Fall is a lovely time of year and a great time to travel the scenic roads to take advantage of the views the changing seasons have to offer. But keep your eye out for deer – they’re out on the roads and can cause serious car accidents.

According to new study by insurance company State Farm, deer collisions have dropped for the past three years. Over this past year, the decline has been about three times more than the previous two years combined. In the U.S. from July 1, 2010 and June 30, 2011, about 1.09 million accidents were the result of deer and vehicles collisions, which is down seven percent over last year. Even though accidents are down, the cost of property damage for these accidents is up to $3,171 – that’s an increase of over two percent from 2010.

As for states that report the most deer and vehicle collisions, West Virginia tops the list for the fifth year in a row – in the next 12 months, the odds of this type of accident happening are 1 in 53. Iowa comes in second at 1 in 77, followed by South Dakota (1 in 81), Pennsylvania (1 in 86), Michigan (1 in 90). Rounding out the top 10 are Montana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wyoming. The state with the least amount of deer and vehicle accidents is Hawaii, with odds of just 1 in 6,267.

Even though the numbers have dropped, it’s important to keep in mind that October, November, and December are prime deer mating and migration season, so expect to see them wandering around more frequently in the fall.

If you’re going out for a scenic drive, keep these precautions in mind:

• Deer are particularly active around dawn and between the hours of 6 to 9 p.m.
• Look out for deer-crossing signs and wooded areas where deer or other animals travel.
• Slow down if you see an animal on the side of the road, and use your high-beams at night (if possible).
• Brake, don’t swerve. Swerving to avoid an animal may cause you to hit another vehicle or lose control of your own car. Just slow down as quickly and safely as you can.
• Remember that deer travel in groups, so if you see one run across the road, others are probably right behind it.
• Always buckle up.

[Source: Consumer Reports]

We all do things we know we shouldn’t. It’s our little secret, right? It turns out a lot of us do something we know is dangerous – using a mobile phone while driving – but we do it anyway.

The numbers are in – according to market research company Harris Interactive, 91 percent of motorists know it’s unsafe to use a handheld cellphone while driving, but nearly 60 percent of motorists still do it. Yep, this is one bad habit we just can’t seem to break.

There’s some good news to these numbers – according to the same survey, the number of drivers using mobile phones as dropped from 72 percent to 60 percent. Breaking down that number by age, almost 72 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds said they call and drive on occasion, while 32 percent of people older than 66 said they did. And some more good news – only a few people who were surveyed said they used their cellphones constantly while driving all the time.

Other interesting numbers – about nearly 77 percent of respondents believe it’s safer to use a hands-free device than a cellphone when driving. We guess that’s why 40 percent of them use hands-free phones now (that’s up from 28 percent in 2006).

In addition to talking on a cellphone and drive, another bad habit we can’t seem to break include texting and driving (27 percent of those asked said they do it).

If you needed proof that talking and texting while driving is hazardous to your health, the Governors Highway Safety Association claims that nearly 25 percent of all U.S. car crashes can be attributed to cellphone usage. That’s something to think about before you check your messages on your way into work.

[Source: MediaPost]

We’ve said it before and we’re going to say it now: hand-held gadgets and driving just don’t mix. And there’s a new study to back us up on this – according to a report by the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), texting, talking on a cell phone and other distractions caused by electronic gadgets cause up to 25 percent of car crashes.

The GHSA, a nonprofit group that works to improve traffic safety, reports that drivers are distracted about half the time they’re driving. And it’s no surprise that using a cellphone is the culprit behind many  car accidents.

Although the information isn’t new to us, the report goes one step further to question the effectiveness of handheld cellphone and texting bans. And here’s where it starts to get juicy – it states that there’s no conclusive evidence that talking using a Bluetooth headset or other hands-free method is any safer than talking with a phone in your hand. Not only that, but the GHSA reports that the texting bans are difficult to enforce.

So what’s the solution? For starters, the GHSA thinks that the government should completely ban new drivers from using a cell phone while driving and that all drivers be banned from texting.  It’s interesting to note that an earlier study by GHSA stated it did not support a total ban of in-car phone usage and texting bans.

