More on Driving

Posted this Sat
Looney Dunes: I always thought so ...

Now there is coverage in WSJournal:
WSJ.com - Eyes on the Road:
"The basic thrust of the study's data, including the grainy videos of people nodding off or looking over their shoulders just before rear-ending a car ahead, is that most drivers behave as if driving a car is a task that can be delegated to the reptilian regions of the brain that regulate such automatic behaviors as breathing and blinking. Thus, the motorist is free to process information or perform tasks that aren't related to the driving chore, including using a phone, having lunch, or, in the extreme, taking a catnap.

The study's findings make a persuasive case that drivers are wrong to think they can get away with this. The VTTI's work shows that any distraction, including getting behind the wheel when you should be getting more sleep, greatly raises the odds of an accident or a gut-wrenching near-miss. NHTSA released a reminder of the stakes last week, saying that 43,200 people died in highway accidents last year, up from 42,636 in 2004. The fatality rate also rose to 1.46 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled from 1.44 in 2004, which NHTSA says was the record low.

That said, the VTTI study data suggest not all drivers are equal -- some are really bad. A chart included in a long version of the study shows that two drivers were responsible for a disproportionate share of accidents. One 18-year-old woman was involved in three crashes, 53 near-crashes and 401 "incidents." A 41-year-old woman was involved in four crashes, 56 near-crashes and 449 incidents.

Pause and take that in. In the space of a year or so, two people were involved a total of 116 crashes or near-crashes, and a combined 850 incidents that involved some sort of swerving or emergency avoidance maneuver. Consider that this track record of bad driving was compiled even though the motorists knew that they were being watched by a camera. This makes you wonder what the world would be like if really bad drivers could somehow be taken off the road."

So how about inventing some sort of Idiot Detection.
Throw away the radar detectors, skip "points" for speeding tickets, get the bad drivers OFF THE ROAD.

But that can't happen, it would make too much sense.