|
All contents copyright ©, Drive and Stay Alive, Inc., 2003 onwards, unless specified otherwise. All rights reserved. IMPORTANT: click here to read the DISCLAIMER
|
|||||||||||||||
|
The main purpose of this web page is to let drivers, legislators, safety professionals, police officers, parents of young drivers, etc., have an easily accessible yet wide ranging insight into road safety best practice globally, and through this be in a better position to help save some of the many lives wasted in road crashes everywhere. Page edited by Eddie Wren
If you or your organization have safety-oriented driving news for publication, click here to contact us.
Fair use notice of copyrighted material: This site contains some copyrighted material that in some cases has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance the understanding of road safety, both at a global level and by individual people such as drivers and the parents of young drivers. By doing this, we hope to help save lives. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Drive and Stay Alive, Inc., is a section 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, based in New York State, U.S.A.
|
|||||||||||||||
|
Feedback and comments are particularly welcome concerning our news pages. Please do let us know if you find this global overview of road safety issues to be helpful to you or simply tell us what you like and what you don't like. Click here to contact us.
The national council for traffic safety is distributing tens of thousands of "safety bracelets" encouraging drivers to be patient on the roads, particularly towards pedestrians. On the bracelet are the words, "On the roads, the change starts with me." The bracelet is part of a national effort to reduce the carnage on Israeli roads, where more than 500 people died in 2004. The bracelet is being given out free of charge to anyone requesting and also has been distributed to Knesset members and schools.... The campaign is part of a multi-pronged effort to reduce traffic accidents, which have claimed more than 22,000 victims since 1948, a number slightly higher than all Israelis who have been killed in wars in the country during the same period.... Full story, from Israel National News ___________________________
In a bid to attenuate one of the growing causes of road accidents, traffic police will be able to carry out sporadic drug tests on drivers as of Monday morning, Army Radio reported. The drug test procedure includes wiping the driver's body and car with testing paper that identifies the presence of the drug. Despite the decrease in the number of road accident fatalities from 556 in 2002 to 482 in 2003, the figure rose again in 2004.... Full story, from Haaretz ___________________________
Thanks to sponsors, 55 more traffic signals are likely to operate with battery back-up in the city by February end. Within a week, the traffic police will submit a formal proposal to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to provide battery back-up to these signals.... Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) A D Shinde said a total of 55 persons have now come forward with proposals to sponsor battery back-up to traffic signals after Pune Newsline carried a report highlighting the problem (January 10). He said the expenditure incurred on providing battery back-up to a signal falls between Rs 9,000 and Rs 12,000.... The PMC’s traffic planner Shrinivas Bonala said the civic body would have no objection in allowing sponsors to provide battery back-up to traffic signals. ‘‘We will not hold up such a proposal even for a day. We will also allow the sponsors to put up signboards displaying their names at the traffic signals,’’ he said. Full story, from Express India ___________________________
JACOBABAD: At least 26 people were killed while one person was injured in a passenger bus-wagon collision at the Begari area 20 km away from Jacobabad. The incident took place when a Jacobabad bound wagon collided with a Peshawar bound passenger bus. 26 people including a woman and two children died on spot while one person was injured.... [Source: GEO] ___________________________
Sunyani -- Available statistics indicate that 649 persons died in 14,854 road accidents throughout the country last year. Mr. Joe Osei-Owusu, Chief Executive of Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) of the Department of Ministry of Road and Transport announced this at a general meeting of the Authority in Sunyani at the weekend. He said the Authority registered 59,548 vehicles last year as compared to the 48,074 vehicles in the previous year. The Chief Executive stressed on the need for the Authority to adopt pragmatic measures to rid the roads of defective vehicles, saying with the increasing vehicle population there was the likelihood of more accidents accordingly.... Full story, from GhanaWeb ___________________________
A coalition of state attorneys general is launching an ad campaign today aimed at SUV safety and funded with money received from Ford to settle a deceptive ad suit. The campaign shows people riding on a large, hairy fictitious animal, dubbed the Esuvee, to illustrate the point that drivers need to treat SUVs differently than cars. SUVs sit higher than cars, making them more prone to roll over. The $27 million campaign is part of a $51.5 million settlement attorneys general from all 50 states reached with Ford after suing the automaker in December 2002 for depicting their SUVs as safe in advertisements.... Full story, from the Detroit News ___________________________
