Articles That Make You Think About Distracted Driving

There have been quite a few really good articles about the dangers of distracted driving being that it is National Driving Distraction Awareness Month.

In this article from the Huffington Post parents let out of photo of the text their 22 year-old son, Alexander, was sending right before he killed himself while driving due to not paying attention.

In another article a father speaks about celebrating what would have been his daughter's 25th birthday. Casey Feldman was killed by a distracted driver.

I can only hope these articles are read by the millions of people who need to read it.

Disagreeing With the Argument That Car Crashes are a Given

I just came across an older article, from 2010, written by a mom who was affected by a piece on NPR she heard. It talked about the fact that about 5 children die every day in the USA in car crashes.

The comments she received on the piece seem very backwards to me. Such as:

"Even if you never rode in a car ever again there are many ways we lose our lives, it is the human condition."

Yes, we will all die. But would you write that same sentence if it were commuter airlines killing 5 children a day? Every time there is a plane crash massive investigation goes into it. Our airlines have become very safe due to the pressure and demand to keep them that way.

Would you fly if 40,000 were dying in plane crashes every year?

Another commenter, whom I agreed with had this to say:

Casey@Good. Food. Stories. 12/13/10 at 5:35am

After almost 10 years of being able to use public transportation for my daily commute, I'm back to driving every day. You are right to worry - texting drivers, road rage, blatant disregard of lights and traffic signs (not to mention NO ONE stopping for pedestrians in crosswalks) - sorry to rant, but the things I see on a simple 10-minute drive are enough to strike fear into any mother's heart. 

Some Books To Understand the Way We Drive

Gary Kavanagh of Gary Rides Bikes gave me suggestions on books to read that help shed insight unto our culture of driving. One book I had heard of, "Traffic" by Vanderbilt.

If you are like me your first thought might be a book on traffic. Yeah right, I'd rather read Popsugar.com or Google random people.

I will do the reading for you and try to talk about it here. I am curious to hear what Vanderbilt has to say from "Traffic." I think we might disagree on a few things. Although I am now a late merger due to his opinion on that.

Here are some other book suggestions via Gary.

"Driven To Kill: Vehicles as Weapons" by Rothe.

"Fighting Traffic" by Norton.

Remorse

Have you injured or killed someone in a car crash? I would love to hear from you and post your thoughts about it on my blog.

If you just read that and gave a short chuckle and said she's lost it, I'm serious. I often think about the huge remorse one must feel after hurting or killing someone. I'm sure the message might help connect with people who don't connect with my message.

"I wish my life had a rewind button..."

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-TJd4qYJ58]

Trying to Drive Safely in LA When it Rains Upsets People

It's been raining in Los Angeles.

And there is a great stereotype that people in LA don't know how to drive in the rain.

The problem with this great saying about us is that I think a lot of people think some people drive too slow when it rains. I think the other half of people think the majority drive too fast.

When I texted the CHP the last time in rained here in LA, I asked them, what piece of advice would you give fellow LA peeps in regards to how to drive when it rains?

Their response was: Slow down and leave more space between yourself and the car in front of you.

I have come to the conclusion that doing this infuriates a lot of drivers here and they react by making very sad, poor, judgements in regards to how they drive.

I tweeted today: Post to come on me attempting to drive the speed limit in the rain in LA. Angers a few people. Been passed by people who race to the red.

Gary Kavanagh from @GaryRidesBikes responded: in my experience (before giving up car) rain or shine, driving within speed limits always pisses some people off.

Well I have been passed, very dangerously and angrily twice in the last few days.

The worst was on Friday, coming back from a lovely dinner with another family. I had my 6 year-old in the back of my minivan ( and YES I think it really pisses people off that I drive the speed limit in a minivan, the car just pisses people off in general)

I was going East from Hollywood and taking surface streets Los Feliz was very very slow as it always is and then as it always does, it freed up right before the hill down into Atwater Village. The speed limit was 35. I was gearing up to go 35 when I heard an engine revving. The car behind me gunned it, crossed the double yellow line, into oncoming traffic to pass me on the left.

He then got in front of me and went into the lane next to me and he stopped at the red light.

