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.

• Also,  California  Department of Public Health today said that on Halloween between 4PM- 10PM, more than 2 times as many kids die in pedestrian/vehicle incidents than during the same time on other days during the rest of  year.  Scary, right?

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

• Child Pedestrian Injury and Fatality Statistics are Scary on Halloween Night
• Statistics show Halloween has the highest rate of pedestrian fatalities
• Impaired Driving – The Scariest Part of Halloween
• Halloween most dangerous day of the year for child pedestrians
• ‘The real danger on Halloween’: Kids hit by cars
• Halloween is deadliest night for child pedestrians, Safe Kids West Michigan says
• Tennessee Highway Patrol announces Halloween Enforcement
• Walk This Way Halloween Safety Twitter Party

(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)

(Source: via Reddit)

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_5G6oOwv3o‘]

Seriously, this video tells you how far America has deteriorated into the abuse of law. The attorney clearly knows what is wrong here (over speeding: speed at impact ~110mph; at times nearing 140mph-160mph as shown in the helmet cam recording) but he still presents the case without any qualms and goes  on to showcase this as a milestone achievement for his firm.  It is clearly the motorcyclists fault and I’m curious to know how this attorney claims to have gotten compensation from multiple insurance companies! (Either he is lying through his teeth or have some stupid layers representing the insurance companies?). As the Redditor pointed out this is a mountain of stupid.   Of course, the operator of the motorcycle is dead, which leaves me wondering if the police have pressed charges against the rest of this reckless crew of bandits who put everyone else (and their own lives) at risk in this high-speed thrill ride. Stupid. A Mountain of Stupid!

(Source: LiveLeak.com)

Moral of the story is clear as a crystal: Never mess with folks on Brazilian roads. These are some crazy drivers who will go to any extent to prove a point..Scary stuff! Glad neither party did not have a lorry or a freight truck (for that matter a gun) else this could have turned into a nightmare for many involved. Interestingly, the driver of the car is a woman, a fact that I did not even realize until I started reading the comments below the video. Drivers of Brazil, spare the poor motorcyclists.

(Source: Mashable)

In line with its tradition of producing many of the safest cars on  this planet, Volvo is once again upping the contributions towards road user safety.  Mind you, this is not just occupant safety but also one that cares about the most vulnerable of all road users – the pedestrians.  The video below explains how this tech. feature will help save pedestrians during a collision.

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOlEt_Acq4o&hd=1′]

(Source: via Reddit)

Image Courtesy: Imgur.com via Reddit

And here is the funny road safety campaign video featuring the sign above. How much I wish America adopted this blunt, yet funny style of conveying the message. Our American campaign signs are boring compared to the Aussies’. PERIOD!

(Source: Houston.culturemap.com)

Anti-big brother Houstonians rejoiced when a referendum passed last November to take down the city’s network of red light cameras. Nearly six months later, data collected by the camera service provider, Phoenix-based ATS, suggests that citizens’ temporarily cautious attitude towards red lights has already reversed.

ATS analyzed 10 high-traffic intersections in different parts of the city that had seen noticeably decreases in violations when the cameras were installed, but have now suffered unprecedented increases. For example, the westbound intersection of Richmond Avenue and Hillcroft Avenue dipped from 5,628 violations in 2009 to 2,532 in 2010 — only to rocket back up to 3,799 in the first few months of 2011.

Editors Note:  This is yet another study that bolsters the need for installing the enforcement devices at intersections.   Oh well, there is always a counter to this and wait till someone surfaces with a new study showing how the removal of these devices has made life a lot better for poor Houstonians.

(Source: Engadget)

This new documentary, produced by AT&T, one of the leading telecom services provider in the US, strings together a set of  stories told by accident victims and their  families and friends.  The documentary, at times high on the emotional quotient, offers a compelling message to any/all drivers, let alone the teenagers, to hang up their cellphones while operating the motor vehicles.  There is no blood or gory mess splashed across the windshield but the stories along with the photos of mangled metal and shattered lives is quite riveting.  Kudos to AT&T and other public and private agencies who have been actively engaged in promoting awareness among teens about the dangers of texting while driving.

Related articles

• AT&T releases dramatic anti-texting while driving documentary (engadget.com)
• AT&T Releases anti text-driving documentary (techburgh.com)
• AT&T Mini Documentary on Dangers of Text Messaging and Driving (laughingsquid.com)

The public is getting its first uncensored look at the government’s records of where and when airplanes have struck birds over the last 19 years, thanks largely to pressure resulting from the dramatic ditching of a US Airways jet in the Hudson River after bird strikes knocked out both its engines.

Finally, travelers will be able to learn which airports have the worst problems with birds.

Since 1990, the Federal Aviation Administration has been collecting reports voluntarily submitted by commercial and private pilots, the military, airline mechanics, and airport workers who clear dead birds and other animals from runways. The agency has released aggregate data over the years so it’s known that there are records of more than 100,000 strikes and that reported strikes more than quadrupled from 1,759 in 1990 to 7,666 in 2007.

But the FAA has always feared the public can’t handle the full truth about bird strikes, so it has withheld the names of specific airports and airlines involved.

Aware that some airports do a better job reporting strikes than others and that some face tougher bird problems, the agency said the public might use the data to “cast unfounded aspersions” on those who reported strikes and the airports and airlines in turn might turn in fewer voluntary reports.

But this week Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood overruled the FAA’s attempt to throw a formal cloak of secrecy over the data before it had to reveal the records in response Freedom of Information Act requests from The Associated Press and other news organizations.

The database was to be posted on the Internet at midmorning Friday.

With President Barack Obama promising a more open government and releasing secret Bush administration legal memos about harsh interrogations of terrorism suspects, LaHood said he found it hard to justify the FAA’s plan to withhold records about birds flying around airports.

LaHood also noted the public bridled at being kept in the dark. In addition to newspaper editorials coast to coast opposing the FAA’s secrecy, members of the public commenting directly to the FAA opposed it by a 5-to-1 margin.