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Driver Education: Driving with a Cold or the Flu

October 5, 2009

With cold and flu season here, many drivers are hurrying to drug stores and pharmacies for tissues, hand sanitizer, and over-the-counter medications to relieve symptoms such as sneezing, coughing, fever, and body aches. Unfortunately, alleviating cold and flu symptoms won’t necessarily make them safer drivers.

Colds are characterized by sore throat, sneezing and runny nose, and coughing.

Although many people have little to no fever with colds, these effects can be debilitating. Aside from the distraction these symptoms cause, drivers are often irritable due to their degree of discomfort and drowsy because the symptoms make it difficult to sleep well. This collection of problems can mean that these drivers take chances they wouldn’t ordinarily take, such as turning left in front of oncoming traffic or running red traffic lights, in an effort to get home quickly.

Flu symptoms commonly include coughing and body aches, often with a high fever and chills. In addition to feeling ill-tempered and sleepy, these drivers may also suffer from disorientation and dizziness. Driving effects could include slower reaction time, poor coordination, and impaired judgment.

In an effort to continue their normal activities, some drivers choose to take over-the-counter medications to ease their cold or flu symptoms. However, these medications do not typically eliminate symptoms. They also wear off quickly and can have side effects that compromise the user’s ability to drive safely, such as:

  • Dizziness or lightheadedness
  • Loss of muscle control and motor coordination
  • Increased reaction time
  • Jittery feelings and nervousness
  • Drowsiness

It’s best to stay off the road when you have a cold or the flu. Seek support from family and friends by asking for a ride to the doctor’s office if you need to go and arranging carpools for your children; you can repay these favors when you’re feeling better. Getting plenty of rest is the best way for you to recover from the cold or flu quickly so you can safely get back on the road.

Woman on scooter

Scooter Safety for Riders and Other Motorists

September 23, 2009

They are popping up everywhere; on college campuses, in urban areas, neighborhoods, and in retirement communities. Whether it’s for fun, cost savings, environmental considerations or out of practicality, scooters and mopeds are growing in use and popularity. While these scooters are zipping about, everyone on the roadways needs to take extra precautions with mopeds and scooters in the driving environment.

Motorist should keep in mind that it is difficult to judge how fast a scooter or moped is traveling.

They are also smaller, difficult to see, and appear farther away than they really are. Maintain your scan of the road to ensure you are aware of their location and continually check your blind spots. Always manage your space cushion and continue to adjust with the flow of traffic as you never know when a scooter will need to make an evasive maneuver. Increase your following distance to a minimum of four seconds in ideal weather conditions and 5 seconds in inclement weather and at night. Even wind can affect the stability and direction a scooter travels. Dim your high beams at night when approaching a moped or scooter as they are more susceptible to their blinding affect.

If traveling by a moped or scooter take extra precautions. Check to make sure you have met all the legal licensing, registration and equipment requirements for your local and state area before travelling on the road. Some vehicles with a motor capacity of 50cc are classified as a motorcycle and require a Motorcycle Safety Course. Know before you go. It is helpful to take a motorcycle practice test prior to taking your safety course.

Make sure your equipment is working and in excellent condition. Poor tire tread, improper inflation, worn brakes and equipment malfunctions can be huge problems on the road. Evaluate your load, cargo and whether to have a passenger as they directly affect your vehicles stability, performance and ability to maneuver.

Wear clothing that will give the greatest protection in a fall. Choose clothing that is light, bright and snug. If traveling during dawn, dusk or nighttime hours, add reflective tape to clothing for increased visibility. Consider boots, a jacket, long pants and gloves. Protect your eyes with safety glasses or goggles.

Head injury is a leading cause of death and disability in moped and motor scooter crashes. Wearing a helmet is the single most effective means to prevent head injury. Ensure that your helmet fits properly and is Department of Transportation (DOT) approved. Helmet use is mandatory in most states.

On the roadway, give yourself plenty of space from all sides. Travel in the center of the lane and if riding with other motor scooters travel in a staggered formation. Always drive defensively; looking for an escape route, should you need to make an evasive maneuver. Keep a three to five second visual scan and be sure to check your blind spots. Turning your headlights on during the day can improve your ability to be seen by pedestrians and other vehicles. When riding, your hands should be on the handlebars and your feet on the floorboards. Watch out for road hazards and defects. Signal well in advance, and consider using hand signals for extra safety.

