First month of solo driving most dangerous for teen drivers
Washington Post
It’s a rite of passage for many teenagers: the moment when they get behind the wheel and start driving. But this often has a tragic corollary.
Teenagers are significantly more likely to crash in their first month of driving than they are after their first two years of solo driving, according to a new study from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.
During this initial month, teens are 50 percent more likely to crash as they are after a year and twice as likely to crash as they are after two years.
“The fact that the parents are no longer in the car can make a big difference,” said AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesman John B. Townsend II. “There’s not enough life experience and not enough time under their belt to negotiate everything that can crop up on the road.”
Stubborn holdouts keep U.S. seatbelt use down
Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO — Andrew Wegrzyn remembers asking for the T-shirt.
Moments before, he had closed his eyes as the Jeep he and six other teens were in tumbled through the air. When he came to, he asked passersby for a T-shirt to wrap around his head to stop the bleeding.
“I’m never not wearing a seat belt again in my life,” the 16-year-old said the day after he was released from the hospital with scars from more than 200 stitches.
In the long-standing campaign by lawmakers and safety advocates to encourage seat-belt use, compliance rates have risen sharply over the years as new laws and enforcement further limit who can ride without safety restraints.
Still, research shows the lack of seat-belt use continues to cost thousands of lives a year. And some advocates say they’re facing one of their toughest hurdles yet — persuading the holdouts.
Distracted drivers fray motorists’ nerves
Fifty-two percent of drivers said they feel less safe on the roads now than they did five years ago, according to the third-annual 2010 Traffic Safety Culture Index released today by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.
The leading reason cited by American drivers was distracted driving, with 88 percent of motorists rating drivers who text and email as a very serious threat to their safety.
“As mobile technology evolves at a breakneck pace, more and more people rightly fear and recognize that distracted driving – texting, e-mails, phone calls and more – is a growing threat on the road. But, unfortunately, this new data confirms the “Do as I say, not as I do” attitude is prevalent throughout much of the driving public,” said AAA Foundation President and CEO Peter Kissinger.
The study showed that the majority of drivers (62 percent) feel that talking on a cell phone is a very serious threat to safety, but they do not always behave accordingly or believe that others share these views. In fact, nearly 70 percent of those surveyed admitted to talking on their phones and 24 percent said they read or sent text messages or emails while driving in the previous month.
Drunk driving going down, CDC study shows
The Washington Post
ATLANTA — Drunken driving incidents have fallen 30 percent in the last five years, and last year were at their lowest mark in nearly two decades, according to a new federal report.
The decline may be due to the down economy: Other research suggests people are still drinking as heavily as in years past, so some may just be finding cheaper ways of imbibing than by going to bars, night clubs and restaurants.
“One possibility is that people are drinking at home more and driving less after drinking,” said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC statistics — released Tuesday — are based on a 2010 national telephone survey of about 210,000 U.S. adults. The respondents were kept anonymous.
Nearly 1 in 50 said they’d driven drunk at least once in the previous month. That equates to about 4 million Americans driving drunk last year.
About 60 percent said they drove drunk just once, but some said they did it daily.
Built-in breathalyzer won’t let drunks drive
Extreme Tech
Good news, safety fans. Bad news, libertarians. Sooner or later you could be tested for sobriety by your car every time you get in the car.
Takata says it’s working with TruTouch Technologies to create a blood alcohol content (BAC) reader the size of your finger (seriously) that should be 96% accurate; better than police test gear. Which begs the question why cops make you blow in a balloon if this is so much better. A safety group estimates that the system will cost at $200, or just under 1% of the $25,000 cost of the typical new car. Safety groups say 8,000-9,000 lives could be saved each year, eventually.
TruTouch says its technology measures BAC through near-infrared light. It’s envisioned as a small fingerpad, like the biometric sensors on some laptops. Place your ungloved finger against the pad and the IR beam senses the BAC. If you’ve heard someone say, “He was so drunk, you could smell the alcohol coming out of his pores,” TruTouch has taken advantage of that. If you’re sober, the car starts. If not, it doesn’t.
