Claims that this-or-that highway safety program or this-or-that new idea has had a profound effect on road deaths are commonly very misleading, and a new claim from Alabama undoubtedly comes into this category.
Continue reading “Naïve or Inaccurate Claims about Road Safety Improvements do More Harm than Good”
Month: August 2017
Two Critical USDOT / NHTSA Statistics Identify a Very Bad Situation in American Highway Safety
Perhaps 6-8 years ago, the US DOT and NHTSA published a statistic online that identified a thoroughly horrifying situation. Put simply, it said that the chances for every young person in the USA being involved in a serious-injury or fatal road crash at some point in their life is an astonishingly-high “fifty-fifty.” At that time, I looked at my four American step-daughters and wondered which two — statistically speaking — it might be. That statistic, however, very swiftly disappeared off the Internet.
Now, however, I also have six American grandchildren, and just today — August 11, 2017 — another statistic has been published on Facebook by NHTSA which very effectively renews my concerns. It said exactly this:
NHTSA The chance of being in an alcohol-impaired crash is one in three over the course of a lifetime. #BuzzedDriving
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The State With the Deadliest Traffic in America Admits its High-Speed Streets Have to Change
Linked here is is a very well-written post from StreetsblogUSA, and in huge contrast to almost everything written in the USA about traffic safety, it starts off very responsibly and accurately, with:
“In the last few years, the traffic fatality rate in America has risen alarmingly high, wiping out a decade of progress and widening what was already an enormous gap between the U.S. and peer nations like the UK, Japan, and Germany…”
Passengers Putting Their Feet on the Dash then Being Injured or Killed by the Airbags
This is something that many people have neither heard of nor even thought about. When the front airbags are triggered, which can happen because of a mere bump to the vehicle at speeds as low as 12mph, those airbags emerge and inflate at between 165 and 200mph. They are most certainly not nice fluffy cushions, and if you have one or both of your feet up on the dashboard at the time, the results will be serious and can even kill you.
An Insight into the Vital Subject of Good Observations when Driving
The latest “THINK!” advert gives a small but important insight into the proper use of observations when driving.
Far too many drivers simply gaze ahead of their vehicle while driving without actually noticing everything they should and being alert to all the things that potentially could go wrong. Worse than that, many drivers literally do just gaze at the back of the vehicle they are following, reliant on the brake lights of that lead vehicle to trigger a response in themselves. But either way, drivers who do these things are throwing away a lot of safety.
Continue reading “An Insight into the Vital Subject of Good Observations when Driving”
The Enormous Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is Happening Now in South Dakota
As many as 600,000 bikers are expected for this year’s rally. Public safety officials are asking everyone to stay alert and reminding other motorists to wear seat belts.
Continue reading “The Enormous Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is Happening Now in South Dakota”
Autonomous Vehicles? Traffic Signs can be Hacked!
According to Autoblog, university researchers “have figured out how to hack self-driving cars by putting stickers on street signs.”
Continue reading “Autonomous Vehicles? Traffic Signs can be Hacked!”
Lane-splitting on Motorcycles — Legal or Illegal in Washington State?
People differ on whether lane splitting on motorcycles should be legal or not, but this technique — as with, for example, permitting “right turns on red” at traffic lights — has more to do with the convenience of drivers or riders than it does with best safety standards. In any event, whatever your stance on the subject, it is NOT legal in Washington State.
Continue reading “Lane-splitting on Motorcycles — Legal or Illegal in Washington State?”
Globe & Mail Article Cites Advanced Drivers of North America and We Didn’t Even Know!
At ADoNA, we have had the privilege of being quoted and mentioned in newspapers and on news programs around the world, and it’s always a pleasure. On this occasion, however, we have found a Canadian article from three years ago (July 2014), in Toronto’s Globe and Mail, which uses our data to open the piece, and we didn’t even know about it until now.
Presumably quoting from the earlier version of our now completely re-written website, the article starts:
More Motorcyclists Over 50 Years Old are Getting Killed in the USA
Media excerpt:
“[In the USA, there] were 1,661 motorcycle deaths of people 50 and older in 2015, according to a November 2016 report by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. That’s an increase of nearly 7 percent, up from 1,553 deaths the previous year. That age group accounted for 35 percent of the total 4,693 motorcycle fatalities, the most for 2015.