Be extra cautious when approaching driveways, parking lots, and intersections. Reduce your speed for lower visibility conditions such as dawn, dusk, nighttime and poor weather. Avoid having sudden starts, braking and quick turns as they cause instability.

When reaching your destination, park on level ground, turn off the engine and if you have any passengers let them get off the scooter first.

With awareness and a few extra precautions, mopeds and scooters can operate safely on our roads.

Three most dangerous cities for teens

Top 3 Most Dangerous Cities for Teen Drivers are in Florida

August 29, 2009

Two studies, one by Allstate Insurance Company and the other by Reader’s Digest, indicate that geography plays a part in teens’ risk of injury and death in motor vehicle crashes. And because of their age group, teens are already at great risk. The number one killer of American teens is motor vehicle crashes; one study shows that the problem is particularly serious in Florida. Every year, over 5,000 people aged 16-20 are killed in motor vehicle collisions, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The ten riskiest cities out of the 50 largest urban areas in the US were selected using statistics from the national Census Bureau, federal crash data, and company claims information on teen passenger vehicle collisions. The most dangerous US cities for teen drivers are Southern, with the top three in Florida. Of the top 50 cities in the country for teen fatality crashes, Tampa/St. Petersburg/Clearwater, Orlando/Kissimmee, and Jacksonville rank number one, two and three, respectively.

The analysis by Reader’s Digest categorizes states according to their current Graduated Driver’s Licensing (GDL), seat belt, and Driving Under the Influence (DUI) laws. According to the study, Alaska, California and Delaware rank as the top three; three of the worst states include North Dakota, Mississippi and Arkansas. Florida is categorized as “Fair,” the next-to-lowest ranking. Interestingly, California cities also scored high in the Allstate study: San Francisco/Oakland, San Jose, and Los Angeles were numbers one, two, and four.

Factors that contribute to teen motor vehicle crashes include:

  • Speeding/driving too fast for conditions -Driver distraction, including cell phone use and dealing with passengers -Inexperience -Driving at night -Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs (including prescription and over-the-counter drugs)
  • Teens also often neglect to wear their seat belts, increasing the risk of serious injury or death in a crash. An observational study by the Utah Department of Health found that the teen seat belt use rate falls when other high-risk factors are present, such as when teens drive under the influence of alcohol, drive at night, have multiple teen passengers, or are driving without a driver’s license.

The risk factors listed above, including seat belt requirements, are addressed by GDL laws in many states. Before advancing to the next phase of licensure, young drivers must show progress by complying with specific restrictions. Driver education was a part of the curriculum in 90% of US high schools during the 1980s; in 2009, only 20% do. GDL laws are of increasing significance in the effort to reduce teen crash rates, because teens get most of their driver training from their parents and are often subject only to state requirements after licensure.

While a national model for GDL laws has existed since the mid-1990s, no state follows all of the requirements. To show the disparities among states, The National Safety Commission (TNSC) analyzed the GDL laws in four states: California, Florida, Mississippi, and North Dakota.

The study showed that:
  • The minimum age for a learner’s permit in California is 15 years, six months; the minimum age is 15 in Florida and Mississippi. In North Dakota, the minimum age is 14.
  • While California and Florida each require 50 hours of practice driving with a parent or guardian in the learner’s permit stage, 10 hours of which must be at night, neither Mississippi nor North Dakota require parental certification of any driving practice hours.
  • North Dakota does not have any passenger or nighttime restrictions, and Florida and Mississippi have only nighttime restrictions. California’s passenger restriction is that for the first 12 months, the restricted driver may have no passengers younger than 20, with limited exceptions for immediate family.

Comprehensive GDL laws reduce deaths among 16-year-old drivers by 38%, according to a study by Johns Hopkins University for the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety; the Reader’s Digest study also supported the idea that better GDL laws mean that fewer teens will die in motor vehicle crashes. However, TNSC points out that parents must actively participate in their teens’ driver education by enforcing GDL laws as house rules, rather than leaving the issue to law enforcement. The possibility of legal consequences for teens who don’t abide by their state’s GDL laws should serve as support for parental restrictions, not take the place of them.

Risky driving behavior

Teens and Motor Vehicle Crashes

August 28, 2009

The tragedy occurred on the last day before summer vacation. An SUV transporting a group of teens to the beach rolled over after a tire blowout. In the aftermath, four teens died, four were hospitalized, and the teen driver faced criminal charges.