Feds, Chuggington team up for safety campaign
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and popular animated series Chuggington today announced a new partnership to teach children how to be safe in and around cars. The nationwide traffic safety campaign is geared specifically towards children from the ages of 2 to 7 and includes a public service announcement featuring characters from the show, a kid-focused safety pledge and downloadable tips and activities for parents and caregivers to use with children.
“This exciting partnership with Chuggington will help us bring our traffic safety message to young children and parents alike,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “Educating children at an early age about the importance of wearing bicycle helmets, looking both ways when crossing the street and buckling up leads to a lifetime of good traffic safety habits.”
Motor vehicle crashes continue to be the leading cause of death for children, with 1,314 fatalities and 179,000 injuries to those 14 and younger in 2009. In 2007, an estimated 262 fatalities and 115,000 injuries to children 14 and younger occurred from pedestrian incidents involving children playing in or around motor vehicles. The new partnership unveiled today combines NHTSA’s safety guidelines for pedestrians, school buses, bikes and car seat use with Chuggington’s characters to reach parents and children.
Transportation board urges cell phone ban
FleetOwner Magazine
Widespread support for a complete ban on cell phone use by commercial truck and bus drivers – both handheld and hands free – is rapidly increasing, following an accident follow-up report issued by the National Transportation Safety Board last week urging the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to speed up efforts to put such a ban in place.
The NTSB’s recommendation follows its investigation of a March 2010 crash that killed 11 people, which found the tractor-trailer driver cited for causing the accident used his cell phone 69 times in the 24 hours prior to the crash, with four calls made in the minutes leading up to the fatal collision.
“The NTSB determines that the probable cause of this accident was the truck driver’s failure to maintain control of the truck-tractor combination vehicle because he was distracted by use of his cellular telephone,” the group said in its report.
Sprint app locks phones for driver safety
Connected planet
Sprint has teamed with Location Labs to offer an Android app intended to prevent phone-related distracted driving, an issue that leads to nearly 1,000 deaths a year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
The Drive First app, which will soon also be available for BlackBerry devices and other operating systems “in coming months” is $2 a month. With drivers under the age of 20 constituting the largest group of distracted drivers, Sprint is marketing the app to parents — no doubt also guilty parties themselves — who can go online, select the phone they want to download the app to, and setup an account.
The app works by sensing, via GPS and cell tower triangulation, when the phone is moving faster than 10 mph, at which point it locks the device’s screen, holding calls and texts.
Black boxes for vehicles? Feds may require them
Automotive Discovery
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has issued a notice of a proposed new rule that could mandate all vehicles to contain and event data recorder (EDR). Many auto manufacturers are already installing the devices and new cars purchased in the last few years may have one. NHTSA regulators suggest the installation of EDRs should be mandatory.
EDRs automatically preserve vehicle data such as engine problems and sudden changes in wheel speed and vehicle owners are not able to turn the EDR off. That information is proves valuable when it comes to reconstructing a motor vehicle accident.
In general, the EDR collects information including: status of seatbelt use, seriousness of any resulting crash, vehicle diagnostic data, level of brake usage, steering input, and even whether lane departure warning mechanisms were in effect for newer vehicles.
Nation’s capital leads list of worst-driving cities
USA Today
If your goal in life is to stay out of traffic accidents, you might want to steer clear of Washington, D.C.
For the second-consecutive year, our nation’s capital was found to be the likeliest place to get in an accident, according to Allstate’s Annual Best Drivers Report. That makes Washington home to the nation’s worst drivers.
The accident rate in D.C. is double the national average, making it last out of 196 in the rankings, which are based on insurance claims. Drivers average an accident every 4.8 years. Next came the city just up the road, Baltimore, then the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale, Calif.
Americans thinking twice about Labor Day travel
USA Today
Americans are thinking twice about traveling this Labor Day weekend.
High unemployment, expensive gasoline, higher hotel room rates and the hassles of securing a seat on packed planes are giving travelers pause this year at a time families typically squeeze in one last getaway, experts say.