What do you think of the report? Do you think that all drivers should be banned from texting and new drivers be banned from using a mobile phone? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

[Source: Kicking Tires]

You worry about your teen while their driving, and rightfully so. A recent study has found that several “critical errors” are often one of the last in a chain of events leading up to a crash. And of these crashes, 75 percent were caused due to a critical teen driver error and three common errors were the cause of about 50 percent of all serious crashes.

The study, conducted by Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and State Farm Insurance, found that teens are involved in fatal crashes at four times the rate of adults. So what are these critical errors that are cited as reasons leading up to a serious crash? About 21 percent of these accidents happened because of a lack of scanning to detect and respond to hazards; another 21 percent because these drivers were going too fast for road conditions; and 20 percent occurred because the driver was distracted by something inside or outside the vehicle.

Many people believe that aggressive driving or thrill-seeking are the cause of most teen accidents, but researchers found that this was not the case. They noted that environmental conditions, such as poor weather, vehicle malfunction, aggressive driving or physical impairments such as drowsy driving were not the main reasons for teenage accidents.

Before you wrap your teen in bubble wrap and bury the car keys in the backyard, you can take some consolation that you can help prevent these errors from happening by teaching young drivers the proper skills during parent-child driving training. Be sure to teach your teen drivers to scan the road in the distance and anticipate future events on the road so they’ll be able to detect and respond to a hazard in time.

[Source: Polk]

Multi-tasking is an essential part of your day, we get that. But that doesn’t mean you should carry it over to every aspect of your life. Like driving, for example. When you’re behind the wheel, you should be paying attention to the road and nothing else. And while we all know that’s what we should be doing, we don’t always follow this advice – especially when it comes to putting down our cell phone.

A recent survey from the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies that polled 1,000 motorists found that 90 percent believe that talking on the phone while driving should be illegal. But while they believe this, 51 percent of those polled admit they have used their phone while out on the road.

Here are some more numbers from the survey: Of the 356 respondents who said they have talked on a hand-held cell phone while driving, 43 percent said it should be illegal to do so. Of the 315 respondents who have talked on a hands-free cell phone while driving, 11 percent said it should be illegal to do so. And 80 percent of the 133 respondents who have texted while driving said that should be illegal. Almost a third of younger drivers (ages 18 to 34 years) said they have texted while driving.

But talking or texting on the phone isn’t the only thing we like to do. The survey goes on to point out that 77 percent of respondents have observed other motorists apply makeup, shave and brush their hair (only 8% admitted to doing it themselves). Also 18 percent of respondents have seen others change their clothes while driving, but only 3 percent would admit to doing so themselves.

After the jump, you’ll find a list of what the respondents admit to doing behind the wheel.

Continue Reading…

You’d think that with all of the public service announcements, all of the shocking statistics and all of the cringe-worthy footage you can find on YouTube, drivers would think twice about getting behind the wheel drunk. Does it surprise you that almost 12,000 people are still killed annually from alcohol-related accidents? Just as surprising is a new study out by the Department of Transportation that shows that one in five drivers admit to driving within two hours of drinking.

The study comes up with some pretty revealing facts. This includes that the total number of drinking/driving trips in the past month is estimated to be at 85.5 million (this is up from 73.7 million in 2004) and it reverses a trend that has been on a decline since 1995. It also found that four out of five people see drunk driving as a major threat to the safety of themselves and their family.

Other stats pulled from the study were that eight percent of people accepted a ride with someone who they thought was too drunk to drive, and of those, 24 percent of males aged 21-24 were more at risk of riding with a drunk driver. Other facts to note were that drivers who drink were three times as likely as drivers who don’t to ride with someone they thought had consumed too much alcohol. For non-drivers who drink, they were eight times as likely to do so.

Sadly, this survey found that eight percent of all drivers (approximately 17 million people) have driven drunk at least once in the past year. For those caught driving under the influence in the past two years, about 1 percent of those were aged 16 or older, with five percent of men 21-24 years of age arrested. When questioned about curbing drinking and driving, 63 percent say that alcohol interlocks in vehicles would be very effective at helping to stop this behavior.

[Source: Consumer Reports]

We all have that one commercial that makes us tear up. We may not admit it, but every time it comes on, we stop what we’re doing and reach for a tissue. A new Subaru commercial falls into this category, and if you’re a parent, it will tug on your heartstrings more than just a little bit.