Almost everyone knows a distressing story like this one; deaths of teens due to motor vehicle crashes are often well-publicized amid great community sympathy for the loss of young lives and the potential they held, as well as the devastation of surviving parents and friends. And they speak to a larger statistical reality – that motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for 15- to 20-year-olds, according to the National Center for Health Statistics – that much of America seems to be both aware of, but unsure of how to change.

Consider the following statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA):

  • There were 202.8 million licensed drivers in the United States in 2006 (2007 data not available). Young drivers between 15 and 20 years old accounted for 6.4 percent (13.0 million) of the total, a 7.2-percent increase from the 12.1 million young drivers in 1996.
  • In 2007, 13 percent (6,982) of all drivers involved in fatal crashes (55,681) were young drivers age 15 to 20 years old, and 15 percent (1,631,000) of all drivers involved in police-reported crashes (10,524,000) were young drivers.
  • In 2007, 3,174 15- to 20-year-old drivers were killed and an additional 252,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes.
  • Among 15- to 20-year-old drivers involved in fatal crashes in 2007, 31 percent of the drivers who were killed had been drinking.
  • In 2007, 64 percent of the young drivers of passenger vehicles involved in fatal crashes who had been drinking were unrestrained. Of the young drivers who had been drinking and were killed in crashes, 75 percent were unrestrained. -During 2007, 35 percent of the motorcycle riders between 15 and 20 years old who were fatally injured in crashes were not wearing helmets.

In addition to mistakes made while driving, teens are susceptible to other lapses in judgment concerning motor vehicles that can lead to injury or death, such as car surfing. According to Science Daily, the states with the highest car-surfing fatality rates are California, Florida, and Texas; all three states have shown an increase in car-surfing deaths since 2000.

Though these three states show high levels of risky teen behavior concerning motor vehicles, a study conducted by Allstate Insurance Company indicated that rural areas have much higher rates of fatal motor vehicle crashes involving teen drivers than metropolitan areas; consequently, states with large rural areas have the highest rates of fatal crashes involving teen drivers. These states are:

    • Mississippi
    • Alabama
    • Kentucky
    • Missouri
    • Arkansas

Nationally, Allstate’s research showed, fatal crash rates for teens were more than twice as high in rural areas than in metropolitan areas.

While considerable attention is paid to the issue of drunk driving among teens, law enforcement agencies report that speeding is the leading cause of motor vehicle crashes involving teen drivers. Allstate’s study found that law enforcement identified speeding as a factor in 34% of motor crashes nationwide, while alcohol was cited in just 12% of crashes.

In addition to the risk teens take when driving or when riding in a vehicle with other teens, teens suffer when a member of their peer group dies in a motor vehicle crash, particularly when they suffer multiple losses from crashes such as the example at the beginning of this article. Because of the feeling of invincibility that is characteristic of this age group, teens typically have not considered the deaths of people their age a possibility, so when such a thing occurs, their world may seem to be crashing down around them. This means that even teens who were not particularly close to the person who died can be stunned by their reaction to it. Due to their level of psychological maturity, teens are ill-equipped to understand the grieving process and may be overwhelmed by feelings of being out-of-control, insecure, and scared, in addition to sorrow and grief. They may descend into melancholy that lasts years, greatly affecting their development. Some teens numb their feelings by participating in high-risk activities such as:

    • Alcohol and drug abuse
    • Reckless sexual activity
    • Withdrawal from family and friends
    • Taking risks involving motor vehicles

Depending on the loss, some teens experience a change in their circle of friends. Obviously, this can have positive or negative results, but regardless, it is another change in a rapidly changing world for the teen. Teens who lose friends to death may see their grades drop and their focus change as they struggle to fit into a new group of friends at a time when they feel especially vulnerable.

Parents and other authority figures can help teens channel their grief in healthier ways by:

    • Being available to listen – not, necessarily, to talk
    • Allowing teens the freedom to process their grief with others, such as friends, extended family, and professional counselors
    • Encouraging teens to express themselves through writing, drawing, and memorializing their deceased friends
    • Realizing that the teens’ mourning process may be prolonged and letting teens know that there is no timetable for grief

Though the federal government, state governments, and community-based organizations are making efforts to reduce the number of teens who die in motor vehicle crashes, the statistics above indicate that there is still much work to be done. Forty-six states and the District of Columbia have three-stage Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) programs in which restricted licenses are issued to beginning teen drivers, with the restrictions reduced over time. However, no state has incorporated all of the GDL components recommended by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the National Transportation Safety Board, and NHTSA.

