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All contents copyright ©, Drive and Stay Alive, Inc., 2003 onwards, unless specified otherwise. All rights reserved. IMPORTANT: click here to read the DISCLAIMER
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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
We recommend that you repeatedly use your 'Page Down' key to quickly scroll through this often-huge page, so that you may select the countries or topics that interest you.
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SHELL India and Ahmedabad Traffic Police organised a ‘Defensive Driving Training Camp’ on Saturday for members of traffic police. Over 300 police personnel participated in the camp at Police Headquaters in Shahibaug. [Source: Ahmedabad Newsline] ___________________________
“American Pie” star Chris Klein pleaded guilty Friday to a misdemeanor drunken driving charge, was fined $1,800 and ordered to perform 150 hours of community service. San Diego County sheriff’s deputies arrested the 26-year-old actor Feb. 5 in Encinitas. Authorities said he had a blood-alcohol content above 0.20, more than twice California’s legal limit of 0.08.... Full story, from MSNBC ___________________________
Groups want government to regulate rear blind spots, which contributed to deaths of nearly 100 kids last year. Nearly 100 children younger than 4 were hit and killed while walking or riding bikes on U.S. roadways last year. Almost the same number died in parking lots and driveways when relatives or family friends accidentally backed over them, but those deaths went uncounted by federal regulators, safety advocates said. The government agency that ensures traffic safety doesn't track victims of back-over accidents, usually small children run over by family members who don't see them behind minivans and SUVs with limited rear visibility. The number of such deaths nationwide has averaged at least two a week for a couple of years, according to a children's safety group that compiles numbers from media coverage. A spike in the incidents this month is unexplained, said Janette Fennell, founder of the advocacy group Kids and Cars. Fennell has registered 14 back-over deaths in the past three weeks, most involving very young children who died from their injuries. Safety advocates say there are relatively simple and inexpensive ways to solve the problem, including placing cameras on rear bumpers. Legislation before Congress would require the government to study the issue and the auto industry to take steps to address it.... Full story, from the Detroit News ___________________________
The government's crash test program for vehicles needs an upgrade to remain relevant as automobiles and safety risks change, congressional investigators say. The usefulness of the crash test program -- which includes a star-rating system -- has diminished with the growing popularity of SUVs and other light trucks, creating different safety risks not fully addressed by the tests, a new Government Accountability Office report found. "The program is at a crossroads where it will need to change to maintain its relevance," according to the report, which Congress requested. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration tests vehicles and rates them on a scale of one to five stars -- five stars is the highest score -- to help consumers judge an automobile's crashworthiness and likelihood of rolling over.... Full story, from the Detroit News ___________________________
Whatever the result of Britain's general election on May 5, there can be no doubt that the enforcement of road traffic law should be a priority for an incoming government. There are a number of issues outstanding from the Road Safety Bill, notably the issue of variable penalty points for motoring offences and the opportunity to use training courses as a means of preventing re-offending. The joint departmental Review of Road Traffic Offences involving Bad Driving closes on May 6. To carry forward some of the proposals in the review, especially the suggestion of a new offence of causing death by careless driving, will require legislation. That is why we have chosen to take the theme of traffic law and enforcement for our next conference in October, the details of which are published elsewhere on our web-site. The conference offers an opportunity to identify the priorities for the new government. Have we got the balance right between punishment and retraining? How do we allocate resources between police officers and technology? How does the United Kingdom compare with the rest of the European Union? Is our pattern of offences and sentences the most effective one? These are big issues that need a mature and thorough debate. I hope that this conference will help to shape traffic law enforcement policy for the coming Parliament. Please come and help us in our deliberations. Full details of the PACTS conference may be found on the DSA Conferences Page (See October 12) ___________________________
Athens - Traffic police in Greece rarely get a chance to caution the country's notoriously reckless drivers, but for an upcoming holiday weekend authorities have hit on a novel way to attract attention - folk music CDs. Since Wednesday, traffic police officers at major toll stations across Greece have been handing out thousands of free folk music CDs to drivers, alongside customary advice on safe driving during a holiday exodus that routinely kills dozens of people every Greek Orthodox Easter. Last year, 71 people died in the Easter rush according to the traffic police department. This year, over 100 people died on Greek roads in February alone according to Greece's national statistics agency.... Full story, from IOL, South Africa. ___________________________
At least 37 people were killed and scores injured in a collision between a bus and a train in Sri Lanka yesterday. At least 10 of the injured were in a critical condition. The accident highlighted the increasing death toll on the roads in south Asia, where bus drivers are under huge pressure from their employers to meet often impossible timetables, and warning lights at level crossings are often ignored. It appears that the bus driver ignored the warning lights and closed barricades at a level crossing and tried to cross before the approaching train. All of the dead were on the bus. The bus driver was arrested after being found in a hospital with minor injuries. Trains travel much slower than in the West, which leads many car and bus drivers to believe mistakenly that they can cross the line ahead of them.... Reports from Sri Lanka suggested the bus driver was racing a bus from a rival company - which is a common practice in South Asia, where private bus companies put enormous pressure on their drivers to arrive before the competition.... Full story, from The Independent, London. ___________________________
Delhi's privately run buses, known as Blue Lines, are continuing to kill on the roads with impunity. Neither the traffic police nor Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's promise to phase them out have had any impact on the wanton bus drivers. In less than four months this year, they have crushed to death over 10 people. The toll was 77 last year. There is probably no count of the number of motorists and pedestrians who have been injured or even maimed for life by the buses. Barely one and a half months ago, Dikshit had promised to phase out Blue Lines from the roads, calling them "an incorrigible lot". But she did not set a timeframe for it. Even as the buses continue to ply with impunity, bus owners dismiss the phase out threat as unlikely. The 4,500-strong Blue Line fleet, so called because the lower half of their bodies is coloured a deep blue, has no doubt contributed to public transport by dint of its sheer volume, but the buses remain a menace on the road. Equally shocking are frequent brawls and road rage incidents involving Blue Line bus drivers, conductors and owners.... Full story, from WebIndia123 ___________________________
A police officer injured in a traffic accident on Tuesday afternoon lies in critical condition at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. Twenty-one year old Leroy Kerr was off duty when the Mazda he was driving collided with a Mitsubishi Montero near mile fifty-one on the Western Highway. The other driver, Henry Barrera, a Guatemalan missionary, reportedly fled the scene. P.C. Kerr sustained a broken leg and internal injuries and was taken to the Belmopan hospital and later transferred to the K.H.M.H. Today Barrera was arrested and charged with driving without due care and attention, failing to keep to the right lane, and failing to stop and render aid. He was granted bail and is scheduled to appear in the Belmopan Magistrate's Court tomorrow. [Source: Channel 5, Belize] ___________________________
Every year over 130 children die and more than 4,500 are seriously injured while walking or cycling on Britain's roads and by 2010 the government aim to reduce the number of child road casualties by 50%. Research has found that children from disadvantaged backgrounds are five times more likely to be killed or seriously injured on our roads than their peers from the least deprived areas. The NRSI has been set up to find fresh and innovative ways to reduce road casualties, particularly those involving children. Fifteen local authorities participate in the new £10M initiative. The dynamic NRSI central team is based in Manchester and provides a resource to deliver and assist with a range of new initiatives to reduce road casualties in deprived communities. The team is working closely with the fifteen participating authorities in a variety of ways, including commissioning work and original research on behalf of all partners, extending and supporting partnership working, monitoring progress and sharing best practice. The key driver is to put Road Safety firmly on the social agenda. ___________________________
French motorists are being urged to copy British drivers and their "legendary civility" during a national road courtesy day on Thursday. The government-backed campaign says the "British recipe" explains why it has some of the safest roads in Europe and far fewer road deaths than France. But event organisers stopped short of asking Frenchmen to swap their Latin temperament for "British phlegm". The French government has made road safety one of its priorities. Road deaths in France fell 9% in 2004 compared with 2003, but campaigners say other European countries have achieved better results. French road safety group (AFPC) which is organising the "courtesy behind the wheel day", involving a variety of road safety awareness events, say the French need to take a leaf out the "British recipe" book. "With their legendary courtesy and civility and an active prevention policy since 1970, our British neighbours have the safest roads in Europe and has a mortality rate far lower than in France." "It's not about converting our Latin temperament into British phlegm but rather looking at this model example to learn a few things on driver attitudes and the ingredients behind this success." [This article was first published by BBC News on March 23, 2005]
DSA Comments It has to be said that a lot of British drivers will be wondering: "What legendary courtesy and civility?" Unfortunately, as with all other countries, Britain has certainly experienced too much offensive and occasionally violent behaviour from a minority of its road users. Eddie Wren, Executive Director, Drive and Stay Alive, Inc. And, sadly, our comments appear to be supported by this story
Improvements in vehicle safety are failing to bring about a
reduction in deaths because there has been a concurrent
decline in driving standards, according to research for the
DfT (Local Transport Today, 17 March) by the Transport
Research Laboratory. The study suggests that, 'at a time when improving car technology had been expected to reduce the number of car occupant fatalities, this trend had been offset by a decline in the driving standards of some car drivers'. [Source: RoadSafe] ___________________________
A 2-year-old girl died this month after being run over by a car reversing out of a driveway. In February, a 1-year-old girl died when the driver of a four-wheel-drive vehicle stopped in a driveway to speak to a pedestrian. The infant went in front of the vehicle and was run over when the driver started moving forward again. Last September, a 10-year-old died after her father started the car and it lurched forward, pinning her against the wall of her home. She was an only child. In July a year earlier, a 14-month-old was killed in the driveway of his home when his uncle accidentally reversed over him in a truck. Each of those tragedies is revealed with one, quick search of the [New Zealand] Herald website. Confirmation in seconds of the grim statistic that the main cause of death of children aged between 1 and 14 years is from what statisticians call "pedestrian injuries". One in five occurs in the family's own driveway.... Read the full article -- Tragedies too close to home -- from the New Zealand Herald ___________________________
At least 25 people have been killed and more than 70 others injured, many critically, in two separate highway mishaps in central Bangladesh, officials said on Wednesday. The worst accident happened as a speeding passenger bus crashed through the railings of a bridge and plunged into a dried-up creek near the town of Kalihata 130km north of the capital Dhaka. Police and fire brigade rescuers said 20 bodies were found in the wreckage of the bus.... Earlier in the morning five persons, including the driver and the helper of a Dhaka-bound passenger bus from Kurigram, were killed, in another accident near Karatia bypass road on the Tangail-Dhaka Highway. The fatalities occurred as a passenger bus collided head on with a truck coming from the opposite direction. Full story from IOL, and a different article from The New Nation ___________________________
Doha: A novel initiative for road safety operation is underway in Ras Laffan industrial city, involving general public, all end- users and contractors of the city. The ongoing road safety programme allowed law-abiding road users to take part in traffic operation and to suggest ways and means to ensure road safety inside the city. Recent surveys have shown that accident figures inside the city are relatively low, a press release said yesterday. It is compulsory for those employees of the Qatargas, who violate the road safety procedure, to undergo a defensive driving course, the release added. Under the programme, an electronic database was set up to provide statistical data of traffic violators. The procedure does not make provision for a fine but a violator is penalised with a certain number of punitive demerit points. These points are added together and when a violator reaches 15 such points, he/she will be banned from driving within the city for a period of three months. After reaching 20 points, driving is banned for one year, the release added. Leon Van Der Heyde, head of security at Ras Laffan City (RLC) said with able partnership among the North Security department, Traffic and Patrol department and RLC's Security, this programme is set to meet demands of the rapidly expanding city. [Source: The Peninsula] ___________________________
"So many people are doing so many things to try put a stop to the tragedies that occur on our roads every day of the year. The motivation behind each person's actions may differ but in our eyes, all can be labeled heroes of the road carnage 'struggle'. For advocate Johan Jonck - a.k.a. 'Jonckie' - it took a personal tragedy and a burning sense of purpose to get the Arrive Alive campaign into the digital domain. He saw the need for more readily available educational material and discourse on road safety and the Arrive Alive Campaign. The Internet was the obvious place to base his mission station. Paul Collings spoke to him, for Fleetwatch."
