Driver Safety Education Blog

A new study has been released which shows that texting while driving raises the risk of collision dramatically. Click on this link to read the story, Study: Texting Raises Risk of Crash 23-Fold from Fox News. This is a very enlightening article and a little scary too. When I think of a driver coming my way and possibly being distracted by texting...

Please don't do it, ok? Just pull over to have that conversation.

Thanks,

Drive safe...

Cheers - Mike

The stats for Alberta drivers, accidents, collisions, injuries and deaths are now available.

From the government stats website: Alberta Transportation
Alberta Transportation collects and publishes collision, vehicle registration and licensed driver statistics.

Collision Statistics
Collision statistics provide an overview of the "who", "what", "when", "where", "why" and "how" of traffic collisions that occurred in Alberta on a yearly basis.

Legislation in Alberta requires a traffic collision be immediately reported to the police if it results in death, injury or property damage of $1000 or more. A collision report form is completed and data is then collected from these collision forms.

Highlights which appeared in news media are below.

From the CBC: Alcohol a factor in 22% of fatal Alberta crashes

Drive safe...

Cheers - Mike

Well, by now our new young drivers are enjoying the summer of long days and fun nights. Cottage time or city festival activities beckon all of us to go here and there, usually by car.

If you are reading this you've seen the other blog posts dealing with summer driving. Please re-read them. There is always something else that will catch your eye on a second read.

These posts will be less frequent during the summer.

Drive safe...

Cheers - Mike

Fatigue and heat are the two main items today. Heat will affect your vehicle engine on a long trip and can cause a vehicle breakdown.

Fatigue can affect your mind and body causing a dramatic slowness in reaction time or you just fall asleep - while driving at highway speed.

So let's start with this article called, Safe Holiday Driving Tips, which covers many good driving tips, recommendations and concerns, such as fatigue.

For the RV driver and family we have this article called, oddly enough, Safe Holiday Travel Tips.

Here is an interesting driving quiz called, Holiday Driving Safety Quiz, which you may find enlightening.

An article emphasizing fatigue and drowsiness regarding the high annual holiday highway death toll is called, Safe Holiday Driving.

If you just read the articles above, you should have safer holiday travel.

Good luck - Drive safe...

Cheers - Mike

Night driving is a whole different experience once you get away from city lights and on a highway with the only light coming from the vehicles on the road.

The following article from TD Insurance give you some very good tips for driving at night.

Number 4, although seemingly not important, is actually very important. Especially on an undivided road partially covered with blowing snow and semi's coming at you one after another. It makes a big difference. It will help you see the road better and lessen the chance of running off the road on one of those gentle curves with oncoming lights almost blinding you.

From TD Insurance we have this very good set of night driving tips called, 10 tips for safer driving after dark.

That's all for now.

Drive safe...

Cheers - Mike

Just a short item today. New young drivers still have the highest representation in crash stats. Slow down and don't do the road rage thing. Your manhood will still be intact by not challenging the other driver, and you'll still be alive.

Here is a very good article on the subject. From the website: "Crash rates increase sharply at the age teenagers begin to drive and remain elevated relative to adult levels well into the twenties. Parents have important roles to play in managing the risk for teenage drivers before and after licensure".
It is a very good indepth study called, Parenting and the Young Driver Problem

That's all for now.

Drive safe...

Cheers - Mike

The first long road trip can be exciting, and intimidating. There is the adrenalin rush with the start of the trip and then getting used to continuous highway speed and then the constant awareness of vehicles around you and road conditions and then being lulled into a false sense of security and possibly becoming complacent. Careful!
Add talking with passengers and perhaps listening to tunes - be doubly careful!

Can you be aware all the time? Nope. Well, not without some help. Try moving your eyes to mirror, left of road, right of road, try to guess the distance between you and cars in front or back of you and other exercises to help you retain your vigilance.

Here are some resources to help you think about and plan for a long trip.

From TD Insurance we have this very good article called, 10 tips for safer distance driving. Have a look around the site. There are some excellent articles, such as this one on fatigue called, The deadly force of fatigue.

About fatigue, there is this article from the government in Australia called, Are you tired? You shouldn’t be driving.

Because snow is not unheard of even during the summer, your winter survival kit should still be packed in your vehicle. Some items are for emergency use all year round. Here is a kit list from the County of Stettler (Alberta) website:

For your comfort and safety - in addition to your peace of mind - you should carry an emergency road kit on a long trip. This kit should be stored in the trunk or cargo space of your vehicle and should include the following:
Ice Scraper
Snow Brush
Shovel
Sand, salt or kitty litter
Booster Cables
Flashlight
Blanket
Extra Clothing and Footwear
Emergency Food Supplies
Axe or Hatchet
Matches
Candle in a Deep Tin
Fire Extinguisher
Paper Towels or Rags
First Aid Kit
Compass
Road Map

There are many more resources on the net to check out but the ones listed here will help get you started.

Drive safe...

Cheers - Mike

As the summer really gets into gear, our new young drivers will be behind the wheel more often than during the school year. The possibility of collisions goes up and an increase in serious injury or death goes up too.

Here is a collection of articles concerning this topic.

First, we have an article from AddictionInfo.org called, Driving Deaths Peak in Summer, Parents Can Help Deter Poor Decisionmaking. A quote from the article regarding teens, "...there are more driving-related deaths in the summer months than in any other season of the year, and parents have reason for concern over their children's safety". Some good research-related info and tips.

The next one is from the City of Ottawa called, Safe Young Drivers – You Hold the Key. A lot of good info there.

The next one is called, Nighttime driving, passenger transport, and injury crash rates of young drivers, and is a study and results which can be downloaded as a PDF file, which is linked on the page.

This one is from DUB/Daily and is a good article called, Summer Driving Tips for Teens. An excerpt, "Summer vacation for teens marks the beginning of the “100 deadliest days”". A good read for parents and teens.

From Young Drivers of Canada we have this article called, General Summer Driving Tips from Young Drivers of Canada.

There are many articles available about teen summer driving but I'll finish up with this one called, Driver Education: Traffic Safety for New High School Graduates.

Drive smart - Drive safe...

Cheers - Mike