Teaching the Dangers of Distracted Driving, Before It's Too Late

30 June 2010

Photo: Thomas Didone

Police Captain Thomas Didone's 15-year-old son Ryan died in a distracted-driving crash

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This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

Car crashes are the top killer of American teenagers. Most of the crashes result from distracted driving -- not paying attention to the road.

Ryan Didone was a fifteen-year-old passenger in a car that hit a tree. He was one of the nation's more than thirty thousand victims of traffic crashes in two thousand eight. Nearly four thousand deaths, about twelve percent, involved drivers age fifteen to twenty.

Ryan's father, Thomas Didone, is a police captain in Montgomery County, Maryland.

THOMAS DIDONE: "It was an inexperienced, immature driver who felt that he was invincible, driving at night with a carload of kids. He was distracted, he was going too fast, and it ended up causing one death and some serious trauma and tragedy for the rest of the community."

Thomas Didone

Ryan Didone

Jim Jennings from the Allstate Insurance Company says the number one cause of distracted-driving accidents is the mobile phone. He says talking on the phone or reaching for it is like drinking four beers and driving.

JIM JENNINGS: "If you're texting while driving, you are twenty-three times more likely to get into an accident than somebody who isn't. Reaching for a cell phone when it's going off, you're nine times more likely to get into an accident than normally driving."

Government and private groups are using public service announcements and events to bring more attention to the problem. For example, the insurance industry recently held a safety event near Washington for teen drivers.

At first, nineteen-year-old Kevin Schumann easily avoided large, inflatable dolls thrown in front of the car to represent children. He also avoided orange cones representing the edge of the road. Then, as part of the test, he started texting. He hit several cones and at least one doll.

KEVIN SCHUMANN: "That's what really opened up the experience for me, to prove how bad it is to really text and drive."

Debbie Pickford of Allstate Insurance says teens are especially at risk from distracted driving -- and not just because they lack experience on the roads.

DEBBIE PICKFORD: "What we know from research on teen brain development, is that teens don't really have fully developed brains until they're twenty-five years old. You put those two things together and you get a much, much higher risk."

New legislation in Congress proposes to require all states to have what is called a graduated driver licensing system. Graduated means teenagers start with restrictions like on night driving and numbers of passengers. They could not get a full driver's license until age eighteen.

Thomas Didone shares the story of his son's death to help educate teens and their families about distracted driving.

THOMAS DIDONE: "We have to start doing things that are going to make a difference to change this behavior, because I really don't want to hear about four thousand more kids dying next year."

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report. You can watch a video of this report by Julie Taboh at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

The computer program that warns drivers one hour before a traffic jam appears

The computer program that warns drivers one hour before a traffic jam appears

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Last updated at 4:45 PM on 15th June 2010

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Computer giant IBM is developing new software that can predict whether a traffic jam is about to form an hour ahead.

The system will give drivers the chance to change their planned route up to an hour before they become snarled up in heavy traffic.

Using so-called predictive modeling, the software uses a combination of real-time data from road sensors and cameras with historical traffic information and weather forecasts.

Every six weeks it checks back through the data to tweak its model to make it as accurate as possible.

Christmas travel chaos as thousands are caught up in jams on the M6. The new software will warn drivers so they can change their route

The information will be sent to drivers’ sat-nav systems and to electronic roadside signs. Voice recommendations would be sent to a driver’s mobile phone

It will be able to balance traffic across routes so that one road does not automatically become clogged as a result of its warning.

It will even be able to customise its messages so that only a quarter of drivers will be given the warning and so balancing the traffic load across a number of different routes.

In the US, IBM is working with mobile phone companies to let them track how many phones are on a given stretch of motorway to make its model of how busy the road is even more nuanced.

The identity of the individual phones would not be discloses, the report in the Scientific American magazine claimed.

Earlier this year it was revealed that phantom traffic jams - queues of stationary cars that develop for no apparent reason - can be caused by the actions of just one driver.

