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'Podestrians' pose new threat to road safety
A UK insurance firm has expressed concern over the rising number of 'Podestrians', or people who wander around wearing noise-cancelling headphones and MP3 players without paying attention to oncoming vehicles. Apparently these people account for 9% of minor accidents, with 62% of them being identified as kids or teenagers.
The image above comes from an Australian road safety campaign aimed at bringing awareness to music-loving pedestrians.
I certainly agree that not being able to hear oncoming traffic increases the chances of an accident, though I don't think listening to MP3 players is neccesarily dangerous - just if the volume's too loud or headphones block out all noise. All if it's a particularly engrossing album. A UK insurance firm has expressed concern over the rising number of 'Podestrians', or people who wander around wearing noise... more -
Sick truckers causing fatal wrecks
Tractor-trailer and bus drivers in the United States have suffered seizures, heart attacks or unconscious spells behind the wheel that led to deadly crashes on highways. Hundreds of thousands of drivers carry commercial licenses even though they also qualify for full federal disability payments, according to a new U.S. safety study obtained by The Associated Press.
The problems threatening highway travelers persist despite years of government warnings and hundreds of deaths and injuries blamed on drivers who blacked out, collapsed or suffered major health problems behind the wheels of vehicles that can weigh 40 tons or more.
The U.S. agency responsible for cracking down on unfit truckers, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, acknowledges it hasn't completed any of eight recommendations that U.S. safety regulators have proposed since 2001.
One would set minimum standards for determining whether truckers are medically safe to drive. Another would prevent truckers from "doctor shopping" to find a physician who might overlook a risky health condition.
Major public safety problem
"We have a major public safety problem, and we haven't corrected it," said Gerald Donaldson, senior research director at the Washington-based Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, whose members include consumer, health and safety groups and insurance companies. "You have an agency that is favorably disposed to maintaining the integrity of the industry's economic situation."
Truckers violating federal medical rules have been caught in every state, according to a review by the AP of 7.3 million commercial driver violations compiled by the Transportation Department in 2006, the latest data available.
Texas, Maryland, Georgia, Florida, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Michigan, Alabama, New Jersey, Minnesota and Ohio were states where drivers were sanctioned most frequently for breaking medical rules, such as failing to carry a valid medical certificate. Those 12 states accounted for half of all such violations in the United States.
Consider these cases:
* A Florida bus driver who suffers from lung disease and uses three daily inhalers to control breathing told congressional investigators that he "occasionally blacks out and forgets things." He works as a substitute driver despite not having a medical certificate, and his commercial license expires in 2010. The man has collected Social Security benefits since 1994. He confided to investigators that he "gets winded" walking to his mailbox but has no problem driving a passenger bus.
* A Virginia trucker with a prosthetic leg from a farm accident more than 10 years ago is permitted to drive tanker trucks until at least 2012, even though he doesn't have the proper federal paperwork required for amputees. Virginia revoked the medical license for the official who approved him to drive over charges the official was caught illegally distributing controlled substances.
* George Albright Jr., 61, smashed his 70,000-pound tractor-trailer into congested traffic on Interstate 70 in June 2006, killing four women in a Ford sedan near Columbia, Missouri. Albright's employer agreed earlier this year to pay $18 million in a settlement. A Missouri jury acquitted Albright this month on four counts of second-degree involuntary manslaughter, after his lawyers argued in court that a diabetic episode "put him in an altered state of consciousness." Albright wasn't injured. Tractor-trailer and bus drivers in the United States have suffered seizures, heart attacks or unconscious spells behind the wheel that... more -
Film and Geotag Your Next Car Accident
Your faulty memory won't hold up in court next time some moron comes out of nowhere and hits you, but this will.
The guys who brought us the CarCam Voyager dash-mounted video camera have gone one better and added GPS logging so you not only record what happened, but where and when it happened. Just the thing for convincing your insurance agent you didn't cause the six-car pileup that totaled your Corvette ZR1.
