Drive Safely

I will be collecting my perspective on safe driving on this page.  Transportation safety is one of my deepest interests and concerns, particularly because car crashes are not taken seriously at all as a public health problem.  Cars kill about 40,000 people in the United States every year.  (Debate rages about gun control, for example, but guns kill fewer people than cars.)  Car crashes are the leading cause of death for many age groups.  Cars also injure 2.5 million people every year.

The most common cause of car crashes is us — the drivers.  We are quick to blame the road, the weather, our vehicle, and, of course, the “other guy” in the crash.  Our ego does not allow us to take responsibility.  As Dave Barry once wrote, the one thins we all have in common is that we think we are all above-average drivers.  We are not.  Crashes are usually caused by not paying attention (on the phone, texting, etc.) or doing something stupid (speeding, road rage, taking risks, etc.) or an impairment (drunk, diminished physical abilities, etc.).  Sometimes all three.  Until we can admit our failings and ask how to improve as drivers, we will continue to injure and kill each other at unnecessarily high rates.

My knowledge and experience as a professional traffic engineer gives me a full perspective on this subject.  I literally watch unsuspecting drivers as they operate their cars and trucks on urban streets.  What I have seen has given me a tremendous insight on the problem.

How to reduce Car Crashes

I propose a new way to deal with bad drivers bt scapping the Massachusetts “step” system and replacing it with a four-tier system.  The tier assigns a “grade” to every driver so that everyone will know where he or she stands.  The tier system also raised the standards of whan is considered acceptable behavior on the road.

Why Speeding is Dumb

Almost all drivers think its OK to drive at whatever speed is comfortable (or even fun or thrilling), few realize how dangerous and foolish it is.