NEW ORLEANS - General Motors Corp. plans to put two safety features - OnStar in-vehicle communications service and electronic stability control - in all of its vehicles by the end of 2010, the company said Sunday. GM believes it would be the first automaker to make both features standard across its entire fleet, a spokesman said. The world's largest automaker said OnStar will be included on all vehicles in 2007. Stability control will be standard on all GM sport utility vehicles and vans by the end of 2007 and on all cars and trucks by the end of 2010.... Stability control systems apply brakes to individual wheels if they sense the driver is swerving off course. Twenty-one percent of 2005 vehicles sold in the United States have the systems and an additional 19 percent offer them as an option, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Full story, from the Buffalo News related story
ARLINGTON, Va. -- The following is a statement of Adrian Lund, Chief Operating Officer, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety: "GM's decision to make electronic stability control standard equipment across its product line is a model we hope other automakers will follow. If all passenger vehicles had ESC, we would prevent thousands of deaths each year." [Source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety] ___________________________
A total of 65 people have been killed in the past two weeks in road accidents across the country, according to the latest figures. This translates to five people dying daily on the roads, a trend police describe as 'alarming'. "It is a big number despite the measures taken by the government to curb the incidents because majority of those involved in the accidents are public service vehicles," Traffic Commandant Daudi Kyalo said. During the same period, there were 144 accidents reported in which 255 people were seriously injured.... At the same time, Kyalo revealed that there was a decline of 20 per cent in accidents reported last year compared to the previous year. He said the number of injuries reported declined by 32 per cent and attributed this to the new traffic rules that were put in place by the government early last year.... Full story, from the East African Standard, via allAfrica ___________________________
Parents who stopped wrestling their kids into car seats years ago may soon have to flex those muscles again. A growing number of states are requiring children as old as 8 — kids who have outgrown basic car seats, but who still are too small to use regular seat belts — to sit in booster seats. The seats, which cost as much as $70, are designed to raise a child up so that a regular seat belt can rest properly across his or her lap and shoulders. The concern is that, without such a seat, regular seat belts can pose a risk of abdominal or spinal-cord injuries to children. Booster-seat laws, aimed at older children, have been on the books in some places since at least 2000. Efforts to toughen the rules, spurred by new research, are keeping more kids in seats for more years. Car-seat makers, seeing an expanded market — and aware that most kids resist the restraints long before they are 8 years old — are trying to design new models that will appeal to both parents and kids. Six states passed or expanded their booster-seat laws in 2004, with most changes going into effect this year; those states include Indiana, North Carolina and New York. Several more states, including Connecticut and Minnesota, have legislation pending. These efforts follow those of 22 states and the District of Columbia, which have put such laws in place during the past four years. In December, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration issued a requirement that all new cars, SUVs and pickup trucks include lap-and-shoulder belts — which work with boosters — in the middle rear seat. Right now, an NHTSA spokeswoman said, only 20 percent at most of kids who need to be in boosters actually use them.... A 2003 study by Partners for Child Passenger Safety, funded by State Farm and conducted by the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, found that use of a booster seat, instead of a seat belt alone, reduced injuries 59 percent for children ages 4 through 7 involved in crashes. Injuries ranged from facial lacerations to serious brain and spinal-cord injuries.... Read the full, important article, from The Day, CT ___________________________
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: A technical committee to oversee the standards of bus bodies would help reduce accidents on Tanzania’s roads, an expert has said. The expert says before buses are inspected by the traffic police for licensing, they should be cleared first by a committee of experts. Hudson Manyara of Dar Coach Body Builders suggested that the police need to be assisted by a team of experts in order to curtail cheating by some dishonest bus owners. The National Institute of Transport, Traffic Police, the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS), the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Dar es Salaam and bus body builders could form a strong advisory team, he said.... Full article here. Source: The Guardian / IPP Media ___________________________