At Drive and Stay Alive, we are pleased to class 'Jonckie' and his team as friends. Photograph: Fleetwatch. Click here, or on the image, for the full article. ___________________________
.....Highway deaths have, unfortunately become part of the woodwork - something we take for granted as a cost of living an automotive lifestyle. If a purple flu broke out and killed 40,000 people and caused $230 billion death, injuries and damage in the United States in a single year we would doubtlessly be beside ourselves demanding something be done. Something can indeed be done. Of those 42,800 people who died last year [in road crashes], 23,968 of them, more than half, were not wearing seat belts. Wisconsin, to its disgrace, still does not have primary enforcement of seat-belt laws, which enable police to stop violators and issue tickets solely for that offense. Predictably, Wisconsin also lags the national average for seatbelt use by more than 7 percent. As Mineta put it, "We already have the best vaccine available to reduce the death toll on our highways - safety belts." With odds like this, maybe it's time you took matters in your own hands ... and buckled up. Full story, from The Journal Times, WI ___________________________
[Results from the 2005 Canadian Consumer Tire Attitude Study Released During National Be Tire Smart Week --April 24-30, 2005] A new survey has revealed that despite the fact that 96% of Canadians say tire maintenance is important, the majority of Canadians believe inaccurate maintenance-related myths. These widely held misconceptions are costing Canadians money at the gas pumps, reducing their vehicle's safety as well as emitting unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions. ___________________________
Association to raise consumer awareness about tire safety. Do you know the correct PSI for your vehicle’s tires? CLICK HERE to take a quick quiz to help you determine how much you know about tire maintenance and safety. The “What’s Your PSI?” campaign is designed to challenge consumers to learn the correct tire pressure (pounds per square inch or PSI) for their vehicle’s tires, help them to maintain proper pressure — and ultimately help everyone avoid tire failure and crashes. In addition to making road travel safer, inflating tires to the correct PSI has other benefits as well. Motorists who “know their PSI” and maintain it can help to optimize fuel economy and tire life, saving dollars and protecting our environment in the process. During National Tire Safety Week and throughout the coming year, look for NHTSA’s “What’s Your PSI?” and the Rubber Manufacturers Association’s (RMA) “Be Tire Smart, Play Your PART” campaign materials at tire safety partner locations throughout the country. ___________________________
VW's new Jetta Aces the Side Impact Test and Gets a 'Good' in Frontal Impact, Too ARLINGTON, VA — The 2005 Volkswagen Jetta earned good ratings in both frontal offset and side impact crash tests conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Plus the Jetta is the first vehicle to earn the top rating of good in every individual measurement category (injury measures, head protection, and structural design) of the Institute's side impact test. This car is designated a "best pick" for side crash protection, and it's a good performer for frontal crash protection. The performance of the Jetta in these tests plus its acceptable rating for seat/head restraint design in rear impact tests make it the top-rated car overall in the inexpensive midsize class. The redesigned Jetta, which is larger than its predecessor model, was introduced in the 2005 model year, and these results apply to the new larger Jetta. Read the full, important report, here.
DSA Comments Perhaps the most impressive aspect of this information comes when one also views the IIHS March 2005 'Status Report' on The Risk of Dying in One Vehicle Versus Another. On page three of that report, one finds that the VW Passat -- another midsize, four-door car -- ranks third overall in the safest vehicles, with an overall driver death rate of just 16 per "million registered years". Volkswagen certainly appears to be leading the field in the USA, in terms of midsize sedan safety. Eddie Wren, Executive Director, Drive and Stay Alive, Inc. ___________________________
While pushing his car to the limit is something Marcos Ambrose does for a living, the V8 Supercar champion warned yesterday that public roads were no place for high speed.... "It is easy to get into a car and drive fast, but that does not mean it is smart or, most importantly, safe," he said. "It is a simple fact that I save it all for the track as there is no place for high speed on public roads."... Full story, from the Adelaide Advertiser ___________________________
For 11 years since 1994, the government has ignored warnings about our road safety situation and failed to bring South Africa into line with normal accepted road safety standards in Australia, America and Europe. Modern technology such as cameras, camera equipment and patrol cars make it possible for South Africa to keep abreast, which we have failed to do.
Now the government, by its failure, has landed taxpayers with the Richard Benson, Fish Hoek [Source: Cape Times] ___________________________
FAIRFIELD, California -- In the end, you could say physics took John Sandlin's life. The immutable laws of inertial motion, mass and velocity all conspired to kill the beloved veteran reserve deputy a year ago today on a curvy stretch of Cordelia Road during a brief pursuit of a speeding motorist. Sandlin, a 20-year-veteran of the sheriff's office and one of its most decorated deputies, died after being ejected from his Ford Crown Victoria patrol car when his rear right wheel briefly left the roadway and struck a large clump of discarded asphalt or a rock. The force of the collision corkscrewed the patrol car and threw Sandlin, who wasn't wearing his seat belt, from the vehicle. While the California Highway Patrol ultimately faulted Sandlin for driving too fast for road conditions that night, the fact he didn't have his seat belt fastened at the time of the crash continues to be a major focus of the case. Sandlin's friends and colleagues need only look to his partner, Deputy Jayson Roper. While Roper was shaken up, he survived the accident largely unscathed because he was wearing his seat belt. They also say Sandlin's death simultaneously reinforced the need to follow the agency's directives on seat belt use and the overall seeming randomness of the danger law enforcement personnel face each day they go to work.... Full story, from the Daily Republic ___________________________
U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta today called the problem of highway traffic deaths a "national epidemic" and encouraged Americans to view wearing safety belts as a form of preventative medicine. Mineta directed attention to his concern for traffic safety as he announced mixed results in the effort to reduce the number of people who die on U.S. highways each year. While the fatality rate dropped and alcohol-related crashes are down from 2003, 42,800 died on the nation’s highways in 2004, up slightly from 42,643 in 2003, according to projected 2004 data compiled by the Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in a preliminary report. "We are in the midst of a national epidemic", said Secretary Mineta. "If this many people were to die from any one disease in a single year, Americans would demand a vaccine. The irony is we already have the best vaccine available to reduce the death toll on our highways – safety belts".... Read the full NHTSA report here, and view DSA comments about the fact that although the VMT rate of deaths dropped, the number of people who were killed has actually increased. ___________________________
The Prime Minister on April 21 sent
condolences to the Viet Nam War Veterans Association and the families
of the war veterans who were killed in a bus accident in the
Thirty-one war veterans were killed
in the accident and two others are in critical condition.
The accident took place at
The bus was believed to be running at
a high speed. It broke a number of traffic signs and barriers on the
road side before falling into the abyss. Full story, from the Viet Nam News Agency ___________________________
Just as a few organisations in the USA argue that the now uniform 0.08% blood-alcohol limit is too low, despite only two countries in the world still having a higher limit, so Safe Speed in the UK argues that drivers should effectively be allowed to make up their own minds about what speed is safe at any given moment. Yet examination of both of these standpoints reveals deadly flaws that their authors either fail or refuse to accept. Read the Drive and Stay Alive editorial opinion, here. ___________________________
Emergency responders are hailing a proposed amendment to the Traffic Safety Act as a step in the right direction. According to a Government of Alberta news release, Bill 39, the proposed Traffic Safety Amendment Act, will "set speed limits for motorists passing emergency vehicles," as well as creating new offences for drivers speeding in construction zones. Under the bill, motorists will have to drive 60 km/h – or the posted speed limit, whichever is lower – when passing stopped emergency vehicles or tow trucks and drivers exceeding the speed limit in construction zones would be subject to double the fines for regular speeding offences. "Too often on our highways, motorists speed past construction workers and parked emergency vehicles," said Calgary-North Hill MLA Richard Magnus, who introduced Bill 39 in the legislature earlier this month. "Many drivers just don’t realize they are putting the lives of other people at risk." The bill also addresses driving without insurance; sharing of information to ensure road safety; and the roles and powers of the transportation safety board.... Full story, from the Airdrie Echo ___________________________
Shell petrol stations throughout the country are distributing quiz competition forms to motorists, encouraging road users to participate in a road safety competition held in conjunction with the National Road Safety Campaign themed 'We Care.' Up for grabs are 1,000 attractive prizes. The competition is organised by Brunei Shell Petroleum (BSP), Brunei Shell Marketing (BSM), Brunei Shell Tanker (BST), Brunei LNG Sdn Bhd (BLNG), the National Road Safety Council and the National Road Safety Campaign. It is hoped that such a move will educate motorists on road safety and at the same time promote safe driving.... Numerous road-safety related activities have also been planned for the duration of the campaign, including drawing competitions for secondary school students.... In addition, billboards promoting safety will be erected at selected locations and video clips will be broadcast on RTB. There will also be SMS quizzes over the radio. [Source: BruDirect] ___________________________
Twenty-seven people were killed and four seriously injured when a coach fell off a bridge in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality in the small hours of yesterday morning, the Xinhua News Agency has reported. Local traffic police said the bus, with 31 people on board, veered off an 80-metre-high bridge in outlying Qianjiang District at 2:50am.... "The scene of the accident was extremely tragic, with body parts scattered everywhere," said Yang Ke, who was at the site of the accident yesterday. Yang, with the Chengdu-based West China Metropolis newspaper, said it may have happened when the driver attempted to overtake another coach bus at high speeds on a road slick with rain.... Full story, from China Daily ___________________________
LIMA, Peru -- At least 23 people died and 27 were injured on Tuesday when a bus swerved off a rutted road and plunged into a deep gorge in Peru's central Andes, in the fourth deadly bus accident this week, police said. The bus from the capital, Lima, was carrying locals along a potholed road some 300 miles (482 km) north of Lima near the central Andean city of Huaraz. There are at least 23 people dead. The bus came off the rutted road and fell into the 500-metre- (1,640-foot-)deep gorge," said a senior police officer who declined to be named. The exact cause of the accident was not known, he said. It brought the week's death toll from bus accidents to 46, after at least 23 people died and dozens were injured on Monday in three other crashes along the coastal Pan-American Highway. Hundreds of people die in bus crashes every year in Peru because of bad roads, poorly maintained vehicles and errors in judgment by drivers in treacherous weather conditions. Drivers involved in accidents are rarely prosecuted. [Source: Reuters AlertNet] ___________________________
A run of bad luck ended for Thames grandmother of six Cheryl Knuckey when she took a few minutes to learn about road safety and won a new five star safety rated car. After being made redundant five weeks ago, Ms Knuckey recently took part in Land Transport New Zealand’s road safety education initiative Up to Scratch. She had her eyes opened to the role of speed and alcohol in road deaths, and she's been rewarded with a new $45,000 Toyota Avensis GX Wagon for taking part in the scratch test education campaign. Along with six road rule questions, the Up to Scratch test Ms Knuckey completed included information and questions about the proportion of fatal accidents involving speed and alcohol, and seatbelt wearing rates.... Up to Scratch gives Kiwi drivers the chance to test their knowledge of the road rules and other road safety-related information, and to win safety-related prizes. 'Up to Scratch' test papers are delivered to motorists with vehicle registration and change of vehicle ownership papers, driver licence renewal forms and when a vehicle passes its Warrant of Fitness. Drivers who get nine out of ten questions right can enter draws for a Toyota Avensis and other prizes. “Every three months a driver receives a new Toyota Avensis, and another 860 win secondary prizes including new sets of tyres and wheel alignments from Beaurepaires, or driving lessons, pre-purchase vehicle inspections, AA memberships, travel guides and petrol vouchers from the Automobile Association,” Land Transport New Zealand Acting General Manager Communications and Education Lynne Heasman said. “In the 13 months that Up to Scratch has been running 930,000 entries have been received. The response rates are about three times that expected for this sort of initiative,” Ms Heasman said. Full story, from Scoop ( ___________________________
A growing number of teens are taking along a few unexpected passengers when they hit the open road in search of long-awaited freedom.... With so-called "black box" technology, parents can follow their teens in real time to find out how fast they're driving, where they're going -- even whether they're signaling before turns. Other products track every detail so parents can later download the data and look for signs of dangerous behavior.... Full story, from the Detroit News ___________________________
School Students in Large Passenger Vans
"The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) has issued three warnings against 15-passenger vans, first in 2001, again in 2002, and recently in June 2004. The School Bus Information Council has also issued multiple warnings. NHTSA recommends that pre-school and school aged children should not be transported in these vehicles due to safety concerns," Frances Bardessono added. Their letter includes stickers that have been developed to warn occupants of the high risk of rollover and to keep school children out of large passenger vans. The adhesive backed stickers stating "WARNING. ROLLOVER RISK. NO SCHOOL CHILDREN IN VAN" allow schools, other groups, van owners and rental agencies to apply them in a prominent place on the vehicle. The Bardessonos are also accepting requests for the stickers from the public on a first-come first-served basis, and have posted information on how to make a request at http://www.vanangels.com/ [Source: Tim and Frances Bardessono, via PR Newswire] ___________________________
Think faster cars are involved in more crashes? You’re not alone. According to a recent phone survey of 1,000 people, one-third say that those who drive higher horsepower vehicles are involved in more frequent crashes. Well, it’s just not true according to the country’s third largest auto insurer, The Progressive Group of Insurance Companies. After studying more than 12 million private passenger cars it insured over the past three years, Progressive finds that cars with more than 200 horsepower are actually involved in an average of 17 percent fewer auto insurance claims than are those with less than 200 horsepower. But, when a higher horsepower car is involved in a crash, they cause more damage to others. The resulting auto insurance claim payment made to other parties for property and injury claims is an average of 22 percent more costly ($5,673 versus $4,663). The horsepower race continues to heat up: Passenger cars with more than 200 horsepower represented only nine percent of all available makes and models in 1990; today, they represent 54 percent. So what does all this mean for consumers? If you choose a vehicle with increased horsepower, you will most likely pay more for auto insurance. [Source: Progressive] ___________________________
Today, the Senate Commerce Committee introduced legislation to reauthorize federal safety programs including state highway safety grant programs that address the behavior of drivers and other road users. GHSA members administer these programs. The GHSA appreciates the Senate enacting a reauthorization bill but is largely disappointed by its contents.... ___________________________
A Florida Highway Patrol report released Wednesday says a 22-year-old woman who was charged with hitting two sisters as they crossed an Orange County street with their mother told a trooper that she was on her cell phone at the time of the incident.... Witnesses [also said that the driver] appeared to be talking on a cell phone when she ran over and killed Victoria Velez, 2, and Anelica Velez, 5.... Full story, from Local 6 ___________________________
A top federal safety official Wednesday urged automotive engineers to speed advanced technologies to market to reduce fatalities and injuries resulting from crashes between cars and SUVs. In a keynote speech at the Society of Automotive Engineers 2005 World Congress, Dr. Joseph Kanianthra, associate administrator of vehicle research at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said technologies that can help drivers avoid crashes or turn potentially severe crashes into fender-benders offered the greatest promise for reducing highway deaths and injuries. Several such technologies are on display this week at the SAE World Congress, such as lane departure warning systems and electronic maps that tell drivers how many vehicles are entering an oncoming intersection. In the future, advanced sensors will be able to detect when an accident is likely to occur, and apply brakes and take other steps to avoid a collision.... Full story from the Detroit News ___________________________
Maximum Driving Pleasure -- Continental components feature prominently in the new BMW 3 Series Continental Teves' innovative brake system helps the new BMW 3-Series stop quicker, respond faster in inclement weather, start easier on hills and monitor the car's on- road position through the electronic stability control system, known as Dynamic Stability Control (DSC) at BMW. The new BMW 3 Series models set benchmarks in terms of active safety and convenience. Other features contributing to the overall quality and performance of the new BMW include Continental tires, technical equipment and electronic modules.... Read the full Continental press release, here.
Despite huge respect for Continental, at DSA, the above press release has triggered an op-ed commentary, viz:
"Is it possible for engineering to progress so far that it undermines the apparent need for driver education and training? And if so, will the benefits gained from new safety designs completely outweigh any such 'dumbing down' of drivers' abilities and responsibilities, or will it lead to a generation of drivers so stunningly incompetent that they will simply create new variations on the theme of crashes and dead bodies?" asks Eddie Wren. View this editorial opinion piece from Drive and Stay Alive, here. ___________________________
The death toll on Iowa's roads has risen sharply in 2005, and safety planners are warning that fatalities could remain high if the speed limit is raised to 70 mph. A total of 116 people were killed in traffic accidents in Iowa between Jan. 1 and April 11, an increase of 49 deaths [i.e. 73 percent] from the same period a year ago, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation. The 2004 fatality count was the lowest since World War II, but the numbers so far this year are the highest totals since at least 1999, said Scott Falb, a DOT safety planner.... Full story, from the Des Moines Register ___________________________
Safe roads are everyone's responsibility. According to statistics from various studies conducted in the US, Hispanic drivers are more likely to be involved in car accidents. La seguridad en las carreteras es responsabilidad de todos. Y los conductores hispanos parecen ser los más vulnerables, de acuerdo a estadísticas que se han dado a conocer como resultado de varios estudios en los Estados Unidos. ___________________________
A new film launched this week by the Galway County Council aims to highlight road safety issues for older people. Ó Aois go hAois is the result of a collaboration between the council's Roads and Transportation Unit, and the County Arts Office. The film highlights the problems experienced by older people using the county's roads, particularly in areas where traffic volumes have increased significantly in recent years.... Full story, from the Galway Advertiser ___________________________
There were more people killed on the roads on Songkran Day, Wednesday, than on the same day last year, but the number of injuries fell significantly. Overall, fatalities and casualties for the Songkran festival period so far are still lower than last year. Deputy Interior Minister Sermsak Pongpanit, said road accidents killed 79 people nationwide on Thai New Year Day, four more than last year and an increase of just over 8%.... Motorcycles continued to dominate accident scenes on Wednesday, contributing 86.7% of the total 2,200 road accidents. Trucks were involved in about 6% and cars and taxis in just under 2%. Just over a third of the motorcyclists involved (about 37%) were not wearing crash helmets. Drunks made up 29.5% and speedsters 14%.... From April 8-13, the Songkran death toll totalled 311, down almost 27% from the corresponding period of last year, and there were 8,963 injuries, down by 64.5%.... Full story, from Bangkok Post ___________________________
At least 27 people were killed and more than 20 others injured in two road accidents in Mansehra and Dera Ismail Khan districts of the North West Frontier Province on Thursday. According to details, at least thirteen people were killed and three others injured when a jeep fell into a deep ravine near Reen at Balakot in Mansehra district about 200 km of Islamabad.... In another accident in the southern Dera Ismail Khan district, some 14 people were killed when a pick-up collided with an over speeding truck on the Indus Highway, some 350 km from Islamabad.... Full story, from the Kashar News ___________________________
.....The South African Motoring Journalists' Committee for Active Road Safety (CARS) has submitted a letter to President Thabo Mbeki outlining a five point strategy to solve the "crisis situation" on the roads. "Embracing the whole plan, however, is law enforcement," CARS said in a statement today. CARS is made up of journalists from the print and electronic media and representatives of various organisations involved in road safety.... They mentioned amongst other things the usage of seat belts, road users' misuse of alcohol and drugs, the high incidence of unroadworthy vehicles, the high rate of death and injuries among pedestrians and the lack of accountability for road safety. "(On) each of these points, the key to success is widespread communication followed by strict law enforcement," the committee said. CARS said they arrived at the five point strategy after consulting traffic experts and research into international best practices. CARS also asked the president to appoint a minister of road safety. This minister should be accountable for targeted improvements in road safety in South Africa. Full story, from SABC News ___________________________
Nine people were killed and seven critically injured in a head-on collision between two taxis in Daveyton on the East Rand, Johannesburg, on Thursday evening.... South Africa's road-vehicle collision and fatality rates compare poorly with those of most other countries. Every year, about 10,000people are killed and 150,000 injured in approximately 500,000 accidents. Full story, from Xinhuanet ___________________________
A 15-year-old student has become the latest person to die on [Fiji's] roads.... Assistant police spokeswoman Constable Prashila Narayan said the student crossed in front of the bus suddenly after getting off another bus that was going in the same direction.... The road death toll now is 12 compared to 20 for the same period last year.... Full story, from the Fiji Times ___________________________
Glasgow parents are to learn how to teach their kids to drive safely in a bid to cut road deaths. The city could become the first place in Scotland to offer lessons to mums and dads, who often tear their hair out trying to get impatient teenagers through their driving test. The aim is to help make young, inexperienced drivers safer and more responsible and reduce the carnage on the roads. City council roads director Bob Booth is behind the new training scheme for learner drivers and the adults who sit beside them. Glasgow councillors will next week be asked to agree to back a pilot scheme in the city. Mr Booth said:.... "Most learners take one lesson a week with a driving instructor but then turn to a parent or guardian to take them out on the road. "However, adults don't always have the skills necessary to assist the young person.... Sue Nicholson, head of policy at the RAC, welcomed the new course, provided pupils continued to get lessons from qualified instructors. She said: "Often mum or dad pass on their own bad driving habits to the learner, so perhaps refreshing their own skills will help them pass on the right practices.".... Read the full, very interesting article here, from the Evening Times ___________________________
Three people waiting in the road after surviving a motorway car crash were hit and killed by a passing car. All three are believed to have been travelling in a black Citroen Saxo when it collided with the central reservation barrier [i.e. median guardrail]. They were standing near the Saxo in the middle of the carriageway [roadway] when a silver green Vauxhall Vectra, travelling in the same direction, collided with them. [Source: Salford Advertiser] ___________________________
Seattle, WA, USA -- GE Advanced Materials, Automotive, has developed new Pedestrian Impact Protection materials and design innovations to help automakers and tier suppliers with the design of automotive front-end safety systems that may reduce the severity of pedestrian injury during impact. In GE’s new, front-end safety concept, energy absorbers... are positioned directly behind the vehicle’s fascia to help cushion impact. GE has developed the concept to help meet European Union (EU) pedestrian protection legislation due to come into effect in 2005.... Although there is no similar legislation in the United States, vehicles designed and exported across the globe will need to meet EU legislation. The EEVC will require the automotive industry to test and monitor new vehicles to assess their pedestrian protection performance in 40 km/h (25mph) impacts.... ___________________________
.....Court TV's The Smoking Gun is reporting that the 26-year-old actor was arrested in California when sheriff's deputies stopped Klein on Feb. 5 while he was driving a 2003 BMW on a San Diego County highway. Klein's blood-alcohol level was found to be more than twice the legal limit..... Full story, from AZ Central ___________________________
.....Michael Eugene Archer -- known as D'Angelo to many R-and-B fans -- appeared in court earlier today. The singer was given fines and suspended jail time on both the D-U-I and marijuana charges. His license was suspended for 18 months.... Full story, from WAVY TV ___________________________
A bus plunged off a steep cliff in western China, killing 24 people and injuring 13, Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday. The accident occured in the mountainous Aba region of western Sichuan province on Tuesday as the bus was heading for the provincial capital, Chengdu. China has the world's highest annual road death toll. Traffic accidents killed nearly 107,000 people last year, the result of skyrocketing car demand, poor roads and bad driving. [Source: Xinhua news agency, via Reuters Foundation AlertNet ___________________________
The world would be stunned if every day an airliner carrying 300 passengers crashed in China. But the fact is that such a casualty actually happens, albeit not in the sky but on the roads. The latest figures, released by the public security department, show that the country saw nearly 100,000 people die on its roads last year - the world's largest group of victims of traffic accidents. In terms of the commonly used "deaths per 10,000 vehicles" index, China's record was 9.2 last year, as compared with 15.45 in 1999. While in developed countries, the number is generally below 5. Officials also revealed that China's vehicles account for only 2 per cent of the world's total, but they cause more than 15 per cent of its total road deaths.... We also have to consider the hard reality that many of China's drivers abandoned their bicycles very recently, and many pedestrians are still unaccustomed to increasingly complex road signs. Road safety should become a top priority and include all the efforts needed to raise public awareness and teach drivers. The lack of adequate training, in particular, has caused much road tragedy. Statistics indicate more than 70 per cent of road accident deaths are caused by drivers' errors. Although drivers with less than three years of driving experience make up only 30 per cent of the total, they cause 70 per cent of accidents. Rules concerning the training and testing of drivers are being tightened in large cities, but many people simply regard driving as a test of guts in the countryside and small towns. They do not usually receive much training before getting their driver's licence. A high level of uniformity in China's training and testing will not only provide practical protection for the people, but will also be proof of the effectiveness of our public services. It would not be hard to bring about a change in this area. It could come along as quickly as the building of roads as long as there is the will from the central government down. Read the rest of this excellent article here, from the China Daily ___________________________
Over 50 public transport drivers and vehicle owners met March 11 at the Buea Public Works School to [seek a way of] reducing road accidents in the South West Province. Peculiar to the province are such causes as excess speed, poor state of roads, abandoned vehicles, police and gendarme checks at blind corners. Equally, roadside markets, driver-poor-working conditions, absence of road signs, corrupt issuing of driving licenses and worst still, a new phenomenon of hemp smoking by drivers for what they say "mustering of steering courage".... Some of the causes of mishaps that have taken numerous lives on our roads include poor vehicle tyres, uncontrolled braking system, bad headlamps, bad win screens, no trafficating lights, negligence of seatbelts. The workshop participants from all the Six Divisions of the South West Province confirmed the causes and pledged to forestall them through their various unions.... Full story, from The Cameroon Tribune, via allAfrica
DSA Comments Having had the arduous delight of traveling by road, right across Africa, from the east coast in Kenya to the west coast in Cameroon, I would have to comment that despite the above article, the "causes" described are certainly not "peculiar to the province." Indeed, my own phrase "traveling by road" is effectively a euphemism as even the so-called Trans-Africa Highway -- our route across this huge continent -- was rarely anything more than an incredibly rough, mud track. The problems for road safety in poorer nations are well known and the lack of national wealth is inevitably at the root of such situations. Introspection by any country about crash causation and remedies can be a retrograde step. This is why it is proving to be so important that countries such as Cameroon get as much outside help and support as possible from other countries with the relevant expertise and experience. Eddie Wren, Executive Director, Drive and Stay Alive, Inc. ___________________________
On Monday, the Jakarta Police introduced a new Traffic Management Center to monitor traffic throughout the capital. The Rp 2.3 billion center, on Jl. MT Haryono in South Jakarta, is supported by closed-circuit TV cameras located in 50 strategic areas throughout the capital, plus global positioning systems (GPS) that have been placed in police cars. "With the CCTVs, we can monitor traffic from the center. And if, for example, a car is stolen in one area of Jakarta, we will use the GPS to find the nearest police patrol car and dispatch it to the scene immediately," said the head of the city's traffic police, Sr. Comr. Djoko Santoso. [Source: The Jakarta Post] ___________________________
New median barriers have prevented about 50% of deaths in Alabama over the past 2 years Median barriers have cut Alabama's fatality rate for crossover wrecks by about 50 percent over the past two years, according to the state Department of Transportation. Transportation officials have erected 52 miles of median barriers across Alabama at a cost of $14 million since 2003. Forty-nine people died in highway crossover wrecks that year. Twenty-four people died in crossover wrecks last year.... DOT spokesman Tony Harris said crossover crashes, which occur when a vehicle crosses the median and winds up in the opposing lane of traffic, are about three times more severe than other interstate crashes. Harris said common causes are tire failure, hydroplaning and drivers not paying attention to the road.... Full story here, from The Decatur Daily
DSA Comments The human benefits of median barriers surely are self-evident, but even the simplest cost-benefit analysis would suggest major financial gains here, too. Given that the NHTSA estimate that every person killed in a U.S. road crash costs society around $1 million, one can see that the reduction in fatalities alone has saved millions of dollars, despite the cost of installing the barriers in question, and that is before one even starts to consider the cost savings from the reduction in non-fatal injuries. Eddie Wren, Executive Director, Drive and Stay Alive, Inc. ___________________________
Someday, cars will see beyond the road that lies within the headlight beams. They'll have cameras that detect what is happening all around it. And eventually they'll talk to each other. Those are the predictions of nine auto executives in charge of safety at automakers and suppliers during a conference held Monday by the Society of Automotive Engineers. The annual conference, which ends Thursday and is expected to attract more than 35,000 people to Cobo Center in Detroit, features ways automakers and suppliers can improve vehicles' safety, comfort and performance.... Full story, from the Detroit Free Press
Same story, different angle:
Get ready for a brave new world of cars that can save you from yourself -- or at least correct some of your dumber driving errors. In coming years, automakers are increasingly going to build intelligent cars that can keep drivers out of accidents, a panel of automotive executives told the Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress on Monday.... The executives predicted increased emphasis on preventing crashes, rather than reducing injuries when a crash had already occurred.... For manufacturers that have earned five-star ratings in the current array of crash tests from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, there is little more to be gained from improvement in body structures, said Josef Haberl, BMW's director of vehicle safety. It would be expensive to eke out further gains on crash protections, and the money would be better spent on new ways to help drivers avoid crashes.... Full story, from the Detroit News ___________________________
Less than 10 percent of children between 4 and 8 sit in booster seats while riding in cars and trucks in Michigan, a study by the University of Michigan says. The study by the university's Transportation Research Institute showed that only 8.6 percent of children they observed between 4 and 8 used booster seats, the Department of Community Health said in a statement released Monday. Researchers visited fast food restaurants, day care centers and shopping centers across the state to find out which kind of restraint was used for young children. They said nearly half of the children they observed were restrained by an adult safety belt and a little more than 5 percent were riding in a child safety seat when they should have been in a booster seat. Nearly 40 percent were completely unrestrained, researchers said.... Full story, from the Detroit News ___________________________
Some high schoolers who rented a limo so they could stay safe on prom night ended up getting a wild ride they didn't plan for. A senior at Winter Springs High School in Florida used his cell phone to call his dad from the limo, to complain about the driver's erratic driving. He says she blew through stop signs, cut off vehicles and veered onto the wrong side of the road. The man told his son to tell the driver to pull over. When she stopped, the kids grabbed the keys out of the ignition. The students got to the prom an hour and a half late. Authorities say they found a half-empty vodka bottle next to the driver's seat. They say the driver told them she'd been drinking wine. She's been charged with D-U-I and refusing to submit to a blood-alcohol test.
DSA Comments Thank heavens these kids had the sense to make the call, and that the father gave them such good advice. We normally refrain from any comment on legal or penal issues -- on what we believe to be the rightful basis of sub judice -- but assuming that she's found guilty we hope this woman "gets the book thrown at her," hard! Eddie Wren, Executive Director, Drive and Stay Alive, Inc. ___________________________
Chinese children are having more risks of traffic injuries as the number of cars soars, with at least 19 children under the age of 15 died of road accidents everyday, a report on child pedestrian safety said Tuesda y. According to the report jointly conducted by the China Center for Disease Prevention and Control and the Ministry of Public Security, last year 7,078 children were killed by traffic accidents, 113 more than in 2003. Altogether 28,017 children were injured by traffic, up 6 percent over 2000.... Full story, from Xinhuanet ___________________________
HANOI -- Vietnam sped into the motorised age, but the bicycle and the conical straw hat has been slow to accept the crash helmet as protection in dangerous traffic. The estimated daily death toll of 35 people or more is one of the world's highest traffic accident rates. Many of the victims are motorbike riders without protective headgear. Only 15 years ago Vietnam was primarily a bicycle-pedalling society, but rapid economic development since 1990 has made it the world's fastest motorising country. "It caught the government off guard, it caught society off guard," said Greig Craft of the Hanoi-based Asia Injury Prevention Foundation, a U.S. non-profit group that works with the government and United Nations agencies to improve road safety. "There was no training, no licensing procedures. The enforcement and education wasn't there.".... Full story, from Reuters India ___________________________
Nine people, jammed into a Paykan, were killed when the car collided with a truck on the Shahroud-Sabzevar road in northeastern Iran Sunday night, a provincial police official announced Monday. The vehicle [allegedly] was swerved to left because of the driver's drowsiness. Iran has one of the highest rates of road accidents in the world, but death rate has mounted down dramatical by 40 PC. Transport experts blame most of the accidents on hazardous roads and reckless driving. [Source: The Persian Journal] ___________________________
NRMA’s Mobile Member Centre, a $1.7 million [US $1.32 million] purpose-built semi-trailer, features information for adults and children about safer roads, safer drivers and safer vehicles. The 23-metre prime mover and trailer uses the state-of-the-art LCD touch-screen and computer technology to allow people to compare crash test results of small, medium, family and 4WD vehicles. The 19-tonne member centre also features interactive road safety games, information about how to build safer roads and the history of the NRMA’s involvement in road safety. “As Australia’s largest motoring organisation, NRMA has a responsibility to educate the community about road safety," said NRMA Motoring & Services’ President, Alan Evans. The NRMA Mobile Member Centre will visit more than 30 towns across NSW and the ACT in 2005, and will reach 300,000 people this year alone. [Source: National Roads and Motorists' Association, Ltd.] ___________________________
In Britain, motorways account for a fifth of road traffic. In 2003, 184 people died on motorways compared with 1,890 on rural roads. Motorways are five times safer per mile driven than the average road and eight times safer than urban 'A' roads. There were 9 crashes per 100 million vehicle kilometres on motorways in 2003, compared with 76 on urban 'A' roads. The proportion of cars exceeding the 70mph limit was 57 per cent in 2003 -- up from 54 per cent in 2002 -- and a fifth travel at more than 80mph. [Source: 'Speed cameras to enforce 70mph motorway limit', from The Times] ___________________________
Thousands of road signs are being stolen by gangs who dress up as road contractors and sell the metal to scrapyards. An abrupt rise in the value of aluminium has prompted the rapid disappearance of signposts across Britain, causing, in some cases, chaos on roads. In March the price of the metal rocketed to a ten-year high of $2,016 (£1,068) a tonne. A 20kg sign will fetch about £14. Although thieves have shown a predilection for the chevrons that indicate sharp bends on roads — their size makes them more valuable — police are also concerned about the systematic destruction of motorway monitoring systems, which are encased in aluminium cupboards. Cities such as Manchester are facing bills in excess of £500,000 a year to repair the damage. Although the Highways Agency denied the problem had spread nationwide, police want an investigation into the scale of the crimewave. They suspect that gangs of thieves are scouring the country for aluminium signs.... Full story, from The Times ___________________________
Justice Minister Michael McDowell has announced that the Traffic Corps is to be doubled to some 1,100 gardaí [i.e. police officers] to stop the carnage on Ireland's roads. The extra 550 gardaí are already being trained at Templemore, and they will be assigned to the Garda Siochána in 2006. The introduction of the penalty points system by the Department of Environment in 2002 marked a dramatic decline in the death rate on our roads, but the figures have been creeping back up for some time. The fact that road safety has been the responsibility of two government departments - Justice and Transport - has led to difficulties in tackling the new increase in road fatalities.... Full story, from the Irish Examiner ___________________________
The European Parliament will give a second reading to proposed directive 'Road safety: frontal protection systems on motor vehicles (amend. direct. 70/156/EEC)', which would ban the fitment of rigid bull bars on new cars and set a type approval system for non-rigid bull bars. [Source: PACTS] ___________________________
At least 50 people died in road accidents during the first two days of the lead up to this week's long Songkran holiday, which officially starts on Wednesday. Many people began their holiday travels on Friday and there have been 847 accidents during the first two of the "10 dangerous days'' -- April 8-17 -- of the Thai New Year festival, the Accident Prevention and Mitigation Department reported... Emergency services are bracing for the expected annual carnage. More than 100,000 rescue and medical staff are on standby nationwide, in a bid to reduce the toll from last year's 654 dead.... Full story, from the Bangkok Post ___________________________
Spending on roads must be increased if the road toll is to be cut further, even though a hard core of unsafe drivers are unlikely ever to change their behaviour, the RACV believes. Its public policy manager, Ken Ogden, said Victoria faced a $1 billion spending backlog, with more State Government money needed for rural roads, safer intersections and traffic signals. The RACV welcomed the Transport Accident Commission's commitment of $130 million over two years for safer roads, but said it believed all speed camera revenue should go into safety. "We've got to stop putting the onus back solely on the road user," Mr Ogden said. "Of course, they need to behave responsibly, but I think it's also up to the Government...." Safety experts such as Ian Johnston, of Monash University, say Victoria's road toll, which is now running at about 370 deaths a year, could be cut to 200 by newer cars and safer roads.... "Enforcement has a natural limit, and we have to invest more in a safe system," [said Professor Johnston].... Full story, from The Age ___________________________
A teenager was killed and three others injured when a car, driven by a P-plater, crashed into a power pole in Sydney's west early yesterday morning. The driver and passengers... were driving in a Hyundai Excel when the 17-year-old driver lost control. Fairfield police Inspector Greg Rehn said the car went airborne after it mounted a roundabout about 2.15am. The front passenger – also a 17-year-old boy – died on impact with the pole. The driver was taken to Westmead Hospital where he remains in a serious but stable condition... The two backseat passengers – another boy, 17, and a 15-year-old girl – were also injured and taken to hospital.... Full story, from The Daily Telegraph same theme -- different incident
A car, overloaded with six teenagers, slammed into a tree on Kangaroo Island, South Australia, late on Friday night, killing a 15-year-old schoolgirl and shattering the close-knit community. [Her 15-year-old] school friend was last night in Flinders Medical Centre with serious head and chest injuries and a collapsed lung. The driver of the Holden Commodore, a 16-year-old male, lost control as it rounded a corner on an unlit but sealed stretch of road. It is believed he was issued with P-plates on Thursday. [DSA: In other words, he was only part way through learning to drive.] The five-seater sedan flipped before crashing into a tree, snapping the tree in half.... "We believe that some of the people were ejected from the vehicle which leads us to believe that (some were not wearing seatbelts)," Major Crash Investigation branch Sergeant Paul Sowerby said yesterday.... "We want [people] to certainly wear their seatbelts. We want them to slow down," [he said.].... Kingscote Netball Centre manager Val Payne said.... ""The kids here are like anywhere. They think they are invincible."... The death comes after 28 people were killed on SA roads in March. Four people have died this month.... After another weekend of carnage, South Australia's road toll stands at 46, 12 more than at the same time last year. Full story, from NEWS.com - Sunday Mail ___________________________
[On a black day for the Kiwis, four adults were killed in separate vehicle crashes and a two-year-old girl was killed in a heartrending driveway 'back-over' accident.] The deaths, ironically, came on the same day as National pledged it would boost the number of police officers dealing with serious crime by moving resources away from traffic policing.... Meanwhile, Police Minister George Hawkins said the only thing National was pledging to do by taking police off roads was to return New Zealand to the "bloody carnage" of pre-1999 road tolls. Police should be applauded for lower rates of crime, greater percentages of crimes being solved and safer roads, he said. Land Transport New Zealand chief executive Wayne Donnelly said any change in resources would have a dramatic impact because road safety enforcement was an important part of the safety programme. Full story, from The New Zealand Herald ___________________________
From Chandigarh, in India, comes details of a fine for an offence/infraction that is rarely mentioned: "The penalty for smoking or using a mobile telephone while driving is Rs 1,100." [Source: 'Chandigarh drivers beware, cops are watching' from the Navhind Times] ___________________________
PRETORIA - A man is in a critical condition and four other people were seriously injured after a car ploughed into a group of about 35 Harley-Davidson motorbikes on the N1 highway south of Pretoria on Sunday.... Johan Pieterse, spokesperson for the Tswane emergency services, said among those who were seriously injured was a six-year-old boy.... The driver of the car was slightly injured. Pieterse said, according to eyewitnesses, the driver was apparently busy talking on his cellphone when the accident happened. "He drove into the barricade on the right-hand side, lost control of the vehicle and ploughed into the motorbikes."... Full story, from News 24 ___________________________
Traffic Police Headquarters will deploy 3,700 police officers during the festive season to nab drunken drivers. "We will severely deal with drunken drivers this year. Therefore, we request people to avoid driving after celebrating at new year parties", DIG Traffic Gamini Silva told the Sunday Observer. Traffic Police Headquarters will send special police teams to Nuwara Eliya tomorrow. "We will conduct traffic demonstrations in Nuwara Eliya from tomorrow to educate people. Mostly rich people flock into Nuwara Eliya during new year vacation. They are the people who mostly violate traffic rules but we will severely deal with them this time", DIG Silva warned.... Full story, from The Sunday Observer ___________________________
MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) - Each day, an average of 95 people die on Russia's highways as a result of road accidents. This was said at an all-Russian public conference on road traffic safety by head of the Department for road traffic safety Viktor Kiryanov. Kiryanov cited statistical data, according to which over 34,000 people died in more than 208,000 road accidents in Russia last year. He noted that the number of accidents had grown by 2%, and with the statistical reduction of the death toll, the number of those wounded had grown by almost 13%. "In other words, each day there happen 570 road accidents on the country's highways, as a result of which 95 people, including 4 children, die, and some 700 get different physical injuries," said Kiryanov. In his words, for the last 10 years, road accidents killed some 315,000 people, leaving some 2 million wounded.... The scale of road accident traumatism in Russia directly threatens the country's national security, Alexander Chekalin, first deputy of the Interior Minister, said at the conference.... "The negative consequences of Russia's automobilization, the lag of road conditions, traffic organization means, and driver training have become very urgent," said Chekalin. Full story, from RIA Novosti (English version) ___________________________
Road safety would be taught in classrooms as early as kindergarten under a radical education plan being promoted by the Tasmanian Motorcycle Council. Under the plan, students would spend half an hour each week learning about road safety, from kindergarten until year 11, when they become eligible for a provisional driver's licence. They would then have more than 200 hours of road safety theory behind them. Council president John Scheibl said it was hoped that by introducing road safety to children at the earliest possible stage of their schooling, it would be second nature to them when they needed to apply it practically. He said it would also be giving them skills they could use immediately. "Children are road users too," he said. "They're pedestrians, cyclists and passengers in cars and spend a lot of time on the roads." Mr Scheibl said the idea of introducing road safety into the school curriculum had been around for a few years, but momentum was starting to build. He presented the idea at a National Road Safety Consultative Committee meeting and was asked to draft a proposal. "Ideally, it could be up and running in two years," he said. "It'd be a national first. "I don't think anyone is too young to start learning about road safety.".... Full story, from The Mercury
DSA Comments We wish the Tasmanian Motorcycle Council, and Tasmania itself, the very best of luck with this undeniably excellent proposal. Eddie Wren, Executive Director, Drive and Stay Alive, Inc. ___________________________
The Montana legislature has cleared a bill to ban drinking on the open highway.... Cities and towns in Montana already forbid drinking behind the wheel, but there's no state law banning it on the long, desolate stretches of open road. Montana is the size of New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio combined, but has only 927,000 people. It also has the highest rate of alcohol-related highway deaths, according to the federal government. The deputy chief of the Montana Highway Patrol thinks the law "will start the cultural change that we need." But it won't have much sting -- violators face only a 100-dollar fine, and no marks on their license. Full story, from AP, via KVOA
DSA Comments The penalty -- and therefore the law also -- is seriously inadequate as it stands, especially in the state with "the highest rate of alcohol-related highway deaths." Eddie Wren, Executive Director, Drive and Stay Alive, Inc. ___________________________
Russia’s GIBDD traffic police last year exposed over 40 million cases of traffic rules abuse, the chief of the Interior Ministry’s road traffic safety department, Viktor Kiryanov has said. "[These included] 405,000 cases of speed limit abuse, 1.1 million cases of opposite lane driving and 1.2 million cases of drunk driving,” Kiryanov said. Many streets in Russian cities lack proper road markings. Conditions for pedestrians are unsafe. Over 60 percent of traffic incidents involve pedestrian runovers. “Road sign facilities fall 20 percent short of the expected standard...,” Russia’s chief traffic police officer said. Analysts believe better road lighting will help reduce the number of traffic incidents by 30 percent, and that of deaths in road accidents, by 65 percent. A major factor for high accident rates is the technical condition and age of Russia’s fleet of motor vehicles. Half of the cars and trucks on the country’s roads are more than ten years old. Full story, from ITAR/TASS ___________________________
LUSAKA - The death toll in a road accident involving Zambian high school students had risen to 42 Saturday and the condition of more than 40 others was critical, police said. Police spokesperson Brenda Muntemba said the condition of many of the injured had worsened because the rural hospital in northern Zambia where the accident took place Friday did not have the resources to handle the situation. Thirty-eight students died on Friday after the truck in which they were travelling overturned as they returning home from a boarding school at Kawambwa for a holiday. Muntemba said the driver of the truck had failed to negotiate a corner and the vehicle rolled several times. [Source: News 24, South Africa] ___________________________
Traffic cops here have embarked on a blitz operation to try to deal with people using cellphones while driving. In the last month 185 motorists in East London have been fined R200 [U.S. $32.48] each for talking on cellphones. The blitz is part of a crackdown on three priority offences – driving while talking on a cellular phone, failing to stop at stop streets and failing to stop at a red robots. [DSA note: "Red Robots" is simply a South African phrase for traffic lights. Our thanks to Johan Jonck, of Arrive Alive, for clarifying that one for us!] “While other road offences will not be ignored, these offences will get special attention,” Buffalo City commander for traffic and policing, Berny Martin, said yesterday. “It is common knowledge that it is illegal to drive and talk on a cellphone even if stopped at a stop street or intersection,” Martin said. He said motorists “are openly flouting this law which shows a total lack of respect for the rules of the road”. “It is of great concern to the traffic department that motorists are driving, sometimes at high speeds, with only one hand on the steering wheel while talking on a cellphone. “In an emergency situation this is a recipe for disaster as your concentration is disturbed and this can have serious and even fatal consequences,” he said.... “Not adhering to [any of the three] offences is not only a blatant transgression of road rules but also (shows) total disregard for the lives of other motorists,” Martin said. Full story (very slow download), from the Daily Dispatch ___________________________
Thailand’s Senate Committee on Tourism has urged the government to tackle the problem of road fatalities during the Songkran festival next week.... The Senate Committee disagrees with government’s solution of simply setting a target for the reduction of road deaths, the head of the Committee Suradet Yasawas told a press conference after the meeting. The government should formulate concrete measures to prevent deaths and injuries on the road during the water festival holiday, he said. Motorcyclists are amongst the highest casualties during this festival. The Committee proposed that the speed limit for motorcycles be reduced to 60 kilometres [37mph] instead of 80 [50mph]. The Interior ministry has proposed a “carrot and stick” policy in order to encourage local communities to participate in road safety campaign. The government is offering villages with the least road accidents cash rewards.
Mr.Suradet suggested that heads of any villages with the highest
numbers of deaths and injuries should Police should take tough action against motorists who drink and drive because most of Thailand’s road accidents in Thailand involve drunk drivers, said Mr. Suradet. [Source: MCOT] ___________________________
..... According to the police, at about 6:46 yesterday morning a 1989 Toyota Liteace minivan, owned and driven by Kennard Williams, a 41 year-old teacher at Lennon High School, was proceeding in an easterly direction to May Pen when it collided with a 1991 Toyota Corolla motor car, being driven by 23 year-old Leroy "Five Minutes" Bailey, which was proceeding in the opposite direction. The police said Bailey, who was alone in his car, was in the process of overtaking a line of traffic when he collided head-on with the minivan. Janet Williams, 40, and her daughter Kayla, aged 10, who were traveling in the minivan, were killed in the crash. Police Sergeant M Binns blamed the accident on poor overtaking on the part of the taxi driver. "With this kind of accident I must encourage them (taxi operators) and all other motorists to exercise more care when using the roads, as failing to do this can result in death, dismemberment and serious injury to others," Binns said.... Full story, from the Jamaica Observer ___________________________
Despite strong resistance from the European Commission, Parliament's Transport Committee will be recommending that Parliament postpone the compulsory fitting of new lorries with a digital tachograph by 5 August 2005, as the legislation is not expected to be in place in time. The committee says all vehicles manufactured after 5 August 2006 should be fitted with such devices and all vehicles put into service for the first time after 5 August 2007 should be fitted with them. MEPs in the committee said these two starting dates were more realistic for the industry. The proposal will be debated on 11 April. The committee took this decision when, in two 2nd-reading recommendations by Helmuth MARKOV (GUE/NGL, Germany), it broadly approved proposals to tighten up social legislation on road transport, including lorry drivers and owners. However, MEPs in the committee disagree with the Council's common position on a number of points. Apart from tachographs, key issues are rest times and driving hours, penalties for violations of the new rules, the minimum age of drivers, roadside checks and inspections of transport firms, and courier and express services. [Source: Energy and Transport in Europe -- full text here] ___________________________
Now one manufacturer is going back to the drawing board, and the other is demanding data after Consumer Reports slammed the performance of two of their rear-facing infant carriers. Both carriers failed to restrain infants on the high end of the seat's manufacturer-claimed weight limit, according to Consumer Reports. The product safety and reliability agency rated Combi's Avatar Convertible Restraint as "Not Acceptable" when its latch system snapped in a 28.9 mile per hour crash, sending the seat and a 22-pound dummy flying off the test rig. Consumer Reports says Combi's claimed weight limit is 30 pounds for the convertible seat. Consumer Reports rated Evenflo's PortAbout 5 as "Poor" when the seat and its 22-pound dummy tumbled off the seat's base at speeds of 30.4 miles per hour in two of five separate tests. Evenflo's weight limit claim is 22 pounds, according to Consumer Reports. Both seats passed Consumer Reports' crash tests under the same conditions with standard vehicle belts. That leads at least one child safety expert to believe the LATCH system, a system of tethered latches on child seats and steel anchors in vehicles that gradually became standard between 1999 and 2002, might need a second look.... Never buy used child safety seats from garage sales or thrift shops. Regularly check child safety seat recalls on the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's website (www.cpsc.gov).... Full story, from News Channel Three ___________________________
The driver who struck and killed a female pedestrian Thursday morning on Interstate 85, in North Carolina, will not be charged.... The highway patrol says the victim – who has not been identified – was attempting to walk across all eight lanes of traffic when she was hit. Troopers say it is difficult to catch people crossing the interstate, which is not only dangerous but also illegal.... Full story, from News 14 Carolina
DSA Comments For pedestrians to walk across any major highways should always be illegal -- as is the case here -- but this is none-the-less an apposite moment to comment on the frequently abysmal facilities that exist for pedestrians crossing many roads throughout the U.S.A. part of this is no doubt due to the culture that has developed which dictates that walking fifty yards would be far too taxing and that the car is King. But as long as road authorities fail to create adequate, safe crossing facilities who can blame the public for never walking? And if one dares to mention or suggest pedestrian over-bridges or underpasses, to get people across larger roads safely, the response often verges on derisive. Yet these safety facilities are commonplace in other developed countries, so why not America? Eddie Wren, Executive Director, Drive and Stay Alive, Inc. ___________________________
Dozens of local police departments will participate in a state program over the next two weeks aimed at reducing aggressive driving. To expand its efforts to reduce aggressive driving, the Governor's Highway Safety Bureau, a program of the executive Office of Public Safety, announced it was providing $500,000 federal grant funds to enable 255 local police departments to join the state police in its 2005 Road Respect mobilization from April 4 to 17. "Aggressive driving is often the cause of crashes and road rage incidents," Colonel Thomas G. Robbins said. "The state police are committed to combating these problems with high police visibility and traffic enforcement. We will be out in full force, not only during this Road Respect mobilization, but every day, targeting aggressive drivers," he said. Brook Chipman, a spokesman for the Highway Safety Bureau, said all cities and towns are eligible to apply for the grant, but not all do. Massachusetts state and local police issued approximately 148,000 aggressive driving citations between 2000 and 2003, with 17,950 of these citations involving a crash. An aggressive driving citation is one that involves two or more aggressive driving violations, such as speeding, tailgating or improper lane changes. A statewide telephone survey last month of 500 men ages 16 to 34 was sponsored by the bureau to help evaluate the effectiveness of the mobilization. A similar survey will be conducted afterward to determine the impact of the initiative. The initial survey found that when asked what most endangers traffic safety on the highway, interviewees responses showed that distracted driving was number one, with reckless and drunken driving coming in a close second and third. Most of those surveyed stated that they had been targets of aggressive driving, with 87 percent being tailgated and 90 percent having been cut off in traffic. However, the majority of the same interviewees -- 67 percent -- admitted to speeding up at yellow lights, and 85 percent admitted to speeding. But only about half of them said they are aggressive themselves. Just 5 percent identified themselves as very aggressive compared to 16 percent who said they were not aggressive at all. [Sources: Bolton Common, and the Berkshire Eagle]
DSA Comments As can be seen above, 85 percent of the survey respondents admitted to speeding -- one of the three stipulated problems -- whereas 16 percent stated that they were not aggressive at all. It would be interesting to know how many of the "never aggressive" individuals were among the 85 percent who are speeders. Clearly at least one percent of the respondents fell into both of these self-contradictory categories, and our guess is that the proportion was much higher because a lot of drivers seemingly believe that they, as individuals, are somehow different and are therefore allowed to bend the law. Eddie Wren, Executive Director, Drive and Stay Alive, Inc. ___________________________
Fewer Michigan motorists died behind the wheel in 2004 than in any year since the end of World War II. Safety advocates are still analyzing the statistics, but they believe the credit goes to a stricter drunken-driving law, greater safety belt use and better-engineered vehicles and roads. State statistics show 124 fewer people died in traffic crashes last year than in 2003. That's a 10 percent drop, and the fewest fatalities since 1945. Col. Tadarial Sturdivant, director of the Michigan State Police, called the improvement "remarkable" and at least partially linked to a "dramatic increase in safety belt use."... It's a growing trend: Seat belt use topped 90 percent in Michigan and five other states last year -- compared to usage of about 80 percent nationwide. State safety experts believe a law that lowered the allowable blood-alcohol limit from .10 to .08 in late 2003 also shares some of the credit, as does better vehicle and roadway engineering.... Full story, from the Detroit News ___________________________
Two-vehicle crash critically injures man A 23-year-old Wyoming County man remained in critical condition Thursday evening in Erie County Medical Center after being injured Wednesday night in a two-vehicle crash on Route 20 in Genesee County, authorities said. Genesee County sheriff's deputies said a car driven by Aaron J. Burr, of Castile, was heading north on East Road in the Town of Bethany when it turned right onto Route 20 and veered into the path of a westbound tractor-trailer.... Full story, from the Buffalo News ___________________________
Three out of five motorists admit they have taken their eyes off the road to deal with distracting children, according to a new survey commissioned by the NRMA, in Australia. Released ahead of the school holidays in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, the survey showed [no?] fewer than one in eight said they almost had a crash because they were distracted by children's antics in the back seat of the car.... ___________________________
Preaching road safety with religion at a West Auckland church is hailed as a breakthrough in cutting accident rates among Pacific Island people. A programme called "Safe in His Hands" resulted in members of the Tongan Methodist Church in New Lynn becoming road safety champions in their own community. Visitors have been surprised to hear church members burst into the Buckle Up song.... In the national Road Safety Innovations Awards the church was joint winner of the $5000 premier award and the winner of the $2000 community award. The prizemoney will go towards keeping up its road safety programme and will allow women with learners' licences to progress to their restricted licences. Waitakere City road safety co-ordinator Kitch Cuthbert said initial difficulty in getting churches to adopt road safety was overcome by having a Pacific Islands woman, Bonnie Dowding, as the go-between. Health Ministry statistics suggested Pacific Islands children were 14 times as likely as other children to be injured as passengers. Full story, from The New Zealand Herald ___________________________
The Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety's research project on 'New Technologies, Road Traffic Enforcement and Road Safety' has been progressing rapidly, and publication is expected in October 2005. A paper entitled 'Policing Road Risk', which summarises some of the emerging issues and themes of the project, was delivered at the RoSPA Road Safety Congress 2005 last month and is now available for download on PACTS' website. Comments would be welcome. Source: PACTS ___________________________
Car stickers are automotive tattoos that can give an insight into their owner's personality claims the RAC Foundation.
Foundation, " It clearly distinguishes the tribe with which its owner identifies. Drivers who personalise their cars with stickers are giving away much more about their character than they think." What tribe do you belong to? The Foundation has classified the ten lost tribes of the road.... Read this very funny (but occasionally serious) article, here. ___________________________
Distracting backseat drivers are causing a quarter (24 per cent) of UK motorists to drive dangerously and put lives at risk, new research from Direct Line car insurance suggests. The research highlights that dangerous lapses in driver concentration due to passenger interruptions have resulted in over one million accidents and near misses amongst UK motorists.... ___________________________
During the first three months of this year accidents on China's roads claimed more than 20,000 lives. Figures released yesterday by the Ministry of Public Security showed that from January to March there were 117,220 traffic accidents resulting in 118,887 injuries, 23,411 deaths and the loss of 490 million yuan (US$59 million) worth of property. However, the apparently high figures actually represent a significant decline over the same period last year.... Statistics from the Ministry of Public Security indicated that last year witnessed a total of 517,889 road accidents claiming the lives of 107,077 people and injuring another 480,864 with a loss of 2.39 billion yuan (US$287.9 million) worth of assets. Full story, from the China Daily
DSA Comments It is thought that the annual road-death toll in China may be much higher than official statistics show. Eddie Wren, Executive Director, Drive and Stay Alive, Inc. ___________________________
On the heels of winning the 2005 World Traffic Safety Symposium award for leadership in community service, Continental Teves today said it would continue educating consumers about the latest safety advances and why they are important to have on their next new vehicle. Continental Automotive Systems North America President and CEO William Kozyra said, "We are grateful to the World Traffic Safety Symposium for recognizing our work innovating quality safety products that are right for the times, and making sure the public understands the value and how to use them to best advantage." The award was presented in New York City, on April 1, during the New York International Auto Show.... ___________________________
Phil Konstantin lost his wife in 1999 after she dozed off at the wheel. Yesterday, the longtime California Highway Patrol officer introduced Drowsy Driver Awareness Day. It was the culmination of his personal campaign to raise awareness and to declare April 6 in remembrance of Robin Konstantin.... The CHP, with Konstantin's help, has published a booklet advising drivers how to avoid drowsy driving. Some states are considering making it illegal. Among the tips: Get a good night's sleep; take a break at least every two hours to stretch; set realistic travel goals; share driving tasks and switch drivers; and avoid driving during normal sleep times. Full story, from Sign-On San Diego ___________________________
All passenger cars will have tire pressure monitoring systems beginning with the 2006 model year according to a new motor vehicle safety standard by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). ___________________________
CAMP VICTORY, Iraq (Army News Service) -- From October 2004 to January 2005, Coalition forces in Iraq suffered 48 troop fatalities due to military-vehicle related accidents. This is nearly half the number of troops that were lost during the entire 2004 fiscal year, according to Multi-National Corps - Iraq safety reports. After analysis and investigation, the MNC-I safety office has determined that more than half of the total accident fatalities that have occurred in Iraq are vehicle-related. Of those, 66 percent were vehicle rollovers. Full story, from US Army News ___________________________
.....In Germany, where drivers routinely go 140 mph or more on the autobahns, the highway death rate actually is lower than it is in the United States. Is it a coincidence that many cars there lack so much as a cup holder on the driver’s side? Martina Nibbeling-Wriessnig, a spokeswoman for the German embassy in Washington, D.C., thinks not. She admits to being “horrified” by Americans’ multitasking driving habits. “I have seen a woman knitting behind the wheel,” she said, aghast. “I saw a guy shaving — not even dry shaving, but wet shaving — while the car was moving. You would never see this in Germany. We take driving very seriously.” Telephoning while driving is illegal there. Motorists stay to the right except when passing. They routinely and predictably use their turn signals. They don’t tailgate. And to even get a license, Germans must be at least 18 and undergo classes in night driving, city traffic, country roads and on the autobahn. Any ticket in the first two years sends them back to school. If there’s any doubt that such distractions are killing us, in January researchers announced findings that 20-year-olds using cell phones while driving had similar reaction times to 70-year-olds on the verge of a nap. The publishers of the Utah study blamed cell phone use for 2,600 traffic deaths every year in the United States. But even as some cities and states crack down on driving while phoning — and on speeding and red-light running and road rage — many experts feel it will take years to create the kind of sea change that will make Americans view driving more responsibly. Full story, from The State, SC ___________________________
Three Britons each clocked doing more than 130mph during the infamous Cannonball Run will have their cars confiscated and sold by French police. Nicholas Manning, 42, Benjamin Hugues, 27, and Timon Cooke, 26, face six months jail unless they hand over the £70,000 Ferrari Spider 355, £60,000 Porsche 911 and top-range Mitsubishi. They were among hundreds of drivers in the run from London to Monte Carlo in September last year. Witnesses told how they "slalomed" around slower vehicles, often overtaking on the hard shoulder as they sped down Autoroute 1 from Calais to Paris. They were finally stopped at a police checkpoint. Magalie Arquie, prosecuting at Senlis, north of Paris, said: "They used the motorway like a Formula One circuit." As well as receiving six-month suspended sentences, they were fined £3,000 each for dangerous driving. Modelled on the race across America in the 1970s, the event attracts playboys from around the world for three days of fast cars, parties and luxury hotels.... [Source: The Daily Mirror]
DSA Comments We wish the French good luck in stopping this selfish lunacy, once and for all. Eddie Wren, Executive Director, Drive and Stay Alive, Inc. ___________________________
A bus collided with a truck on a highway near the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, killing 20 people and injuring about two dozen, federal police said Wednesday.... The cause of the crash is under investigation. Initial reports indicated the accident happened when the bus tried to pass another vehicle.... Full story, from azcentral ___________________________
KANO, Nigeria - Road accidents killed at least 21 Nigerians on Wednesday and left more than 15 seriously injured, witnesses and road traffic officials said. Sixteen people were killed and 15 others injured on when a bus ploughed into an overloaded car 20km outside the northern town of Bauchiu, local road safety official Oladipe Fadogba told AFP by telephone. The driver of the car [set off] without minding to look to his rear and the upcoming bus ran into it, leading to the death of 16 passengers including all seven occupants of the car," he said.... Meanwhile at least six commuters were killed and several other injured when a minibus packed with commuters lost control and flipped over while crossing the port city of Lagos' longest bridge, witnesses and an official said.... Last week 17 people were killed in a similar accident in Enugu State, southern Nigeria. Thousands are killed every year in decrepit and overloaded vehicles on Nigeria's overcrowded and badly maintained roads. Full story, from IOL ___________________________
Tokyo - The safety of a Japanese neighbourhood was on Wednesday put in the hands - briefly - of a robot, which became police chief for the day in a campaign to promote safe driving. T63 Artemis, named after the Greek moon goddess Artemis, helped its subordinate human officers distribute fliers on traffic safety at the train station.... Full story, from IOL, South Africa ___________________________
HA NOI — Reckless driving and disobedience of the traffic laws by motorbike drivers caused thousands of deaths and injuries in the first three months of this year, according to the National Committee for Traffic Safety. Nearly 4,000 traffic accidents occurred nationwide in the first three months of this year, claiming 2,955 lives and injuring 3,474 others, the committee announced.... In an effort to curb the number of accidents, police and inspectors have increased patrols and will severely penalise violators of traffic laws. [Source: VNS] ___________________________
The Delhi Government has constituted State Road Safety Council to bring about inter-agency co-ordination to ensure safety of all road users, including pedestrians, non-motorised and motorised transport. A notification, tabled in Delhi Assembly by State Transport Minister Haroon Yusuf today, said the 15-member Council, chaired by Delhi Government's Transport Secretary-cum-Commissioner, would ensure that safety features and proper facilities for all road users were incorporated at design, engineering/re-engineering, repair and maintenance stages. It would also ensure proper and effective installation of signages.... Full story, from Web India 123 ___________________________
Governor of Sindh Dr. Ishratul Ebad has said that 2005 will be celebrated as “Road Safety Year”. He was speaking in a press briefing at Governor’s House here. He said average 550 persons annually killed in traffic mishaps in Karachi, 52 percent of them pedestrians. The government has indicated 53 locations in the city with maximum ratio of accidents, he said. He said the government would form Citizens’ Consumer Protection Committees. [Source: GEO] ___________________________
DHAKA - The death toll in a highway accident in Bangladesh rose to 27 after six critically injured people died in a state-run hospital, officials said on Tuesday.... Witnesses said the two buses speeding from opposite directions collided head-on trying to avoid hitting a cement-loaded truck which was stranded on the middle lane of the highway due to a mechanical problem.... Local police said the bus passengers were mostly construction labourers returning to work after weekend holidays. At least 4 000 people die in Bangladesh annually in road accidents, mostly on the highways, official figures show. Full story, from IOL, South Africa. ___________________________
TRW Automotive Holdings Corp. today was recognized in the Supplier category, at the 2005 World Traffic Safety Symposium, for its efforts to advance traffic safety. Three additional companies earned awards: Ford Motor Co. (in the Automaker category), Continental Teves (Community Service category) and Parents Magazine (Media category). Traffic Safety Achievement Awards are presented based on the selection of the Symposium's Advisory Committee, which is composed of auto safety experts from government agencies, educational institutions and private foundations. The Symposium was held in conjunction with the New York International Automobile Show in New York City. [Source: TRW] ___________________________
NEWPORT - With just the first game of the season played, a second Reds player has been charged with driving drunk this year. Ryan Freel, a backup infielder and outfielder, was charged just hours after the Reds home opener with driving under the influence, having an open alcoholic beverage container in a vehicle, careless driving and driving with an expired license plate.... Another Reds player was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol just six weeks ago. On Feb. 24 in Sarasota, Fla., minor league pitcher Bubba Nelson was arrested and charged with driving drunk and operating a motor vehicle with an out-of-state license while his Florida license was suspended.... Full story, from The Enquirer, at Cincinnati.com
and another sportsman
Former all-star pitcher Matt Keough was arrested [in California] for investigation of drunken driving and leaving the scene of an accident. Keough's sport utility vehicle crashed at a red light with the rear of another SUV on Monday night, pushing it into the crosswalk and causing it to strike a pedestrian, Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesman Jim Amormino said Tuesday. The former Oakland pitcher fled the scene on foot and was found later by sheriff's deputies outside a store in the area, Amormino said, adding that a test about three hours after the crash showed Keough's blood alcohol level was about 2½ times the legal limit. The pedestrian, a 31-year-old man, was hospitalized but the extent of his injuries were unknown, according to Amormino.... Full story, from SLAM Sports
but the teams make a stand
The Philadelphia Phillies today announced it will be the first team in Major League Baseball to adopt the HERO Campaign for Designated Drivers® at Citizen's Bank Park to help prevent drunk driving. The campaign was inspired by the death at the hands of a drunken driver of a young Navy Ensign from southern New Jersey. The Boston Red Sox are expected to be the first American League team to adopt the campaign later this season at Fenway Park. The campaign has been in operation at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands for the past two years. HERO Campaign booths at Phillies games will encourage fans to enroll as sober designated drivers in exchange for free soft drinks or bottled water. Banners and posters with the campaign message "Be a HERO. Be a Designated Driver®" will be displayed throughout the park. The Phillies are partnering with ARAMARK, the global food service company based in Philadelphia, to implement the program. HERO Campaign public service commercials will be broadcast on the stadium Phanavision screen during each game, and registered designated drivers will be eligible for a drawing to receive Phillies and HERO Campaign logowear. [Source: US Newswire] ___________________________
Maryland senators Monday night approved legislation that would stiffen penalties for drunken drivers who refuse to submit to a blood-alcohol content tests. The bill, already approved by the House of Delegates, will become law if it is signed by Gov. Robert Ehrlich. The legislation would impose a fine of up to $500 and/or a jail sentence up to two months, if a driver refuses a blood-alcohol test and is convicted of drunk driving.... Another bill approved by the Senate would cut down on the number of times drunken drivers can be placed on probation. The legislation, which is still under consideration in the House, would allow courts to grant probation before judgment once every 10 years instead of once every five years.... Full story, from WJZ ___________________________
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration pressed Congress on Tuesday to approve $600 million in incentives to entice states to adopt tough laws on seat-belt use or otherwise get more motorists to buckle up. The proposed incentives are a shift from the more-common policy of denying a share of federal highway aid to states that fail to embrace auto-safety initiatives, but some safety advocates question whether they would work and say financial sanctions may be more effective. "The single most-important safety measure Congress could pass this decade is the proposal to provide incentive grants for states to pass primary belt laws," Jeffrey Runge, the nation's top auto safety regulator, told Senate lawmakers at a Commerce Committee hearing. Under the administration proposal, a state that adopts a so-called "primary" belt law allowing police to stop and ticket motorists simply for not wearing a seat belt, or one that achieves a belt-use rate of 90 percent for two years in a row, will receive a cash incentive.... A minority of 21 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico already have such primary seat-belt laws. Elsewhere, with the exception of New Hampshire, which has no mandatory seat-belt law for adults, ticketing for non-use of seat belts is allowed only if a driver has been stopped for another reason.... Full story, from Reuters ___________________________
.....Highway deaths are the number one killer of children in our nation. Between 1990 and 1999 over 16,500 children under the age of 10 died in motor vehicle crashes. In other words [32] children under the age of 10 die every week in a motor vehicle crash.... Extract from a letter from Ann Medeiros to the Hawaii Reporter
Each year, more than 1,000 people are killed across the USA in work zone (i.e. road works) crashes, and another 40,000 are injured. To curb the speeding that turns hundreds of roadway work zones into crash sites each year, Federal and State officials and construction-industry groups announced stepped-up enforcement of posted speed limits in work zones. related story
On the day the Florida Department of Transportation announced a year-long campaign to warn motorists of the dangers of reckless driving through highway work zones, two construction workers installing guard rails along the Florida Turnpike were struck by an car. The Florida Highway Patrol reports that two workers hit Monday morning near the Orange-Lake County were airlifted to a hospital with critical injuries.... At a Tallahassee press conference, FDOT, the FHP, the Federal Highway Administration, the American Traffic Safety Services Association, the Florida Sheriff's Association, the Florida Police Chiefs Association and several other state and national transportation organizations were to announced: "Work Zone Safety. It's Everyone's Job," a campaign to reduce crashes, injuries and fatalities in highway work zones. In 2003, the most recent traffic crash data for Florida, 104 fatalities and 3,607 injuries occurred in 3,509 crashes in highway work zones.... For more info' about work zone safety campaign or current construction projects in Florida, visit ItsEveryonesJob.com Full story here, from News4Jax ___________________________
A new voluntary Code of Practice for haulage and escort companies who transport loads on roads throughout Great Britain has today been published by the Highways Agency. During the first half of 2004, police forces in England and Wales decided to discontinue the provision of routine escorts for abnormal loads and accepted hauliers and escort companies providing their own service. This followed on from recommendations from Sir David O'Dowd's report on reducing police bureaucracy.... ___________________________
BAGUIO CITY -- At least 23 people, including 16 who were driving home from a beach party, were killed in two road accidents in Pangasinan and Quezon provinces, police said Sunday. [In the first,] a convoy of three jeeps was carrying 35 people from a beach resort in San Fabian town in northern Pangasinan province Saturday when a speeding bus collided with the lead jeep, police said. The two jeeps behind crashed into the front vehicle, causing a pileup.... The bus was traveling in the opposite [i.e. wrong] lane, overtaking another vehicle, when the accident happened, de Vera said. Police were hunting for the bus driver who fled the scene of the accident, he said.... Road accidents are common in the country because of a lack of road signs, dangerously dilapidated vehicles and reckless drivers. Full story, from The Sun-Star ___________________________
Children wearing safety belts who are exposed to older air bags in frontal crashes face a higher risk of serious injury compared with those in vehicles with newer versions of the safety devices, a study released Monday found. The study, published in the April edition of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, reports that children wearing seat belts in the right front seat had a 14.9-per-cent risk of serious injury when an older air bag was deployed in a crash. Children in a similar situation exposed to second-generation air bags, or those built after federal regulators amended air bag rules in 1997, had a 9.9-per-cent risk of serious injury. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommends that all children ages 12 and younger be placed in the rear seats, but, the researchers note, many children continue to sit in the right front seat of passenger vehicles despite the safety message.... Full story from the Toronto Globe and Mail ___________________________
.....[The band] Simple Plan are upping the angst ante [in the "maturity" stakes] with the clip for their new single, "Untitled." In the video — directed by Marc Klasfeld — the normally rambunctious Montreal pop-punkers are tackling the very serious issue of drunk driving. It's a pretty mature step for a band that spent the majority of its last video dancing on tables and smashing ice sculptures, a fact that SP frontman Pierre Bouvier seems painfully aware of. "It's the first artsy Simple Plan video," he said. "We're going to go mature like everyone else." "It's a mini movie," added drummer Chuck Comeau. "It's going to make people cry." They sound like they're joking, but they're not. Bouvier spends the entire video as a ghost, wandering amongst the tangled wreckage of a two-car collision. As rain pours down on the side of a lonely highway, viewers see that in one car, a teenage girl is trapped against her steering wheel, clinging to life. The driver of the other car — a young man — sits by the roadside, head in hands, a giant cut on his forehead. Police and EMTs — played by the other members of the band — arrive on the scene, a whir of flashing lights caught in slow motion. They try to pry the injured girl from her car as police give the male driver a breathalyzer test, which he fails miserably. Then the video takes a turn, as we are shown the friends and loved ones of the two drivers, going about their daily routines. As they shop, garden and work, they seem totally unaware of the tragic car crash that will soon occur. As Klasfeld writes in his treatment, he hopes to show that drunk driving affects other people, not just those directly involved. The video cuts back to the accident scene, where the chaos of police flares and broken glass is captured in slow motion. A crowd has gathered at the perimeter of the accident scene, and Bouvier stands amongst the onlookers, undetected. EMTs have removed the girl from her tangled vehicle and are placing her on a stretcher. In the background, officers are handcuffing the drunk driver and are throwing him in a police cruiser. The clip then cuts between the girl being rushed to the hospital in the back of an ambulance and the young man being taken to jail. As the video reaches its climax, we see what led up to the accident — the two cars heading down a dark highway, the girl singing along to music while the drunk driver nods off at the wheel. As the two vehicles barrel down on each other, we cut to the friends and relatives of the young man and woman, their bodies suddenly jolted and thrown against the floor as if they were in a car crash. As the video fades to black, the girl is pronounced dead while the drunk driver weeps in a jail cell. Bouvier leaves the now empty accident scene, walking off into the rain. Full article, from MTV
DSA Comments All road safety professionals who work directly with students, etc., know how much more attention young people give to information from people of their own approximate age group, so whatever the motivation, positive attention from Simple Plan and others is to be greatly welcomed. Eddie Wren, Executive Director, Drive and Stay Alive, Inc. ___________________________
The American Academy of Pediatrics advises parents to keep children in rear-facing car seats as long as possible--ideally up to the car seat’s weight limit--because it’s generally safer. But when we crash-tested rear-facing car seats at manufacturers’ claimed weight limits, several had significant problems. [Two seats had serious problems resulting in one being rated as "Poor" and the other as "Not Acceptable," and] two other seats had problems that were less serious.... With all four models, problems occurred only when the seats were in their rear-facing position and attached with Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children, or LATCH, a universal connection system for child car seats and passenger vehicles in which connectors on the car seat attach to metal anchors in the car. By contrast, when we connected the child car seats with car safety belts, all performed fine. So if you already own one of those car seats, you don’t need to throw it out. Just install it with the car’s own safety belt, not with the LATCH connection... Find out which seats did badly, and read the rest of the report, here, from Consumer Reports. ___________________________
Car culture spawns feeling of apathy toward hazards of the road, analysts say. We do it while shaving. We do it while eating and especially while drinking. We do it while reading the newspaper, brokering business deals, reining in the kids or playing air drums on the dash. Sometimes, even, we've been known to do it while painting our toenails or having sex. We do it so much, so often, that we practically forget we can kill someone — or ourselves. But our problem with driving is not simply a matter of distraction, although that's certainly part of it. It is not solely road rage, although that, too, is a piece of the puzzle. It is not just crowded roadways or hectic schedules or reckless teens or lumbering octogenarians. It is, the experts say, a collective attitude problem. We just don't take driving seriously.... Researchers say speeding and red-light running have reached record levels — thanks in part to ever-more-powerful engines and the glamorization of fast, aggressive driving in auto ads and entertainment. "First, people don't see these things — speeding, running red lights — as big deals," said spokesman Russ Rader of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. "And secondly, they don't think that there's much of a chance that they're going to get a ticket. And they're right about that. Police can't be everywhere.".... Read the full article, from the Springfield News-Leader ___________________________
It's called the Abnormal Locations Report, a name that, like so many titles created by bureaucrats, won't immediately mean much to the average ear. But the report, actually a compilation of many other reports of traffic accidents, helps state officials pinpoint places on state roads that might be particularly hazardous. This is good information for the public to know. It can help drivers recognize where hazards exist and what public servants are doing to fix the problems. However, Louisiana's state transportation officials, like transportation officials in other states, prefer to keep the report secret for fear that lawyers for people injured in crashes might find a way to overcome legal obstacles and use the information to prove the state knew of a hazard but had not repaired it. State and federal laws forbid the use of the Abnormal Locations Report in a trial. The laws have been found constitutional, according to state officials. Congress has determined the goal of using the data to improve state roads outweighs an injured person's right to introduce the reports in court. The assumption is that fear of liability will discourage transportation officials from identifying possible road hazards. State officials say they have limited funds, and not all road problems can be fixed at once.... Read the full, important opinion piece, here, from 2theadvocate ___________________________
The Traffic Police started a special enforcement operation Sunday morning in the Beduin area of the Negev. The operation will encourage residents to obey traffic laws in the area. The large number of accidents in which the Beduin have been involved triggered the action. The operation will last about ten days, and members of the border police, patrol cars and even helicopters will take part, Army Radio reported. [Source: The Jerusalem Post] ___________________________
Attack, it is said, is the best form of defence. But not when it comes to reducing road accidents and saving lives. Watchful prevention works better. Perhaps that is why the Government's latest offensive against offending drivers is to drill defensive driving skills into them. A retraining programme is being organised for drivers of commercial vehicles, particularly of buses and lorries, for the end of the year. No one wants to malign these drivers, but it is a fact that bus and lorry accidents are rising. For instance, accidents involving express buses reached an unprecedented average of 406 a month last year. Bus accident figures rose from 1,963 in 2003 to 4,874 last year. There were 53,470 accidents involving lorries last year. According to Road Safety Department Director-General Suret Singh, 67 per cent of these accidents were due to driver error, 28 per cent to bad road conditions and the rest to the poor condition of the vehicles. Under the proposed plan, drivers of commercial vehicles will undergo a compulsory two-day retraining programme. It is a relief to know that this training will be practical in nature and not confined to classroom theory. Previous initiatives at teaching safe driving didn't go far enough to make sure that the lessons were applied. The plan also calls for those seeking new commercial and heavy vehicle licences to undergo a three-day course on defensive driving. Will the course produce better lorry and bus drivers? The implementers of the plan would do well to remember that good plans do not automatically transfer into good results. Will and consistency in enforcement are as important as designing an effective strategy. Malaysians are all too familiar with the many past plans to make the roads safer. Most of them crashed along the highways of implementation.... Full story, from the New Straits Times ___________________________
Kashmir’s roads are becoming highways to hell. The staggeringly high traffic fatality rate attests to this in a starker manner. In 2004 alone 328 people were killed and another 3923 were injured in traffic accidents on the Valley’s roads. The statistics for the preceding years too mirror a high accident rate. Between 2000 and 2005 1365 people died and another 14131 were injured on our roads. Read the full and interesting article, reproduced in full at DSA by kind permission of the writer, Shakeel-ur-Rehman. ___________________________
