(Source: YouTube via Reddit)
Police Officer Donnie Williams shows who is the boss on the saddles – Grand Prairie Police Motorcycle Rodeo – April 30, 2011
(Source: YouTube Via Jalopnik)
Jalopnik reports that this funny accident happened this weekend during the fourth stop on the 2011 French Road Racing Cup Promosport, a formula series for amateur riders at Magny-Cours. The good thing is that both riders escaped serious injury from the fall and even better did not get run over by the other speeding bikes still flying on the track.
(Source: TheCityFix.com)
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced a 3 percent decrease in road fatalities between 2009 and 2010, which still adds up to 32,788 deaths. According to LaHood, last year’s traffic fatalities fell to the lowest levels since 1949, despite a 0.7 percent increase in the number of miles Americans drove—about 20.5 billion extra miles—and an 11 percent increase in congestion in the country’s 100 biggest metropolitan areas, making the decrease in traffic fatalities especially noteworthy.
Here is the USDOT’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Press Release:
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced that the number and rate of traffic fatalities in 2010 fell to the lowest levels since 1949, despite a significant increase in the number of miles Americans drove during the year.“Last year’s drop in traffic fatalities is welcome news and it proves that we can make a difference,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “Still, too many of our friends and neighbors are killed in preventable roadway tragedies every day. We will continue doing everything possible to make cars safer, increase seat belt use, put a stop to drunk driving and distracted driving and encourage drivers to put safety first.”
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) early projections, the number of traffic fatalities fell three percent between 2009 and 2010, from 33,808 to 32,788. Since 2005, fatalities have dropped 25 percent, from a total of 43,510 fatalities in 2005. The same estimates also project that the fatality rate will be the lowest recorded since 1949, with 1.09 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, down from the 1.13 fatality rate for 2009. The decrease in fatalities for 2010 occurred despite an estimated increase of nearly 21 billion miles in national vehicle miles traveled.
A regional breakdown showed the greatest drop in fatalities occurred in the Pacific Northwest states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska, where they dropped by 12 percent. Arizona, California and Hawaii had the next steepest decline, nearly 11 percent.
“The decrease in traffic fatalities is a good sign, but we are always working to save lives,” said NHTSA Administrator David Strickland. “NHTSA will continue pressing forward on all of our safety initiatives to make sure our roads are as safe as they can possibly be.”
The Department of Transportation (DOT) has taken a comprehensive approach to reducing roadway fatalities by promoting strong traffic safety laws coupled with high-visibility enforcement and through rigorous vehicle safety programs and public awareness campaigns.
In 2009, Secretary LaHood launched a national anti-distracted driving campaign modeled on other successful NHTSA efforts to reduce fatalities, such as its “Over the Limit. Under Arrest.” and “Click It Or Ticket” campaigns to curb drunk driving and increase seat belt use. The U.S. DOT has launched a dedicated website, Distraction.gov, to provide the public with a comprehensive source of information on distracted driving. DOT has also hosted two national summits devoted to the issue, crafted sample legislation which states can use to adopt distracted driving laws, and initiated pilot law enforcement programs in Hartford, Conn., and Syracuse, N.Y.
NHTSA has also taken action to improve vehicle safety. The agency has urged automakers to swiftly and voluntarily report safety defects to keep the driving public safe. NHTSA has also encouraged the development and use of technologies to prevent crashes, such as electronic stability control, forward collision warning and lane departure warning systems. The agency also unveiled an updated 5-star rating system in 2010, which established more rigorous crash-test standards and began providing consumers with improved information about which cars perform best in collisions.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has also been encouraging the use of Safety Edge technology — which reduces drivers’ risk of running off the road by shaping pavement edge — on new road and highway projects. FHWA has also promoted the use of rumble strips and cable median barriers to separate opposing directions of traffic to reduce the incidence of crossover head-on collisions.
To view NHTSA’s latest statistical projections of traffic fatalities in 2010, including regional estimates, click here.
(Source: Orlando Sentinel via Yahoo News)
True to its tag line, NBA Cares, the residents of Miami got a chance to witness one of NBA’s best in action. Seven time all star, Alanzo Mourning jumped out of his SUV to assist a citizen on wheelchair cross a busy highway in Miami, FL. Read up:
Mourning’s vehicle had been sitting in traffic on the right lane, when he spotted a disabled person sitting in a motorized wheelchair along the curb. Mourning jumped out of his SUV, stood in the road and stopped traffic by raising his long arms, while the wheelchair-bound pedestrian made it to the median. Then, the seven-time NBA All-Star immediately went to the southbound lanes and raised his arms to command stunned drivers to stop. All traffic movement instantly stopped, and the wheelchair safely made it to the other side.
After making sure the citizen was safe on the other side of the road, Mourning lowered his arms and headed to his SUV to the sound of cheering fans, who recognized the 6-foot-10 temporary crossing guard.
What a really caring gentleman and a wonderful citizen! NBA ought to have more such example-setting characters who are so genuine! Way to go, Zo!
