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Mar 21, 2016

SELF DRIVING CARS ACCIDENTS * USA: They have five times higher accident rate

* California - Study: Driverless cars crashes at five times the rate of conventional cars


-- Even though they haven’t been at fault, self-driving test cars are involved in crashes at five times the rate of conventional cars, a new study finds... Even when the figures are adjusted to take into account that many accidents involving conventional cars go unreported, the study from the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute found that the rate is still twice as high... Yet it notes that it is making the comparison from a tiny pool of autonomous test cars, about 50 of them in California, versus 269 million conventional cars as of 2013. The self-driving cars have logged about 1.2 million miles in total, while the conventionals cumulatively go trillions of miles a year... As a result, the total number of self-driving car accidents being used for comparison is the study is minuscule, 11. But that’s five times the rate of the accident rate in conventional cars, and there’s four times the injury rate, the study finds. In almost every case, the accidents involving self-driving cars have involved other cars crashing into them. They are often traveling at slow speeds... Eight of the 11 crashes occurred last year as more self-driving hit the road in California, where most of the testing is taking place. Despite limitations of the study, “A Preliminary Analysis of Real-World Crashes Involving Self-Driving Vehicles,” it reached some real conclusions. The bottom line: Even though self-driving vehicles were not at fault in any crashes they were involved in and that injuries have of lower severity than for conventional cars, it appears they are getting in more accidents given their numbers...
(Photo by Eric Risberg/AP)  --  CAL, USA - AP/by Mike Winnett Independent Consultant- 1st Nov 2015

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Feb 17, 2016

PILEUP on I-78 * USA: Accident kill 3 people

* Pennsylvania - I-78 crash sent 73 to hospital, involved 64 vehicles

-- A pileup involving dozens of vehicles on a Pennsylvania interstate that killed three people and sent dozens to hospitals appears to have been related to a passing snow squall, authorities said Saturday... Trooper Justin Summa said three fatalities had been confirmed following the 9:45 a.m. Saturday crash which involved at least 50 vehicles... Police said more than 40 people were transported to several hospitals following the crash in Interstate 78 in Bethel Township... The pileup left tractor-trailers, box trucks and cars tangled together across three traffic lanes and into the median about 75 miles northwest of Philadelphia... 
(Photo from WRGB : I-78 crash sent 73 to hospital, involved 64 vehicles)  --   Fredericksburg, PA, USA - The Associated Press/The Trucker - 15 Feb 2016

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Apr 9, 2013

* USA - "Lost in thought or daydreaming"

* DC - Distracted drivers cause 10% of fatal accidents

(Photo)
Washington,DC,USA  -The Car Connection, by Richard Read -Apr 8, 2013: -- We often talk about the dangers of distracted driving -- and for good reason. Of the 32,367 traffic fatalities on U.S. roads in 2011, over 10% were linked to distracted drivers... But here's the thing: conversations about distracted driving typically center around mobile phones and motorists who chat, text, or tweet behind the wheel. Are those really the biggest distractions for motorists? According to a new study, the surprising answer is "not by a long shot"... The first reason was:  "Lost in thought or daydreaming" ...


* California - Texting and map-checking are equally distracting and illegal in 


Sacramento,CAL,USA -The Car Connection, by Richard Read -Apr 9, 2013: -- When you're behind the wheel, do you rely on your smartphone to get from Point A to Point B? If so, we have some potentially bad news... In January of 2012, a California driver was ticketed for using his cell phone while driving. (California, like several other states, prohibits drivers from using their phones except in hands-free mode)...  Not content merely to pay the fine and be done with it, the driver went to court, arguing that he wasn't texting or talking on the phone at the time of the incident, but instead using a navigation app. The judge found him guilty anyway... The man appealed, but late last month, he was handed another loss, the Appeals Court decided that using apps like Google Maps (or, for the daring, Apple Maps) was no different than texting or dialing a phone number under California law...

