road safety
Join CNNParents Twitter Conversation About Road Safety
I was excited to be asked by CNN correspondent Kelly Wallace to join CNNLiving for a conversation about keeping kids safe behind the wheel.
Of course I said yes!
Please join us this week, Thursday January 24th, 1PM EST, that's 10AM Cali time, use the hashtag #CNNParents.
A big thank you to Sue Scheff for referring Fix The Toaster as she knows I am one passionate mamacita about road safety.
Hope you can join us.
Of course my angle is if always aimed at the parents, we have got to lead by a far better example.
A List of Sites that Focus on Road Safety
Here is a list of some organizations that are trying to bring awareness to road safety.
There are probably more that I'm not aware of.
These are just a few I visit the most.
What I'm doing is sort of strange to some, including my own mom, who arriving for Christmas saw my drive slowly sign in my yard and said "Oh boy, there's your Toaster sign."
Anyways, here are some sites to help inform and scare you into driving better.
Jill Simonian Talks To Fix The Toaster
LA mom, blogger and actor Jill Simonian was kind enough to lend her time and thoughts to road safety for Fix The Toaster. Jill blogs over on The Fab Mom and I'm lucky enough to count her as a friend. Watch below to see why car crashes are something she considers important and weigh in our her mind.
http://youtu.be/fFW0hNoUpdA
#whyidrivesafe
I enjoy Instagram more then other forms of social media.
I thought it could be a good idea, OK, I'll call it a campaign, to take photos of things you love about life and hashtag them #whyidrivesafe You can add #fixthetoaster if you like as well. Just start to get people's brains thinking about driving better.
Who Gets Into More Car Crashes: Men or Women?
I was curious, who gets into more car crashes, men or women?
A study that was released by an analytics company called Quality Planning analyzed different kinds of traffic violations. Then then compared the number of citations received by men and then women. The study concluded that men caused more accidents, broke more traffic laws and drove more dangerously than women. (Ask.com)
As a woman I am not trying to drum up a sex war, I mean battle of the sexes. The former might be more interesting, certainly more unique.
I was just curious and I really feel a bit bad because I think that men think driving fast is cool. I can tell you, from my own experience, many women have said that when they see a speeding man they generally think he is compensating for a lack of something else.
"We were not surprised to see that men have slightly more violations — about 5 percent — that result in accidents than women," said Raj Bhat, president of Quality Planning. "And because men are also more likely to violate laws for speeding, passing and yielding, the resulting accidents caused by men lead to more expensive claims than those caused by women." (Autos.msn.com)
Driving safely needs to be seen as macho.
Driving fast and furiously needs to be seen as, ridiculous, dangerous and selfish.
(I know that Fast & Furious is just a movie but clearly it is influential and some people really do think driving fast is super cool)
I do feel for teenage boys as their brains are not matured yet and all of that peer pressure.
Anyways, ladies and gents, let your man know you like it slow and in control.
I know that a lot of moms are driving poorly as well, according to this article. So ladies, we are not off the hook by a long shot.
Man Recognized for his Efforts Towards Road Safety
Here is a story about a man who was not wearing his seatbelt and was in a car crash that left him in a coma for 3 1/2 months. The strain of rehabilitation broke up his marriage. He moved back overseas to be by his parents and he now speaks to students about the dangers of distracted driving and the importance in wearing your seatbelt.
(Photo Daily Record.co.uk)
Tell The UN You Want Safer Roads
If you click on Make Roads Safe looks on the right hand side and you will see a sidebar that says: Vote at the UN, tell the UN to include Road Safety in its Post-2015 priorities.
I already voted.
The number one issue was education. Road safety ranked 15 on a lot of the categories, which is interesting as it is the number one cause of death to kids.
Make Roads Safe also sells some cute t-shirts and contributor Shannon Noel can teach us how to cut them to make them even cute. Meaning insert a v-neck or make it a tank.
Make Roads Safe
Make Roads Safe is a great organization that has a lot of useful information on their site. Check out their Long Short Walk.
Really a wonderful source of information to help make the world a safer place in regards to road safety.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELhEBo0NW8o
As a mom who lives in a community where multiple parents will not allow their kids to walk to school because they feel it is unsafe due to people driving too fast, this is a good resource and inspiration for me.
I have already contacted our local Traffic Sheriff and he said it is up to the parents to stop speeding. He tickets but they can't do it every day. My school doesn't want to touch the issue too much so it is up to us parents.
It's really pretty sad that it's difficult and frightening to just take a walk in your own neighborhood.
No wonder we are an obese, over medicated country.
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.