Dr Eddie Wilson, from the University of Bristol, unveiled research showing that, under the right conditions, one individual's bad driving can create 'a traffic tsunami which can affect traffic up to 50 miles away'.

Working with a team of fellow mathematicians, Dr Wilson analysed driver behaviour on a 10-mile stretch of the M42, which is one of Britain's busiest stretches of motorways.

While accidents did cause tailbacks, the researchers found that the major cause of congestion was nothing more sinister than sharp braking, unnecessary lane changes and lorries overtaking one another.

Under the right conditions, any one of these innocuous events can create the 'perfect storm' which Dr Wilson said can lead to 'traffic chaos'.

During pilot tests in Singapore, IBM’s system forecasts were correct 85 to 93 percent of the time. Similar tests were also successful in the US and the firm has signed contracts with two U.S. transport authorities to roll it out in full.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1286825/The-program-warns-drivers-hour-traffic-jam-appears.html#ixzz0rC51e2d9

Vietnam Tet traffic deaths soar

Officials in Vietnam say more than two-hundred people have so far been killed and nine hundred injured in road accidents during the week-long Tet holiday, marking the Lunar New Year.

Traffic police say most incidents occured in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city, and were caused by motorcyclists.

They say although the holiday produced a sharp drop in traffic, the amount ofdrunken driving more than compensated.

Correspondents say Vietnam has one of the worst road accident rates in the world; last year more than twenty people were killed every day.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service

Thai surfers dodge traffic jams

Big traffic problems in Bangkok

By Geraldine Carroll in Bangkok

Jaraf Tosomphab is stuck in traffic again.

Jaraf, a 34-year old Thai businessman weaves his way through 20km of Bangkok's notorious traffic every day.

His Toyota inches along Sukhumvit Road, a district adored for shopping but despised for the stench of exhaust fumes.

Jaraf is one of millions of motorists in the Thai capital who share this daily ritual of road congestion, in which a two-mile journey downtown can take close to two hours at the peak of rush hour.

But thousands of frustrated motorists are now using the internet to solve their traffic headaches.

Government webmasters at the Office of the Commission for the Management of Land Traffic have created a website to allow motorists to monitor traffic in Bangkok.

Police will be able to see the entire road network so they can move cars from heavily congested areas to lightly congested areas

Padet Praditphet

Padet Praditphet, website manager at the Commission's Traffic and Transport Information Development Centre, says the website will benefit drivers and traffic police.

"The system was set up to give information for people to travel. And police will be able to see the entire road network so they can move cars from heavily congested areas to lightly congested areas."

Thailand is a country of car lovers and almost eight million vehicles clog the streets daily, coating the environment in black exhaust fumes.

The traffic problem is exacerbated by an archaic traffic management system in which traffic police manually operate traffic lights based on what they can see on the roads and with little coordination on a city-wide scale.

The website offers the latest news about road accidents and fires supplied by the traffic police and is updated by website compilers.

Parts of Bangkok are plagued by exhaust fumes

When the site is finished in the coming months, road maps will indicate the severity of traffic congestion with a simple colour scheme.

Red indicates heavy traffic, yellow means light traffic and green indicates flowing lanes.

"It's brand new for Thailand and very relevant but looking on the web using a search engine, there are some cities with some kind of traffic information, but it's not a standard feature. Los Angeles and some US cities have it but they are not necessarily interactive or real time," says Tony Waltham, IT expert and computer editor of the Bangkok Post newspaper.

Computer penetration in Thailand, a developing country, is very low with generous estimates counting one million computer users, which is less than one per cent of the population.

It's a good idea but I don't think it will be useful to the general public because most of them don't have a computer

Janthana Luengtragool

Compared to Singapore or the United States where computer penetration is more than 50%, it is questionable whether the new website is a practical solution to the huge traffic problem in the Thai capital.

Janthana Luengtragool echoes the sentiments of many Thai motorists who say monitoring traffic on the internet is a good idea, but searching the web for solutions is still foreign to most Thais.

