Driving can seem like an overwhelming task, when something goes wrong. Rain is falling in the Macon area and the roads are a little slick. A driver approaches an intersection, when they hear their cellphone ring, sitting on the passenger seat. Reacting, they look in that direction and reach for it. When they return their eyes to the road, they see the traffic signal has turned red and traffic has stopped in front of them. They slam on the brakes and the car begins to slide. What should they do? For an experienced driver, instinctively they steer into the slide, are able to recover, and narrowly avoid a car accident with a vehicle in the other lane. For the teen driver, who may never have driven in rain, and lacks years of driving experience, this could have been a disastrous scenario. A new report from the New England Journal of…

Most Americans think that speeding is bad, which is good, because as Lucy reminds us in Charlie Brown's Christmas, "the mere fact that you realize you need help indicates that you are not too far gone." According to a report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 91 percent of American drivers believe drivers should slow down, but more than two-thirds speed at least sometimes when they are on the road. Speed kills and is a factor in about one-third of all car accidents. While most drivers seem to recognize the increased risk of car accidents and fatalities that accompany speeding, a great many are willing to engage in this behavior. This conflicted perspective may be a result of the tendency of many drivers to recognize the failings of other drivers, yet are blinded by overconfidence bias with respect to their own behavior. The survey which was conducted by NTHSA…

You never think your are driving to a car accident. You get in their car or truck, and head down the road in Macon, or to destinations unknown in Georgia, but you never believe it will be your last drive. Certainly, Paul Walker and Roger Rodas did not believe when they left the charity event on Saturday they were going to crash within minutes. Sure, the car they were driving, a red 2005 Porsche Carrera GT was temperamental and could be dangerous if mishandled. But, they were both experienced racecar drivers. The driver could easily handle the Porsche on a city street well enough to avoid a car accident. Nonetheless, the Carrera GT struck a utility pole and exploded into flames, killing both men. Police ruled out that they were street racing with another car, but they suspect speed played a role in the accident. The Carrera GT is a car…

Last week, just north of Atlanta, in the town of Milton, a woman had a very narrow escape. As she drove along the road, she suddenly heard a "huge boom" and when she finally recognized what had happened, she could only say, "Oh my God, oh my God." Her left hand had been crushed by the impact of a 9-lb rock the size of a volleyball had crashed through the windscreen on her vehicle. She was incredibly lucky, as police calculated the rock was moving at close to 100 mph when hit struck her vehicle. Of course, if the rock had hit any part of her body besides her hand, the outcome would have been far worse. Instead of a damaged vehicle and an injured hand, her name would like to have been added to the list of fatalities from car accidents in Georgia this year. The rock it the windscreen…

Driving presents a conundrum for most people in Macon. Experience is essential to developing the skills necessary to safely operate a motor vehicle on the streets and highways of Georgia, but in order to gain that experience, you must begin as an inexperienced, and typically, teen-aged driver. Moving a teen driver from inexperienced and overwhelmed to experienced and competent is a significant problem. Fatal car accidentsare the leading cause of death for teens, and yet for most Americans, giving your keys to your son or daughter and sending them out on their own, is an essential rite of passage. In addition to their inexperience, teens today are faced with an unparalleled barrage of distraction while driving. And no device is more distracting than a smartphone, a device that insinuates itself in to our driving habits, making it seem as if no would be able to go anywhere without it It is…

Driving from Macon to Atlanta on I-75, you may think that it would be fairly easy to engineer a driverless car to deal with such a route. And while I-75 is not some lightly traveled route, after all, it is six lanes most of the way, the wide lanes, gentle curves, and controlled access intersections limit the number of unpredictable events you may encounter. Sure, driving the road still comes with any number of potential causes of a car accident, from deer crossing in twilight to a recapped semi-trailer tire blowing out as you pass by, but as compared to a busy city intersection, the interstate makes for an easy drive, especially for a computer. As driverless car prototypes are already operating on U.S. highways, you may expect that they could appear in your favorite dealer's showroom any day. That may be overly optimistic. The interstates, for all their challenges, are…

When we hear about a car accident, our first thought is often, "Was anyone killed." Macabre as this thought is, it is hard to suppress. Even though we never think that a car accident is going to happen to us as we drive about our day in Macon, the truth is we never really know. A writer in the Atlanta Magazine details her experience after a "minor" car accident. She says she did not see the accident coming until the interior of her car "exploded" and she was plunged into darkness for seconds as the airbags inflated. Luckily for her, the accident was both minor and there were paramedics nearby, who had been eating dinner. They rushed to the accident site to help. She suffered only minor injuries, like bruising and soreness. She complained of chest pain, which could have been from a slight fracture of her ribs. These low-speed car…

Most people have had the sensation while driving the roads in Georgia, especially while on the interstates. You may not feel tired when you begin driving, but after a while, staring at the road in front of you, you sense you eyelids becoming heavy and you may even feel your chin drop, as you momentarily drift off. You may arrive at your destination, and think to yourself that maybe you should have had a little more sleep, but you do not feel as if you were ever in any danger. After all, it is not as if you were driving drunk. Or is it very much like driving drunk, and in the range of car accidents, could it even be worse? A recent study finds that many people who believe they have had an adequate amount of sleep still are driving drowsy. The study from the University of Pennsylvania Health System…

When you driving the roads surrounding Macon and Warner Robins, you probably have seen the occasional deer along the highway. Sometimes you may even see a group of deer, often with their young. While you may be charmed by this bucolic scene, you should take it as a warning. While deer can be cute at a petting zoo, along the road they pose a danger, and in many cases a mortal danger for car and truck accidents. The good news is the number of deer-car accidents declined last year, according to an analysis done by a large insurance company. They calculate the odds of a driver in the United States striking a deer as 1 in 174. This represents an improvement from last year when the odds were 1 in 167. While Georgia was not in the top states for deer collisions, it is no reason to be complacent. The…

This week, the Governor's Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) tried to "make it real" in demonstrating the dangers of not wearing a seat belt, texting, and DUI to students in a Macon school. The GOHS uses a real pick-up truck equipped with dummies to show what happens in a rollover car accident. During the simulation, the dummies in the pick-up truck are not wearing their seat belts, and they are ejected from the vehicle during the rollover crash. A frequent cause of death in car accidents is the ejection of the occupants from the car. Upon ejection, a vehicle occupant typically strikes the ground or other objects at highway speeds. Even if they survive the ejection, they can receive additional severe or fatal injuries if they fall in the roadway and are struck by other vehicles. The director of GOHS commented that students are frequently found not complying with seat belt…