A variety of activities and events are planned in February to promote safe cycling and help reduce Wellington City’s higher than average cycle accident rate.... Wellington City Council Road Safety Co-ordinator Kate Brockett says 14 percent of all those injured on the city's urban roads are cyclists which is high compared with figures for similar authorities and the national average. Local casualty numbers increased from 37 in 2002 to 41 to 2003.... During the workshop Wellington City Council road safety staff, Greater Wellington staff and police will cycle through some of the city's most difficult intersections to help raise awareness of the challenges cyclists face every day.... [Ms. Brockett said] "We are trying to get the message out that in some circumstances it is best for the cyclist to occupy the whole lane particularly at roundabouts, intersections, in narrow lanes and where footpath extensions intrude onto the road. If more cyclists and motorists begin to follow this rule it will help prevent the accidents that happen when cyclists get cut off by motorists turning left or right at intersections."... Full article, from Wellington City Council ___________________________
State and local authorities say they would like to eliminate the kind of railroad grade crossings that allowed a suicidal man to drive into the path of a Southern California commuter train Wednesday, but funding shortages and other obstacles mean the work would take decades to complete. It could cost $1 billion to build tunnels or trestles at 48 points where the Caltrain passenger line crosses public roads between San Francisco and San Jose, for example. "There's a tremendous backlog in applications for limited funding,'' said Richard Clark of the California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates railroad safety in the state. The attempted suicide in Glendale triggered a derailment disaster that killed 11 people and injured more than 180 when a packed commuter train struck the man's SUV and then careened into a second train traveling in the opposite direction.... Several rail authorities [have] acknowledged that a "grade separation'' -- in which the train tracks run over or under the road -- could have prevented Alvarez from driving onto the tracks. Such improvements are the goal of many safety advocates, who say it's too easy for accidents and suicides to occur when motorists are crossing the tracks. But in many cases, the goal has been elusive. There are about 11,000 railroad crossings around the state and only about 2,000 of them use tunnels or trestles to separate the road from the tracks. It can cost up to $40 million to retrofit a crossing, particularly in urban areas where construction can affect surrounding homes and businesses.... Full story, from the Mercury News ___________________________
SANAA, Yemen -- Yemen's interior ministry said Thursday 415 people were killed or hurt in road accidents nationwide during the Muslim feast of Adha. An official report said as many as 168 road accidents were reported by police in the period between Jan. 18 and Jan. 24, including multiple vehicle accidents, single car wrecks and pedestrian accidents. It said 74 people were killed in the road accidents, 341 were injured and dozens of vehicles were destroyed. The rate of road accidents is high in Yemen and increases during the holidays due to bad and narrow roads with hardly any speed limits. ___________________________
HA NOI — The Ministry of Transport (MoT) is taking a tough stance on reducing traffic accidents this year by forcing [motorcyclists] to wear helmets and strictly enforcing traffic laws.... The ministry will [also] work with the Ministry of Public Security to readjust and revise some traffic regulations to make traffic safety more effective. ....co-ordination efforts between local officials and the ministry remain poor, causing the number of accidents to continue rising. In an effort to ensure traffic safety before and during Tet, the Ha Noi police will also toughen policies on traffic violators.... The campaign will increase police monitoring during peak hours in hot spots. Traffic police will concentrate on motorists who are speeding, driving drunk and driving without helmets on designated helmet roads.... In addition, traffic police will use non-lethal paint ball guns to help arrest violators. Full story, from VNS ___________________________
The engineering of Highway 2000 has contributed to the reduction of accidents on the corridors between Clarendon and St Catherine into Kingston, says Minister of Transport and Works Robert Pickersgill. But yesterday, Pickersgill warned again that dilapidated vehicles travelling at high speed could be lethal. "Motorists, please get smart about vehicle safety. If you want to travel at the maximum speed of 110 kilometres, vehicles must be in tip-top condition," said the minister. "Research shows that one-third of all accidents on the highway are attributed to bad or over-inflated tyres. Remember, it's the tyres that separate you from the road." Pickersgill gave his safety awareness speech at a special ceremony organised by toll operators Jamaica Infrastructure Operator (JIO) to recognise the five-millionth standard vehicle... to cross the Vineyard Toll Plaza in St Catherine.... Pickersgill gave no specific figures for highway deaths, but the road accident statistics show that fatalities amounted to 399 in 2003, and 351 in 2004. For one week, however, December 20 - 27 last year, there were 18 deaths in three accidents, two of which involved taxis. For Pickersgill, the figures point to an unacceptable level of lawlessness among road users. He warned that his ministry was moving to "end the recklessness" by increasing the fines under the Road Traffic Act. The amendments to the law are being debated in Parliament. Full story, from the Jamaica Observer ___________________________
