EddieWren | Advanced Drivers of North America

This is How to Fine Wealthy People for Dangerous Driving Offences

A British television presenter has been fined £86,000 (US $123,000) for drunk driving and the resultant collision he caused. He was also banned (US: ‘suspended’) from driving for 20 months.

Sadly, this only represents a few days’ salary for this man, but of course it’s significantly more appropriate than giving rich people the same, relatively small fines that are doled out to ordinary working people.

The amount does, however, exceed the previous highest drink-driving fine I have ever heard of, which was given a few years ago to a very highly-paid Norwegian businesswoman who was caught driving just over that country’s strict 0.02% BAC limit (with no collision involved).

What is your opinion? Do you think that the very wealthy should be given much higher fines than regular people when they seriously endanger other individuals’ safety?

If you wish to read the full UK article, it is Ant McPartlin given biggest ever drink-drive fine as he is told to pay £86k, from the Telegraph.

Around 3,000 Americans are Killed by Vehicles Each Year just on Parking Lots, Driveways and Private Roads

According to the National Safety Council [NSC], the number of people killed in the USA during 2017 in road accidents once again exceeded 40,000, following major increases in such deaths during the years since the end of the financial recession.

Aerial view of cars and pedestrians in a parking lot. — People innocently walking across a parking lot, oblivious to risk, yet several vehicles are unsafely parked — nose inwards, rather than backing into the slot and parking nose-outwards — just one thing that increases the risk, especially when children are around. (Copyright image.)

A year ago, the NSC estimated that the 2016 death toll was about 3,000 fatalities more than the eventual official figure of 37,461 which was subsequently issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration [NHTSA], however the NSC explain this apparent discrepancy with the fact that ‘the government counts only deaths on public roads, while the council includes parking lots, driveways and private roads.’

In other words, about 3,000 “additional” people — an average of eight per day — are killed each year in vehicular crashes but do not qualify for inclusion in the official statistics, yet this is an additional eight percent and a lot of those killed in such circumstances are children. The fact that these incidents involve deaths on parking lots and private driveways serves to illustrate the true level of dangers in places than many people unthinkingly tend to dismiss as being low-risk locations, but that is clearly not the case.

As always, our ADoNA defensive and advanced safe driving courses include research-based, best-practise methods to help your corporate drivers or chauffeurs stay safe and protect other people in relevant locations.

You can read the full article, from USA Today, regarding the NSC estimate for 2017 road deaths.

Motorcyclists Drive Distracted, Too!

Don’t assume that drivers and some pedestrians are the only ones who dangerously use cell phones on the roads. As you can see, this young rider has his left hand off the handlebars and although this bit can’t be see from the angle of the photograph, it did very much look like he had a cell phone in his hand as he went past. And that’s not as unusual as you might think.

Photo of a motorcyclist with one hand off the handlebars, apparently holding a cell phone in a viewable position, in that hand. — A young motorcyclist, possibly tired of life, who appeared to have a cell phone in his left hand as he rode past us at speed, on our right hand side. Photo taken from the passenger seat. (Copyright image.)

Save crash-related costs by getting your employees properly trained on how best to protect themselves from other people driving badly (and from their own, potentially unrecognized errors, too). Get details of our corporate defensive and advanced safe driving courses, then contact us from that page with any questions you might have.

Here in the USA, it’s Workzone Awareness Week. Does that Make You Think ‘So What?’

This morning, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (a.k.a. NHTSA but pronounce it as “NiTSA“) publicized the fact that it is Workzone Awareness Week.

Photograph of a highway construction zone. — A Highway Construction Zone. (Copyright image.)

There can be no doubt that this is an important issue because, for example, in 2014 (the most-recent, detailed figures available), no fewer than 669 people were killed in construction zone incidents.

Continue reading “Here in the USA, it’s Workzone Awareness Week. Does that Make You Think ‘So What?’”

Safe Cycling is a Two-Way Street

Regrettably, there are many things that drivers frequently do that make things very unsafe for people on bicycles, but of course that isn’t the full story.