The number of Americans who will travel at least 50 miles from home this holiday weekend will fall 2.4% to about 31.5 million, the auto club AAA estimates.
Feds reject request for school bus seatbelts
The Washington Post
As almost a half-million school buses this week began the annual ritual that will take them an estimated 4.2 billion miles by the time school lets out next spring, federal authorities have concluded that equipping them with seat belts is an unnecessary expense.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) rejected a petition by safety advocates who sought a federal mandate to require school bus seat belts.
“We care deeply about schoolchildren and feel that the steps we’ve taken are in the best interests of safety,” said Ronald Medford, deputy administrator at NHTSA.
The petitioners, led by the Center for Auto Safety and the National Coalition for School Bus Safety, said they were disappointed but not surprised by the decision.
“It just confirms the long history of NHTSA in opposition to child restraints in school buses,” said Arthur Yeager of the school bus coalition. “There is a certain hypocrisy in their supporting seat belts in virtually every other type of vehicle under their control except for school buses.”
Study: Crashes cost more than crime in Michigan
The Detroit News
Washington— Traffic crashes in Michigan cost society $9.1 billion in 2009 — more than the cost of all crimes, a new study finds.
The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute said in a study released Monday that the comprehensive costs of traffic crashes cost the state $9.1 billion in 2009, compared with $4.7 billion for the cost of crimes. The report was funded by the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning.
Since the study was first conducted in 1988, the cost of crime has been rising much faster than traffic crashes.
Anti-rollover technology reduces fatal crashes
The Detroit News
Washington— The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a new study released Tuesday that anti-rollover technology reduces the risk of a fatal crash by 18 percent.
Known as electronic stability control, the technology is required on all 2012 vehicles produced starting in September.
NHTSA said the technology cut overall crashes by 6 percent. For passenger cars, the risk of fatal crashes fell 23 percent and 20 percent for light trucks and vans, the agency said. The government study was based on a review of crash data from 1997 through 2009.
The deadliest driving month of the year: August
CNN
Drivers in the U.S. need to be extra cautious over the next few weeks.
August is the deadliest month on the road, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The agency says the odds of getting into a fatal crash are higher in August because more people are on the roads. September is the second deadliest month for drivers, while March is the safest month.
As for days of the week, Saturdays have the most fatalities, and Tuesdays have the least.
High-tech makeover tested for emergency responders
Government Technology
The belief that technology can improve roadway safety is driving public- and private-sector officials to test intelligent transportation systems that allow vehicles to communicate with the transportation infrastructure. And some of the biggest beneficiaries of these efforts could be first responders speeding to an emergency scene and the motorists they encounter en route.
In 2009, an estimated 33,403 emergency vehicles were involved in accidents, 126 of which were fatal, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Systems are being developed to let emergency vehicles and passenger cars interact with traffic signals and other transportation infrastructure in ways that get emergency crews on-site quickly while safeguarding other motorists.
One such project, for example, seeks to make intersections safer, while another will alert motorists when an emergency vehicle is approaching.
Campaign targets parents who leave kids in cars
The News-Herald
KidsAndCars.org has initiated a new pilot program to distribute safety cards through hospitals nationwide in order to educate new parents about how memory lapses can result in children suffering heat stroke and even death in hot cars.
The group said its “Look Before You Lock” program is the first of its kind to provide lifesaving information to parents at the beginning of their baby’s life about the dangers of inadvertently leaving children alone in a vehicle.
“Educating new parents will help prevent tragic heat stroke deaths by giving them practical steps to jog their memory to take their children out of the car,” said Janette Fennell, founder and president of KidsAndCars.org, a national nonprofit child safety organization working to prevent injuries and deaths of children in and around motor vehicles.
Flying car gets regulatory clearance
Autoweek
The Jetsons’ futuristic vision of a flying car is one step closer to becoming a reality.
Terrafugia, a Massachusetts company developing a “roadable aircraft” named the Transition, just received special exemptions from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that will help it move the vehicle move forward to production.
