Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Teen Texting and Driving: An Accident Waiting to Happen


There comes a time when laws simply can’t impact a situation to any great degree. Education, experience and common sense then must prevail.
This is about using cell phones while driving. Numerous road tragedies have occurred where it was documented that the use of cell phones were at the crux of the issue.
There have been many appeals for people not to use their cell phones while driving because of the distractions of dialing and/or trying to hold the phone while negotiating through tight turns and heavy traffic.
Many of us don’t stop to realize that particularly on a two-lane road, when two cars meet it is the equivalent of two guided missiles with only a few feet between them. One bobble and there is the tragic grinding of steel. The result might even resemble the damage caused by a guided missile.
Various ordinances have attempted to thwart some of the dangerous potential of talking on cell phones while driving. Of course, such laws are inherent with the physical problem of actually catching the violator.
But now we learn through various collections of statistics via surveys that many teen-agers are actually text messaging while driving.
This adds a whole new dimension to the dangers of a driver using his cell phone while motoring down the road. Metaphorically speaking, it’s kind of like using a powder keg as an ash tray.

In messaging, one has to take his eyes off the road for a much greater time than is required for speaking on a cell phone. And if there was a way of collecting these messages and analyzing them, they probably would translate to a whole lot of nothing — very unnecessary communication, given the dangerous circumstances. And that might even be the case of much messaging that takes place outside of driving. It mostly a gizmo-driven exercise.
Again, passing laws to prohibit such use of a phone while driving will have minimum effect as most people will only consider it a strong suggestion. And also, there is the problem of actually catching someone doing it.

This is where we should apply common sense. This is where we should be talking to our teen-agers particularly about the serious nature of operating a vehicle, maybe even using the example of two guided missiles. Perhaps it would make an impact to take them to a junk yard and let them view the results of an actual crash. And maybe the documented carnage would make further impact.

Common sense, however, does not run rampant in comparison with the rapid development of modern devices and gizmos. Still, we must take every opportunity to educate motorists — young and old — on the aforementioned dangers.
For more information:

www.safetytrack.net/st-300

Thursday, September 08, 2011

Given the option of contesting a traffic ticket, most motorists – 19 out of 20 by some estimates – would rather pay up than pit their word against a police officer's in court.


A retired sheriff's deputy nevertheless hopes to beat the long odds of the law by setting the performance of a police officer's radar gun against the accuracy of the GPS tracking device he installed in his teenage stepson's car.

The retired deputy, Roger Rude, readily admits his 17-year-old stepson, Shaun Malone, enjoys putting the pedal to the metal. That's why he and Shaun's mother insisted on putting a global positioning system that monitors the location and speed of the boy's Toyota Celica.

Shaun complained bitterly about his electronic chaperone until it became his new best friend on July 4, when he was pulled over and cited for going 62 mph in a 45 mph zone.

Rude encouraged him to fight the ticket after the log he downloaded using software provided by the GPS unit's Colorado-based supplier showed Shaun was going the speed limit within 100 feet of where a Petaluma officer clocked him speeding.

"I'm not trying to get a guilty kid off," Rude said. "I've always had faith in our justice system. I would like to see the truth prevail and I would like Shaun to see that the system works."

Though traffic courts do not routinely accept GPS readouts as evidence of a vehicle's speed – and many GPS receivers aren't capable of keeping records anyway – some tech-savvy drivers around the world slowly are starting to use the technology to challenge moving violations, according to anecdotal accounts from defense lawyers and law enforcement officials.

This summer, for instance, an Australian farmer became a hero to speeders everywhere when he got a ticket dismissed after presenting police with data from his tracking device.

While winning a case this way is far from a sure thing, GPS-generated evidence could at least inject an element of doubt into typically one-sided proceedings, said Jim Baxter, president of the National Motorists Association.

A Sonoma County traffic commissioner is expected to rule within the next two weeks whether to dismiss Shaun's ticket based on Rude's written argument that the motorcycle officer's radar gun was either improperly calibrated or thrown off by another speeding car.

"Radar is a pretty good tool, but it's not an infallible tool," said Rude, who spent 31 years in law enforcement. "With the GPS tracker, there is no doubt about it. There is no human interference."

Rude plans to offer scientific data and experts if his challenge doesn't succeed right away.