New Delhi: Confronted with the dubious statistics of 84,000 Indians dying annually in road accidents, the government is actively considering setting up a dedicated Directorate of Road Safety to bring qualitative changes in road safety measures in the country. ''More than 84,000 people are killed in road accidents in the country every year, resulting in a heavy toll on the economy,'' Union Road Transport and Highways Minister T R Baalu told the 8th meeting of the National Road Safety Council (NRSC). Mr Baalu, who was delivering the inaugural address at the meeting, attended by transport ministers from various states and Union Territories, quoted reports from the World Bank and some insurance companies to say that India suffered an economic loss of over Rs 50,000 crore annually because of road accidents.... The minister said some studies had indicated that over 83 per cent of the road accidents were attributable to the drivers. The accidents caused by the drivers of heavy vehicles, though relatively less in number, contributed to a disproportionately large number of fatalities, he pointed out.... The other issues on the agenda include the demand for a pro-active approach on the part of states and UTs in the field of road safety by earmarking a percentage of fines realised from traffic violations for undertaking road safety related activities.... Full story, from Kerala Next ___________________________
MOSCOW -- Irina Alekseyenko, a Russian citizen, has died from injuries she sustained in a traffic accident [at Hurghada] in Egypt on Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.... Four other people are in the hospital. The other casualties who were taken to the hospital have been discharged.... [Source: Interfax] ___________________________
Dangerous road safety attitudes are causing havoc on the UK's busy roads as pedestrians flout the green cross code causing motorists to swerve and stop suddenly. New research from Direct Line reveals that pedestrians have an appalling attitude to road safety - with more than three-quarters (78 per cent) ignoring designated road crossings in favour of weaving through queuing traffic or darting across the road when a space appears between cars. And worryingly, more than one in 10 (11 per cent) also put their lives at risk by stepping in front of moving cars anticipating that drivers will have to stop.... Road deaths in the UK on are increasing with over 3,508 deaths in 2003, a six per cent rise on 2002. Of these deaths 778 were pedestrians and 171 were children. Direct Line's Motor spokeswoman, Emma Holyer, said "There is fault on both sides - our research reveals close to half (43 per cent) of pedestrians don't use designated crossings if it means deviating from their direct route. Similarly, half (47 per cent) of people on foot say drivers just ignore pedestrian crossing lights anyway...." ___________________________
The RACQ has thrown its support behind Queensland’s three-year L-plates trial by announcing a special offer of 10,000 free L-plate packs. From next Monday (January 31) it will be compulsory for learner drivers to display L-plates on any vehicle they drive. The penalty for not showing the plates will be $120 for both learner driver and the accompanying supervisor. The move is part of a three-year trial of L-plates that aligns Queensland with the rest of Australia. RACQ traffic and safety executive manager John Wikman said the trial had the peak motoring body’s full support. “We have been lobbying for the reintroduction of L-plates for more than 10 years,” he said.... Full story, from the RACQ article on a related theme...
"There's no doubt when you look at the statistics that our young people are disproportionately represented in road trauma and road death," Dr Gallop said. "On average, young drivers (aged 17 to 24) are involved in nearly one-third of road fatalities and serious injuries, and yet they account for only 13per cent of licence holders."... Opposition Leader Colin Barnett.... said it was Coalition policy that young drivers would not be able to drink in their first year of driving and would have to attend a defensive driving course before getting their full licence. Full story, from The Courier-Mail
See also: 'Lawmakers propose stiffer penalties to reduce teen fatalities' with DSA comments about L & P Plates ___________________________
According to the conclusions from a the recent meeting of EU Transport Ministers, earmarking a percentage of vehicle taxes, motorway tolls and insurance premiums are among the measures planned by EU Transport Ministers to reduce by half the number of road deaths between 2002 and 2010. The creation of a dedicated road safety fund is also in the cards, whilst another funding route for road safety could be to allocate a proportion of traffic fines. And to improve cross-boarder enforcement and credibility, the Ministers may establish a 'European System of cooperation for the settlement of penalties for foreign offenders'. The 30 measures defined by the Ministers in their conclusions are not concrete pledges but merely options to be explored. An associated statement by the Commission warns against 'anticipatory effects' for measures that are difficult to implement at both national and community level, such as the establishment of specific funds to finance measures to improve road safety. [Source: RoadSafe] ___________________________