"I've seen the new website. It's a good idea but I don't think it will be useful to the general public because most of them don't have a personal computer.

"I think even when it shows the road maps, it will not be perfect because on the internet there is limited space."

But IT experts insist that over time, Thais will realise the value of the internet.

	Traffic jam buster site
	4200 hits since opening 2 months ago
	Site to be linked to television and radio
	Information fed to web maps

"The technology can be applied everywhere and it is as relevant here as it would be in the West, it's just the level of access is not as high as it is in other countries.

"Therefore perhaps the perception is that it wouldn't be of interest, but once people have the access, they would find it just as compelling, just as interesting to check these things," says Tony Waltham.

More than 4200 hits have been recorded since the site opened two weeks ago. The site will soon include links to local television and radio for taxi and truck drivers. Bangkok's Area Traffic Control System will feed information automatically to the maps.

Problem endures

Experts say Thailand's new multimedia approach to traffic management will help bring Thai motorists into the internet age, but insist the archaic methods of the traffic police must also be improved.

"Applying technology to the traffic problem is a very interesting one and while it would be very interesting to have the real time information at our fingertips so to speak, the other side that should be looked at is the computerisation of the traffic through traffic lights and management which has been addressed over the years," says Tony Waltham.

"More than 20 years ago, there were traffic engineers looking into this, but I understand that it never really has gotten off the ground and that would be a big step forward.

"Currently the police at most intersections manually work the traffic lights and that's sort of based on what they see and the flow.

"But it's never coordinated and if that were coordinated on a city-wide scale, I think it would improve things a lot."

Internet penetration in Thailand will undoubtedly increase as more people gain access to home computers.

But in a country where owning a car is a symbol of luxury and status, it is unlikely Bangkok's traffic problem will disappear any time soon.

Skytrain to clear the Bangkok air

Wheelchair-bound users have tested the system

One of the world's most polluted cities has a new weapon in the war against congested streets with the opening of a $1.5bn transport system.

Bangkok's Skytrain - the city's first electric train service - began regular commercial service on Sunday.

The opening was timed to coincide with the 72nd birthday of the Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

We hope this will ease up some of the central portion of the city

Bhichit Rattakul

The Thai capital has long suffered some of the world's most appalling traffic jams.

The 23km (15 mile) Skytrain route - which is built on concrete pillars running above the city streets - is the first part of what city officials say will be a much bigger integrated transport system.

They say Skytrain will eventually be joined by an underground train line and a number of feeder routes.

'Moment of truth'

However, even before the system opens, critics have complained that the new station stops have been built without car parking facilities, and that ticket prices are double those of the bus network.

Trains run above the city streets

The operators have conducted extensive tests along the elevated track, anxious to ensure as smooth a start-up to the system as possible.

For Bangkok governor, Bhichit Rattakul, the moment of truth has arrived.

"We hope that after this route has been started, it will ease up some of the central portion of the city, where the heavily-congested traffic happens during the daytime," he said.

"We hope the people who drive their own cars and people who use taxis will be shifting towards this mass transit."

The Skytrain project has had a chequered history surviving environmental opposition and the fallout from the Asian economic crisis.

A row over the price of fares was only resolved at the last minute.

But it remains to be seen whether the speedy blue and white trains really will banish the mammoth traffic jams for which Bangkok is justly renowned.

Royal celebrations

The opening of the railway was one among many events that marked King Bhumibol's birthday.

Revered by his 62 million subjects, King Bhumibol has ruled for 53 years and is the world's longest-reigning monarch.

Thais regard the 72nd birthday as particularly important, since it marks the end of the sixth of the 12-year cycles into which a man's life is divided.

Celebrations over the past month included a procession of gilded barges down the polluted Chao Phraya River, and 572 skydivers setting a mass freefall record over Bangkok.

Flags were waved and temple bells rang to mark the birthday itself.

The 1,500 Thais serving in the East Timor peacekeeping force held a candlelight vigil to coincide with a similar event involving tens of thousands of people in Bangkok.

