AA Driving Academy

Maneuvering around pedestrians can be difficult because their behavior is unpredictable, but knowing what to do in various situations can prevent a tragic incident.

In 2009, an estimated 5,300 pedestrian deaths and 120,000 medically consulted nonfatal pedestrian injuries occurred as a result of incidents involving motor vehicles, according to the National Safety Councils “Injury Facts.” Most pedestrian deaths and injuries occur when they improperly cross roadways or intersections, or when they dart or run into streets, council data shows. Pedestrian deaths and injuries also are caused by playing, working or standing in roadways, and walking in traffic.

NHTSA also warns that alcohol involvement either by the pedestrian or the driver has been a factor in traffic crashes that result in pedestrian fatalities.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration advises professional drivers to prevent crashes involving pedestrians by driving defensively and following these safety tips:

• Conduct maintenance checks of equipment that will aid you in situations involving pedestrians. Check mirrors, horn operation and devices that will indirectly aid vision.
• When maneuvering close to pedestrians, anticipate the unexpected. Pedestrians often misjudge the speed and closeness of a commercial motor vehicle and sometimes assume you will slow down for them.
• Do not assume pedestrians will give you the right-of-way until it is obvious they are waiting for you to pass.
• Be extra careful at night because pedestrians might incorrectly assume you can see them because they can easily see your headlights.
• Know that improper trailer tracking in turns may cause your trailer to run onto the sidewalk. Turn wide enough to avoid this and go very slowly.

Driving green means practicing safe driving habits and keeping your car in good shape. Doing this will help to reduce your fuel consumption – which translates to less money spent at the gas pump and more money in your pocket. Just as important – good driving and good maintenance will extend the life of your vehicle and increase its resale value.

Practice Good Driving Habits

Most safe driving habits are also green habits, as they save fuel.

• Stick to the speed limit. It’s safer and it uses less fuel. Fuel ecomony declines about 1% for every mile driven over 55 mph. According to the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety, speed was a factor in almost one third of fatal crashes in 2008.
• Avoid quick starts and stops. Accelerate slowly and smoothly, and avoid hard braking. This helps to boost gas mileage and prevent unnecessary wear and tear on your brakes.
• Use cruise control when you are on the highway to maintain a steady speed.
• Use overdrive gearing whenever possible. Running in a higher gear decreases engine speed and saves gas and engine wear.
• Remove excess weight. Get rid of the junk in your trunk. Carrying around an extra 100 pounds reduces fuel economy by about 1 percent.
• Avoid packing items on the top of your car. This creates wind resistance and increases aerodynamic drag. According to the Federal Trade Commission, loading up your roof rack can cut fuel economy by 5 percent.
• Use air conditioning wisely. Consider your speed before deciding whether or not to turn on the air conditioning during the summer months. If you are driving at 40mph or less, rolling down your windows and opening your air vents will increase fuel economy. If you are driving at a speed above 40mph, it is more efficient to use your air conditioner. Driving with the windows open at higher speeds can increase drag and decrease fuel economy.
• Avoid unnecessary idling. Turn off the engine if you are stationary for more than 10 seconds. Instead of waiting in line at a drive-in window, turn off the engine and go in. You may actually save time that way.
• Consolidate your trips. Not only do you save fuel, you’ll cut down on the amount of time you spend behind the wheel.

Keep Your Car Well Maintained

Keeping your car well maintained saves gas, reduces emissions, and helps your car to last longer. It’s a win-win! Read about some maintenance tips below:

• Keep your tires properly inflated. This will help your tires last longer and perform better. Under inflated tires can make the steering sluggish and have the tires get hotter. Fuel economy goes down by about 1 percent for every 3 pounds below recommended pressure, and driving with a properly inflated tire reduces the chance of a blowout. Tires can lose about 1 pound of pressure in a month, so check the air pressure regularly and always before going on a long trip or carrying heavy loads. In addition, make sure to keep your wheels rotated and tires balanced.
• Change the oil regularly and use the recommended grade of motor oil. Changing the oil and oil filter regularly increases fuel economy and helps your car last longer. Your owner’s manual has guidelines for how often to change the oil and the correct grade.
• Keep your engine properly tuned. An engine that is not properly tuned wastes gas, emits more pollutants, and has a higher risk of breaking down.
• Check and replace the air filter regularly. Replacing a clogged air filter can increase gas mileage by 4 percent.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that at age 16, which is the highest risk age for drivers, 48 percent of deaths were passengers and slightly more 16-year-old females were killed as passengers than as drivers.

More females will be a passenger of a male teen driver on prom night than any other time of the year across North America. Speeding, alcohol use, multiple passengers and driving between 12 a.m. and 3 a.m. represent the deadliest combination of factors and is the prime recipe for car crashes. 