In September and October of last year the first training was conducted by a team of international staff under an International Road Safety Academy programme at the traffic police training centre in Moscow. This training was the starting point for the establishment of the IRSA-Russia. It was a unique moment for Western road safety and police specialists cooperating with Russian traffic police master trainers. The training was financed by the World Bank and the City of Moscow. The next stage of training is scheduled for April 2005. Russian Traffic police leaders from all over the country visited the capital in October 2004 to become acquainted with the delivered programs, experiences and personal judgments of the Russian trainers and specialists. As a result the Moscow governmental authorities and police agreed with ITC to establish IRSA-Russia. The representatives of IRSA- Russia agreed to disseminate the programs not only to the former republics of the USSR, but also the assist IRSA International and IRSA-Spain in Latin-America. More countries in Africa, South-East Asia, the Middle-East and Latin-America requested ITC and IRSA-International for assistance. It is expected to have approximately 10 to 15 regional operating Road Safety Academies -- as independent NGO's with a non-profit status -- in operation within the coming three years. [Source: RoadSafe] ___________________________
Developing and emerging countries are witnessing a revolution in the growth and development of their highways. These new highways have opened gates to the latest generation high technology automobiles. While in the developed countries of North America, Western Europe and Japan, road deaths have fallen by approximately 10% between 1990 and 2000, developing countries have witnessed a 30 to 100 per cent increase and the problem of road safety continues to worsen. In India, at least 80,000 people are killed in road accidents every year and about 4,00,000 are seriously injured, causing a social loss of approximately Rs.55,000 crores annually. This annual loss is equivalent to the investment in the Golden Quadrilateral National Highways by the Govt. of India. The whole effort of the Govt. of India in developing state-of-art highways is being nullified by the growing rate of accidents and indiscipline on these highways. Highways account for almost 50% of the total road accidents. Along with the highway development programme, an effective patrol system needs to be implemented which should play a multidimensional role in bringing awareness, education, and enforcement leading to reduction in death, injury, crime and encroachment. This would help in building confidence of safety amongst road users, and will catalyze a process for growth of business, industry, tourism, and social integration. While some countries have implemented demonstratively successful programmes, other developing countries have a long way to go to develop similar systems. [Source: RoadSafe] ___________________________
Dr Jeffrey Runge, Administrator of the United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has described the urgent need to tackle road traffic injuries around the world in an interview with the FIA Foundation. "This is not a problem that’s going to be solved by governments alone, this is a problem that belongs to society, to people in society. This is a problem that is actually being worked on very actively by business, by auto makers, by the FIA Foundation who stepped up to the plate to try to broker all the people working on this issue at the same time. Now we are on the cusp of turning the corner on this thing. But the time is now. If we don’t get hold of this very soon we are going to see the cost of this paid in human life. ‘The loss of one life is tragic. As a physician who practiced in a trauma centre for 20 years I can tell you that every trip down the hall to the family room to talk to parents, to tell them their teenager is not going to come home, or a child that their dad or mom is not going to come home, is the most gut wrenching exercise you can go through, except to experience the loss yourself. This happens in the US over 42,000 times a year, and when you consider it happens 1.2 million times worldwide it is a tragedy that is almost beyond comprehension...." Full interview here, from the the FIA Foundation [Source: RoadSafe, on January 26, 2005] ___________________________
Western New York State: Four Elba High School students, including a girl who could end up in state prison, have been charged in the hit-and-run death of a 17-year-old classmate following a party... nearly two months ago. Caitlyn M. Dorman, 17, of Elba, who was allegedly driving the vehicle that hit and killed William A. Stempin, has been charged with a felony count of leaving the scene of a fatal motor vehicle accident and a violation count of driving out of restriction. Dorman, who was 16 at the time, should not have been driving after 9 p.m. If convicted of the felony charge, Dorman faces a possible state prison term of up to four years, but she remains eligible for youthful offender consideration. Dorman's co-defendants... face less serious charges.... Full story, from the Buffalo News ___________________________
It is time for Montana to get serious about highway safety. For too long, Montana's poor record at keeping drivers and passengers safe has brought the state the very worst kind of national attention.