NHTSA will allow the Transition to be outfitted with plastic windows rather than standard automotive safety glass. The glass would avoid fractures and better guard against impacts from birds, which pilots are more likely to experience than drivers.
The vehicles also will be allowed to use tires that aren’t normally permitted on multipurpose vehicles. The tires used are rated for highway speeds and are designed to withstand the stress of landings.
Impala owners sue GM over alleged tire-wearing defect
Detroit News
A class-action suit has been filed against General Motors Co., complaining that GM fixed rear-end problems on police versions of 2007-08 Impalas, but not those owned by some 400,000 other drivers.
The problem, according to the lawsuit filed in federal court in Detroit, causes owners to burn through rear tires.
The suit was brought on behalf of a Pennsylvania woman and wants GM to replace potentially faulty rear suspension rods. The Detroit-based automaker sold 423,000 Impalas over the two-year period.
The suit — if successful — could cost GM millions of dollars in replaced tires and parts. It’s the latest challenge by owners to automakers who limit the scope of auto recalls or service campaigns.
Safety features your next car should have
Autoweek
Car safety used to mean double buckling your seatbelt when you squeezed three people into the front row. Now, with electronic stability control (ESC), cross-traffic alerts and adaptive headlights, it’s a bit more difficult to sort through all of the available options.
Of course you want to choose the safest car you can for yourself and your family. But which of these new safety features truly reduce the risk of accidents and injuries? Which can you do without?
It’s in the arena of active safety features where manufacturers are introducing a growing variety of options -and acronyms, giving consumers even more choices in an already confusing market. We spoke with some experts in an effort to cut through the clutter.
Car buying for teens: Picking the perfect vehicle
Associated Press
DETROIT — Car accidents are the leading cause of death for teenagers. So when it comes time to buy a suitable car for a teen driver, it’s important to choose the safest car that meets your budget.
Although you may be tempted to wrap your kid in the safety of a mammoth SUV, mid-size sedans are actually the best cars for teens. That’s because they’re big enough to handle the impact of a crash but nimble enough to steer out of trouble.
“A great big car like the Crown Victoria is a potent machine in a straight line, but when you lose control it’s a handful,” said David Champion, the senior director of Consumer Reports’ auto test division.
Champion recommends cars with the smallest, four-cylinder engines, so they’re not too powerful. Critical safety features include anti-lock brakes and electronic stability control, which applies the brakes to individual wheels if it senses the driver is swerving out of control. And stick with front-wheel-drive. While many people prefer all-wheel-drive in snowy weather, it can give kids a false sense of security and encourage them to drive too fast in hazardous conditions.
Black boxes becoming more common in cars
FOX News
Imagine driving down the interstate on your daily commute, minding your own business. In the lane next to you, a car starts swerving erratically and comes dangerously close to your own vehicle. You decide to reach for the “Jesus button” on your dash, which notifies local law enforcement about the drunk driver. After a few seconds, the car next to you stalls and glides harmlessly to the shoulder.
Or what if you’re going through a divorce, and you decide to work with an attorney who can tell you, with utmost accuracy, the exact driving route of your spouse over the past six months? You could use that data in court, especially if your spouse visited a special friend every day.
If these scenarios sound far-fetched, know this: new proposals are currently under review at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), under guidance from the Department of Transportation, which could mandate the use of black boxes in all new cars in the US.
Illinois considering backseat buckling law
Chicago Sun-Times
SPRINGFIELD — Back-seat passengers will now also be required to buckle their seat belts if Gov. Pat Quinn signs a bill the Senate approved Friday.
The bill narrowly passed the Senate by a 30-23 vote after squeaking through the House, 61-55, earlier this month. If signed, Illinois will become the 26th state to require all occupants to buckle up in the front and back of a car.
“In the last year … 38 folks died unfortunately because they weren’t wearing their seat belt,” said Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago), the bill’s chief Senate sponsor. “This bill is going to definitely save lives.”