A photograph of bicyclists who sensibly are in conspicuous clothing, but only one is being wise enough to wear a safety helmet. — Cyclists who sensibly are in conspicuous clothing, but only one is being wise enough to wear a safety helmet. (Copyright image.)

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Runaway Vehicle Fatalities Such as the Death of Actor Anton Yelchin are Frequently and Easily Avoidable

A law suit was settled last week in death of Star Trek actor Anton Yelchin, who was crushed when his own SUV rolled on a slope and pinned him against the mailbox he was checking.

Sadly, however, deaths like this where a vehicle rolls away despite having ostensibly been left in ‘Park’ are all too common and actually have a lot to do with the endemic incompetence of the majority of people who write state drivers manuals throughout the USA and yet have little-to-zero expertise in the subject of best-practise safe driving.

Photograph of Star Trek actor Anton Yelchin — Star Trek actor Anton Yelchin at The Voice Awards, 2011. (Photograph: Wikimedia Commons)

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Uber Prototype Self-Driving Car Kills Pedestrian — Wild Claims about Who or What is at Fault!

A pedestrian being hit and killed by an autonomous vehicle in Tempe, Arizona, on Sunday, March 18, 2018, was certainly destined to create a big response from the media and many have published their views regarding the sad incident.

The problem is, though, that many people have speculated inappropriately on the matter, including — it has to be said — the police chief in Tempe. So let’s make one important point straight away: The only relevant decision regarding blame for this or any other tragic incident clearly lies solely with the courts. Publishing unsubstantiated or wildly inaccurate opinions before any trial can only serve to affect the opinions of subsequent jurors and even officials — a highly undesirable situation. (In other countries this is the law — often referred to as Sub Judice — but sadly for the most accurate justice that is not the case in the USA.)

Before considering some of the comments, let’s take a look at the in-car video, apparently published by Tempe Police and then ABC7, since the incident:

Continue reading “Uber Prototype Self-Driving Car Kills Pedestrian — Wild Claims about Who or What is at Fault!”

Here’s Why Self-Driving Vehicles Will Forever Change the Traffic Safety Paradigm

Flaura Koplin Winston, MD, PhD. March 21, 2018

Self-driving vehicles, also known as highly automated vehicles (HAVs), were once in the realm of science fiction. But HAVs are here and about to transform the automotive industry and the U.S. transportation system, with retail models possibly being available as early as this year. HAVs could become a common sight on the road by 2055.

It’s no longer a question of “if” but “when.”…

Photograph of a Uber self driving car prototype testing in San Francisco, October 2016. — Uber self driving car prototype testing in San Francisco, October 2016. Wikimedia Commons.

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Global NCAP tells Donald Trump to Make ‘America First’ in Pedestrian Protection

In response to President Donald Trump’s claim last week that a so called ‘bowling ball’ test is preventing US automobiles from entering the Japanese market, Global NCAP has written to the US President urging him to make ‘America First’ in pedestrian protection by adopting the same global standard applied by Japan…

Photo of a crash test dummy reading a mock book: Crash Testing for Dummies — Photo: Global NCAP

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Useful Websites in Relation to Speed, Speeding and Fast Driving

This Speed and Speeding page is the first of the resource pages we hope and plan to to develop for our readers’ interest, and each will simply be amended as new information comes available so please check back from time to time to see what’s been added.

The Dangers of Teen Speeding, from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute

Photograph of a Volkswagen car in the left lane on an Interstate highway, that is about to cut in front of our own vehicle far too quickly. The mass of spray thrown up will hit our windscreen in moments. — The bad driver in the white Volkswagen is already far too close behind the motorcycle, especially given the very wet road, and is now in a rush to get into the right-hand lane, ahead of us, in order to speed past the motorcycle on the wrong side. Our driver knew enough to get the wipers on full speed before our windscreen was hit by all the spray coming up from the back wheels of the VW. Copyright image.

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