Free Republic

Black people represented the largest increase in traffic deaths last year than any other racial group, even as Americans drove less overall due to the pandemic, according to recently released data. An estimated 38,680 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes in 2020 — the largest projected number of deaths since 2007, according the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The number of Black people who died in such crashes was up 23 percent from 2019, the largest increase in traffic deaths among racial groups, according to the administration’s report. Norman Garrick, a civil and environmental engineering...

Climate change - not increased use of cell phones - might be to blame for an unusual spike in road deaths that hit the United States two years ago, said a study published on Thursday. The study said people might have used their vehicles more frequently to avoid increasingly bad weather - rising temperatures and heavier rainfall - resulting in an increased number of deaths on the road. The finding challenges a widespread notion that 2015's hike was the result of increased cell-phone usage by motorists. [Snip] Using mathematical models, the retired Yale University epidemiologist also found that for every...

Brooke Hughes, 18, from Scranton, and Chaniya Morrison-Toomey, 19, from Dunmore, died in the crash, which happened just after midnight Tuesday near Mount Pocono, according to KTLA sister station WNEP in Scranton. The pair died after their car was hit from behind by a big rig. The video, which has been taken down from Facebook, shows Hughes driving along Interstate 380 while holding the cellphone, according to the Times-Tribune newspaper in Scranton. Morrison-Toomey asks, "Are you going live?" But before Hughes can respond, lights suddenly fill the interior of the car and there's the sound of screeching tires. Then the...

Booming production of oil and natural gas has exacted a little-known price on some of the nation’s roads, contributing to a spike in traffic fatalities in states where many streets and highways are choked with large trucks and heavy drilling equipment. An Associated Press analysis of traffic deaths and U.S. census data in six drilling states shows that in some places, fatalities have more than quadrupled since 2004—a period when most American roads have become much safer even as the population has grown. “We are just so swamped,” said Sheriff Dwayne Villanueva of Karnes County, Texas, where authorities have been...

LED Lights Don't Melt Snow on Traffic Lights, Hiding Signals From DriversA huge swath of the country is getting snow and it's raised an unusual and potentially dangerous problem for motorists. Communities across the country are converting to LED traffic lights, but these lights don't emit heat, so snow doesn't melt like it would with a regular incandescent bulb. In some cases, Drivers then can't see the signals. During a snow storm last year, Lisa Richter of Oswego, Ill., had a green light and was turning left. But police say a driver in the oncoming lane blew through his red...

Texting behind the wheel impairs driving skills more than being drunk or high on drugs, according to new research. Reaction times deteriorated by over one-third, which was worse than alcohol at the legal limit or driving under the influence of cannabis.

After a passenger is critically hurt, experts say stress is fueling problems. January 5, 2005 Central Florida's latest reported road-rage incident involved female drivers, which doesn't surprise behavioral experts who say women, succumbing to media influences and the everyday pressures of work and family life, are being more combative on the roads. "Men are usually more aggressive, but that doesn't mean they are the only ones who are aggressive," said Jim Hoffheimer, president of the American Institute for Public Safety, a marketing company in North Miami that offers the RoadRageous Aggressive Driver Course as an instructional tool. The incident Monday...

WASHINGTON - Fatal traffic accidents increase sharply in Israel on the third day after a terrorist attack, and researchers are searching for an explanation why. An 18-month study found no notable change in fatal accidents on the day of an attack or the first or second day after. But fatalities jumped 35 percent on the third day, or a startling 69 percent after a terror attack that killed 10 people or more. "Why traffic fatalities increase on the third day after a terror attack remains a puzzle," Guy Stecklov of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and Joshua R. Goldstein of...

Dec. 28, 2002, 10:19AM Fog causes at least 50-vehicle pileup on tollwayAssociated PressAt least 50 cars were involved in a traffic pileup this morning as thick fog reduced visibility on the Sam Houston Tollway. Broadcast reports said about 22 people had been injured, but there were no reports of fatalities. The pileup happened about 7:30 a.m. and traffic was stalled in both directions of the tollway in southwest Harris County.