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24 Things You Didn’t Know (or Forgot) About Safe Driving on Rural Roads!

Originally posted on the ADONA website – April 24, 2018

In developed countries around the world, it has long been known that rural roads are the location for far more deaths, measured against the total miles driven, than any other type of road or highway.  And this is equally true in the U.S.A.

“Twenty-five percent of all driving in America is on rural roads but this results, very disproportionately, in around fifty percent of all U.S. roadway fatalities.” —  Eddie Wren

There are several contributory reasons for this very serious situation:

Not one but two memorials, for two separate crashes on either side of this road at this one location in Illinois. (Photo copyright, 2012.)

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The U.S. Media Needs to Follow Guidelines for Highway Safety Issues and Road Crash Reports

Whenever a forensic crash investigation has not been completed — something which typically takes many days — it is very unwise for anyone at a crash scene to speculate about the cause of the incident. It is not rare for things that look obvious to prove entirely inaccurate.

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Myths and Bad Advice in Road Safety (USA) — A Quiz!

Find out which advice you’ve been given is either inaccurate or even potentially dangerous, and why!

Here are ten questions which we hope that American drivers and any people involved in any aspect of U.S. highway safety will participate in.  We are looking to see how many have been given the safest advice and how common any inaccurate beliefs may be.

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The Need to Use Research When Promoting Road Safety

It is both a sad and dangerous fact that the majority of people who use roads — and who doesn’t? — very mistakenly assume that they know a lot about road safety.  However, taken overall, it is a very complex subject about which only a very few top experts even come close to knowing it ‘all’.

The wreckage from the crash that cost James Dean his life. Ironically, this was just after he had made some PSA announcements for the National Safety Council about highway safety.  (Wikimedia Commons)

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How the cities of Oslo and Helsinki cut pedestrian deaths to zero

Several major cities in the USA, such as New York, are laudably working towards the same immensely important target, known as ‘Vision Zero’.

A three-section pedestrian crossing in Oslo, Norway.
This 3-stage pedestrian crossing in Oslo goes over four lanes of traffic and tram lines, plus a bus lane, and has two safety islands to break it all up into manageable sections. (Copyright image, 2019. All rights reserved.)

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The 2-second Rule for ‘Safe’ Following Distances has Long Been WRONG

About 40 percent of all crashes in the USA involve one or more vehicles ramming into another vehicle from behind, and this is a major cause of bad injuries and deaths.

This photo was taken no more than 2 seconds after the collision that triggered the airbags, which are now in the process of deflating. The driver and his passenger are still in the car, stunned. Possibly through distraction, the car driver had just collided with the back of a truck — not an “accident,” an act of negligence; a collision. (Copyright image, 2012.)
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USA is the Only Nation to Not Sign Global Declaration on Preventing Road Deaths

Out of more than 140 attending nations, only the USA has refused to sign up to a new declaration on road safety. The so-called Stockholm Declaration was issued at the Third Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety, held in Stockholm, Sweden, February 19–20, 2020.

Our own response to this is shown below.

A crash victim's roadside memorial.
A lonely, anonymous memorial to a road crash victim in the USA. (Copyright image, 2018.)
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Research: The implications of ridehailing for risky driving and road accident injuries and fatalities

David S.Kirk, Nicolo Cavalli, Noli Brazil

Highlights

— Traffic fatalities are among the leading causes of death of 15–29 year olds.

— Study examines consequences of Uber’s rollout in Great Britain for road accidents.

— Uber associated with a 9% decline in serious road accident injuries.

— Slight injuries declined outside of London with Uber, but increased within London.

— No effect of Uber on traffic fatalities.

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How the Fear of Guns Makes Road Safety Worse in the USA

“I don’t use my horn, in case the other guy’s got a gun!”

This is only one way in which American road safety culture is adversely affected by the fear of violent retribution, but let’s deal with this aspect first.

It is actually dangerous to yourself to use the horn in this way, but more about that in another article!

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