Statistics from the Federal Communications Commission reveal that as many as eight people lose their lives and over 1,000 more suffer injuries in distracted driving-related crashes here in the U.S. every day. As if this wasn't dismaying enough, the FCC has also determined that as many as 660,000 people are using their smartphones or other electronic devices while driving at any given daylight moment across the nation. Faced with sobering figures like these, it's easy to doubt whether anything can be done by lawmakers to address this epidemic. Indeed, texting while driving is already prohibited in 46 states (including Georgia), while 14 others also ban the use of handheld devices behind the wheel. Similarly, questions arise as to what, if anything, phone manufacturers can do. Interestingly enough, Apple, maker of the ubiquitous iPhone, recently unveiled what it's calling a new solution to distracted driving at its Worldwide Developers Conference. As part of the forthcoming…

At this exact moment, many people throughout Georgia are packing their bags, loading their trunks, and filling up their tanks in preparation for a Memorial Day road trip. Statistics show, however, that they won't be alone in looking to getaway. According to AAA, as many as 39.3 million Americans will be traveling at least 50 miles from Thursday, May 25 to Monday, May 29, the highest number of travelers in 12 years. Furthermore, AAA is projecting that 88 percent of people will be making their way to their respective destinations by car. Closer to home, AAA is projecting that 1.17 million residents of Georgia will be traveling over Memorial Day with as many as 1.05 million going by car. While rising wages, lower fuel prices, and increased consumer confidence are likely the reasons why so many people are hitting the road, travelers might want to consider a recent study by the personal financial…

Whether we realize it or not, most of us follow a routine every time we get behind the wheel of our vehicles and move the shifter from park to drive. For example, many of us will check the mirrors, adjust the seat, set the climate, sync electronic devices and, of course, buckle seat belts. Indeed, it would appear that the majority of us are now making seat belt use part of our routines, as a survey by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that close to 90 percent of drivers were buckling up in 2016. This is a welcome development when you consider that federal statistics also reveal that seat belts saved the lives of nearly 14,000 people in 2015 alone. Questions have been raised, however, as to whether primary seat belt laws -- otherwise known as "click it or ticket" laws -- are the reason for this encouraging…

While most of us would like to think we are capable of being objective when it comes to assessing our driving abilities, it might prove to be a more difficult exercise than we imagine. That's because not only are we inherently defensive when it comes to this issue -- when is the last time anyone admitted to being a bad driver? -- but perceptions of what is acceptable behavior behind the wheel varies from person to person. The good news is that there are certain avenues through which we can find out once and for all whether we can be confident in our driving judgment and abilities, or whether we need to think about making some changes. The first, and perhaps simplest, way to do this is to openly assess whether you engage in any of the following behaviors, long identified as being among the riskiest: Speeding: Surveys show that…

While there are basic steps to take after an accident, those steps become more complex with kids, because you will probably want to get them checked for injury even if nothing is immediately apparent, and especially if the children are very young. Most of the time, you will also need to make sure your attempts to repair the damage to the vehicle include costs for a new child safety seat. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommends child safety seats be replaced after every moderate or severe accident, but it does state that no replacement is needed in cases of a minor accident. If you are trying to figure out whether or not an accident qualified as a minor one, you need to make sure it fits every criterion covered by this checklist: The vehicle can be driven away from the crash The door nearest the car seat has sustained no…

Over the last decade, we've seen efforts to develop vehicle safety technology undergo something of a seismic shift. Indeed, while the focus of automakers was long centered solely around developing technology designed to limit bodily harm to drivers and passengers in the event of an accident, these efforts have broadened in recent years to develop technology designed to prevent accidents altogether. By way of illustration, a person needn't look any further than the development of automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, lane departure systems and, more recently, fully self-driving vehicles. Interestingly enough, as we move closer and closer to having fully self-driving vehicles on the roads and highways -- something that would almost certainly reduce the number of accidents attributable to everything from impaired driving and distracted driving to speeding and reckless behavior -- it seems that many Americans are still apprehensive about this prospect. Last year, AAA completed the…

With all of the hundreds of thousands of drivers in Georgia, there are bound to be ones who weave in and out of traffic, ignore the speed limit, and purposefully cut other drivers off. All of these behaviors have one thing in common; they are considered aggressive driving and have many repercussions including fines and revocation of licensure depending on the driver’s age and state of residence. In serious circumstances, aggressive driving can result in accidents that injure or even kill the people involved. When a person understands aggressive driving and its consequences, careful actions can be taken to avoid driving dangerously. The Governors Highway Safety Association explicitly defines aggressive driving in Georgia as such actions including:          Disregarding traffic laws          Disrupting traffic flow          Tailgating          Reckless driving          Carelessly passing another vehicle While some drivers may succumb to their anger and participate in aggressive driving and road rage, there…

There's no question that millennials have emerged as the scapegoat of choice in the popular press or, at the very least, been portrayed as a generation capable of demonstrating extreme levels of self-interest. While these sorts of characterizations are, of course, overly broad and largely inaccurate, a recently released study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety suggests that there might be one area in which millennials are perhaps deserving of some level of societal scorn: vehicle safety. What exactly did this study find? A survey of 2,511 motorists between the ages of 19 to 24 conducted back in late August through early September determined that 88 percent engaged in some level of risky conduct behind the wheel. Breaking the numbers down, it found the following: 59.3 percent of millennial drivers confessed to sending a text or typing an email while driving at twice the speed of surrounding traffic. Roughly 50 percent…

It is not easy to think about unpleasant eventualities like car accidents, but it is a necessity if you want to be well-prepared and capable of handling the situation when it does occur. That means having a plan of action in place so that you do not need to make decisions at the moment when you are dealing with the stress of an accident. This makes it easier to navigate if you are injured or in shock, and it ensures all your bases are covered. The first step to having a good accident plan is knowing what you need to do to be safe after an accident. When the car comes to rest The first steps you need to take emphasize the importance of making sure you inventory injuries and/or damage to the vehicle. That begins with yourself. Follow these steps after the car has stopped moving and before you try to…

For the last 14 years, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, a coalition dedicated to making America's roads and highways safer, has released a highly influential annual report card examining the progress made by the 50 states in passing basic traffic safety measures. Indeed, this year's report was perhaps more anticipated than normal given the dramatic increase in motor vehicle fatalities over the last two years, with statistics showing that traffic deaths increased by 7.2 percent in 2015 over 2014, and 8 percent from the first nine months of 2016 over the first nine months of 2015. As far as the structure of the report, it essentially awards the states one of three ratings -- green (best), yellow (intermediate), and red (worst) -- based on how many of the 15 so-called "optimal laws" that Advocates believes are essential to preventing serious and fatal accidents have been passed. Some of these…