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Feb 24, 2012

SAFETY ROADS * Australia

* Australia - Issue defect notices to speeding trucks

Sydney,NSW,Australia -ATA Friday Facts -24 February 2012: -- The police should issue a defect notice to any truck found travelling on the flat at more than 100 kilometres per hour, ATA Chief Executive Stuart St Clair said this week... “Speeding is a major cause of truck accidents, and every trucking business needs to have a strong speed management policy. It’s a legal requirement, and also good business,” Stuart said... “But the police need to back up the operators that do the right thing with better on-road speed enforcement. Any truck found travelling on the flat at more than 100 kilometres per hour should be issued with a defect notice, because it must, by definition, have a defective speed limiter. Trucks found travelling at more than 115 kilometres per hour should be grounded until the defect is cleared" ...

* January Road Deaths Australia report

Sydney,NSW,Australia -ATA Friday Facts -24 Feb 2012: -- There were 1302 road deaths in Australia during the year ending January 2012. This was a 1.2 per cent decrease compared to the same period in the previous year... These figures are in the latest Road Death Australia report, released last week by the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics. The report summarises Australian road toll data up to and including January 2012... It reveals that January 2012 saw 103 road deaths Australia wide, with 29 of them occurring in Victoria- over double last January’s toll of 18. However, South Australia managed to halve their January toll, from 12 deaths in January 2011 to 6 in January 2012...

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Jul 17, 2009

FATAL ACCIDENTS * USA - Heat, fatigue may be factors in Oklahoma

Oklahoma City,OK,USA -The Associated Press/The Trucker -16 July 2009: -- A 76-year-old truck driver whose semi plowed into traffic that had stopped on a turnpike worked 10 hours straight delivering groceries in sweltering heat before the crash occurred, authorities said Thursday... Donald Creed of Willard, Mo., did not exceed the federal daily driving limit when he crashed on the Will Rogers Turnpike on June 26, but investigators believe fatigue may have contributed to the crash, Oklahoma Highway Patrol Capt. Scott Horton, said. "We're also looking at the extreme heat as a possible factor," Horton said... Temperatures were in the upper 90s across eastern Oklahoma on the day of the crash... (Photo: Donald Creed of Willard, Mo., did not exceed the federal daily driving limit when he crashed on the Will Rogers Turnpike on June 26, but investigators believe fatigue may have contributed to the crash, Oklahoma Highway Patrol Capt. Scott Horton said. "We're also looking at the extreme heat as a possible factor," Horton said)


* Crashes Fuel Debate on Rules for Older Drivers

Ruckersville,VA,USA -The Wall Street Journal, by Philip Shishkin -9 July 2009: -- Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Senior Vice President for Research, Anne McCartt, notes that there is no single screening method available for identifying problem drivers before accidents happen... However, with the number of licensed drivers over age 65 increasing to 57 million by 2030 and the number of traffic accidents rising among older drivers, lawmakers are under pressure to devise regulations that restrict older drivers' mobility and reduce crashes... Lawmakers in Massachusetts continue to examine the issue, while states like Illinois and New Hampshire require road tests for drivers 75 years and older... Massachusetts lawmakers, like State Sen. Brian Joyce, hope to make road and vision tests mandatory for drivers 85 years and older. However, Safe Roads Now and elderly drivers are hoping lawmakers will pass a competing bill that provides doctors with greater leeway in reporting impairments to licensing authorities...


* Drunken Driving is Down

Washington,DC,USA -The Christian Science Monitor, by Alexandra Marks -13 July 2009: -- According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Agency (NHTSA) "2007 Roadside Survey of Alcohol and Drug Use" study, only 2.2 percent of American drivers are driving while intoxicated on weekends, down 71 percent from the number of drivers on the road while drunk in the 1970s... However, the survey also looked at drug use while driving for the first time and discovered that 16.3 percent of drivers have traces of drugs in their system, including marijuana, cocaine, and other stimulants, sedatives, and narcotics... While it is unclear whether these drivers were impaired while driving, experts agree that more must be done to curb drug use among drivers. Law enforcement officials had reported to the NHTSA prior to the study that some drivers pulled over did not test positive for alcohol, but still appeared to be impaired... NHTSA hopes to conduct further research into drug use among drivers to determine the impact of those substances on driver reaction times and other skills... (Photo from theadvocates: Drunk driving)

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