Traffic and Safety
The safest place for any child 12 years old and under is in the back seat. Every child should be buckled in a child safety seat, a booster seat, or with a lap/shoulder belt, if it fits.Riding with BabiesInfants up to about 20 pounds and up to 1 year old should ride in a rear-facing child seat. The child seat must be in the BACK seat and face the rear of the car, van, or truck. Babies riding...
Eighty Percent Of All Deaths In Single-vehicle Crashes Of Sport Utility Vehicles Involve Rollovers.SUMMARYAccording to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there were 220,000 rollover accidents in the United States in 1991. Of these accidents, 207,000 [94%] were single vehicle rollover accidents.Rollover accidents accounted for 9186 deaths during the same time frame and...
StatePopulationTotalFatalitiesFatalitiesper 100,000 PopulationAlcohol RelatedFatalities Alcohol Related Fatalities per 100,000 PopulationAlabama387,59217444.9 5514.1 Alaska64,8811523.135.3Arizona405,36112831.65413.3Arkansas231,8649741.8229.6California2,754,10148517.61846.7Colorado355,2249426.5246.7Connecticut242,4663815.7135.4...
After Consumer Reports nearly rolls a sport-utility vehicle in an accident avoidance test, the magazine labels the vehicle unsafe and urges its readers to buy something else. When AutoWeek magazine rolls an SUV in a slalom test, causing slight injuries to the driver, the weekly publication reminds its readers that sport-utilities shouldn't be driven as aggressively as cars. The conclusions and...
Driving Under the Influence (DUI) continues to be a major public health problem in the U.S. Although the number of deaths attributed to DUI have fallen slightly in recent years, still as many as forty percent of those killed on our nation's highways die in crashes where alcohol is involved.Administrative License SuspensionOne of the most effective tools in the fight against drunk driving is...
More 18 year-olds die in crashes than any other specific ageBy a wide margin, more 18 year-olds died in traffic crashes than any other specific age (1,395), in 1998. The next most fatal ages were 19, 21, 17 and 20, respectively. No other single ages but these five recorded over 1,000 fatalities.Most years, either 18- or 19-year-olds record the most motor vehicle fatalities.By a wide margin,...
When I was a lot younger, my grandmother told me about a friend of hers who had taken a trip to Europe some years before. This friend, like my grandmother, was a heavy smoker from back in the days when doctors would prescribe cigarettes to women to help "calm their nerves".My grandmother's friend was traveling about Europe with her family by car, and apparently was stopped at a...
The United States has not updated the rear guard standard that covers all trucks and trailers since 1953.It is time for a world rear underride guard standard. The Underride Network recommends a minimum guard should withstand a 40 MPH or 64 KM/H impact at 50% offset from center without PCI (Passenger Compartment Intrusion) occurring in the impacting vehicle. Such a guard would be effective in...
Over 10,000 people are fatally injured each year in rollover crashes, however the US Auto Industry denies the relationship between roof crush and occupant injuries.SUMMARYAs part of a vehicle's structural support system, a roof creates a "non-encroachment zone" or "survival space" that should protect occupants in a crash. If a roof crushes substantially in an accident, occupants may suffer...
Most of the roads in use today were built at a time when traffic volumes were lower and vehicles traveled at slower speeds. America's population growth has overwhelmed the existing road network. Over the last thirty years, the vehicle miles we drive every year have increased by 130%. But our road mileage has only increased by 5%. Due to this increased congestion, the frustration of...
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says that in spite of extensive publicity aimed at getting children restrained and riding in the rear seats of vehicles, observational surveys in three states show many children still riding unrestrained. Other children are improperly restrained or riding in the front seats of cars equipped with passenger airbags.Institute researchers observed motor...
In the days running speed is the main enemy of the driver. We speak of the stress and the desperation that each day of us in endless journeys is empowered, for example at work, where the jams retain us without any possibility of redemption. When this happens, free meters of roadway become unquestionable allies of sudden accelerations and hard braking for drivers eager to get to your destination....
I drive a two trailer, 25-metre B-double fuel tanker and am seeking comment from vanners on sharing the road with trucks. In my experience the most difficult situation is with a truck catching up behind a van and the van driver, believing he is doing the right thing, unnecessarily slows and moves to the left. By slowing before the truck has pulled out to overtake the van forces the truck to slow...
By Mary M. FordImagine you are driving along and your passenger leans over and whispers in your ear, Grandma thinks you're a bad driver. A normal reaction might include denial and anger. But for Dr. Leon James those words mapped out his life's work. My struggle to become the kind of driver my wife and her Grandma can accept made me look at my driving problem.Adapting a technique from...
NHTSA - You don't even have to drive—or drink—to have experienced the effects of impaired driving. One in three Americans will be affected by this violent crime in his or her lifetime, whether as victim or perpetrator. Are those odds you want to ignore?Your local law enforcement officials think you deserve better. That's why [town/city] police and prosecutors are supporting...
