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May 14, 2015

REPORT: Who are the safest drivers on Ontario's roads ? ... The PROFESSIONAL TRUCKERS of * Canada

* Ontario - MTO report says trucks and truck drivers are safest


-- The Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) released the latest edition (2012) of the Ontario Road Safety Annual Report (ORSAR) Monday, and once again it shows that truck drivers are the safest drivers – and trucks are the safest vehicles... The ORSAR, which contains the results for 2012, states that large trucks (including straight trucks which require a Class D driver’s licence) as well as tractor-trailers (which require a Class A driver’s licence), represented just 4.5 per cent of the total number of vehicles involved in all collisions in Ontario. Tractors and tractor-trailers represented only 2.4 per cent of the total number of vehicles involved in all collisions that year... There were 98 large trucks involved in fatal collisions in 2012 of a total population of 273,765. Of the trucks that require a Class A driver’s licence (tractor-trailers) to operate, there were only 61 – or .02 per cent of the total registered large truck population – involved in fatal collisions. In total, there were 194,746, registered trucks requiring a Class A licence. This number represents 17.6 per cent of all fatalities... The report also confirms what has been the case for years – that trucks and truck drivers are not usually the cause of the fatal collisions they are involved in... Of the 98 large trucks involved in fatal crashes, not one had an apparent defect that may have contributed to the crash... In comparison to other drivers, large truck drivers involved in fatal collisions are more likely to be “driving properly.” In terms of the number of fatal collisions, the driver of the large truck was driving properly 68 per cent of the time versus 39 per cent for the other driver in the same fatal collisions... In terms of the number of persons killed in collisions with large trucks in 2012, the truck driver was determined to have been driving properly in 79 per cent of the fatalities – the highest level in the past five years and 15.2 percentage points better than in 2008... In addition, truck drivers are far less likely to have been drinking or impaired by alcohol or drugs – 2 per cent compared to 17 per cent for other drivers involved in the same crashes. In 2012, there was only one recorded collision involving a commercial vehicle where alcohol was involved... In terms of the longer-term perspective, OTA compiled data from the ORSAR reports going back to 1993 and found that despite a 79 per cent increase in the number of large trucks registered in Ontario, the number of large truck fatalities decreased from 202 in 1993 to 100 in 2012 – a reduction of 50 per cent... “Highway safety is an ever-evolving thing,” said Mississauga’s David Bradley, president of the Ontario Trucking Association... In recent years the association has championed the introduction of legislation to mandate the activation of speed limiters on all heavy trucks; a universal mandate to replace paper log books used in the enforcement of truck driver hours of service regulations with an electronic logging device; a manufacturing standard that would make electronic stability control part of new truck purchase packages; and mandatory entry level training for truck drivers... 
(Photo - Heavy Trucks in Mississauga, ONT, CAN: Volvo, Freightliner, International and Kenworth dealership)  --  Toronto, ONT, CAN - The Mississauga News - May 12, 2015

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posted by Unknown @ 6:59 AM  0 comments

Oct 22, 2010

SAFETY DRIVING * USA - Making Cars Safer

The National Highway Traffic Administration's incentive to change: "New Car Assessment (NCAP) Program"

Cleveland,OH,USA -Driving Today, by Luigi Fraschini -20 Oct 2010: -- The goal of the program is twofold: First, it helps consumers make informed decisions about safety when purchasing a new car. Second, and perhaps even more importantly, it gives auto manufacturers an incentive to improve their cars’ safety. All automobiles sold in the U.S. must meet Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, but NCAP has always given manufacturers an extra carrot to exceed those standards... For the 2011 model year, NHTSA has changed NCAP requirements to make them even more stringent and consumer friendly... The familiar five-star crash test ratings score will be improved and expanded. New criteria for the crash test ratings system include a new side pole crash test, now include small-sized adult females and medium-sized adult males, providing further precision in the tests, the use of different-sized test dummies (enabling the collection of more crash data), and a recognition of new high-tech crash avoidance features, such as Electronic Stability Control (ESC), Lane Departure Warning (LDW), and Forward Collision Warning (FCW)... Perhaps the biggest consumer benefit is the introduction of a single, easy-to-understand Overall Ratings Score. The score combines the results of head-on crash tests, side crash tests and rollover tests. It then compares those results to the average risk of injury and rollover potential of other cars, giving the buyer a good all-around look at the comparative safety of the vehicle...  One of the most encouraging aspects of the revised NCAP is the recognition of “active-safety” devices that help drivers avoid accidents instead of simply surviving them. While not part of the five-star rating scheme, the new technology will figure prominently in NHTSA regulations...  