Calls to end Vietnam road chaos

By Bill Hayton BBC News, Hanoi Many people say it is too hot to wear helmets Health officials in Vietnam have called on the country's authorities to increase efforts to tackle the epidemic of head injuries on Vietnam's roads. On average, 30 people a day are killed in traffic accidents in the country. The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Ministry of Health are launching a nationwide information campaign about the benefits of wearing helmets. Motorbikes make up 98% of traffic. Almost as many people die on the roads each year as of infectious diseases. While that is partly due to the country's success in controlling disease it is also an indicator of the crisis on the roads. Rules ignored Safety training is minimal, traffic rules are ignored and drink-driving is common. The Asian Development Bank calculates that road accidents cost the country nearly $900m (£470m) each year in medical care and lost earnings. The WHO and the Ministry of Health are calling on the police, schools and Communist Party organisations to do more to tackle the problem. One problem they face is money - in one of the poorest countries in the world a helmet can cost half a month's wages. But another is climate. Many people say it is too hot to wear helmets in Vietnam and women complain that they mess up their hairstyles. The WHO is also calling for better first aid training - particularly since it is routine for people in the bigger cities to avoid or even ignore the victims of road accidents.

Vietnam's bikers get licence to ride

By Clare Arthurs BBC Hanoi correspondent

Road safety authorities in Vietnam say they have logged a massive jump in new driving licence applications since the government announced new measures to tackle the rising number of road deaths.

Increasing affluence has led to an explosion of bike ownership

So far this month, 14,000 people in Hanoi have applied for licences, under the new regulations.

The government says traffic is the main cause of preventable death in Vietnam, with 30 people dying every day in accidents.

Rising incomes and the popularity of motorbikes have turned many of the country's roads into obstacle courses, filled with honking bikes.

Fifty-eight year old Nguyen Chi Bao, says he is old and drives slowly, so he does not need a licence. He is typical of many Vietnamese who ride motorbikes.

In the southern city of Ho Chi Minh, official estimates show that half of the more than two million riders there are not licensed.

Driver training centres can expect student numbers to stay up by 40% for several months as riders flock to qualify.

Risky roads

The government has linked new motorbike registrations to driver licensing in an effort to reduce the number of road deaths - almost 12,000 this year.

Many Vietnamese still refuse to wear helmets

At a recent conference on preventing injury, the Ministry of Transport revealed that most accidents are caused by breaches of traffic laws.

Even those that pass the test for the licence rarely obey the rules. Drivers use both sides of the road, ride three or four to a bike, and rarely stop at red lights.

The Asian Injury Prevention Foundation says Vietnam expects to have more than 10m bikes on the road by the end of this year - in a population of 80m.

Increasing affluence and the availability of cheap Chinese motorbikes have contributed to an astounding growth in traffic. The transport department says the growth in motor traffic has jumped to 30% a year, up from just 10% a year a few years ago.

Vietnam's Communist rulers have announced plans to control traffic and reduce road deaths, but there appears to be internal tension over which government agency should take responsibility for a massive task.

The authorities have so far been unable to enforce rules on the wearing of motorcycle helmets.

Deaths rise on Vietnam's risky roads

Motorbikes are the main form of transport in Vietnam

By Bob Howard in Vietnam

The Vietnam-Germany Friendship Hospital is one of the busiest in Hanoi.

The day I visited was a fairly routine one, with nine operations, all but one of them involving victims of traffic accidents.

Just 10 years ago, Vietnam had only half a million vehicles of any description on the roads. Today there are at least seven million bikes alone, and the rate of accidents has spiralled alarmingly.

Do Tu Anh is increasingly concerned about the level of accidents

Last year more than 7,000 people died on the roads, with well over half of the accidents involving motorbikes.

A new law was scheduled to be introduced in June, which would have obliged all motorcyclists to wear crash helmets or pay a 20,000 dong ($1.40) fine.