In November, 2002, Mothers Against Drunk Driving gave Montana an
"F" — and this state was the only one in the nation to get
one — in its "Rating the States" project. Late in 2003, a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) report showed that Montana had the nation's highest rate of alcohol-related traffic fatalities.... Montana lawmakers are once again considering important pieces of legislation that would make our highways safer.... [Details of various bills given.] Session after session, community leaders, law enforcement officials and others have lined up to testify about economic losses and medical costs and insurance increases related to crashes. Parents and friends have told personal, tragic stories of lost lives and life-changing injuries. Yet session after session, the laws that could make a real difference on our highways don't make it into the books. The label of "nation's worst" embarrasses Montanans. Deadly accidents devastate families and communities. And nothing changes. We have all the statistics and experience we need to make a compelling case for each of these important bills. These laws will make everyone safer on Montana's roads. They will save lives. This session, it's time for Montana to get serious about highway safety. Read the full, important opinion piece by Mike McGrath, Montana's attorney general, from the Helena Independent Record ___________________________
Irving, Texas – Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) revealed today the organization’s best kept secret—free victim services—with the release of its first-ever national victim services public awareness campaign. The theme, “We help survivors survive,” anchors the campaign, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs’ Bureau of Justice Assistance and administered by the Office for Victims of Crime. ___________________________
As many as one in five of all fatal motor vehicle accidents that have occurred in Finland annually in the four first years of this millennium have been caused by drivers younger than 21. According to a preliminary report by the Finnish Motor Insurers’ Centre, the number of young-driver fatalities was 49 of the total of 261 fatal accidents recorded in Finland last year. The number of drivers younger than 21 includes three categories, 18, 19, and 20-year-old drivers.
Measured by the total number of all injury
accidents, the category of drivers aged 18 years ranked the
first, says Jukka Vierimaa of Liikenneturva,
Finland’s expert organization in traffic safety. According to last
year’s statistics, 18-year-old drivers caused 346 injury accidents in
the course of the year. The next largest group was 19- to 20-year-old
drivers who caused over 100 personal injury accidents. The numbers of
the injury accidents caused by all other age-cohorts each stayed below
100.
NOTE: As may be deduced from this article, the minimum age for driving in Finland is 18. ___________________________
Young doctors-in-training who work the long shifts required by most hospitals are so woozy when they drive home they run the same risk of a car accident as someone who is legally drunk, a new Harvard study has found. The nationwide survey of 2,737 interns found the chance of having an accident on the road more than doubled after a work shift of 32 hours, while the risk of a near miss increased nearly sixfold. Yet "these interns are forced by hospitals to work marathon shifts," says study author Dr. Charles Czeisler, chief of the sleep medicine division at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard University's teaching hospital. "They can't get a medical license or board certification if they don't do it." The findings appear in the Jan. 13 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.... Read the full article, from the Detroit Free Press ___________________________
While most people associate fatal auto crashes with speeding or drunk driving, making a trip to the grocery store could prove just as, if not, more treacherous. A new survey conducted by the Farmers Insurance Group of Companies showed more than 36 percent of motorists admitted to running a red light in the past year - an offense that is the leading cause of crashes in urban areas. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), red light running crashes cause nearly 1,000 deaths and more than 200,000 injuries each year. Red light running is defined as a motorist deliberately entering an intersection after the signal light has turned red. According to Farmers, the problem is then exacerbated because generally when people go through a red light, they accelerate to move through the intersection faster before the traffic in the other direction begins - this impulse to drive faster through the intersection, where there may be pedestrians, does not allow for a proper reaction time.... Full article, from the Insurance Journal ___________________________
STRAUBING - Twenty-six people were injured, some seriously, in a motorway pile-up in icy conditions in southern Germany, police said on Tuesday. Sixteen trucks and 31 cars and other vehicles were involved in the crash on the motorway between Passau and Regensburg late Monday. The motorway was blocked in both directions for more than 14 hours causing huge traffic chaos on surrounding roads. Police put the cost of the damage at more than EUR 10 million. [Source: Expatica Germany]