* Cars' Safety

 (Photo: Volvo’s pedestrian detection system)

New York,NY,USA -The New York Times, Automotive News, by JOHN R. QUAIN -October 12, 2010: ...   Many car manufacturers offer collision warning systems that use radar to detect an imminent crash and then chime and flash lights at the driver. But the most ambitious — and impressive — automotive safety technology introduced this year is Volvo’s pedestrian detection system, first appearing on the 2011 S60... Using a combination of radar and video camera sensors, the detection system can pick out people (and cyclists) near the moving car. If it believes that a pedestrian is about to step in front of the car, it will warn the driver... Better still, if a pedestrian does suddenly appear in the car’s path — and the inattentive driver does nothing — the car sounds a series of warnings and then brakes the car to a complete stop. It works at speeds up to 22 miles per hour; at higher speeds, it will slow the S60 down but will not be able to prevent an impact...


* How do you drive your car, really?

New York,NY,USA -The Wall Street Journal, by Joseph B. White -October 13, 2010: -- For about 100 years, that question hasn't been very relevant for U.S. car buyers. It didn't matter too much whether you drove for long distances or short, multi-stop drives, for instance. Nearly all passenger vehicles sold in the U.S. ran on some form of petroleum, usually gasoline. They could operate for several hundred miles between fill-ups and gas stations were everywhere. So there was no question of whether you'd find the right fuel at your final destination...   The proliferation of green alternatives to the internal combustion engine will compel consumers and car dealers to have more in-depth conversations about the way different cars can be used, and what kind of car they truly need...   The trouble is, many consumers are confused about those choices. About half of 2,242 adults surveyed recently for Mercedes by Harris Interactive said they're interested in buying an alternative fuel vehicle—such as a hybrid, hydrogen-fuel cell, diesel or all-electric car...   But only about 35% of those surveyed said they know which technology is best suited for certain types of driving. Some 71% of those surveyed said they don't know much about the differences among the different approaches to reducing or eliminating gasoline as a motor fuel...   Auto makers may not want to settle on a silver bullet yet. But consumers could decide on their own to award silver-bullet status to a technology anyway, rather than cope with bewildering or incompatible options. Sony Betamax video-recorders are curios for a reason. And just as Sony couldn't persuade consumers to stick with Betamax, Daimler can't fight the market indefinitely. "If nobody purchases these vehicles," says Mr. Simon, "the technology will not be developed"...


* USA - How To Drive Safely At Night

You can't control nature at work, but by adjusting your car and your driving habits, you can cut the risk of becoming a night-time statistic...

Washington,DC,USA -The Car Connection, by Marty Padgett -October 25, 2010: ...   A new survey says that's a daunting prospect to many drivers driving entirely at night. The light-bulb experts Sylvania, with KRC Research, polled more than a thousand adults last month and found that more than half of them wished they could see the road ahead better at night. Almost 1/5 of those polled also said they've avoided driving at night, over concerns with vision and visibility. By the firms' calculations, that's 37 million people missing out on nighttime fun behind the wheel, with half of that number being people under 55 years old, when their vision shouldn't be cutting into driving. Being afraid of driving in the dark is also more common with women: 24 percent of women, versus 12 percent of men, reported staying home instead of venturing out after dusk...   Short of arming yourself with klieg lights and miles of reflective tape, what can you do to make yourself more at ease with nighttime driving? Our five ways to get more comfortable--and more safe--when you're driving after hours:

- - Make sure your headlights are working properly...

- - Make sure your headlights are clean and properly aimed...

- - Use your high beams more often--but responsibly...

- - If you're on the frightened end of the night-driving spectrum, these features could be your automotive Xanax.

- - Dim all the lights--and the distractions...   because distractions aimed at one sensory organ can interfere with another...   (Photo by John Trainor)

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posted by Unknown @ 11:46 AM  0 comments

Jun 7, 2010

Safety Challenges * USA - Smart Phones Create New Telematics

This idea that people are going to be separated from their devices is not going to happen,” Chris Preuss, president of General Motors Co.’s