Uhhh. OK, he loves to stop at red lights, I know there should be a club of people who love to race to red lights.

I pulled up next to him. I looked over at him and rolled down my window.

I felt like he wouldn't shoot me. I don't know, call me an optimist.

"Hey, how's it going?" he said and I could tell he was taken aback. He was a white guy, bald, not bad looking.

I stared at him and smiled and said, "What are you doing?"

"Just going with the flow of traffic," was his response.

You mean gunning it going about 45, crossing a double yellow line into oncoming traffic. BTW let me remind you I was going the speed limit and the roads were slick. The CHP, the people who will come wipe bloodied faces off of the street when people get into car accidents, have recommended to drive a bit slower and leave more room. And believe me the CHP have seen more blood and destruction due to cars then I'm sure they thought they ever would.

I smiled, "So many people die in car accidents," I responded.

"Drive safely," he said.

"I do and you should too." I responded.

The light changed and I drove and he was slower then me.  Because the person in front of him was turning.

I drove away with my heart pounding.

Why aren't people getting it?

Today I was passed very angrily on the right, again on slick roads. I was going to speed limit.

See, in LA, if the roads are somewhat clear, people want you to speed. But fuck that idea of going as fast as you can if it's clear. I was sharing the road with bikers.

I had my child in the car. I care if you have your child in the car. I care if you don't have children.

Something is really wrong when it is unsafe for us to actually drive the speed limit and not speed.

Change is needed.

Car Crashes are mostly Senseless & Preventable

I just looked up Ray LaHood on YouTube because I wanted to see this guy talk. The first video I won't share. I think maybe Ray needed a cup of coffee. Then I found this one for Distraction.gov

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYdxQLJfhBg]

I like what he says.

Most of theses accidents are "senseless & preventable."

That is from the lips of Ray LaHood our US Secretary of Transportation. I mean this guy has a HUGE job. He's fighting a war. I hear that he may be replaced soon. I wonder if Ray is crazed by the amount of preventable deaths that happen every. single. day.

Sweet lives cut incredibly too short by something 100% preventable.

Some Car Crash Facts

I just Googled "unusual car crash facts" and came across an article by InfoBarrel. Here are the facts with my *thoughts. 1. About 40% of crashes that are fatal involve alcohol. If the accident takes place between midnight and 3am the percentage increases to about 75%.

***having been a waitress I can unofficially confirm that most people on the roads in the evening have been drinking. I used to be amazed at the amount of drunk or highly buzzed people getting into their cars at the valet line as I walked back to my car after my shift. So, there's my research there. Oh and just living life, I think we might be able to concur on this fact. Although MADD has done an AMAZING job at helping lower the amount of drunk drivers!

2. On average 15 pedestrian school children are killed by school buses each year. These deaths tend to take place between 3pm and 4pm on weekdays.

**This is news to me.

3. Survey's suggest that male drivers cause twice as many accidents as female drivers.

**I can say that the couple of times I have felt very unsafe have been with young male drivers. Either trying to show off for me, this was a long time ago, or show off for the other males in the car. I believe this one. Which make me wonder, ladies does a speeder turn you on or a safe driver?

4. Different types of car accidents include head on collisions, rollovers, rear enders, suicides, side impacts and more. The most deadly of these accidents are the vehicle rollovers.

**My best friend in LA died in a rollover in 2008 here. Sucks all around.

5. People between the ages of 16-20 face a higher chance of being injured or killed in a car crash over any other age group.

**disheartening, teenagers are such a different mentality. I kind of understand this one.

6. Most car accidents actually occur within 5 kilometres from home. There is a common misconception that car accidents occur while travelling to a vacation destination, but this is not the case.

**Easy to forget this one.

7. Car accidents are the most common and most deadly source of personal injury in the world.

**Hellooooooo world. Let's change this.

8. Cars that are more prone to accidents are sports cars and hatchbacks. Although cars that have a bigger engine that have the greatest chance in being in a car accident.