Petaluma police Lt. John Edwards said he could not discuss Shaun's case but disputed Rude's contention that GPS is more accurate than a speed gun.

"GPS works on satellite signals, so you have a delay of some type," Edwards said. "Is it a couple-second delay? A 30-second delay? Because in that time people can speed up, slow down."

The device in Shaun's car, originally designed for trucking companies, rental car agencies and other businesses with fleets, sends a signal every 30 seconds that records his whereabouts and travel speed.

His parents signed up to be automatically notified by e-mail whenever he exceeded 70 mph, and the one time he did he lost his driving privileges for 10 days.

Rude said he is talking about the ticket – Shaun has tried to stay out of it – to encourage other parents to keep tabs on their teenage drivers using GPS. He said he has told too many parents their child was killed in a wreck.

David W. Brown, a Monterey lawyer and author of "Fight Your Ticket in California," said attacking the reliability of radar guns does not usually get speeders very far, especially if they are unwilling to devote extra time and money to hiring legal experts.

Still, among people who do challenge tickets, the proportion who triumph is relatively large, he said. Their technique? Betting the officer who cited them will be unable to make it to court.

"Statistically, when people do prevail, that is the most common method," he said.

Monday, August 01, 2011

Speed is major factor in deaths of young drivers in car crashes

By Connie Skipitares

Mercury News

Article Launched: 11/25/2007 01:38:09 AM PST

Vicky Mlyniec's heart broke all over again when she heard the news three weeks ago that two brothers in her Santa Cruz Mountains community had died at the hands of a speeding driver.

The crash forced her to relive the painful night in August when her own son, 18-year-old Nate Mlyniec, who was about to enter the University of California-Davis and dreamed of becoming a chef, died when his speeding car slammed into a tree on his way home.

"It hit us like a ton of bricks," Mlyniec said of the Nov. 3 deaths of the two brothers. "It took us right back to Nate's accident. It's a nightmare that continues for us as I'm sure it does for the other families."

The deaths of brothers Tyler Barclay, 18, and Shane Barclay, 22, only 2 1/2 months after Nate's fatal crash, shook the tightknit mountain community above Los Gatos, where all the young men grew up. Nate and Tyler had attended Los Gatos High School.

Four other South Bay deaths in July caused by a 19-year-old who was speeding on a narrow country road in Almaden Valley also shattered that community of neighbors, friends and school classmates.

None of the three recent crashes involved drinking or drugs.

"The No. 1 reason teenagers die is car crashes," said Gayle Shank, a Los Gatos High School driver's education teacher. "And the major reason is they're going too fast."

Deaths caused by speeding teens happen at a far greater rate than those caused by intoxicated teens. And a

much larger number of speeding drivers are male than female.

In 2005, the latest figures available, 38 percent of 15- to 20-year-old male drivers involved in fatal crashes were speeding, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Twenty-four percent of young male drivers in fatal accidents had been under the influence, with a blood alcohol level of .08 percent or higher. The .08 level is the legal limit for adults.

However, there's some encouraging news: Overall, the teenage death rate from car crashes has gone down over the past three decades - 47 percent among males and 19 percent among females, thanks to school and law enforcement programs and restrictions on teen driving in the first year of licensing.

But it doesn't feel that way to an educator like Shank. "When this happens in your community among your students, it feels overwhelming. It feels like it's everywhere," she said.

What is it that fuels an adolescent boy's need for speed?

"They think they're invincible," said Sgt. Les Bishop of the California Highway Patrol. "They think 'nothing's going to happen to me.' It's just how teenagers look at life at their age."

Inexperienced drivers

Lack of driving experience also is a key factor in teen crashes. Teen drivers are involved in more fatal crashes and crashes causing serious injuries in the first year of becoming licensed that any older driving group, Bishop said. The difference between the skills and maturity of a 16-year-old - when full licensing can occur - and a 17-year-old driver is fairly dramatic, he added.

Teen drivers are more likely to underestimate hazardous situations and not be able to recognize them because of their inexperience as drivers, Bishop said.

He also blames our "daredevil" society that feeds on Hollywood action movies with extreme stunts. "It gives kids a sense of adventure that's unreal."

A powerful lesson for many teens is a two-day program sponsored by the CHP called "Every 15 Minutes," he said. Although the program emphasizes the harm of drinking and driving, its lesson is also about any high-risk behavior that results in death, including speeding and reckless driving.

