October 31, 2012 at 4:26 pm
Halloween ’07 (Photo credit: Clover_1)
Happy Halloween!
As you (or the kids in your household) venture out trick or treating tonight, I want to remind you of a few things regarding safety. Today’s press release from insurance giant StateFarmshowed how dangerous
trick or treating can be for younger children. StateFarm says that its research with Bert Sperling’s BestPlaces, analyzed four million records in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) Database revealed the following
- Halloween Was Deadliest Day of the Year for Child Pedestrian Accidents
One hundred and fifteen child pedestrian fatalities occurred on Halloween over the 21 years of our analysis. That is an average of 5.5 fatalities each year on October 31, which is more than double the average number of 2.6 fatalities for other days.
- The “Deadliest Hour”
Nearly one-fourth (26 out of 115) of accidents occurred from 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. Over 60% of the accidents occurred in the 4-hour period from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m.
- Middle of the Block Most Hazardous
Over 70% of the accidents occurred away from an intersection or crosswalk.
- Ages Most at Risk on Halloween
Most of the fatalities occurred with children ages 12-15 (32% of all child fatalities), followed by children ages 5-8 (23%).
- Drivers Who Posed the Greatest Risk
Young drivers ages 15-25 accounted for nearly one-third of all fatal accidents involving child pedestrians on Halloween.
- Drivers Who Posed the Lowest Risk
Drivers ages 36-40 and 61-65 were involved in the fewest child pedestrian fatalities on Halloween. Together, these age groups accounted for nine child pedestrian fatalities (8%) in the 21 years of the study.
- Fatalities Declining
Each of the last six years of the study (2005 – 2010) has seen Halloween child fatalities below the 21 year average of 5.5.
One more thing you may want to know is this: Last Halloween, more than 24,700 drivers received a red light violation, according to the Safer Roads Report 2012: Trends in Red-Light Running. So, tonight when you venture out with (or without) your kids, be careful. Dress to be SEEN and do not become a statistic!
Related articles
October 26, 2012 at 11:21 am
An interesting competition announced by the U.S. Department of Transportation encourages college students to design a better way to help consumers make smart decisions when booking their bus travel. This is what you need to know about the challenge:
- Who: Creative college students with imaginative ideas.
- What: A mobile app or web-accessible tool that presents our safety information in a simple, intuitive way that would help the average person choose the safest bus available.
- When: January 31st, 2013
Here is an embed of the announcement, as seen on USDOT Sec. Ray LaHood’s blog. Please share widely.
[clip id=”LQWmcbZxCv5hZfnsH78P2j8yezvHUCgfZiTe” width=”642″ height=”1524″ scale=”disabled”]
October 19, 2012 at 3:17 pm
(via Nationwide)
To put it in simple terms, we blow up a lot of money sitting in traffic day in and day out. Traffic congestion not only takes a toll on your mental & physical well being, but it also brings home a lot of economic pain. It is nice to see someone layout all this important statistics in an easy to understand, colorful visual.
So, how do we fix this mess? A good start would be to move towards transit-oriented development and provide good, cost-effective transit connectivity to the suburbs.. And add some bike lanes; etc, etc. The solutions are plenty but we have to start somewhere before we go bankrupt.. soon!
Provided by Nationwide Insurance
October 11, 2012 at 12:07 pm
(via LakeWoodPatch)
Seattle’s Sound Transit decided to get a little creative in delivering an important safety message for its citizens. Boy, did they get creative. Partnering with local talent, Blue Scholars, pulled together a music video touting the benefits of riding the train while driving home the importance of being safe around the railway tracks. The message sounds compelling when laced and delivered with pretty catchy tune. I wish other transit agencies took a leaf from this effort and start opting for such creative messages rather than spending ungodly amount of money on the usual, boring printed PSAs.
[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAjs_2LJ3ec&hd=1′]
(Hat Tip: @JN_Seattle)
October 4, 2012 at 2:12 pm
Found this neat infograph via a tweet yesterday.. Couldn’t go without sharing it here.
Note: One of the subtle yet unexplored issue is the impact of America’s bulging waistlines on our national security.. It is not about our Armed forces struggling to find men and women who are physically fit. If you look at it from a macro level, the obesity issue has some serious implications for our national security. You may ask why? Because we import way too much of our oil from some of the very troubled parts of the world to haul our our people around the streets and highways of this nation. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), In 2011, the United States consumed about 134 billion gallons1 (or 3.19 billion barrels2) of gasoline, a daily average of about 367.08 million gallons (8.74 million barrels). This was about 6% less than the record high of about 142.38 billion gallons (or 3.39 billion barrels) consumed in 2007. Interestingly, the U.S. imported approximately 11.4 million barrels per day of petroleum in 2011 from about 80 countries (~45% net consumption is from imported oil). So, the heavier we become as a nation, the more fuel we will consume everyday. The more we import, more money goes to these troubled countries and eventually resulting in conflicts that inflict a greater loss of life. Some of these conflicts zones even have our personnel directly engaged in combat and now you see where this is going? Glad the current administration is taking steps to minimize our oil consumption with such measures as raising fuel economy standards but as a nation we still have a long way to go before we reach a secure energy future. And to get there every ounce matters.
September 25, 2012 at 4:52 pm
(via WSJ on YouTube)
[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7lkmBLtxoo’]