DSA Comments: Indisputably, multi-vehicle crashes such as this are entirely due to vehicles traveling too closely together. One problem is that drivers in many countries simply are not taught or trained how following distances must be adapted to allow for differing weather (i.e. road surface) conditions. Eddie Wren, Executive Director, Drive and Stay Alive, Inc. ___________________________
"After every road accident, the national Gendarmerie has a maximum of 20 days to inform hierarchy and to carry out a thorough investigative report". That was the quintessence of a one-day intensive refresher workshop organized in Buea recently involving 100 Officers of the Gendarmerie. The Officers were picked from the Provincial Legion of the South West Gendarmerie, the six Divisional companies and the 26 Sub-divisional and specialised brigades across the Province. The workshop was held in the premises of the CEFAM training centre as part of the on-going nation-wide training programme to improve on the image and production of the elite force.... According to Lt.Col. Eyoum, the workshop was a quick-witted solution by hierarchy to alleviate the lethargy, lacunae and errors sometimes observed in the coverage of road accidents.... Full story, from The Cameroon Tribune, via allAfrica ___________________________
Traffic police in Selebi-Phikwe have been implored to clearly demonstrate their success in reducing road fatalities to the public. Speaking during a party at the Selibe Phikwe Police Station on Friday last week, mayor Molosiwa Molosiwa said the police might have succeeded in meeting their set targets, but they still had the potential to do even better if they went out to the public and informed them that their road safety education was yielding the desired results. The party was held to motivate and encourage officers to perform even better in 2005 and to show appreciation to the traffic section for achieving better results. The intention was also to share with other traffic police how they succeeded and sensitise the public on how they can help reduce fatal road traffic accidents.... Mayor Molosiwa said once the public realised that police education campaigns helped to reduce the road carnage, they would understand police efforts and help them catch traffic offenders.... Full story, from the Daily News ___________________________
While congested and unplanned traffic, bad road conditions and ignorance of the rule of the road continues to be some of the major causes for road accidents, the incidence of reckless and unlicensed driving increased manifold in recent years according to the Thimphu traffic police. Of the total of 455 accidents last year in the Thimphu region, 330 cases were related to rash and reckless driving and 58 cases by unlicensed driving according to records of the Thimphu traffic police division. In all, 13 people were killed and 148 injured. There were 59 accidents involving pedestrians and 68 hit and run cases. Of the other accident cases last year, 19 were caused under the influence of alcohol while 48 accidents occurred because of bad weather conditions and mechanical defects. “Bhutanese drivers take driving as a leisure with little regard to the others along the road,” said the superintendent of the Thimphu traffic police, Major Karma Tshering.... Bhutan today has about 26,775 vehicles and the Thimphu region alone has about 16,000 vehicles of which more than 80 percent ply in the capital’s estimated 80 kilometres of roads.... Thimphu residents agree that most drivers lack basic driving skills, disregard rules and show poor sense of consideration for fellow drivers.... Anyone detected driving under the influence of alcohol is taken to court and fined Nu. 1,250 for violation of traffic rules. Traffic police also said that accidents around road junctions have been reduced to some extent with the introduction of the roundabouts at various road junctions. In 1996, before the roundabouts were built, 81 accident cases were registered which fell to 41 in 2003 with the roundabouts. Full (detailed) article, from Kuensel Online ___________________________
Almost 900 people were charged with various driving offences over the weekend as part of an ongoing road safety campaign. The police yesterday announced that 896 people were charged in the Nicosia, Paphos and Famagusta areas. The charges were for driving without a valid licence or insurance, driving under the influence of alcohol, failing to obey traffic lights, not wearing a seatbelt, using a mobile phone at the wheel and for noisy exhausts. Ten motorcyclists were also charged for not wearing a crash helmet. The most common infringement of all remains speeding, with 311 people charged. [Source: The Cyprus Mail] ___________________________
[Normally, DSA does not post research directly onto this news page. Instead it is added to our Research and Related Information page. But this particular piece is -- in our opinion -- of such high, general importance that we are making an exception for it.] This paper studies the effect of the changed speed limits on accident counts for major roadways in the urban environment of Hong Kong. In 1999–2002, the speed limits of a number of sections of roadway were reviewed and increased. Nineteen |
January 31, 2005: 
January 31, 2005: 
January 31, 2005: 
January 31, 2005: 
January 31, 2005: 
January 30, 2005: 
January 29, 2005: 
January 28, 2005: 
January 27, 2005: 
January 27, 2005: 
January 27, 2005: 
January 27, 2005: 
January 27, 2005: 
January 28, 2005: 
January 26, 2005: 
and LATIN
AMERICA January 26, 2005: 
January 25, 2005: 
January 25, 2005: 
January 25, 2005: 
January 25, 2005: 
January 25, 2005: 
January 25, 2005: 
January 25, 2005: