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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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November 2005
The Volvo Car Corporation is taking a decisive new step toward "Active Safety" (helping drivers avoid vehicle collisions) with its new Volvo Driver Alert system. The technology is designed to monitor a vehicle’s progress on the road and alert the driver if it detects signs of fatigue or distraction. The system does not take control of the vehicle; the system helps drivers make the right decision.... Driver Alert monitors the vehicle’s movement to determine if the vehicle is being driven in a controlled way. This method is unique among vehicle manufacturers and it is designed to be reliable in a variety of circumstances.... Volvo Cars intends to make the Driver Alert system available in Volvo vehicles within two years. __________________________
With nearly 80,000 highway deaths every year, the road transport and highways department feels safety has been put on the backseat for far too long. It is in the final stages of setting up of a commissionerate for safety, a regulator that will not only take policy decisions but also monitor the working of vehicle manufacturers, road constructing agencies and consumers. A committee under the cabinet secretary constituted a sub-committee headed by TERI's senior fellow S Sunder, which is expected to submit its recommendations by January 2006 regarding the focus of the commissionerate. L K Joshi, secretary in the shipping, road transport and highways ministry, says: "The sub-committee is looking at safety commissions across European countries before we decide on what kind of regulator needs to be set up." .... Another indication of the increasing focus on safety issues is the committee on infrastructure headed by the Prime Minister that recently cleared a proposal by which 1% of the cess [funds?] coming to NHAI would be used for study and research of road safety issues and developing state-of-the-art systems.... Full story, from the Times of India [SMc] __________________________
"Reckless" P-platers have been involved in a spate of serious driving offences in the past week, police say, including one caught speeding at 200 km/h and another who had a blood alcohol reading of 0.241. Sergeant John McIntosh, from the Maroondah Traffic Management Unit, said P-platers were legally required to have a blood alcohol concentration of zero.... Another P-plater returned a reading of 0.174 per cent on the Eastern Freeway. The high alcohol readings came after a P-plater was detected travelling at 200 km/h on the Maroondah Highway near Healesville on Thursday night, and a 20-year-old P-plater was found driving at 145 km/h on Friday night in Box Hill. "They (young drivers) are blase about life in general. They seem to think they are invincible," Sergeant McIntosh said. "A lot of teenagers are not getting the message about speed and alcohol," he said.... Full story, from The Age [SMc] __________________________
Seeking to call attention to the need for everyone on America's roads and highways to drive more safely, Road Safe America have announced an initiative to establish Drive Safer Sunday as a national observance every year on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. "The death of almost 43,000 people a year in more than 6 million highway crashes in America has been called an epidemic by U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, and rightly so," said Stephen C. Owings of Atlanta, whose son, Cullum, was killed in 2002 when his car was crushed from behind by a speeding tractor-trailer truck. "At Road Safe America, we believe it's time to set aside a special day of the year for everyone on our highways and roadways to focus simply on driving more safely." Drive Safer Sunday is planned eventually to spawn a major national public safety campaign that can be embraced in many ways by numerous local, state and national non-profit organizations, civic, business and social clubs around the nation. More details here. __________________________
Three fatal traffic wrecks in a 24-hour period during the Thanksgiving holiday period shared two chilling similarities: young drivers and high speeds. Five people died in wrecks authorities say were caused by drivers 18 or younger. Five remained in hospitals late Friday, two in critical condition.... Dr. Rob Foss, a research scientist at the UNC Highway Safety Research Center, said young drivers have a greater chance of getting into a crash because they're more likely to take chances, and less able to deal with unexpected driving situations. "That lack of experience and that impulsiveness of youth is really a double whammy," Foss said. "You're more likely to do things that will get you into trouble but then you also are less equipped at getting yourself out of trouble once you're in it."... Full story, from The Charlotte Observer [SMc] __________________________
.....Vincent Ponoesele, the Director of Lesedi Engineering and Construction Company... told the audience on Saturday at a road safety commemoration at Artesia that the police attributed road accidents in the Kgatleng District mainly to speeding, failure to obey road signs and drunken driving. Ponoesele said 553 road accidents were recorded between January and September this year and 43 per cent of them occurred along the Gaborone-Francistown road. Last year, 805 accidents took place along the same road. He also said the police have indicated that most accidents occurred during weekends between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.... Kgosi George Thwane of Artesia said the residents were more at risk of being involved in road accidents because they cross the road and the rail line everyday to and from farms. He stressed the need for the improvement of Botswanas roads to woo investors and encouraged students to take road safety measures seriously. This years Road Safety Day was commemorated under the theme: "Safe Roads to 2016". Full story, from the Daily News __________________________
The Government is to institute traffic regulations to enhance road safety, control accidents, reduce increased road carnage and save lives. The proposed mandatory vehicle inspection programme (MVIP), being sponsored by the Ministry of Works... will be incorporated into the road safety policy.... The [previous] Inspectorate of motor vehicles was suspended following reports of massive corruption and irregularities by its officers.... Addressing a consultative workshop for stakeholders on Wednedsay at the public works training centre, Kyambogo, Patrick Samanya, the commissioner for transport regulation, said, “A total of sh300m is lost due to accidents annually, due to mainly vehicles in poor mechanical condition, bad and roads.” Full story, from The New Vision, Kampala __________________________
Expatriates in Kuwait must be University graduates and draw a salary of not less than $1,370 (about Dh5,000) a month in order to obtain a driver's licence, the interior ministry said yesterday. The new rules, which are effective immediately, are designed to reduce the number of vehicles on the roads which are suffering serious bottlenecks. Expatriates seeking a licence must also have legally lived in the country for at least two years, according to the ministerial decree.... "It is a practical decision no more, no less," Lieutenant Colonel Adel Hashash, head of Public Relations Department at the ministry, told Gulf News. The decision will encourage low income groups "to use public transportation", Hashash said, adding that the decision was not new but an amended version of a three-year-old rule.... However, Gulf News found out that residents of the UAE were sceptical about the practicality of the Kuwaiti decision. Brigadier Mohammad Saif Al Zafein, Director of the General Traffic Department of Dubai Police, yesterday told Gulf News that he respects the decision, but questions whether the transportation system is advanced enough in Kuwait to implement such a decision.... Full story, from DaijiWorld __________________________
A safety campaign aimed at educating Hispanic immigrants on U.S. traffic laws got a green light recently to operate in San Antonio when the Texas Department of Transportation approved a three-year, $340,000 grant to fund the project. The program, known as the Madrina-Padrino Public Safety Project, was designed by the Hispanic American Police Command Officers Association to educate recent immigrants and other Hispanics on local traffic safety customs and laws. The program also is aimed at increasing awareness among law officers on the special needs of Hispanic immigrants to improve relations. "This project is instrumental in that it will work with a group considered most at risk for motor vehicle driving fatalities and injuries," said Camerino Salazar, project coordinator for the University of Texas Health Science Center's South Texas Injury Prevention and Research Center.... Full story, from MySA __________________________
The trucking industry helped persuade Congress to include funding in the highway law that passed last summer to expand patrols targeting those who drive unsafely around big trucks. And it's just enlarged a program that teaches people about the risks of driving near tractor-trailers to include teen and elderly drivers. This weekend — the busiest of the year for trucks — the industry is hoping increased attention to the problem will cut the number of lives lost when passenger vehicles and big trucks collide. Thanksgiving weekend tops all other major holiday weekends for highway deaths. Last Thanksgiving weekend — from Wednesday night until Monday morning — 571 people died in crashes. Up to 13% of fatal crashes typically involve big trucks. The intensified push follows years of often-fruitless efforts by the trucking industry to fix a poor image it says is undeserved. Truckers have long been a target of safety advocates and legislators who favor tougher vehicle inspections and stricter rules on how long they can drive between rest periods. But drivers of cars and light trucks cause at least 70% of the fatal car/commercial truck crashes, according to federal and private studies.... Full story, from USA Today [SMc]
DSA Comments In our opinion, long-distance truckers are among the most underpaid individuals in America, given the rigors, the importance and responsibility of their work. None-the-less, it does need to be said that by comparison with other developed countries that have achieved significantly lower crash and fatality rates than the USA, America's rules for drivers' hours of service are far too lax. Even if -- as alleged above -- the majority of truck-involved crashes are caused by the drivers of smaller vehicles, that still leaves hundreds of people in this country who do still die in crashes caused by truck drivers, and excessive hours of service are without doubt a significant component in this situation. Indeed, at DSA we would suggest that it is NOT truck drivers who want to retain long working hours, it is actually the truck fleet owners who want to do so in order to maximize profits. If safety is important, there is an emphatic need for truck drivers to receive a better hourly rate of pay and to work fewer hours each day. Eddie Wren, Executive Director, Drive and Stay Alive, Inc. ___________________________
When I made arrangements to go for a driving test with Young Drivers of Canada, I was thinking, "This will be a piece of cake." Because I only had an hour, we didn't do the actual 90-minute road test with instructor Norm Bailey. But the short time I drove around Lindsay was enough to knock the wind out of my somewhat full sails. As centre director of the Peterborough and area Young Drivers of Canada, Mr. Bailey didn't actually score me, but he didn't miss anything I did wrong, either. "See that guy up there who's signaling a right turn?" he asked as I approached a driver ahead on Albert Street. "What do you think about that?" "Who cares about signals," I answered. "That means he's probably going to go left." "Excellent," said Mr. Bailey. "That's exactly how you should be thinking." As we drove around Lindsay, he instructed me to turn here, or there, or change lanes. He told me to drive through the parking lot of the Lindsay Square Mall. "Do you know a lot of bad collisions happen in parking lots because people drive too fast through them?" he asked. All the while he was chatting, and I wondered just how much he would observe about my driving. I was about to find out.... Full article, including some defensive driving tips, from Lindsay This Week, Ontario. [SMc] __________________________
Speed cameras have seen the number of accidents fall sharply throughout East Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire – while fines have cost motorists £2.5m. Accidents resulting in injury have halved at 68 sites where cameras have been for the past two years, with a 40 per cent decrease in the number of people killed or seriously injured. The figures are even better at 13 new mobile sites with a 75 per cent fall in the number of people killed or seriously injured and a 61 per cent reduction in injury collisions. In several sites, including the two new cameras at Shiptonthorpe on the A1079 and one at Holme-on-Spalding-Moor, there have been no casualties at all. And the Humberside Safety Camera Partnership now says it could be in a position in a year to 18 months' time to reducing enforcement at some sites while continuing to monitor speed.... Full story, from the Yorkshire Post Today [SMc] __________________________
As the new licensing laws in England & Wales come into force, new figures from the government and the RAC suggest almost half of all pedestrians killed in road crashes between 10pm and 4am on Fridays and Saturdays are more than twice over the drink drive limit. The research also shows that for the 301 pedestrians killed with a known blood alcohol concentration (BAC), 38% were above the drink drive limit (80mg/100ml) with 25% more than twice over the limit (200 mg/100ml). Pedestrians in the 25 – 29 age group who died were most likely to have higher alcohol concentrations. Two thirds were over the drink drive limit, with almost half twice over the limit. The RAC has previously called on the Government to undertake more research to find out the best ways to alert pedestrians to the dangers of drinking and walking, involving healthcare professionals and road safety organisations and to investigate any structural changes which can be made to roads, crossings and pavements to safeguard them.... __________________________
Transit New Zealand is to extend a wire median barrier along the coastal part of Centennial Highway. Funding for the the barrier has been approved by Land Transport New Zealand: the wire will stretch from Pukerua Bay hill to the Fisherman's Table restaurant, south of Paekakariki. Construction of the barrier will start early next year and should take about a year to complete. A 700-metre barrier is already in place. Land Transport New Zealand says the extended barrier will be only along the coastal part of the highway because that's the most dangerous section. Dr Chris Lane, of Kapiti Emergency Services, estimates there have been 29 deaths in the past 20 years on the 3.8km [2.3 mile] stretch of Centennial Highway, where the barrier is to be installed. He wants it to be extended along the whole highway and says all emergency services staff in the area will breath a huge sigh of relief when the barrier is finally put in place. In September, Wellington Coroner, Garry Evans, released his findings into the deaths of seven people who died in three crashes on Centennial Highway last year. He recommended the present barrier be extended urgently to prevent more people dying on the road. [Source: Radio New Zealand] [SMc] __________________________
No fewer than 18 persons including two children are feared dead following a road accident which occurred at Corner Maisaje in Lafiya Lamurde along Numan – Bombe road just as 12 others were seriously injured during the accident, which occurred yesterday. Eye witnesses... said a trailer loaded with cement product lost its control after one of its tyres burst and ran into two on-coming 505 Peugeot station wagons. The two station wagons were said to be on their way from Yola to Jos and Kano respectively when the incident occurred smashing them off the road into [a] pit.... Full story, from This Day [SMc]
DSA Comments There are three questions that spring immediately to mind from this incident: -- Did the tyre burst because it was badly worn or had been previously damaged? -- In third-world and developing nations where the people are generally very poor, how can incidents involving bad vehicle maintenance be effectively curtailed? There is also the condition of the roads to be considered, but clearly that is a matter for government willpower and finance, as opposed to being an individual responsibility. Eddie Wren, Executive Director, Drive and Stay Alive, Inc. __________________________
Nineteen people were killed and several others injured in a bus-truck collision in central Venezuela on Wednesday, said Venezuelan Deputy Director for Land Transportation Ivan Noguera. Noguera told reporters that the cause of the crash, which happened on a highway across a valley in the Miranda state, had not been finally determined. But he said the heavy rainfall hours before the accident could be blamed for the tragedy. Firemen, the National Guard and other rescuers were sent to the spot of the collision. According to a local fire brigade officer working at the scene, signs on the spot showed that because of over-speeding the bus lost control and swerved into the opposite lane, colliding with the truck carrying Coca Cola products. The people injured in the accident have been hospitalized. Police are conducting further investigation into the accident. [Source: CRI] [SMc] __________________________
The Central Youth Union Secretariat has asked nationwide youth unions to actively engage in operations to maintain traffic order and safety as well as to prevent and control speeding, especially during the ongoing SEA Games and upcoming Tet (Lunar New Year) festivities. The Secretariat said that youth union members should co-operate with traffic police to raise public awareness of traffic regulations and take measures to control motorbikes operating in excess of speed limits. [Source: the Viet Nam News Agency] __________________________
Interstate police will be given special powers to report drivers impaired by drugs or alcohol on South Australian roads as part of a new road safety campaign. The fifth Operation RAID is being launched today in the Riverland and will run from tomorrow until December 15. It will target drink- and drug-drivers in the lead-up to Christmas and involves police from South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and the ACT.... Full story, from ABC News __________________________
[In Hong Kong], members of the public are invited to attend a Friday evening Transport Department forum to give their views on the safety improvement plan for the Mong Kok section of busy Nathan Road.... The department last month proposed three improvement options for public consultation: * expanding part of the roadside footpaths; * banning motorcycles, cars and trucks from entering that section; and * banning all vehicles except buses from entering that section. Full story, from the Hong Kong Government news page __________________________
The Wyoming Highway Patrol will be participating in two nationwide campaigns this Thanksgiving Holiday weekend, to make roadways safer. The first campaign is known as "Operation CARE'', in which officers will use strict traffic enforcement to obtain voluntary compliance with those traffic violations that contribute to motor vehicle crashes. The second is the "You Drink & Drive - You Lose'' campaign which is aimed at getting drunken drivers off the road. __________________________
The European New Car Assessment Programme has announced that the Citroën C6 is the first car to be awarded the maximum four stars for pedestrian protection. The executive-sized car is also awarded five stars for adult occupant protection and four stars for child protection, showing that occupant safety need not be compromised to protect those outside the car. Euro NCAP has been pressing for better pedestrian protection for many years to try to drive down avoidable deaths and injuries to vulnerable road-users. The C6 detects when a pedestrian has been struck and activates a pop-up bonnet to give greater clearance between the bonnet and the rigid parts of the engine. It is the first such system to be assessed by Euro NCAP but it is expected that other similar systems will be introduced soon. The Seat León [pronounced 'See--at'] is awarded three stars for pedestrian protection, reflecting a growing emphasis by some car manufacturers on pedestrian safety. The Jeep Grand Cherokee scores zero points for pedestrian protection and is awarded no stars in that category. Claes Tingvall, Euro NCAP Chairman said: "It is very gratifying that Citroën have achieved four stars for pedestrian protection. A few years ago, some manufacturers claimed that it was impossible. Now, it is clear that manufacturers who are committed to all-round safety can protect those outside the car without compromising the safety of those inside...." Full article, plus Euro NCAP crash testing results for 15 different cars, available here.
related story
The all-new Jaguar XK has won the Education and Training Award. The XK is engineered to meet all worldwide impact requirements. Enhanced safety features play a major role, both for passenger and pedestrian protection, and the latter includes the introduction of one completely new, industry-leading feature – the pedestrian deployable bonnet [USA: 'Hood']. Jaguar is one of the first manufacturers to meet Phase One of new European safety legislation using an active deployable bonnet system. The new standards are designed to help mitigate the severity of injuries to pedestrians in the event of a collision with a car. Legislation in the European market requires manufacturers to commit to a two-phase introduction of a range of active and passive safety improvements on all new cars to improve the protection of pedestrians in case of accident. In the unfortunate event of a pedestrian impact, the deployable bonnet on the new XK automatically ‘pops’ up a few inches, to increase space between the engine and the bonnet. This helps to isolate the pedestrian from hard points in the engine compartment - and takes place in less than a tenth of the time it takes to blink an eye. An advanced sensing system is mounted in the front bumper to help discriminate between a pedestrian collision and any other possible front-end collisions. In addition to this innovative feature the car has standard fitment of a wide range of leading edge active and passive safety systems. [Source: PMIRSA List of Awards for 2005] __________________________
Injuries or road crashes have traditionally been regarded as random unavoidable events or "accidents." Within the last few decades, however, a better understanding of the nature of injuries and crashes has changed these old attitudes, and today these road crashes or accidents are viewed as largely preventable events. The slogan 'Road Safety is NO Accident' suggests that road safety does not happen accidentally, but requires deliberate efforts by government and its partners as well as political will. While road traffic accidents (RTA) take a very large toll of human lives every day and appear to be an increasing phenomenon in Bangladesh, significant focus and progress toward prevention and control has been very limited.... The South-East Asia and Western Pacific regions account for more than half the death of all road traffic deaths in the world. Projections show that between 2000 and 2020 road traffic deaths will increase by more than 80 per cent in most South-Asian countries and that includes Bangladesh. Without appropriate action now, by 2020, road traffic injuries are predicted to be the major contributor to death and disability in Bangladesh and the pedestrians, cyclist and motorised two-wheeler and three-wheeler riders are the most vulnerable road users. The economic cost of road crashes and injuries is enormous. Estimates suggest that they cost between 1 per cent and 2 per cent of gross national product (GNP) in a country like Bangladesh - more than the country receives in development assistance.... The countries that have been most successful [in combatting traffic crashes and casualties] have also been those that have engaged many different groups from government, civil society, non-governmental organisations, the media and industry in coordinated programme on road safety and a good example is [the] Swedish Vision Zero to road safety. In Bangladesh, at the first step, we have to accept that road traffic accident is a preventable event and needs an immediate response against it. And then, a variety of approaches can be used to tackle road safety. These include legislation, enforcement and education related to speed, seat belts, child restraints and helmets as well as visibility. Full article, from The Independent __________________________
The Road Safety Council will consider a range of radical road safety options aimed at reducing the drastic road toll for young drivers in the NT. At the core of the push to toughen laws is that young drivers spend a mandatory 120 hours behind the wheel before they can get their P-plates. Young drivers on their P-plates would also have restrictions placed on night-time driving and the number of pa |
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