**Wondering what the variable is, the sports car or the driver of a sports car? Why do cars with bigger engine have the greatest chance of getting into a car accident? That requires a google or my human google machine, my spouse. OK just googled it and Freakonomics answered that. Here is what they say:

Ever since the SUV craze began in the late 1980s, we’ve all known that heavier vehicles are safer for those driving them, but more dangerous for others on the road. Which is why we all started driving them.

We show that, controlling for own-vehicle weight, being hit by a vehicle that is 1,000 pounds heavier results in a 47% increase in the baseline fatality probability. Estimation results further suggest that the fatality risk is even higher if the striking vehicle is a light truck (SUV, pickup truck, or minivan).

9. Each year, approximately 300,000 teens are injured in a car crash. In the United States alone 5,000 teens die each year. On average that equals to 14 teens a day.

**Very sad. Moms, we need to change this stat. Stat.

10. Your chances of getting into a car crash while talking on a cellphone increases by 400%.

**Get off your phone while driving. Get your friends of their phones. Get your mom off her phone and dad. Never, ever worth it.

How 9/11 Affected our Roads

An interesting article from The Guardian UK says that after 9/11 a lot of people were afraid to fly and therefore took to the roads. But according to Professor Gerd Gigerenzer, a German academic specialising in risk, has estimated that an extra 1,595 Americans died in car accidents in the year after the attacks – indirect victims of the tragedy.(Guardian UK)

He goes on to say something really insightful about how we humans operate:

"We have an evolutionary tendency to fear situations in which many people die at one time. This is likely a hold-over from when we lived in small groups, where the death of a small part of the group could place the lives of everyone else in jeopardy.

"That's no longer the case, but it is very difficult to elicit the same fear for the same number of deaths spaced over a year."

So maybe our evolution is to look at in regards to the fact that so many of us just glaze over the high number of car crashes annually. Around 40,000.

I love this part "But decision-making is defensive. Politicians would be held responsible if a plane had crashed when flying through the ash cloud. If people are killed because they are forced to take their car instead, they are not blamed."

I feel there is a culture of blame in the USA. Yet, we don't hold personal responsibility as closely when it is actually something we could change. We could prevent a lot of our car crashes. We might be slightly inconvenienced, slowing down or just letting someone who makes a bad move in their car have more space, realize they are just driving unsafely.

Explaining Fix The Toaster to My Mom

I let my mom know about Fix The Toaster.

She looked at me like, oh no, what are you doing now.

In trying to explain Fix The Toaster I explain I want to do what MADD has done for drunk driving but for basically just for all people driving cars. It literally sounds ridiculous to explain because it is so simple and basic, yet so many people are not doing it.

My mom laughed and said, "Sounds like you want to say, Just try to pay the hell attention when you drive!" We both laughed and she said that could be my new slogan.

Taking Action to Bring Attention to All These People Dying By Car Crashes

OK. So, I don't have all the answers about what to do. I'm trying to bring about discussion and awareness to the fact over 1/2 million fellow Americans have died in car crashes since 9/11.

What color ribbon do I wear for that cause? Oh wait. Nothing. We are currently accepting this statistic as a given because our roadways have become a place of battle. Literally we are killing ourselves and each other.

I did indeed put pen to paper though and wrote a letter to a local paper.

Here is it.

Chances are maybe one person will begin to think differently about the importance of driving their 5,000 vehicle close to 40 next to my 26 pound toddler next time we pass on the street.

Certainly the man who tailed me down our loverly quiet street yesterday didn't read it or doesn't really give a....

Well anyways, it's a start.

I encourage you to write your local paper. I'd love to hear about it!! Let's get this movement going.

Happy Thanksgiving

Today my two little boys drive back to me from the mountains. My husband will drive them as safely as possible. I can only hope that people around them will do their absolute best to pay attention to the road, not be distracted, drive responsibly.

I know of course that people will die on the roads today.

You might think I'm paranoid but the truth is the most dangerous thing you or your child does is get in the car and go somewhere.

About 780 people die in vehicular crashed every week in our country, an average of one every 13 minutes. (NHTSA)

Here is to hoping people will try their best to get there and let others do the same.

There are so many people excited to see one another walk through the door.

