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A Forbes report presents a fascinating look at accident fatality statistics, going beyond the usual cut and dry numbers.Using data compiled from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the Traffic Safety Center at UCB, the report provides a breakdown of the most dangerous times for motorists to be on the streets, and the data is just as apt for Georgia as it is for other states.

Saturday happens to be the most dangerous day of the week, which isn’t surprising because this is part of the weekend, with a higher risk of drunk driving.August is the most dangerous month of the year, and the hours between 5 and 6 pm are the most dangerous minutes to be on the road. The first day after a snowstorm increases your risk of an accident-related fatality by 14 percent, and if you escape an accident on Thanksgiving, there’s reason to be doubly grateful because the weekend is the most hazardous time of the entire year to be driving.The Fourth of July tends to be the most dangerous day of the year.

This doesn’t mean that merely being on the roads during these dangerous times is enough to up your risk factor.Simple acts like wearing seat belts and driving within posted speed limits markedly reduce a person’s risk of being involved in an accident.People who were talking on their cell phones were up to four times more likely to meet with an accident. Drinking and driving was, not surprisingly, another factor in causing accident-related deaths.

Georgia’s ongoing budget crisis may actually be a blessing in disguise for the state’s motorists – the state has an incentive for passing seatbelt laws that come in the welcome form of a $4 million federal grant, which would not only add to the state’s depleted coffers, but also reduce the number of accident-related fatalities in the state.

The state is the last one in the country that continues to allow pick up truck drivers to drive without seatbelts.All minors and adults are required to buckle up on other vehicles, however. This pick up truck exemption has come in the way of a fund of $4 million which the federal government has tied to a state’s enactment of seatbelt laws.Georgia however has stubbornly refused to make it mandatory for pick up drivers to snap on their seat belts, and has lost out on the funding, thus far.

Now however, the situation is markedly different, and cries for mandatory seat belt laws that can help save thousands of lives a year, are getting louder. One of the weapons in the armor of proponents of making seat belts mandatory on all vehicles without exception, is of course the $4 million grant that the state would receive if it passed these laws.The state currently faces a budget deficit that is set to exceed $2 billion, and with the economy in the shape it’s in, there’s no telling how deep the deficit could go.

The National Safety Council is calling for a ban on all kinds of cell phone usage behind the wheel to prevent traffic accidents, but Georgia’s state authorities still don’t seem to have received the message that driving and cell phone use just don’t go well together.

Cell phone use while driving is rampant and clear to see on Atlanta’s streets, where only school bus drivers are banned from using cell phone devices while driving.Now, the National Safety Council has called for a nationwide ban on all cell phone usage behind the wheel, including hand held and hands free devices, to prevent the growing number of accidents that can be traced to drivers distracted using their cell phones.Currently, no state completely bans cell phone usage while driving, but California, New Jersey, New York, Washington, Connecticut and Utah enforce a ban on hand held cell phone usage. National Safety Council president Janet Froetscher isn’t impressed with such measures – she says that the issue isn’t whether your hands are free to drive, but that your head is engaged in the conversation you’re having on the cell pone. That is what causes accidents, and not the actual act of holding the phone.

Georgia lags behind most states in the kind of cell phone driving legislation it has in place.Representative Matt Ramsey (R-Peachtree City) is currently working on plans for legislation that will ban cell phone use for drivers under the age of 18.According to Rep Ramsey, the under-18 age group is the most vulnerable because they are still learning the ropes of correct behavior behind the wheel, and also because distractions are a major cause for accidents involving teens. Violators would receive a first time fine of $175 and a $500 fine for additional offenses.

Reckless driving is the number one killer of teens and young adults.The Ad Council and a coalition of State Attorney Generals and consumer protection agencies have started a campaign against reckless driving. The UR the Spokesperson campaign is aimed at empowering young adults to speak up when they don’t feel safe in a car.

The goal of the campaign is to decrease reckless driving among teens and young adults; let teens know they are a spokesperson against reckless driving; empower teens to speak up when they are in a car and don’t feel safe; increase awareness of the dangers of reckless driving; and educate teens on safe driving.

However, whether an education campaign can successfully combat reckless driving in this age group is open for debate. A recent USA Today article outlined new research in adolescent brain research.The study revealed that adolescent brains are not yet capable of avoiding risky behaviors.

August 25, 2008

A wreck Sunday claimed the life of the driver and his teenage passenger, and also injured three other teens.In Ellenwood, Georgia, near Cedar Grove High School on River Road, Hammam Southerland, 27, and Gregory Brown, 17, died when Southerland lost control of his vehicle, flipped twice and struck a telephone pole.Three male teenage passengers in the backseat were treated for injuries.Neighbors believe a dangerous curve in the roadway contributed to the accident.

Last month, a similar accident occurred killing fourteen-year old Mikah Blalock.Blalock was killed when the driver crashed into the telephone pole after traveling east on River Road.The driver of that vehicle was a fourteen-year old female.She was charged with vehicular homicide, failing to maintain her lane and driving without a license.Blalock was killed a week before he was to have entered high school.

October 22, 2007

Last March an Ohio school bus carrying a Bluffton University baseball team went off an overpass on Interstate 85-75. Early that morning the bus carrying the players was traveling in the left HOV lane when it went southbound up a left side exit ramp, failed to stop and went over the overpass. Eight students, the driver and his wife were killed. Twenty-eight other passengers were injured. This week relatives of the deceased and some of the injured have filed notice of claims with the State of Georgia.

Early on in the investigations many believed the bus driver mistook the exit ramp for the left hand HOV lane. The National Transportation Safety Board (the NTSB) is investigating. The NTSB’s report will not be issued until spring 2008

Forbes Magazine this year ranked Atlanta as the worst city in the United States for daily commuting.Detroit and Miami trailed in second and third place positions, respectively. Of course, for those of who must regularly drive in the daily grind, this comes as no great surprise.An influx of population, a poor infrastructure and drivers who resist carpools and public transportation are a few of the reasons why Atlanta won the award.

Collecting data from the Texas Transportation Institute and the US Census Bureau, Forbes evaluated traffic delays, travel times, and commuters’ efficient use of existing infrastructure.In Atlanta, more commuters flood the roadways than the infrastructure can handle and this causes congestion in many areas.Commuters spend an average of sixty hours a year stuck in traffic.

Thanks to increasing urban and suburban sprawl, fewer than thirty percent of drivers get to work in less than twenty minutes.Nearly thirteen percent of drivers spend more than an hour traveling to and from work.In addition to sprawl, the train system in metro Atlanta does not service the entire city.Thus, many commuters have no choice but to drive on increasingly congested roads.While sprawl increases drive times, it does lower housing costs.In order to decrease drive times, commuters would have to move closer into the city where housing costs are more expensive and can be prohibitive.

When it comes to rollover accidents, the 15-passenger van is the most dangerous vehicle on the road.New research by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) shows that rollover accidents with 15-passenger vans occur thirty-one percent more frequently during the summer months of June through August.Eighty-one percent of fatalities occur in single vehicle rollover accidents.

The risks increase when the vans carry ten or more people.The passenger weight changes the vehicle’s center of gravity, causing it to be in the rear of the vehicle.As a result, the van handles differently than other passenger vehicles during an emergency and is more prone to rollover crashes.

The problem with the van is the weight.Most van manufacturers, such as Ford and Dodge, use a car wheelbase and extend the back end.Also, the vans are top heavy which causes a shift in its center of gravity.The vans usually have a back seat with four passengers behind the rear axle.With a heavy back end, in an accident the back end swings out.When the rear swings out and the tires remain their grip on the road, the weight pulls the vehicle over.

On Monday night, a red Acura, allegedly driven by Cody Rhoden, attempted to pass an SUV limousine carrying five members of the Randle family and the limo driver, Mark Anthony Gay on I-85 near Indian Springs Road.

As the Acura approached the SUV, it entered the left-hand emergency lane.The SUV was traveling in the HOV lane.The Acura attempted to improperly pass on the left.The Acura clipped the SUV as the emergency lane narrowed with the concrete median wall.

As the Acura cut off the SUV when it entered the HOV lane, it then struck two cars in the lane ahead. Immediately after, the SUV slammed into the back of the struck vehicles, causing the SUV to flip.The SUV rolled over six times before coming to rest roof-side down.

Cell phone liability is back in the news again. Last week the Fulton County Daily Report highlighted the recent International Paper personal injury settlement. International Paper ( "IP") paid out $5.2 million to settle a personal injury suit for an automobile collision that an IP employee caused by talking on a cell phone.

IP employee Vanessa McGrogan was talking on her company-supplied cell phone when she rear-ended a vehicle driven by Debra Ford. The collision pushed Ford into a ditch on the right side of the road. The car overturned and dragged the driver’s side across the roadway. Ford’s arm was caught between the door and the asphalt. Ford, a widowed mother of four, had to have her arm amputated at the shoulder.

McGrogan had her cruise control set at 77 mph. In addition to this, she was talking on her cell phone to the point of distraction. The plaintiff raised the issue of intentional negligence. The trial court in ruling on a motion for partial summary judgment allowed the plaintiff to seek punitive damages. The case was set for trial in March and settled this month.