(Source: AP via Yahoo News )
The number of people dying on the nation’s roads has fallen to its lowest level in six decades, helped by a combination of seat belts, safer cars and tougher enforcement of drunken driving laws.
The Transportation Department said late Wednesday that traffic deaths fell 9.7 percent in 2009 to 33,808, the lowest number since 1950. In 2008, an estimated 37,423 people died on the highways.
Forty-one states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico saw reductions in highway fatalities, led by Florida with 422 fewer deaths and Texas, down 405.
The motor vehicle fatality rate — the number of deaths per 100 million miles traveled — is the lowest ever: 1.13 deaths in 2009, down from 1.26 in 2008, DOT says, even as Americans were driving 0.2% more than in 2008.
The annual highway safety report also reported the following stats:
Note: I commend the efforts of the USDOT’s leadership (Secretary, the Administrators, staff, etc) in ensuring that our nation’s roads are safe for the citizens. The multi-pronged approach taken by various administrations within the Department, including targeted campaigns towards drunk driving, texting while driving, etc., are paying big dividends, as evidenced by these dramatic reduction in fatalities. Also, we have to recognize the efforts of the vehicle manufacturers for making their vehicles a lot safer than what they were in the decades before. Many vehicles in today’s market sport great active and passive systems compared to the cars of yesteryears, which help greatly in reducing the risk of fatal injuries to the occupants during an accident. The role of local enforcement agencies should also be appreciated in this remarkable effort. Apart from the obvious safety benefits, there are many other associated benefits at the societal and personal level – reduction in associated costs such as repair costs, travel time savings, insurance costs, etc. In all, as a society we are progressing well but we still have a long way to go. Let’s not forget that we are still losing thousands of people on our roads and that only means one thing – we cannot slow down our efforts!
(Sources: Next Generation HealthCare via Good; Infrastructurist)
Incidents like 9-11 bring to people’s mind the dangers of man made disasters, and the enormity of the problem gets magnified with the loss of lives resulting from such incidents. But how many of us realize that here in the US we lose many more lives on our nation’s roads every year due to automobile accidents? If you have not grasped the enormity of the problem we are facing in our roads, it the rough equivalent of 12 times the losses we suffered in that one incident — that would be roughly 34,000 lives were lost in the US roads in 2009 alone, according to a new report released by NHTSA. In the decades past the problem was even worse and the transportation agencies at all levels – Federal, State and Local have been actively engaged in combating this problem. The silver lining in this grey cloud is that the numbers are dropping steadily in the past the years, at least in the US. Thanks in large part to the continued efforts of the governments in making our roads safer and also to the auto manufacturers who have made the vehicles stronger and smarter, we can now continue to see a reduction in the years ahead. Here are some interesting numbers from this NHTSA estimates:
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the rest of the world. Pretty much every country on this blue planet has been a victim of this problem and many of them counter massive, tragic losses every year that have only continued to climb up. The losses are steeper in many of the developing countries and under-developed countries, where the poor infrastructure and lack of enforcement & driver education are compounding the problems. Especially in countries like China and India, where the growing economies have fueled a significant spike in the number of vehicles on road, the governments are struggling to keep pace with the surging demand for roads and other surface transportation infrastructure. The graphical depiction below, courtesy of Next Generation Healthcare, clearly demonstrates the enormous problem we are facing around the world. It shows how many deaths there are from road traffic accidents in different parts of the world and the numbers are alarming.
Click to enlarge the image
Quoting the numbers from the NHTSA estimate for 2009 motor vehicle traffic fatalities, Ray LaHood – the Secretary of the US Department of Transportation, noted on his blog that he is extremely encouraged by the significant drop in fatalities on American roads but at the same time he is disturbed by the fact that “we are still talking about nearly 34,000 preventable deaths a year. There are still too many people dying in traffic accidents every year. Just too many.”
On 2 March 2010 governments around the world took the historic decision to increase action to address the road safety crisis over the next ten years. The UN General Assembly resolution proclaiming a Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 (A/64/L.44/Rev.1) was tabled by the Government of the Russian Federation and cosponsored by more than 90 countries. WHO welcomes this proclamation which seeks to save lives by halting the increasing trends in road traffic deaths and injuries world-wide. A draft Plan for the Decade, which was prepared by WHO with support from members of the UN Road Safety Collaboration, is now open to all stakeholders for comments. Visit the Collaboration’s web site at http://www.who.int/roadsafety.
Some nuggets of information for you that will make you gasp (courtesy of World Health Organization’s report on road safety titled The Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020):
Hopefully, with improved funding and targeted attention towards issues like distracted driving and drunk driving, we can expect a decrease in this trend. Oh if are wondering how you personally contribute towardsaddressing the problem — Leave your keys behind and take transit systems (buses, trains, etc) if you can. If you have the proper infrastructure, you can consider walking or biking to places instead of driving. Next time when you drive your car/ motorcycle/bicycle , remember that you are not just driving for your own safety but also also for those of others who share that road with you. At the end of the day, there is only so much the goverments can do to keep is safe and we the citizens have to realize that they have a very important and personal role to play in keeping our roads safe. Let’s do it!