Crash vs Accident

I'm enjoying finding other people out there who are vocalizing their frustration with traffic safety issues. I just found man on Twitter, Gary Kavanagh @GaryRidesBikes, who had some insight into using the word accident.

He tweeted: "...accident muddles responsibility, but many knowingly take risks & break laws, & sometimes cars used as weapons intentionally."

He went on to say: "......I started to default to saying traffic collision, crash or similar language, but never accident..."

I had not thought about that. Every time I write car accident and really the whole purpose of this blog is to convince peoples minds and hearts that many of these are not accidents, the majority, majorly.

So I will use car crash or car collision.

Yesterday I asked where someone was who normally picks up out trash and the new guy said he'd been in an accident. What happened, I asked.

The car started to slide, it was raining and it flipped, he said. The way he spoke about it made it sounded as if the car was alive. I find a lot of people talk about car crashes that way.

The guy will be alright, he's injured and of course my heart goes out to him. I'm commenting more on the way the other guy spoke about the crash as if the car just lost it. Again, we have lost it.

Modern Society Forgot About The Pedestrian

I do a lot of walking. Mostly because I have 3 kids and by walking I can usually strap one down into a stroller and I can just zone out and walk. Having just left the narrow, windy Hollywood Hills I was used to beaten up sidewalks and a few yahoos cruising up the hills. It wasn't exactly family friendly.

Well now I live in a "family friendly" neighborhood. It does not have sidewalks. And it is not congested. The speed limit is 25. And most people do between 30 and 40.

It is beyond frustrating. I've talked to two women who have stopped walking their kids because they feel it is unsafe. And these are ballsy, cool women.

Our school has sent out a letter to us parents saying "we have a problem" that an area where parents are dropping off their kids is not safe.

People are speeding.

I sometimes walk thru town pushing my baby. I constantly feel as if I'm narrowly escaping being hit. Sometimes, I'll drive to The Rose Bowl and walk around there. Cars routinely fly by at 40.

I'm beginning to feel like we have lost the right, as human beings, to walk safely around. Now maybe it's because I live in LA and I'm paranoid ;)

But honestly, it feels as if our society has been built around cars and f$%^ you if you slow one down.

A great article by Alexander Friedman on LA.StreetsBlog.com addresses this. He says,

It’s time for City of L.A. to step-in, and to build the environment for people, not cars. It’s time to give our sidewalks the deserved width and aesthetics, implement decorative crosswalks, plant deciduous trees and creating buffer zones, build pedestrian plazas, and get rid of blight and concrete.

I’m an advocate for sustainable, family-friendly infrastructure, and decided to create renderings of improved sidewalks.

I like that he says, "pedestrians are treated like second-class citizens.."

I agree. Do you feel safe walking around your neighborhood?

I read recently, on Twitter, that there is a proposal in some European town to reduce the speed to 20 MPH. Traffic calming is a new phrase to me.

According to Wikipedia, In its early development in the UK in the 1930s, traffic calming was based on the idea of residential areas protected from through traffic.

I like that word protected.

We should protect ourselves from cars. We are fragile. Driving a car fast does not give you a big penis.

It does not make you a bad ass chick.

Being bad ass to me, is having the control to slow down and be courteous of life walking by.

My neighborhood is incredibly quiet, it should be filled with people walking around. But it is not due to people not feeling safe. That's a shame.

A friend of mine is a huge fan of walking, Alissa Walker is a well known blogger based out of LA who walks and takes public transportation. Her blog has a lot of insight into doing just that.

Compromising Safety for Seconds

A few days ago a woman passed me on the right, got in front of me and then got to the exit on the freeway 10 seconds before I did. She looked to be in her early 60's. I'm guessing she's a mother or a grandma.

As she sat at the light in front of me all I could think about was how she had just compromised my life, my babies and her life. For seconds.

Why are we rushing to get to the red light? Why do we rush to get somewhere, perhaps 15 minutes faster then we would if we just drove carefully and slowly.

BTW I was driving 65 MPH.

She was angry at me. Angry I wasn't going faster and she wanted to show me. The highway was quite clear, I could have been going faster. But like I have stated before I do not go above 65, I don't want to crash at high speeds. Do you?

Are we, as a society, just incredibly angry and so we get in our cars and put our aggression out here? Obviously living in LA I am in some pretty intense traffic and dealing with people who commute up to 3 hours. A day.

Perhaps, we are not meant to live this way.

Each post seems to go off onto another post but back to the title. It is not worth it, in my mind, to compromise the safety of others just so you can get somewhere faster. Like I tell people who are in my show. It's LA. There will be traffic, please do not call me and tell me you are stuck in traffic. There will probably be traffic.

A young woman visiting America was killed at the corner of Sunset Blvd. and La Brea a few years back. A man saw the light turning from yellow to red and instead of slowing down he sped ahead, ran the light and hit and killed the girl.

Every time I would head south on La Brea and see that light turning from yellow to red I could feel the manic "go, go" from the other cars but I made myself slow down. It's not worth it.

Thanksgiving is One Of the Deadliest Holidays

Sorry, that is not a very uplifting title. But is is the truth and the truth seems to be ignored or accepted and that, to me, is ridiculous.

According to an article from Forbes:

In 2008, "502 people were killed on the road that day. On a typical day, 102 people die in traffic accidents. Robert Sinclair, a spokesman for AAA, says the combined factors of more than 50% more drivers on the road and higher-than-usual alcohol consumption contribute to its danger."

502 people died on Thanksgiving!!! In their cars.

That's nuts.

Yet, we don't talk about it. When I talk about it often I'm met with smirks. But when I keep talking people usually become somber and say, yeah, yeah, it is weird.

I hope you and your loved ones have a safe and nice holiday.

The facts are a lot of people will die in the next week in car accidents. But I guess that is currently the American way. My family will be on the roads as well. It is hard for me to put us in a car, zipping along, knowing the numbers in my head. On California freeways. But I don't want my fear to cripple me or my kids. So I will put my beloved treasures out there. And just hope. While of course, driving as safely as I can.

Contributor Shannon Noel Webb Journals About Her Pledge to Not Text & Drive

This is a post by Fix The Toaster contributor Shannon Noel Webb on her struggle to stay away from her phone while driving. I love her honesty  here.

Day # 1

Yesterday was my first full day of attempting to NOT text or check e-mails while driving.  This must be what a heroin addict feels like on their first day of recovery.  Not to make light of such a terrible addiction but holy cow I thought I would lose my mind, I even started to itch all over.  Maybe that’s because I used a new detergent but still it was painful and I had nothing to distract me from the pain except, oh, I don’t know – FOCUSING ON DRIVING!  I tried.  I did. 

See I signed a contract.

If I am anything, I am good to my word. 

Or at least I thought I was. 

I fell off the wagon at the first stop light.  I was through two e-mails before I even realized what I was doing.  What has become of me?  How did this happen? 

This constant need for constant communication is insane.  This is my only quiet time during the day.  Why am I using it to talk, tweet, text and e-mail?  I should be listening to some Enya and turning my seat warmers on.  (That just occurred to me and I will try it tomorrow) but yesterday I had to sit on my hands.  Seriously, is anything THAT important that it cannot wait? 

Maybe.  I do have two small children, a father having surgery today and a good friend going in for a biopsy.  BUT…why would I risk adding injury to injury by texting, typing or doing anything to distract me from the task at hand: driving my car safely to my destination? 

Today is Day #2 and I think I will do better.  I will keep you posted – WHEN I AM SAFELY AT MY DESK!

Ray LaHood Answers a Fix The Toaster Question

USAA was taking questions for Ray LaHood so we asked one.

We asked, 

Fix The Toaster ‏@FixTheToaster

 @usaa #drvchg It seems the # of pple dying in car accidnts would prompt the label epidemic. Why aren't xtreme measures being taken?

Ray LaHood answered:

USAA ‏@usaa

@FixTheToaster We asked @raylahood your ? & he answrd: "The key-begins w/ personal responsibility & good law enforcmnt."#FLDDS #drvchg

I'm not sure it totally answers my question but I do like the personal responsibility part.

Tailgating Kills. Are You a Killer?

