your website extremely informative and well presented. Thank you.”

Marianne Williams, Maine.

 

“Thanks for answering my question.”  [A question sent to DSA via ‘Contact Us’]

Fred Stewart, Tennessee.

 

“I think your site is absolutely great. It is an excellent site for parents. I can guarantee parents appreciate the efforts of one like you who puts that info out and make it so readily available.  Apart from ‘Parenting A Teen,’ I belong to another group of parents struggling with our young, as well. May I mention your web site on their message board?”

Loey G.,  the Yahoo ‘parentingateen’ bulletin board.

 

“Good luck — you are doing a real service to traffic safety.”

Keith Bradsher, New York Times

(Author of “High and Mighty — SUVs: The World’s Most Dangerous Vehicles“)

 

“I think your website is excellent and I look forward to reading your newsletter…”

Max Robinowitz, MD

(pathologist and former consultant to a state medical examiner’s office)

 

“Fantastic website. I will be using it for gathering information for the Defensive Driving Courses that I instruct through the National Safety Council…”

Robert Latham.

 

“I’ve had a look at your web site, and I have to say I’m impressed with its breadth and scope…”

Ken Smith, Queanbeyan,  NSW, Australia

(Fellow of the Australian College of Road Safety)

 

“The site looks wonderful to me. That particular study [i.e. on cell phones] is very interesting. It is the only one I know of that has found a measurable degree of difference in driving performance between hands-free and hand-held… I hope your book is a huge success. Regardless, I’m sure it will help save many lives.”

Amy Seager, Ohio.

(Click here to read about the pointless loss of Amy’s daughters, Kimberly and Kathy, in a cell-phone related crash)

 

“Great advice that you give everyone…. Thanks for the prompt reply [to my e-mail query]”  Valerie