The event involves students staging a fatal collision, mock arrests and a mock funeral of one of their own classmates.

"I'll hear kids say 'I never thought about it that way,' like it really sunk in for them," Bishop said. "And there's always some who say 'that's never going to happen to me.' "

But those pronouncements are often short-lived.

"Some kids may get the message and they can carry it for several months," Shank said. "But some never learn the lesson."

She recalled the 2002 death of 18-year-old Los Gatos High student Eric Quesada, a passenger in a car that crashed that was driven by a 16-year-old friend who had been drinking. Quesada's death shattered the high school community, where he was a popular senior. That crash also occurred on a narrow rural road - Hicks Road in Los Gatos.

"There was such a huge upset here at school," Shank said. "Everybody felt it. A lot of kids said they wouldn't drink at parties anymore.

But a week after Quesada's death, students talked about attending parties where there was drinking, she said.

Teen programs

Short memories about such tragedies may end up being the case with the recent teen deaths. But school officials continue to host programs that target risky teen behavior. Last week, Los Gatos High students participated in such a program, facing a real life example of dangerous behavior with the deaths of Tyler and Shane Barclay.

The 17-year-old driver of the car in which the brothers died was injured in the crash, but is expected to recover. He is the cousin - and best friend - of the two who perished. In the Almaden tragedy in July, 19-year-old Erik Satterstrom and his 18-year-old friend Max Harding died when Satterstrom drove his Nissan 350Z down two-lane Graystone Lane, losing control and slamming into Paul and Uma Batra, a couple on a stroll.

Vicky Mlyniec has a hard time accepting that her son, a responsible teenager, did something so foolhardy. His friends said he was the last person they could see speeding.

According to a CHP report, her son drove down a straight portion of two-lane Summit Road at about 70 miles per hour, well above the 35 mph speed limit. It was 2 a.m. and no one else was on the road near his home, a road he felt comfortable driving.

The teenager apparently hit his brakes for some reason. His car swerved, he lost control and slammed into a tree.

"You look at the road, it's a straight road, and it's hard to just go 35," the mother said. "Even adults will go faster."

Still, she said, Nate's speed "was indefensible. . . . It doesn't matter if you are habitually risky or do this one time, like Nate did. Once is all it takes. There are no second chances. "

Mlyniec and her husband can hardly bear to drive past the site of the crash. They take back roads to avoid passing the tree.

Shank said one way to reduce teen driver fatalities might be delaying licensing until teens turn 17, rather than 16, because of the extra year of maturity.

Bishop said a lot of discussion about risky driving should happen at home between teens and their parents. While that is useful, Bishop asked: "Is that going to change a teenager? Probably not. There's still some who are going to go out and do whatever they're going to do, no matter what the consequences."

Enhanced by Zemanta

Sunday, May 01, 2011

As a parent of a teen driver, I find that having the ability to track her has giving us the ability to show her some of the event s that can cause problem. Knowing the exact speed that she is going, helps in reminder her that these types of events can lead to problems; reduce fuel economy is one, risk of speeding tickets, or the higher potential of being involved in an accident. All the statistics show that teen driver are involved in more fatal accidents than any other age group. The ST-300 is an amazing tracking device.


As a parent, we have even gone to the extreme and installed an in vehicle car camera from Safety Track to show just how distracted teen drivers can be while driving. If it isn’t the radio, it could be the phone, or worse yet, texting. You would be surprised just how comfortable these teen drivers get while driving. Being able to ride along with your teen driver can give you a better idea of what is really going in the car. The funny part is that they forget they are being video tape after about 30 minute in the car.

Anyway, as a parent we need to take part in helping our teen drivers see that driving a 4000 lb piece of metal can be dangerous and needs to be taken seriously.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Tracking a teen driver is a new phenomenon. Parents having Teen Drivers, who feel they want to drive and keep their independence, now have a device that can keep both sides feeling good about this.


The ST-300, from Safety Track, is a small, self-contained, real-time tracking unit. Unlike other devices, it simply plugs into the OBDII plug of your car. It is simple to use, with its web based interface. All you do is just log into your account from any internet connected computers and view the parents vehicle in real-time.

This is a cost effective solution to the ever present problem of “should I let my Teen drive”?