According to Wikipedia: Approximately one third of rear-end collisions involve tailgating.

I live in a place that requires me to go down a huge hill, basically a mountain. It's a freeway and it's surprisingly uncongested for LA.

I have to stay in the right hand lane as the freeway I need requires one to exit on that side.

This leads a bunch of people in the right hand lane, the slow lane, all going down a mountain on a freeway. Fast.

I am comfortable going between 60-65. I'm pretty sure the speed limit is 65.

You would not know it from the cars whizzing by me. Fine let them whiz. I can't control them. But what really rattles me is when someone gets behind me and tails me on this freeway. I become stuck.

I need to exit so I need to stay in that lane. They say the safest thing to do is you are being tailed is to let the person pass you. But it would be unsafe for me to get over and then get back over again.

I believe that if you are tailgating you are saying F#$% you to the lives in front of you. Because if an incident occurs where the car in front of you has to stop, you will, 100% hit them. And if you are going down a freeway, downhill, at 70 miles per hour you will really hurt the lives in front of you and possibly many more from the sadness they would feel at the loss of life.

I think even the tailgater would probably suffer huge remorse from killing someone.

Remember the 3 second rule from drivers ed? Why aren't we adhering to it? My cousin was in a crash here on the LA freeways this year and she said it was incredibly frightening seeing all of the cars scramble to stop.

Since I have to go on this freeway a lot I've wanted to place a bumper sticker on my car, much to my husband's horror. I bought one that says:

Tailgating Kills, Please Leave Space

I like this one someone home made.

I haven't had the cajones to put it on my car but I think I might start making my own revolving bumper stickers. I want people to really get where I'm coming from.

Do you tailgate? Is it a problem in your area?

The faster we go the longer it takes to stop.

I don't want to crash at 70 MPH, do you? Have you ever been hit at 20MPH and said, "Wow, that hurt?" Imagine crashing at 50, 60? Imagine your kids crashing at that speed.

Don't we want to stop in time?

Do you value life enough to leave space? Daily I feel as if I'm surrounded by heartless, angry people on the roads, but I believe they just have not connected the dots yet. Or we as a society have forgotten the very basics.

This Person Checked Email While Driving

A good article from NPR on the distracted driving hell we are now putting ourselves in. The author admits to checking email while driving.

Look around you at stop signs and look at everyone looking down. You know what they are doing. I mean certainly they all aren't getting road, OK I won't get ahead of myself there.

The author mentions some ideas. As my great friend who emailed me this story this morning said, keeping the dialogue going is important.

A Guest Post by Act Out Loud's Julie Kettner

I connected with Act Out Loud's Julie Kettner via Twitter. She is Act Out Loud's National Campaign Manager. This is a guest post by her. Car crashes are the no. 1 cause of death and injuries for teens in the United States. We want to change those statistics and we know the best people to do it – teens themselves!

Act Out Loud is a teen-led contest held each May as part of Global Youth Traffic Safety Month hosted by National Organizations for Youth Safety® (NOYS) and funded by The Allstate Foundation. At NOYS, we know that peer-to-peer interaction creates change, so we ask teens to ACT OUT LOUD to take back the streets for safety. Over 300 high schools across the country participate in Act Out Loud and we want more teens involved in this movement to spread traffic safety messages through fun projects while earning great prizes!

This year high school Act Out Loud teams will plan a school rally to take place in May as part of Global Youth Traffic Safety Month. As they plan this rally, there are fun projects along the way to help their team earn up to $1,000, and qualify for the grand prize of $10,000! The projects are simple and can be done in a number of ways. In addition to the $1,000, teams also receive a FREE toolkit full of resources like pens, pencils, buttons, wristbands, thumb bands, posters, postcards, and much more to use at their rallies.

We have many other opportunities for youth to be involved and win prizes. Check out www.ActOutLoud.org for all the contest details and www.NOYS.org for more information about us.

Please contact Julie Kettner at jkettner@noys.org with questions. You can follow us on Twitter @NOYSNoise and Facebook www.facebook.com/4NOYS or www.facebook.com/ActOutLoud.