In 2000, 34 percent of male drivers involved in fatal crashes were speeding, and 23 percent of speeding drivers involved in fatal crashes were also intoxicated. Between midnight and 3 a.m., 77 percent of speeding drivers involved in fatal accidents were intoxicated. 

Get the picture yet?

Parents who want to reduce the risk of their child’s involvement in a car crash should do the following: 

1. Check your brakes and brake fluid. Teenagers speed the most. While teens are interested in how fast the car can go, parents should be interested in how well the car can stop. Make sure your vehicle is in its best mechanical shape if your teen is taking to the wheel. 
2. Limit the number of passengers your teen is allowed to transport. The risk of a car crash goes up exponentially for each passenger added. 
3. Be a good role model and do not drink and drive what-so-ever. Teens are very sensitive to hypocrisy and determine their behavior by what they observe in their parent, not by what the parent says. Tell you teen not to drink and drive and lead by example.

(Article by: Gary Direnfeld, MSW)

Distractions are the leading cause of motor vehicle crashes and the number one distraction is cell phones. The use of a cell phone while driving is a very high-risk behavior with a significant impact on society. This is due to the vast number of people engaging in the behavior and the cognitive distraction drivers experience when engaged in cell phone conversations. More than 50 peer-reviewed scientific studies have identified the risks associated with cell phone use while driving.

• Drivers who use cell phones are four times more likely to be involved in a crash. Two different studies found this same conclusion, a 1997 New England Journal of Medicine examination of hospital records and 2005 Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study linking crashes to cell phone records.
• No difference exists in the cognitive distraction (the mental process of knowing, which includes awareness, judgment and perception) between handheld and hands-free devices, according to simulator studies conducted at the Univ. of Utah.
• One recent simulator study compared drivers using cell phones and drivers impaired by alcohol. Cell phone users had slower reaction times than drivers with .08 BAC and slower reaction to vehicles braking in front of them.
• Many businesses and organizations understand the risk and are already taking action. Among National Safety Council members who responded to a 2009 survey, 58 percent (1,163 out of 2,004 respondents) said their organization had a cell phone policy of some kind. Of those, 99 percent said the policy resulted in no decrease in productivity and 20 percent saw decreases in employee crash rates and property damage.
• A Carnegie Mellon study took pictures of the brain while drivers listened to sentences and drove on a simulator. The drivers listening to sentences had a 37 percent reduction in spatial awareness, which can directly contribute to cognitive distraction.
• For adults, talking to a passenger while driving is significantly safer than talking on a cell phone, a University of Utah study found. Passengers, unlike cell phone conversations, can make the driver aware of changing road conditions they might not see and can stop the conversation if traffic conditions warrant.

(This article is from focusdriven.org)

Each year since 1994, between 39,000 and 46,000 people have been killed in motor vehicle crashes.

In addition to the thousands of fatalities, many more people suffer serious life-changing injuries in motor vehicle crashes. More than 2.2 million injuries resulted from vehicle crashes in 2008.

That’s more than 650,000 lives lost during the past 15 years. It includes people inside and outside of vehicles, as well as motorcyclists, bicyclists and pedestrians who were struck by vehicles. There are activities people tend to think are riskier than driving, such as flying in an airplane, but consider this: The lives lost on U.S. roadways each year are equivalent to the lives that would be lost from a 100-passenger jet crashing every day of the year.

To reduce this toll, prevention must focus on the top factors associated with crashes.

Driver distractions have joined alcohol and speeding as leading factors in fatal and serious injury crashes. The National Safety Council estimates 25 percent of all crashes in 2008 involved talking on cell phones – accounting for 1.4 million crashes and 645,000 injuries that year.

Cell phone use has grown dramatically over the past 15 years. In 1995, cell phone subscriptions covered only 13 percent of the U.S. population; by 2009, that had grown to 91 percent.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that at any point during the day, 11 percent of drivers are talking on cell phones.

More than half of respondents to a AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety survey reported talking on cell phones while driving during the previous 30 days. Seventeen percent admitted they engaged in this behavior “often or very often.” Because text messaging has grown dramatically – an almost 10,000-fold increase in 10 years – and because there is already near-public consensus that it’s a serious driving safety risk, texting receives a great deal of attention.

About 14 percent of people admitted to texting while driving in the past 30 days.  Although texting is clearly a serious distraction, NSC data shows drivers talking on cell phones are involved in more crashes. More people are talking on cell phones while driving more often, and for greater lengths of time, than they are texting. Thus, in 2008, an estimated 200,000 crashes involved texting or e-mailing, versus 1.4 million crashes involving talking on cell phones.

(This article was from the National Safety Council March 2010 issue)