Category: Safety Topics

  • June 2nd, 2020

Bad assumptions make data from Weeks 1-14 insufficient. Please see accurate data from Week 15 forward.  It is Week 12 of the coronavirus pandemic, and total crash data is still showing a decline in Alabama. Overall, crashes have declined to less than 40% of their pre-COVID-19 levels, INCLUDING speed-involved and fatal crashes, but are now […]

  • May 28th, 2020

Harbor Freight Tools has announced a recall of more than 1.7 million Pittsburgh Automotive 3-Ton and 6-Ton Heavy Duty Steel Jack Stands for a defect that poses a significant risk to your safety. Owners of these jack stands are asked to immediately discontinue use due to safety concerns. Injuries have been reported due to this issue. […]

  • May 28th, 2020

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The worst region for flash floods in the continental United States is likely the Southwest, according to a recent analysis of flash floods by The University of Alabama. Using hydrologic data, along with socio-economic information, researchers at the UA Center for Complex Hydrosystems, led by center director Dr. Hamid Moradkhani, mapped the hotspots for […]

  • May 28th, 2020

Forget about the lost hour of sleep this weekend – you have an important safety checklist to complete! On Sunday, March 8, as you turn the clocks forward and change smoke detector batteries, NHTSA wants you to add a new tradition to your safety essentials list: Checking your vehicle for safety recalls. Don’t risk your […]

  • May 28th, 2020

Distracted driving related to cell phone usage ranks among the top three causes of fatal crashes on the road. Although forty-eight of 50 U.S. states allow the use of personal devices if operated hands-free and secured in the vehicle, scientific studies have yet to quantify the safety improvement presumed to be introduced by voice-to-text interactions. […]

  • May 28th, 2020

In 2016, 44 percent of drivers in fatal car crashes (with known results) tested positive for drugs, according to the recent report entitled “Drug-Impaired Driving: Marijuana and Opioids Raise Critical Issues for States” by the Governors Highway Safety Association. This is up from 28 percent in 2006. See a the article below for more information about drugged driving and marijuana […]

  • May 26th, 2020

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that despite the recent trend towards higher national seat belt use rates, 10% of drivers still only use seat belts occasionally. The current study examined occasional seat belt use among participants in the Strategic Highway Research Program 2 (SHRP2) Naturalistic Driving Study. The study was exploratory research with […]

  • May 26th, 2020

There are many situations where tacit communication between drivers and pedestrians governs and enhances safety. The goal of this study was to formalize this communication and apply it to the driving strategy of an autonomous vehicle. Toward this, a field study of the interaction between drivers and pedestrians was performed. Vehicles were instrumented to capture […]