The bill does exempt people who ride in the back of ambulances and taxis. Nationally, 1,095 back-seat passengers not wearing seat belts died in 2009, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Drugged driving prevalent, Canada study finds
The Globe and Mail
A study completed in British Columbia recently found that a significant percentage of drivers have drugs in their systems.
Researchers found that 7.2 percent of those tested during a random survey of 200 drivers had detectable levels of drugs in their bodies.
The report concluded that “driving after drug use is a growing issue that is as prevalent as driving after alcohol use – and that drug-impairment may also be a contributing factor to collisions and fatal road crashes.”
Justin Bieber urges teens not to text and drive
MTV
Justin Bieber will make a surprise appearance on the feel-good ABC show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” on Sunday. In that episode, the singer meets a family who has been helping raise awareness about the dangers of texting and driving.
Bieber opens up about his own commitment to the cause.
“It’s been a big part of my life to influence others not to text and drive,” he explained. “And every night when I perform, I have a video that comes up and it says ‘don’t text and drive’ and it’s me driving. It’s just really important to me.”
Toyota toying with social networking to link car, driver
The Detroit News
Toyota is setting up a social networking service with the help of a U.S. Internet company and Microsoft so drivers can interact with their cars in a way that’s similar to posting on Facebook or Twitter.
Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp. and Salesforce.com, based in San Francisco, announced their alliance Monday to launch “Toyota Friend,” a private social network for Toyota owners.
In a demonstration at a Tokyo showroom, an owner of a plug-in Prius hybrid found out through a cellphone message from his Prius called “Pre-boy” that he should remember to recharge his car overnight. When the owner plugged in his car to recharge it, the car replied, “The charge will be completed by 2:15 a.m. Is that OK? See you tomorrow.”
States move to make biking safer
USA Today
States are moving to make the roads safer for bicyclists as more Americans hit the road on two wheels, with recent policy changes in states such as Georgia, Tennessee and Illinois to give bicyclists more room to ride.
“It is increasingly important for policymakers to find ways to keep pedestrians and cyclists safe on the road,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says. “In the last 20 years, walking and biking trips have more than doubled as more people look for opportunities to leave the car at home, reduce their impact on the environment and stay in shape.”
Feds testing vehicles technologies in six cities
Fender Bender
The U.S. Department of Transportation announced six cities where it will hold so-called “Connected Vehicle Drive Clinics” for drivers. The clinics will test new technologies that will help federal transportation officials learn more about how drivers respond to vehicle-to-vehicle communications that can help reduce traffic accidents and save lives.
The clinics will take place in urban, suburban and rural communities throughout the country. The first clinic will be held in Brooklyn, Mich. in August. The remaining clinics will be held in Minneapolis, Orlando, Fla., Blacksburg, Va., Dallas and San Francisco.
NHTSA updating motorcycle helmet laws
Autoblog
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has updated the motorcycle helmet law in an attempt to stop people from wearing improperly certified helmets and novelty helmets.
The law doesn’t change the construction of helmets directly, but changes the way they’re labeled, to make it more difficult to mimic DOT compliance certifications.
Now, helmets that conform to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 218 will carry a sticker with the manufacturer’s name, the helmet model and the words “DOT FMVSS No. 218 Certified.” The move to make helmets safer comes after the number of riders sporting unsafe and novelty brain buckets increased dramatically in 2010 over 2009.
Utah troopers target drivers cutting semis
KSL-5
SALT LAKE CITY — The trailer is hard to miss.
In big, bold letters it advertises the Highway Patrol’s Ticketing Aggressive Cars and Trucks campaign.
But that did not stop motorists Monday from cutting in front of, following too closely to or improperly merging around the big rig, which had two troopers inside. The troopers radioed their colleagues in smaller vehicles who pulled the drivers over.
The crackdown project is known as TACT. UHP troopers are looking for cars that aren’t giving big rigs enough room to safely drive on the freeway.
“Commercial vehicles generally take twice the distance of a passenger vehicle to stop, so unsafe lane changes in front of a semi are really dangerous if a semi driver had to stop suddenly,” UHP Trooper Michael Bennett said.