Dearborn,MI,USA -Wards Auto, by Tom Murphy -May 21, 2010: -- Blackberries, smart phones and other hand-held devices have made the Internet portable, but they also create serious hazards on roadways... 21% of 1.6 million injury accidents involve distracted driving. The problem won’t be getting better soon, experts say... “This will be one of the major social imperatives of the next decade,” Preuss says... OnStar’s model is to continue offering hands-free technologies that promote safe driving, such as real-time navigation services that take into account traffic patterns, based on the 5.5 million subscribers using OnStar... Technology can solve the problem of distracted driving, rather than exacerbate it, says fellow panelist Bob Schumacher, general director-advanced product development and business strategy, Delphi Corp. The Troy, MI, supplier is part of the Genivi consortium of auto makers, suppliers and software providers dedicated to using an automotive grade Linux operating system, enabling portable devices to connect more readily with vehicle computers, Schumacher says. At that point, hands-free operation of devices would be simple... (Photo from farm4.static.flickr)

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posted by Unknown @ 9:38 PM  0 comments

Oct 1, 2009

TRUCKS' SAFETY * USA - New White Paper: “The ABCs of Driver Safety Training”

Driver’s Alert Targets Fleet and Safety Managers

Lighthouse Point,FLA,USA -Business Wire -September 29, 2009: -- Driver’s Alert today announced the release of its newest White Paper, “The ABCs of Driver Safety Training”, which provides best practices for what a fleet or safety manager should do to prevent at-fault crashes... Fleet and safety professionals will discover how a combined and integrated driver observation, online safety training program and driver risk leveling program can:

* Predict and prevent at-fault accidents;

* Mitigate business and financial risk;

* Automate and compile real-time and historical driver data into a driver risk assessment system;

* Maintain the integrity of critical commercial fleet and driver data;

* Reduce fleet audit cycle time and costs.


* Nevada troopers in trucks spot dangerous drivers

Reno,NEV,USA -The Associated Press/The Reno Gazette Journal -30 Sept 2009: -- The Nevada Highway Patrol has begun putting troopers in big-rig trucks to spot motorists who follow too closely or cut in front of tractor-trailers... NHP Capt., Julie Johnson, says the statewide "Badge on Board" program aims to improve safety and cut the number of truck crashes... It follows a one-day pilot program in 2008 that involved troopers issuing 18 citations in northern Nevada and 65 citations in southern Nevada... Officials say troopers in the cabs of trucks will summon officers in marked patrol vehicles to stop and issue citations to motorists... (Photo from swindlemagazine)


* Drivers need to watch for trucks on the road

Detroit,Mich,USA -DL On Line -September 30 2009: -- Be careful out there. That’s the word for motorists after a spate of fatal collisions in the area... Perhaps surprisingly, most truck accidents happen during the daytime, and most fatal crashes involving trucks occur on less traveled state highways or county highways... Of 64 fatal truck crashes in Minnesota last year, 32 occurred on state or county highways... Twenty-seven happened on Interstate highways or U.S. trunk highways. Five occurred on local streets. None occurred on county or township roads... For whatever reason, rural areas are more likely to see fatal truck accidents. Most happen between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. during sunny, dry weather, perhaps because motorists are less likely to be on their guard... Probably because high speeds are more often possible in the rural open countryside, crashes here are more severe. Sixty-five percent of fatal and 45 percent of truck-related injury crashes occurred in the rural areas of Minnesota, according to the Minnesota Office of Traffic Safety’s 2008 Crash Facts... (Photo from media.fresnobee: tomato trucks run on rural)

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posted by Unknown @ 6:22 AM  0 comments

Jul 15, 2009

SAFETY DRIVING * USA - Waving the video wand

There’s been a lot of activity on the in-cab video technology front of late, with two studies being released within several weeks of each other

Washington,DC,USA -Fleet Owner, Sean Kilcarr -July 14, 2009: -- The first is an in-house case study SmartDrive Systems conducted with Loomis Armored, a big customer of theirs that employs over 8,000 people and operates a fleet of some 3,000 armored trucks and other vehicles in the U.S.... The second is a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) funded project conducted by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) with two over-the-road fleets, both using DriveCam’s driver risk management program... “Both carriers (long-haul and short-haul) significantly reduced the mean frequency of recorded events/miles traveled from baseline to intervention,” VTTI’s, Hickman, said. “The results prove that the combination of onboard safety monitoring and behavioral coaching were responsible for the significant reduction in the mean frequency of events/miles traveled at both carriers”... Loomis Armored reported similar results with a 53% reduction in collision frequency... From his risk management perspective in the fleet business, there is always a better mouse trap, so it behooves any fleet to go out and test it to see what benefits it can provide... So while in-cab video might not be a magic wand, with the ability to “wave away” accidents, injuries and costs, it sure seems – in the right hands at least – to give fleets and their drivers an opportunity to achieve improvements in all three of those areas...

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posted by Unknown @ 1:13 PM  0 comments