This was the third time the Vietnamese government had tried to enforce the law, and once again popular opposition forced it to back down. Now only motorcyclists riding on highways without helmets will be penalised.

Many people refer to helmets as "rice cookers", because they "cook" the rider's head in the hot and humid conditions in the cities.

New solution

One solution might be a new light-weight helmet which has been developed by Asia Injury Prevention Foundation in Hanoi. The organisation was set up by an American, Greig Craft, who was alarmed at the number of people dying on the roads.

People here don't understand about traffic laws

Dr Thach

The company hopes to produce the helmets locally for around $6 each. The foundation's executive director, Do Tu Anh, says it is an uphill battle to convince people to buy them.

"The Vietnamese don't like to wear helmets. They're very hot and very heavy. We want to make the helmets fashionable," she said.

Do Tu Anh speaks from personal experience about the dangers of riding motorbikes. Two years ago she lost two cousins in two days when they came off their bikes. The second cousin died on the way to the funeral of the first.

Traffic laws

Unlike in other countries, speeding and alcohol are not the main reason for the high accident rate. Many accidents happen at speeds of under 30 kilometres per hour because people fail to obey the basic rules of the road.

It is very common to see people riding the wrong way down one way streets. And at intersections there is little idea of who should give way.

Back at the Vietnam-Germany Friendship Hospital, Dr Thach hopes that education will make motorcyclists more careful.

Many Vietnamese are none too keen on "rice cookers"

"People here don't understand about traffic laws," he said. "Sometimes we get a real rush of road accident victims. Then we have to sort out those who are the most seriously injured so they can be treated first."

The Vietnamese Government hopes that, in the future, improved public transport will reduce the need for private vehicles. Pham The Minh, the vice-minister for transport, said that Vietnam has been studying other models to try and provide a safer system.

"As we have developed a little bit later than other countries we have a chance to learn from their experiences," he said. "Public transport will play the most important roles - buses, metro and monorail."

Meanwhile, just getting people on motorbikes to respect the basic rules of the road seems a big enough challenge.

Helmet fever sweeps Vietnam

Helmet fever sweeps Vietnam

Some say they look "stupid" with helmets

A new policy in Vietnam enforcing the use of motorbike helmets has led to a desperate search for cheap alternatives - with even rice cookers proposed as substitutes.

I can't imagine how I will look like when I'm wearing a rice cooker

Motorcyclist in Vietnam

Motorbikes are the chief mode of transport in Vietnam, with an estimated seven million on the country's roads, particularly in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, but most riders and passengers do not use helmets.

Although the government introduced a decree requiring motorcyclists to wear helmets five years ago, it was largely ignored.

Many people in the country, where the average monthly wage is less than $30, cannot afford the costly $50 for the better helmets - or even the $6 for the cheapest varieties.

Motorbikes are the main mode of transport

But the threat of a $1.80 fine, under a crackdown due to begin on 1 June, has led to a huge boom in helmet sales - with some vendors selling hundreds a day, particularly the cheaper alternatives from China.

The Saigon Times daily reported that one vendor was selling 1,200 helmets a day.

But some reports say many of the of the helmets from China are below standard, and some are actually plastic toy imitations.

"People are learning how to wear a rice cooker," student Nguyen Thu Thuy, 21, told the AFP news agency.

"I can't imagine how I will look like when I'm wearing a rice cooker."

'Deadlier than Aids'

Road accidents have been described as "deadlier than Aids", with an average of 20 people dying daily in traffic accidents.

Of the nearly 8,000 people killed and more than 25,000 injured in traffic accidents last year, well over half - 64.5% - involved motorcycles, the National Committee for Traffic Safety has said.

There is a search for cheaper alternatives

Less than 3% of the riders were wearing helmets.

One survey last year found that only 5% of motorcyclists owned helmets - and furthermore, only half of them actually wore the helmets.

Many Vietnamese complain that helmets would be uncomfortable in the heat country's heat and humidity, while some say they are impractical to carry around into restaurants and wedding receptions.

Another main reason cited was that they feared looking stupid.