The TV ad, called “Baby Driver,” features a father handing over the car keys to his daughter as she sets off to drive alone for the first time. If you’ve ever watched your son or daughter pull out of the driveway for their first solo ride, we bet this ad will make you choke up. (Interesting side note: the two girls who star in the ad are real-life sisters and the “dad” is the real-life father to both girls.)

The ad starts with a six-year-old girl behind the wheel of a Subaru Legacy, while her father gives her the “safety talk” through the passenger side window. When he passes her the keys, we see that it’s really been a 16-year-old about to take her first ride alone, even though her Dad still sees her as his “little girl.”

And in a situation where life imitates art, Andy Lyons, who plays the concerned father, is experiencing this moment in his own life. “As father to both the girls, portraying those complex emotions on-screen was not a stretch for me. Having my first daughter, Lanna reach driving age and knowing that my second, Georgie, will be there all too soon, I understand the anxiety of handing over the keys for the first time.”

This ad is meant to spotlight the inherent safety of Subaru vehicles and the time in a teen’s life when they are responsible enough to take the family vehicle out on the road, as it tries to authentically portray that big moment. “When we found this family we threw out the script,” said Kevin Mayer, director of marketing communications, Subaru of America, Inc. “We simply asked the dad, what would you tell your daughter before she pulled away? The dad took it from there and he was perfect.”

Watch the video after the jump, and feel free to well up (we promise not to tell).
Continue Reading…

We all know the side effects of speeding – tickets, loss of points, perhaps even ending up in an accident. Now a new Canadian study shows that driving decreases life expectancy.

For all you drivers with heavy feet, the study presents some eye-opening facts. It determines that every hour you spend behind the wheel leads to a 20-minute loss of life expectancy (this is due to the risks of a fatal car crash). But here’s the good news – it also found that by slowing down just two miles per hour, the average driver would increase their life expectancy by three hours per year. Sure, it may not seem like much, but it all adds up in the end.

“When drivers speed to get to their destination faster, they actually lose more time because the savings from faster travel are offset by the increased prospect of a crash,” says Dr. Donald Redelmeier, a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto and the lead investigator in the study.

Make small changes to your driving habits and reap big rewards. By showing down just 2 mph, it would translate to approximately 3 million fewer property-damage crashes, one million fewer injurious crashes, and 9,000 fewer fatalities. In dollars, it could reduce crash-related property damage by about $10 million each day – not too shabby for adding a couple of minutes onto your drive time.

Researchers based their findings on a combination of computerized traffic modeling, national statistics covering driving on public roadways, and the laws of physics. Results were calculated by the computer model by taking into account average distances and time drivers in the United States spend traveling daily, the number of annual crashes categorized as fatal, injuries and property damage, and the expected time losses due to accidents.

[Source: Kicking Tires]

How many times have you cursed the driver who just cut you off for being an idiot? Or the one that sailed by you on the highway doing 50 over the speed limit. You’ve known it all along – nobody knows how to drive (except you, of course). And now there’s proof – the 2010 GMAC Insurance National Drivers Test survey found that nearly 1 in 5 licensed drivers wouldn’t pass a written drivers test exam if taken today. And when you crunch the numbers, that’s a lot of idiots – around 38 million Americans.

Its sixth year running, the survey polled 5,202 licensed Americans from 50 states and the District of Columbia. Drivers were asked to answer 20 questions that were taken from state Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) exams. The findings show that 20 percent of currently licensed drivers would have failed the test, and the average score of 76.2 percent is down slightly 76.6 percent in 2009. The findings overall indicate that most motorists lack basic rules-of-the-road knowledge.

Some scary stats include the one where 88 percent of the drivers polled couldn’t identify the correct action to take when approaching a steady yellow traffic light (and no, it’s not gunning the gas pedal and ripping through it). Other interesting findings show that men scored better than females on both average scores (78.1 percent male versus 74.4 percent female) and failure rates (24 percent female versus 18.1 percent male), and the older the driver, the better the score. Kansas drivers ranked highest (82.3 percent average score) while New Yorker came in last.

You can test your own driving smarts at www.gmacinsurance.com, where you can take the survey, play a driving game and challenge friends to top your score.

[Source: RideLust]