In 1966, the National Highway Safety Bureau (NHSB) was designed by the Highway Act. NHSB’s director, Dr. William Haddon, noticed that he could prevent motor-vehicle injuries by applying public health methods and epidemiology. Various passages demanded the government to set standards for the highway and motor vehicles. The federal government responded by developing new safety features in cars such as safety belts, head rests, and shatter-resistant windshields. Barriers, reflectors, and center line strips were placed on roadways to provide direction and illumination. Traffic safety laws, wearing a safety belt, and public education encouraged drivers to make safer decisions. The use of safety belts has skyrocketed from 11% in 1981 to 68% in 1997 and decreases When the community and government understood the necessity for motor-vehicle safety, various programs such as Prior to the implementation, the rate stood at 18 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 1925; however, the rate stood at 1.7 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 1997. With all of the new safety features with cars, public education and enforcement of safety laws, “motor-vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of injury-related deaths in the United States.” Over 23.9 million vehicle crashes were reported in 1997; estimated costs were around $200 billion.
Snyder, B. (2010, May 21). Which Age Group Causes the Most Car Accidents?. Retrieved February 10,
As previously mentioned, sudden car accidents are caused by various factors ranging from mechanical problems to the behaviors of drivers and passengers. However, most of these accidents are completely preventable, especially those associated with the behaviors of drivers and passengers. These accidents are preventable because passengers can adopt measures that enhance their safety while travelling. On the other hand, they are also preventable because drivers can avoid fatigue and distractions that cause them. Actually, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administ...
“Error is part of the human condition”. While errors by road users trigger crashes, the environment in which these take place should no be ignored - - road layout – indirect influences – nature of the vehicle – traffic laws, enforcement or ack thereof (Hijar)
If 9 out of 10 drivers are opting out of the industry before they've even been in a year, it's not a stretch to think that user experience is to blame for at least some of them. Happily coinciding with a December 18th mandate, ELDs - electronic logging devices - are making the much-maligned paper log a thing of the past, allowing drivers to travel through many states nearly seamlessly. With ELD features like mobile device interfaces and safeguards to prevent text-alert distractions on the road, the cab is no longer an unfamiliar, caught-in-time platform for forward-thinking millennials.During the actual drive, emerging practices like platooning - the high-tech linking of two trucks that allows for a very close following speed and near-simultaneous braking in the rear truck without driver input - help cut down on wind resistance and fuel consumption. This makes hauls more profitable for busy drivers, and also ensures a level of safety for both truck drivers and the other vehicles that they share the road with. This practice also lowers the difficulty level for newer truck drivers, though they should receive training and ample solo time on their own hauls before linking up in a platoon formation to avoid
The following points from the overall literature review are vital in the field of emergency management to plan and mitigate the troubling problems related to motor vehicle collisions (Ward et al, 2014). Annually, the government spends an enormous amount of money on mitigation plans, repair infrastructure and advertisement (Johnson, 2013). Studies have found that the cost of fatal and non-fatal accounted for 71 percent of the overall cost; it calculates approximately 68 billion (Quin et al, 2013). The economy pays nearly 11.9 billion on motorcycle incidents and two billion less for pedestrian’s death and injuries.
...ture a risk-taking species. In ancient times we took risks just to eat. Later we took huge risks by setting out in little wooden ships to explore the earth's surface. We continued as we sought to fly, travel faster than the speed of sound and to head off into space. We rely on increasingly more complex equipment and constantly strive to design and manufacture faster and even more elaborate devices. It goes without saying that every effort is made to ensure our "safety"; to keep us from harm or danger. Every time you slide behind the wheel of your vehicle you are taking a risk. Driving is the riskiest activity in our lives. It is an inherently "unsafe" environment. The most perfect vehicles on the best designed highways on beautiful sunny days driven by fallible human beings crash into each other. The only way to drive "safely" (as we are all admonished to do!) is to learn more about the process. Learn more about your vehicle and how to maintain it; learn how to use your eyes to look far down the road; learn to spot problems before they happen; and also learn to deal with emergency situations. In most cases it's the human element that fails. After all, safe is only as safe does.
Richard Petty once said “You’ll got home safe, so drive safe, and stay safe.” Being a racing legend, he is an advocate for safe driving to minimise the cases of road crushes that have been on the rise. He double up as the chairman of the Veterans’ Safe Driving Initiative, the initiative is aimed at guiding the veterans returning from deployment on safe driving tips. It is necessarily important since the infrastructure has changed over time. Another initiative is being run in Minnesota where the teens are guided on the important safe driving tips. Study shows that more crushes are likely to occur in teen driving than veteran driving. It is also evident that young drivers are more likely to cause a crush within six months of passing the driving test and young male are worse than the females in the field.
...o beginning drivers” (qtd. in Adams). Therefore, the lack of organized, instructional driver training affects the safety of the new driver and all others driving on the streets and highways or walking across the street. With this is mind, the next time a person gets into their car and buckles their seatbelt, they may be arming their self to meet an inexperienced driver who learned to drive by reading a driver manual long enough to pass a test.