North Dakota becomes 31st state to pass texting ban
KFYR-TV
The governor signed two pieces of legislation on the subject into law today. One of them focuses on teen drivers, and the other makes it illegal to text and drive in North Dakota.
Parents of teen crash victims who advocated for the legislation joined the governor at the bill signing ceremony.
State leaders say North Dakota is following a national trend by banning texting while driving.
“The research on texting and driving is clear: Motorists who take their eyes off the road and then turn their attention to their communication devices endanger their lives and the lives of others,” said Gov. Jack Dalrymple.
California drivers yakking or texting while driving
California Office of Traffic Safety
In the first-ever observational survey of cell phone use by drivers within a state, California drivers are yakking and texting at a combined rate of at least nine percent, representing hundreds of thousands of drivers at any given time.
The statewide survey, conducted during March, was commissioned by the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS). Officials also announced that, with approximately 55 percent of law enforcement agencies reporting in, at least 20,455 drivers were cited for handheld cell phone use and texting during the first two weeks of the current Distracted Driving Awareness Month campaign.
“This study is highly significant for California,” said OTS Director Christopher J. Murphy. ”It gives us a base to measure against in years to come as we combat this serious threat to safety on our roadways.”
Motorcycle deaths drop in 2010, but will trend hold?
USA Today
Motorcyclist deaths fell last year for the second straight year, but the small drop in fatalities might be masking troubling signs, according to a national highway safety
organization.
In analyzing preliminary data from the states, the Governors Highway Safety Association found that motorcyclist deaths dropped 2% last year to about 4,376.
The GHSA cautions that any enthusiasm over the drop must be tempered:
•The decline is much smaller than 2009’s 16% drop.
•Last year’s decline was concentrated in the early months, when fewer bikers were on the road; fatalities dropped only slightly in the second quarter and rose in the third quarter.
•The use of helmets approved by the Department of Transportation dropped 16%.
•Motorcycle ridership is likely to grow as the economy improves.
San Francisco tests new commuting technology
Department of Transportation (blog)
A team from IBM Research, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), and the University of California, Berkeley, are developing the Smarter Traveler solution to help commuters avoid congestion and enable transportation agencies to better manage traffic.
Imagine you’re about to drive to work. You’re a smart commuter, so you check the traffic report before you leave home. Your route looks clear. Twenty minutes later, you’re stuck in traffic, anxious, frustrated, and wasting expensive gas. Every ten minutes, a voice on your radio reminds you that the road you’re on is jammed. Because you’re between exits, there is little you can do but remain stuck.
Now imagine that, before you leave home, you get a text message or an email advising you that a section of the route you typically take is likely to be congested. It’s not congested now, but 20 minutes from now–when you get to that spot–it will be. The message suggests an alternate route that is unlikely to be congested. You change your plans and enjoy a stress-free commute.
Commuters in the San Francisco Bay Area are testing that predictive technology right now, thanks to the new Smarter Traveler initiative. Because participants receive the message before they get behind the wheel, it’s safe. And, because the routes they drive are less congested, they’re enjoying more time with their families and spending less at the gas pump.
Auto executives pledge fuel standard collaboration
Detroit News
Detroit — The race to meet new fuel efficiency mandates and speed the deployment of electric vehicles will require automakers to boost collaboration, auto executives said Thursday at the 2011 Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress.
The auto industry faces a $51.5 billion mandate to meet 2012-16 fuel efficiency standards, according to a government estimate — and is working to cut development costs and get technology to market faster.
“You can’t do it all yourself,” said Ford Motor Co.’s chief technical officer, Paul Mascarenas.
Cities allow golf carts on roads
USA Today
When Dennis Pearlman, 51, and his three sons of Fort Myers, Fla., want to watch the sunset along the Caloosahatchee River, they hop in the family golf cart, not the car.
“To me, golf carts are part of the culture here. It creates a sense of community,” Pearlman says.
Although the use of carts on public roads is not yet legal in Fort Myers, that may soon change. The city is among a growing number considering golf carts for use on city streets.