State-level programs that include peer-to-peer teaching and learning about driver safety are effective in reducing teen motor vehicle crash rates. Texas’ Teens in the Driver Seat is one such program; teen crash deaths have dropped 32% and the number of teen drivers involved in fatal motor vehicle crashes is down 33% since the program began. A similar program in Illinois called Operation Teen Safe Driving has helped achieve a 10% reduction in teen motor vehicle fatalities in Illinois during the first seven months of 2009. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) and other advocacy groups sponsor many public education campaigns to persuade teens not to drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

How Active Participation Helps Teens Understand Safe Driving Concepts

August 4, 2009

Most adults understand that teens tend to tune out long lectures about safe driving (or anything else), but parents and teachers also know that they have important messages to pass on, and they are sometimes at a loss as to other methods of doing so. Creative thinking in terms of teaching methods, both in the home and at school, can mean the difference between messages that teens will ignore versus those they will integrate into their driving behavior. This is so important with driving; motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teens in the United States, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Obviously, lectures aren’t working.

Recently, First Coast News of Jacksonville, FL profiled four teenagers who had created a Public Service Announcement (PSA) to promote safe driving. The PSA shows a teen driving while listening to music, eating, and using a cell phone to talk and text; she eventually glances at the road just in time to see that it’s too late to avoid a motor vehicle crash.

Reporters quizzed the teens on whether or not they’d ever performed any of these unsafe driving behaviors. The teens admitted to doing so but also said that making the PSA had heightened their awareness of how dangerous these behaviors are, which had caused them to curb the behavior. The teens said that creating the PSA had made the consequences of distracted driving, such as getting into a crash and being seriously injured, seem real. This is more of an accomplishment than one might think; teens’ brains are not biologically developed enough for them to control impulses and understand the consequences of their behavior, which is why convincing them to drive safely is such an uphill battle.

Another benefit of this type of active participation is that these teens became positive role models for their peers, influencing them to drive more safely. Peer pressure is a reality that must not be ignored; many teens perform more (both in intensity and in number) risky driving behaviors when they are accompanied by teen passengers. Whether the teen driver is bowing to external pressure from friends or internal pressure to show off, the effect is the same. The key is not to try to convince teens to disregard peer pressure, an almost impossible task, but to convert the peer pressure into a positive influence.

Making the PSA also had the effect of helping these teens take responsibility for their driving behavior. Again, this is typically a difficult task. Teens have a variety of sources, legitimate and irrational, to blame for their poor choices; reaching maturity means accepting responsibility for their decisions and the attendant consequences, along with realizing that they are the ones who make the ultimate decision to be safe drivers.

Listening to a lecture is a passive process; making a PSA is an active process because it forces the teen to engage with and think about safe driving concepts. Of course, having every teen in America make a PSA about safe driving would be a logistical nightmare, and due to teens’ short attention spans, the experience would soon wear thin. But the concept of having teens participate in an active learning process about safe driving could be utilized in every household and in every school.

Before assigning an active-participation project to teens, consider their interests. Most teens love music, popular television shows, being with friends, and talking about themselves. Most teens are self-conscious about their appearance and are interested in grooming, clothes, and accessories. Many teens also have a special hobby, such as gaming, art, computers, writing, or sports. Many are also interested in exploring new ideas – the perfect time to let them get creative with how to disseminate safe driving messages. Ideas include:

  • Designing a poster or series of posters
  • Writing a song, using computer software to write accompanying music
  • Writing an episode of their favorite television show
  • Performing a skit with friends
  • Giving their own “presidential address”
  • Designing a clothing/accessory line
  • Creating a video game

To avoid boredom, vary the topics assigned to the teen, but for maximum benefit, assign topics that relate to common teen driving mistakes, such as:

To further engage their critical thinking skills, have teens present their messages from other points of view. For example, teens who are interested in politics can give a presidential address about enacting laws to lower teen deaths in motor vehicle crashes; teens who are interested in sports can create an advertising campaign showing how drinking and drugs can impair athletic ability. Until the project is finished, try to provide encouragement and support without too much assistance; let teens follow the research and learning process to its logical conclusion.

Helping teens engage in an active learning process regarding safe driving behavior is a requirement for reducing the teen death rate on our nation’s roadways.