Motor accidents are one of the leading causes of unintentional injuries in the United States. In the year 2000 the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimated that around 41,000 people were killed in traffic accidents within the United States. This mortality rate has since dropped 25% from 2000 to 2009 (Rockett et al., 2012). There are many reasons for motor vehicle injuries, ranging from lack of seat belt use, elderly drivers, alcohol and young children being improperly secured. All of these things factor into motor injuries differently and must be addressed as a separate problem. Highway safety is an important issue in public health and many things have already been implemented to help reduce accidents and injuries. Actions like mandatory seat use, shatter resistant windshields, speed limits, and child restraints.
Again, it makes the headlines; an older driver causes a dangerous automobile crash. As the amount of elderly driving has increased in the past decade, the risk for others to be out on the road has increased. In 2012, there were 36 million licensed older drivers in the United States. (Federal Highway Administration, Department of Transportation (US)) As a 34% increase from 1999, it has been noted that seniors are driving past their ability by an average of 10 years. (Federal Highway Administration, Department of Transportation (US)). Elderly continue to drive despite the prominent physiological changes that worsen as they age. The amount of automobile collisions suggests that prevention must occur in order to make the roads safer. By examining older drivers’ medical complications, older drivers must be retested to be able to drive a vehicle.
A motor vehicle accident (MVA) is any crash occurring on a road between one or more motor vehicles, including cars, motorbikes, scooters, trucks, buses, or pedestrians on public roads (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 1998). Motor vehicle accidents are a major health issue in Australia, being one of the leading causes of fatality and injury (Donovan, Fielder, Ouschan, & Ewing, 2011). While the number of accidents has significantly decreased over the years, MVAs are still a major issue in today’s society (Ramage-Morin, 2008). Mortality and injury rates of MVAs are dependent on geographic region, with different states having varying rates of MVAs. Additionally, MVAs impact majorly on the individual, with a high percentage developing Acute Stress Disorder (ASD) and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) following the accident (Harvey, 1998). They also impact the economy and therefore society, with the cost of MVAs being approximately seventeen billion dollars annually in 2003 (Connelly & Supangan, 2006). Risk factors of MVAs are determined by the driver’s behaviour, such as speed and alcohol/drugs. Social factors are also a contributor, including age and gender. The final contributing risk factors are environmental, which include time and place. Age is one of the main leading risk factors to MVAs, which has had strategies implemented to control this and decrease the risk of accidents associated with age.
Every time you get behind the wheel, you are willingly exposing yourself to an unlimited number of dangers. Imagine you’re on your way to the grocery store to pick up some milk. You’re flying down the interstate at 70 miles per hour (or more) and the only thing separating you from the rock solid cement of the road in the event of an accident is a two millimeter-thick piece of fabric, an inflatable balloon in your steering wheel, and a thin sheet of glass. Unless you decide to wear some sort of heavy-duty football gear on your way to the supermarket, that’s all that would be protecting your body if something went horribly wrong. We hear about devastating car accidents all the time, but rarely do we change our own driving habits because of them. Drivers under the influence of alcohol or other drugs, distracted drivers, and drivers who are exceeding the speed limit are creating a variety of hazards for themselves and those around them. Even if we are exceptionally cautious, there is always a possibility of getting in a wreck when we are driving or riding as a passenger in a
Advances in technology made within the last twenty years have impacted our lives in numerous ways. These advances have been made in all aspects of our lives including the way we transport. Having an efficient mean of transportation is essential to human devel-opment, meaning that an intelligent transportation system is key for progress. One acceler-ating aspect of ITS is the development of autonomous vehicles. Drivers are the reason for most crashes, for instance due to drowsiness, driving under the influence or inattentive-ness. Intelligent vehicles assist drivers in ordinary driving situations through warnings (e.g. lane departure warning) or undertaking certain tasks (e.g. cruise control). Autonomous ve-hicles go one step further by reducing human influence to a minimum and thus increasing the security of driving. Autonomous vehicles are going to be able to transport humans in a safer and more efficient manner. In order to accomplish this efficient autonomous behavior, vehicles will have to communicate with other vehicles as well is the infrastructure surround-ing them. To be able to perform this, autonomous vehicles will have to move through the roads in platoons. It has been investigated that when a platoon of vehicles exists, traffic congestion considerably reduces. Therefore communication within the vehicles in the pla...
The most basic definition of “accident” is adopted by the National Safety Council, which states, “Accident is an occurrence in a sequence of events that produces unintended injury, death, or property damage.” Road accidents are currently one of the major world economic and social problems in transport industry. Motor vehicle is an unstabilized situation that includes at least one harmful event that does not result from discharge of a firearm explosive device and does not result directly from a tragedy. The effort to ensure better road safety requires large allocation of resources which further signifies the importance of economic valuation in every possible area caused by road accident. Accidents happen as a result of combination