Bowling Green, Ky., passed an ordinance legalizing road use by carts this month. Hunters Creek, Texas, legalized them late last year, as did Erie, Colo., in August.
Traffic deaths rising among older men
Edmunds.com
SANTA MONICA, Calif. - An Edmunds.com analysis of driver fatality data provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) finds that the death rate of male drivers age 51 to 65 has increased in the last decade, even as traffic deaths in all other male and female age groups decreased over that period.
According to NHTSA’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), the number of annual traffic fatalities for men 51-65 rose by almost one-quarter from 2000 to 2009 (the last year for which data is available). In comparison, annual fatality figures for all male drivers during that time declined more than 20 percent. Fatality figures for female drivers also declined 20 percent during the ten-year period.
Most alarming for the 51 to 65 age group, Edmunds.com found, is its rise in drunk driving fatalities — for both men and women — since 2000. The number of annual drunk driving fatalities for this group rose 37 percent from 2000 to 2009, while overall drunk driving fatalities among all drivers fell almost seven percent.
SUVs safer, but what about the gas?
Wall Street Journal (blog)
Consumers love sport utility vehicles and crossover wagons for their roominess and comfort. Now, new studies of federal crash data show they’re among the safest vehicles on the road—thanks to more than a decade of effort by auto makers and safety regulators to attack the root causes of deadly SUV rollover accidents.
But this safety comes with a cost: weight. The continued popularity of secure-but-heavy SUVs and crossovers will make it tougher to cut U.S. oil consumption.
Should gender affect insurance rates?
Automoblog
Even with equal driving records, it is generally accepted that women receive better auto insurance rates than male drivers in the United States.
Using median level across the United States driving population, women drivers pay an average 9 percent less than men on auto insurance on an annual basis, according to the insurance website InsWeb in 2010.
The biggest difference came in Wyoming where women paid more than 20 percent less than their male driving counterpart. Only in Iowa state did male driver insurance rates prevail ahead of female rates by 1.1 percent.
While United States insurance companies continue to use gender to evaluate clients’ risk factors, the same measure will soon be prohibited in European countries including the United Kingdom and Germany. Belgium-based consumer lobbyist group Test-Achats filed a challenge in the European Union’s Court of Justice calling the insurance companies practice as gender discrimination.
Senators urge NHTSA to safety in fuel standards
The Detroit News
Washington — Two influential senators asked federal regulators to ensure that the 2017-2025 fuel efficiency standards “(do) not adversely impact motor vehicle safety.”
Sens. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., and Roger Wicker, R-Miss., wrote Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on Wednesday and said the government needs to carefully review the safety impacts of the next round of fuel efficiency requirements.
Pryor is the chairman of the Senate Commerce panel that oversees the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Wicker is the ranking Republican.
They noted that auto deaths have fallen to a 60-year low. In 2010, traffic deaths fell to 32,788 deaths — the lowest number since 1949.
“This is a testament to your strong personal commitment to motor vehicle safety. Unfortunately, history has shown that these safety trends can be quickly reversed if we lose focus,” they wrote in a two-page letter obtained by The Detroit News. “As NHTSA works to set fuel economy standards for 2017 and beyond, it is our expectation that the agency will do the necessary research to protect consumers from any degradation in motor vehicle safety.”
Traffic deaths in U.S. drop to lowest level since 1949
The Washington Post
Surrounded by air bags, buckled in place and fearful of drunk driving, Americans are less likely to die on the highway today than at any time since the middle of the Truman administration.
The number of people killed in accidents dropped to 32,788 in 2010, the lowest total since 1949, according to the annual death tally released Friday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The 3 percent decrease from 2009 was recorded even as the nation’s drivers put nearly 21 billion more miles on their odometers in 2010 than they had the previous year. The death rate has declined by 25 percent since a peak of 43,510 in 2005, NHTSA said.
“The recession is still a little bit of a factor,” said Barbara Harsha, executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association, “but the big reasons are programs aimed at driver behavior, safer vehicles and safer roads.”