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(Source: Washington Post)
Necessity is the mother of all inventions. Many of the world’s top innovative tools and applications, right from electricity to our modern computers, were all bron out of our existential necessities. The following story by Stephanie McCrummen brings to you another such invention that is not the best form of transportation around, but in a country that is shattered by years of a civil war and grinding poverty, it is very effective in getting the job done – moving people and goods, while enabling income generation for some of the poorest people in this world.
Today’s Washington Post Foreign Service featured this story of Chukudu, a pre-industrial looking local transporter, prevalent in Congo. Here is an excerpt of this story:
African cities often have forms of transport that reflect some facet of their character. In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, tiny, blue, Soviet-made Ladas buzz along the wide avenues, mementos of the country’s Cold War alliance. In the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, a corrupt syndicate runs a fleet of banged-up minibuses with names such as Dreams, Bombastic, Mayhem and I Feel Nothing, which weave a spirited, at times nihilistic, narrative through the traffic.
In the towns and villages of war-ravaged eastern Congo, the lumpy, lava-covered roads belong to the humble chukudu: hand-hewn wooden scooters that men ride and push across the hills, hauling towering loads of charcoal, cabbage, potatoes and other stuff of daily life.
Though the chukudus look pre-industrial, local residents say they date from the 1970s, when Congo’s economy and government began to collapse under the rule of then-dictator Mobutu Sese Seko and people had to improvise services from schools to heavy transport.
Available in three models — small, medium and large — the chukudu is a marvel of practical engineering and endurance. It has become the donkey of eastern Congo — a beast of burden that hauls vegetables in the good times and fleeing people in the bad. Purely utilitarian, chukudus are rarely painted or personalized. The most common flourishes are mudflaps for their wooden wheels. And unlike the minibuses of Nairobi, chukudus rarely inspire nicknames.
Here is the best part – Economics: Ndayambaje, 27, said he could expect a decent 5,000 Congolese francs, or about $5, for this trip, which is $5 more than he would have if it weren’t for his chukudu.
“If you have a chukudu,” he said, “you can’t starve.”
And you don’t need a license to drive one of these. It will be interesting if someone can conduct a study on the economic impact of this transporter and possibly include some safety statistics to go along with in that evaluation. You can bet your life that it has to be one of the best cost effective forms of transportation modes around, with a cost-benefit ratio that you cannot beat, ever. Above all, the Chukudus are super eco-friendly, can be rated zero-emission vehicle right off the bat and people stay fit riding/pushing them around. Anyways, click here to read the rest of this interesting article.
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(Source: Autoblog)
Earlier this week, Brammo’s director of product development Brian Wismann along with Dave Schiff of Crispin Porter Bugosky, began a ten-day journey meant to take them from Ann Arbor, Michigan to Washington, DC. The 520 mile trip, which is being chronicled on the site shockingbarack.com, is intended to raise awareness of the company’s new electric motorcycle, the Enertia, and electric vehicles in general.
The trek began at Zingerman’s deli in downtown Ann Arbor, MI, which just happens to be a a few blocks from this blogger’s office. Brian and Dave swung by the office for a visit to show off the bike – which they prefer to call a powercycle – and chat about what it can do. Along the route to the capital, they’ll be making plenty of similar stops, partly to demonstrate the bike but mostly out of necessity. While the Enertia is undoubtedly a neat ride, it underscores two of the major problems with EVs. They are expensive ($11,995 for the Enertia) and have limited range. This bike only has a 42-mile range and then takes four hours to charge. That means plenty of short hops to cover the 520-mile distance to DC.
The Brammo team has built a nice website that has a plenty of brilliant ideas to get the community involved (not just transportation geeks and gear heads with greasy finger nails). Here are some ways you can help the Brammo team achieve their goals:
So, are you ready ShockBarack (Oh man, won’t the republicans would die for that chance?)? If yes, just visit the team’s website to follow their progress. As we speak, the Google Map shows they are somewhere near Aurora, OH. The team’s video logs of the journey are quite interesting and it is nice to see what all they endure as they make their way to Washington, DC battling some really nasty weather. At least they will have a great story to tell their grand children someday, if not to Barack.
NOTE: Guys, Transportgooru would love to have a cup of coffee with you when you arrive here in DC . That is what you will be craving for before you even shake hands with Barack after driving in this damp & cold miserable weather (Tweet me @transportgooru).
(Source: You Tube)
The Norwegian Motorcycle Union has made this hard-hitting PSA that aims to promote an awareness among car & truck drivers who often don’t look out for motorcyclists on the road. Starting from the fact that 8 out of 10 collisions are caused by drivers that never see the motorcycle. The “Motorcycle Accident Cause Factors and Identification of Countermeasures,” was a study conducted by the University of Southern California, with funds from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, researcher Harry Hurt investigated nearly every aspect of 900 motorcycle accidents in the Los Angeles area. Additionally, Hurt and his staff analyzed 3,600 motorcycle traffic accident reports in the same geographic area. Some of the study findings listed below, among a grand total of 53, are directly attributed to the negligence of motorists:
