TRILLIONS OF MILES

WRECK-LESS DRIVING©
by Gunther Doerfert, Auto Safety Columnist

TRILLIONS OF MILES
EVERYWHERE USA: Can you imagine a number as large as 2.6 trillion miles? That is the distance we US drivers travel in total in just one year. To get this vast distance properly into our brain it helps to know that the planet Neptune is only 2.6 billion miles away. A rocket ship would take 12 years to get there. Multiply that by a thousand and we have the 2.6 trillion miles all of us together drive each year. And this is growing by about 2.7 percent every year.

No wonder we maim and kill so many of us with motor vehicles each year. The popular belief is that senior drivers have more crashes than do younger age groups. Not so. We oldsters have fewer collisions than the teenagers. But we drive fewer miles per year and do thereby have the most crashes per mile. Mature drivers rank lowest in speeding, following too close, and DUI. It is still the smart and safe for older drivers to get retrained to compensate for the inevitable decline in sight, hearing, mobility, and reaction time. Consider, also, that older persons are injured easier, more seriously, and heal more slowly – if ever.

A most inexpensive way to do this is by completing the AARP Driver Safety classroom program. It takes 8 hours and costs $10. In 36 states and DC the legislatures have wisely decreed that those who take such a course should receive a significant additional reduction in auto insurance rates. Call toll-free 1-888-AARPNOW to participate in a local class of adults and Instructor who share their driving experiences and wisdom. This proven course is available also on-line – go to www.aarp.org for info.
GHD183 all rights reserved

ANOTHER CELL PHONE DANGER

WRECK-LESS DRIVING©
by Gunther Doerfert, Auto Safety Columnist

ANOTHER CELL PHONE DANGER
MIDLOTHIAN, VA: Greta, age 63, was driving with due caution towards home on the Powhite Parkway when her cell phone rang. Knowing well the danger of talking on the phone while driving, especially in heavy traffic, Greta pulled to a stop on the roadway shoulder. As she sat there talking and listening, another vehicle rushing in the same direction wandered onto the shoulder with its right-side wheels. The errant driver rear-ended Greta’s auto and she suffered a severe whip lash.

So much for stopping to talk on the cell phone! This is a common advice and it is wrong - just as wrong as doing it while driving. Many severe crashes happen to vehicles stopped in the emergency breakdown lane. Often we see vehicles stopped there to change drivers or merely to rest a moment. Most of us do not realize how unsafe this is. With high speed traffic whizzing by just a foot or so from our vehicle it is easy to imagine an inattentive driver wandering a little to the right and into a major collision, especially an open driver’s side door.

It happens often enough that a number of states prohibit stopping there except for true emergency reasons. Many states now mandate that when emergency vehicles, with flashing lights, are stopped on the breakdown lane all passing vehicles must move left out of the right-side lane. If not possible to exit the right-side lane, passing vehicles must slow to 25 mph (varies by state) to protect the emergency personnel.

Looking for an exit or rest stop may cause a lost phone message but that is minor compared to lost lives. There are several other safety rules for using cell phones in a vehicle which we have reviewed before and probably should continue to harp on for the benefit of new readers. Rule #1 drivers should not use the cell phone while the vehicle is in motion. Some states are making this a citable offense.
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MORBID FACTS

WRECK-LESS DRIVING©
by Gunther Doerfert, Auto Safety Columnist

MORBID FACTS
WASHINGTON, DC: Our U.S. Secretary of Transportation provides these frightening statistics on vehicle related deaths, injuries and their costs in America:
Every 14 seconds, someone in the U.S. is injured in a traffic crash.
Every 12 minutes, someone in the U.S. is killed in a crash.
Traffic-related injuries are the leading cause of all injury deaths in the U.S.
Traffic-related injuries are the leading cause of death for persons age 6 to 27.
Traffic-related injuries and deaths cost $150.5 billion a year, includeing $17 billion for medical care.

Notice that the Secretary said “crash” rather than “accident”. That is because few if any of these vehicle and people collisions are truly an accident. The word accident implies that it was no one’s fault – it just sort of happened. We know better than that. In vehicle crashes (and pedestrian hits) one or more of the participants were careless or “under the influence”. It is that simple.

Look at the billions of dollars wasted yearly by these vehicle-related crashes. Who pays for this? We do! Auto and medical insurance rates are increased. Medicare deductions are raised. Hospitals charge the paying clients more to cover uncollected costs from those who cannot pay. Employers lose big on the injuries and deaths and pass it along in their product and service prices.

Every one of us is in some way responsible for this national disgrace. What are you going to do about it? Take a defensive driving course sponsored by your employer, a church, a senior center, or other groups? Insist on more “training” for teens and for the very elderly drivers in your family? The remedy is with each of us and not with more taxpayer dollars being thrown at it.
GHD181 all rights reserved

CRASH ON PARKING LOTS

WRECK-LESS DRIVING©
by Gunther Doerfert, Auto Safety Columnist


CRASH ON PARKING LOTS
KINGSPORT, TN: The top ten auto crash sites list in Kingsport, says the Police Department, shows parking lots as 37% of the total 2425 crashes reported.. Next highest, at 20%, was a major shopping/eatery highway. It has 3 lanes each way, a center lane (“suicide lane”) for turning when ever and which ever way, and no divider barrier. It looks more like a mall parking lot. Thirty years ago the street planners here could have looked at the larger cities and anticipated this growth and provided for access roads. It is too late now. We just accept the many crashes as bound to happen. Also, the Southern suburbs is growing another road just like it. But, back to our main subject -- parking lots.

Because older drivers frequently have declines in sight and head turning ability they need to be extra careful on parking lots. It is common for drivers to take short cuts across empty parking spaces or to back out into the lanes without much attention to other vehicles doing the same. A great recipe for a crash. While it may take a few seconds longer and burn a little more fuel it is much safer to stay in the provided lanes. Also careful drivers go around the perimeter of the lot rather than take a diagonal line to their destination.

If you have an elderly parent living in another city you may be surprised at the number of parking lot fender-benders s/he has not told you about. Also in danger from drivers with reduced acuities are young children not watched lovingly by a parent. They tend to play their way from car to store and back without being aware of the erratically moving vehicles. In fact, children are a parking lot problem also for careful drivers. Remember, 10 seconds saved may turn into a lifetime of “guilts”.
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