Not far from La Paz is a road they call the world's most dangerous. As expected, this dramatic name has led to its commercialisation. Now gringos are regularly chaperoned on bikes down this rush road -- a spaghetti-looping spectacle of dirt that plummets from 4700m [15,400 feet] to 1700m [5,640 feet] above sea level over a distance of 60km [37 miles].... Thrilling indeed, the road is precariously cut into the side of a mountain and in some places is only 3m [just under 10 feet] wide. With a sheer drop-off of 1000m [3,250 feet], chunks of overhanging rock and cascading waterfalls, it makes for a nerve-racking descent through mist and clouds of high-altitude Andean bareness into the thick Amazonian jungle of the Yungas. Then, of course, there are the gory little historical attractions like the point where the last busload of passengers exited, how many cyclists have plunged to their death and riveting facts such as that 26 vehicles went over the edge in 1994 -- an average of one every two weeks. Strangely, I appreciated the fact that I had made it down such a beautiful and lethal thoroughfare all the more for knowing that.... [Extract form a bicyclists travelogue, "Many ups and downs on the old Inca highway", from IOL, South Africa.] ___________________________
.....In two years, 31 troops with South Carolina ties have died in Iraq. That compares with about 2,000 people who have died on the state's streets and highways. Young people between the ages of 20 and 34 make up about 30 percent of the highway death toll, according to Department of Public Safety statistics..... Extract from the article "Educators Receive Military Education", at Myrtle Beach Online ___________________________
The Irish Medical Organisation annual conference in Killarney has called for a reduction in the speed limits in housing estates and around schools to 30 km per hour. Public health specialist Dr Catherine Hayes told the meeting the evidence was clear that reducing the speed limit to 30km per hour reduced pedestrian deaths in road accidents. Reducing speed limits in housing estates and around schools, she said, would also allow children more opportunity to play outside and help them get more exercise at a time when there was great concern about obesity. Dublin consultant in emergency medicine Dr Roisin Healy said there should be a separate parking lot for car drop-offs provided within schools as a safety measure. The meeting also called for measures to be implemented to reduce the risk of injuries and fatalities caused by sports utility vehicles (SUVs) . Dublin consultant in elderly medicine Prof Des O'Neill said the risk of death to a pedestrian knocked down by an SUV compared to a normal car increases by 73% for a compact SUV and 155% for a large SUV. He said the risk of death or serious injury with an SUV was increased by the fact that the vehicles were higher off the ground than a normal car, putting the thorax and abdomen at greater risk, and by the design of SUVs, in particular their bull bars. The meeting proposed that all SUVs carry a sticker outlining their risk to potential purchasers and that the National Roads Authority specifically monitor accident rates, injuries and fatalities associated with SUVs.... [Source: IrishHealth.com] ___________________________
Road deaths in the Lothian and Borders region [of Scotland] have plummeted by a quarter in the past year, new figures reveal today. The number of people killed in accidents on the area’s roads dropped 25 per cent from 47 in 2003/04 to 35 in 2004/05, making it one of the lowest years for fatalities since records began. Police chiefs said a raft of measures introduced to stop speeding and greater awareness of the dangers of speeding amongst motorists have helped to slash the death toll. This week, a ten-year-old girl was knocked down and killed in the Borders as she stepped off her school bus, the first time a child has died on the roads in the force area in two-and-a-half years. The fiscal year for fatalities does not close until April 30, which could still push the provisional numbers up. But police today said a three-pronged attack against dangerous driving has had an overwhelming impact on the death toll. Enforcement through the use of speed cameras, education through road safety campaigns and the introduction of safer cars, road cambers and speed bumps have all played their part.... Full story, from The Scotsman ___________________________
.....The most recent figures for the number of people killed in road accidents in Scotland – 331 in 2003 – show a 9% increase on the previous year. The rising fatality list occurred despite a big jump in the number of motorists caught speeding. Does this mean, then, that the [speed camera] policy is not working and that it is no more than a smokescreen for raising revenue, as critics maintain? The short answer is no. The statistics show quite clearly that, in the areas where speed cameras are in place, they have a positive impact – on fatalities and serious injuries (40% fewer than elsewhere); injuries caused by collisions (33% down); and pedestrians killed or seriously injured (35% down). If anything, there is a clear case for extending the use of speed cameras. The figures suggest that most road deaths occur where there are no speed cameras, puncturing the argument of those who believe they do not save lives. There is a significant lobby which opposes speed cameras. If the use of cameras is to be extended it should be accompanied by a public-awareness campaign explaining their benefit to sceptical drivers. Then they might be won over – and drive safely. Full article, from The Herald ___________________________
For child casualties, the target was a reduction of 50%. Last year's figure was 21, compared to 45 in 1999 ... a fall of 53%.
The reduction is being attributed to
Twenty's Plenty zones outside 145 schools across South Lanarkshire,
advising motorists not to exceed 20mph. Full story, from The Evening Times ___________________________
Just how confrontational have our roads become? The stories of road rage encounters are a new epidemic. In Winnipeg, a 25-year-old man was charged with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and assault. The incident began when another man stopped his car at a red light. The accused repeatedly bumped him from behind and nearly pushed him into the intersection. Trying to escape the attack, the first man drove to a parking lot, but the accused pursued him and punched him twice in the face, before returning to his vehicle and attempting to run him over.... Read the full article, from Canadian Driver ___________________________
A Texas truck driver -- called a "mountain of a man" by the family whose lives he saved -- was named on Thursday night as the 22nd Goodyear North American Highway Hero. Rick Dent -- a 6-foot, 300-pound, Diana, Texas, driver for Groendyke Transport Inc. -- was credited with saving Bob Strickland and his small children, Megan and Paul, when Strickland's car swerved to miss a deer and slowly sank in a water-filled ditch. ___________________________
Police Departments across the state begin a new initiative on Monday that targets aggressive drivers. You know the kind. They weave in and out of traffic without use of turn signals or brakes; they refuse to yield to merging traffic; they lean on the horn if you're in the way; and think speed limits are meant for the other guy. They are hazards behind the wheel, and they get away with it -- at least until they cause an accident -- because most police departments are underfunded and understaffed. Aggressive drivers have no respect for their fellow travelers on our overcrowded, potholed roads. Over the next two weeks, however, they just might get their due before they harm themselves or others. The Governor's Highway Safety Bureau has set aside $500,000 for its Road Respect Initiative. For two weeks, state and local police will have extra patrols on the road specifically watching for drivers who tailgate, switch lanes without signaling, speed and ignore yellow and red lights.... Full story, from the Milford Daily News ___________________________
DOT Secretary Norman Mineta and FMCSA Administrator Annette Sandberg headlined a driver-focused event at the Mid-America Trucking Show today to kick off a renewed effort to increase seat-belt use among commercial drivers, as well as highlight other ways government and the trucking industry can improve their safety on the highway. “You are the professionals, you are the knights of the road, you are literally moving the American economy,” Secretary Mineta said. “The trucking industry moved $6 trillion worth of goods last year from factories and farms to warehouses, stores, and doorsteps. But drivers never know what unexpected dangers might be around the corner as they perform their vital job. That’s why we want them to be ready and buckle up.” Mineta said that while 80% of the American motoring public uses their seat belts, less than half of commercial truck drivers do. He pointed to grim statistics to illustrate the consequences of not wearing seat belts. Of the 620 truck drivers killed in 2003, half were not wearing their seat belts, and of the 171 ejected from their truck cabs, over 80% were unbuckled. “Far too many truck drivers take it on faith that the size and weight of their rigs will protect them and that if they are a really good driver, they don’t need to wear a seat belt,” he added. “But driving unbuckled is like playing Russian roulette – you are tempting fate, because you never know when the loaded chamber will come around.”... Full story, from Fleet Owner ___________________________
At the Automotive Occupant Restraints Council's three-day meeting in Phoenix members focused heavily on the emerging trend toward sensing and active safety systems according to George F. Kirchoff, AORC president. "Automotive safety is moving from crash mitigation to crash avoidance and emergency intervention systems. This trend is being driven by the development of active safety systems that are able to sense a potential crash, warn the driver, and even perform emergency maneuvers," Mr. Kirchoff said. The AORC, founded in 1961, is a non-profit, international organization that helps establish uniform production and quality standards for vehicle safety system components. Members include manufacturers and suppliers of airbags, airbag components, seat belts, automotive seating, and interior safety components. [Source: Automotive Occupant Restraints Council] ___________________________
The Automotive Occupant Restraints Council (AORC) has presented its highest honor -- the Pathfinder Award -- to Dr. Kennerly H. Digges, a nationally known safety researcher, and director of biomechanics and automotive safety research at the non-profit National Crash Analysis Center (NCAC). The award was presented at the AORC's annual membership meeting today, at The George Washington University's Virginia campus. In presenting the award, Wendell C. Lane, Jr., chairman of the AORC board of directors, said "We are very pleased to present the Pathfinder award to Ken Digges for his more than three decades of conducting and directing research into vehicle safety." [Source: Automotive Occupant Restraints Council] ___________________________
The Maun-based police officer commanding station, Phillip Makoba, is concerned by the increasing number of accidents caused by donkeys roaming the roads in the district. "I will soon lose my target of reducing road accidents because of the roaming donkeys. It is a major concern," he said in an interview yesterday. He called on the government to find a solution to minimise the high number of fatalities caused by the donkeys. He added that another concern is that long distance roads connecting major villages are not fenced hence the escalating accidents with tremendous loss of lives and disabilities to motorists and their passengers.... Full story, from MMegi / The Reporter, Botswana, via allAfrica ___________________________
The Gardaí are due to mount checkpoints on some of Ireland's main roads from today as part of a two-week road safety operation.... Ninety-five people have already died on Ireland's roads in 2005. Full story, from OnlineIE ___________________________
Three teenagers were killed and three others [in the truck] were injured in a collision between a car and a truck in south-western Victoria last night.... The triple fatality took the state's road toll to 106 for the year, the highest end-of-March figure since 1996, when 112 people had died by March 31. At the same time last year, the toll was only 84. Acting senior sergeant Geoff Exton from the major collision investigation unit, who attended the scene, said it was shocking. "It was a 16-tonne truck pushed right over the car, squashing the car and everything inside," he said. Senior Sergeant Exton said it appeared the truck had been driving close to the 100km/h speed limit when the car went through a give-way sign at the intersection, causing a side-on impact with the truck. Senior Sergeant Exton told the Age Online that police were "extremely frustrated to be a losing so many lives on the roads". "I would say to the youngsters if they think it won't happen to them, go down to the morgue and have a look there, because it is happening to someone every 20 hours on our roads at the moment," he said. Full story, from The Age ___________________________
Australian Football League club Richmond, whose jerseys carry the slogan "Drink, Drive. Bloody Idiot." lost the Transport Accident Commission as a major sponsor after player Jay Schulz had his license suspended for speeding and drunken driving. The Accident Commission, which promotes road safety in Victoria state, said the incident forced it to terminate its 16-year sponsorship of the club. The deal was worth about A$600,000 (US $463,000) a year to Melbourne-based Richmond, the Age newspaper reported. "After 16 years as a major sponsor of Richmond, the decision we have taken was an extremely difficult one,'' Stephen Grant, the commission's chief executive, said in a statement. "But it was also a decision which, given the events of the last 36 hours, we had no alternative but to make."... Schulz, 19, was stopped by police in a Melbourne suburb at about 1 a.m. yesterday traveling 80 kilometers an hour (50 mph) in a 40 kilometers-per-hour zone, with a blood alcohol reading of 0.065%, Richmond said. The legal limit in Victoria is 0.05%.... Full story, from Bloomberg. ___________________________
BANGKOK – The Thai government has banned the sale of liquor at petrol stations across the country and all police will be on duty in a bid to reduce road accidents during the Songkran holiday. During the water festival holiday, 13-15 April, millions of migrant workers will travel home and there will be large numbers of Thai and foreign holidaymakers. The government wants to reduce the road fatalities during Songkran by 15 % from last year, or less than 637 deaths, the Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Chitchai Wannasathit announced on Friday.... Full story, from MCOT
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