Of course, the CarCam Voyager Pro can be used for more than covering your ass.
The Voyager Pro can record your entire road trip -- or as much of it as the 2-GB SD card will hold, anyway -- and track it all on Google Earth so you don't forget where you found that greasy spoon with the amazing chili or saw the world's largest ball of twine.
It'd be a sweet tool for doing recon on great motorcycling roads, but security is clearly the gadget's selling point. Built-in sensors detect sudden braking, acceleration or other movement and will begin recording 10 seconds before impact. (It stops recording 30 seconds after impact.) "You will never be left wondering 'What happened?' because it will all be caught on tape," the manufacturer claims. Plug the SD card into your computer and the video plays alongside a Google Earth map showing where it was recorded. It's also got a time and date stamp and a record of your speed.
With geotagging and time stamping, the video is probably admissable in court, so make sure you turn it off before making that 130-mph run down Alligator Alley. Your faulty memory won't hold up in court next time some moron comes out of nowhere and hits you, but this will. ... more -
This is how we roll in India
On the one hand, I'm impressed with his skills, on the other, I'm disgusted at his blatant disregard for his and anyone else's safety. On the one hand, I'm impressed with his skills, on the other, I'm disgusted at his blatant disregard for his and anyone else... more
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Offensive Driving Lessons: More Fun, More Punch, More Crunch
Mashing the accelerator, I goose my Mercury Grand Marquis up to 30 miles per hour, closing fast on a Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor. The Crown Vic is crossing an abandoned airstrip at the Quonset State Airport in Rhode Island. I've been preparing for this moment for days and suddenly feel a sense of transcendence. I knowwithout looking how fast I'm going. My shoulders are back against the seat, elbows crooked, hands at 9 and 3.
Riding shotgun is Anthony Ricci, owner of Advanced Driving & Security. Ricci teaches evasive driving techniques to SWAT teams, Fortune 500 security firms, and private contractors bound for Iraq. He's giving me the short course: navigating cone slaloms, slamming on the brakes at freeway speeds, executing neck-snapping J-turns (spinning a car 180 degrees and reversing course within a single lane). Such skills could help me flee, say, an ambush in an alley. And that's all well and good. But I don't want to just escape. I want to learn how to use a car to kick ass. At a meeting this morning, Ricci bashed toy cars together to illustrate how to get Newtonian on the bad guys. "This person has come up to kill you," he said in a thick Rhode Island accent. "You are gonna fuck this motherfucker up."
First, a little physics lesson. Accelerate a car's mass enough and turning the wheel won't alter its forward inertia. Basically, if you go too fast and turn too hard, the tires lose adhesion, causing the car to skid. Gearheads call it understeer. And it's why I blasted most of the cones in a 60-foot slalom at 45 miles per hour. Mashing the accelerator, I goose my Mercury Grand Marquis up to 30 miles per hour, closing fast on a Ford Crown Victoria Police Interc... more -
New road safety video Just Like Me by Buzzybee!
I made this video which was launched earlier this year.
Over 2600+ views to date so far on YouTube.
I think every parent in the country with small children would welcome this video and I hope people online get behind it and support it by leaving comments on YouTube for it. Also it's being given out freely to schools, teachers, nurseries and parent groups, so if anyone out there would like a free copy then the contact information is on the link next to the video clip.
The R.H. Jack Straw MP and Mr David Prowse (Darth Vader from the Star Wars movies and the ORIGINAL Green Cross Code man) both attended the launch of the DVD giving it their full support, and so far to date we have made 10,000 DVDs kindly donated by local companies who believe in the project to help make children more aware and safer around roads and in cars.
I hope everyone enjoys my fun video song and supports this free community project. Many thanks for taking the time to read my words.
Johnny
:) I made this video which was launched earlier this year. Over 2600+ views to date so far on YouTube. ... more
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