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Last week, a state senate committee released a report that recommended legislation to reduce the number of drowsy drivers behind the wheel. According to some experts, there may be as many as 600 sleep-related auto accidents in Massachusetts per year, resulting in the deaths of 90 people.

The committee’s 34-page report recommends that the state require obese commercial drivers to be tested for sleep disorders and that more rest areas serve coffee. The report states that sleep-deprived drivers are just as impaired as those driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

Additional recommendations from the report include adding new highway rest areas, limiting the number of hours worked by resident physicians and intern, and allowing coffee chains to give coffee coupons to new drivers and those renewing their driver’s licenses. The hope is that there measures would reduce drowsy driving and thus reduce car crashes as a result of impaired drivers.

Drowsy driving report suggests stiffer penalties, coffee, Boston Globe, March 6, 2009 Continue reading

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On Sunday night around 8:18pm, a 2006 Toyota Prius collided head-on with a 2003 Saturn Ion on Memorial Drive in Cambridge. According to a state police trooper, both drivers were treated for minor injuries at local hospitals.

The Boston Herald reports that the injured drivers were Cynthia Scott, 54, of Wellesley and Jonathan Buchbinder, 53, of Quincy. The scene of the accident was at 8:55pm and Memorial Drive at Magazine Street was shut down.

The cause of the car accident has not been released.

Drivers survive head-on Memorial Drive collision Sunday, Boston Herald, March 9, 2009 Continue reading

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On Sunday afternoon, an Amtrak train running from Boston to Albany derailed in the town of Russell, Massachusetts. Police say the train accident occurred around 3pm.

The train was carrying 109 passengers and five crew members, but fortunately no one was injured. The train’s crew kept the train upright and brought it to a complete stop. According to several passengers, crews said the freezing and un-freezing ice on the track may have caused the train to derail.

Buses arrived to transport the passengers to Albany. Police are investigating the train accident along with Amtrak.

Amtrak train derailed in Western Mass., MSNBC, March 9, 2009 Continue reading

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The hazards are of talking on a cell phone while driving are well documented. But two recent studies confirmed that cell phone usage also endangers those traveling on foot. Researchers suggest restricting cell phone use by both pedestrians and drivers to reduce the number of accidents and fatalities.

According to the study, cell phones initially helped reduce pedestrian deaths and traffic deaths, because accident victims were able to summon medical help quickly and improve their odds of survival. However, that effect disappeared once cell phone ownership reached a “critical mass” of 100 million.

Researchers now say that “cell phones and their usage above a critical threshold adds to motor vehicle fatalities.” They also say it has a “significant adverse effect on pedestrian safety.” The studies analysed data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Department of Transportation, MADD, and the U.S. Census Bureau, among other agencies.

Cell Phone Studies: Whether You’re Talking While Walking or While Driving, Cell Phones = Increased Fatalities, Rutgers, March 4, 2009 Continue reading

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The bus driver involved in a bus crash last month in Becket, Massachusetts has received a $50 moving violation for “negligent operation.” In other words, driving too fast for the road conditions, which were slick with ice at the time of the accident.

The 63-year-old bus driver was transporting the River Rats hockey team home after a game in Lowell, Massachusetts. The bus hit an icy patch of road on the Massachusetts Turnpike and crashed around 2:30am. Several teammates were injured as a result of the bus accident.

The driver’s personal driver’s license record lists two motor vehicle accidents in 2006 and 2007. No charges were filed in this case.

Bus driver ticketed in Rats’ accident, Times Union, March 3, 2009 Continue reading

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Reuters reports that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released new statistics on traffic deaths in the United States. The study listed Massachusetts as the safest state in the nation. Mississippi had the highest rate of deaths on the road with four times as many as Massachusetts.

Between 1999 and 2005, the Northeast had 9.8 motor vehicle-related deaths per 100,000 population, while the Midwest had 14.7, the South had 19.5, and the West had 14.2.

Though the report does not speculate on why these statistics vary so widely by region, CDC team points out that drivers in rural areas of the South may drive more miles and increase their risk of serious collision as a result. Another factor may be that inclement weather in the North forces drivers to be more careful on the road or forego driving altogether.

The survey also found that men were twice as likely as women to die from a motor vehicle accident. Over 213,000 men were killed on the road compared with 98,000 women.

South leads U.S. in traffic deaths, CDC finds, Reuters, February 26, 2009 Continue reading

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On Friday afternoon, a car accident injured the four occupants of a Toyota Corolla that had spun out of control and slammed into a large cement planter. The passengers and driver were taken by Action Ambulance to local hospitals. Two were in serious condition.

The car was traveling down Essex Street in Swampscott and passed two other car before the driver, Nicholas Linear, lost control. The 19-year-old lives in Salem. His passengers included Edgar Manan, 20, also of Salem, Bernard Coleman, 21, of Dorchester, and Jonathan Elvert, 26, of Medford.

According to Salem News, Linear and Manan have already been released from the hospital. The other two car crash victims are being treated at Massachusetts General Hospital.

The auto accident is still under investigation by Massachusetts State Police.

4 injured in Swampscott crash, Salem News, February 28, 2009
Two seriously injured in Essex Street crash, WickedLocal.com, February 27, 2009 Continue reading

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A North Attleboro man was arrested on one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor after allowing his unlicensed 15-year-old relative to drive his car. The teen accidentally drove into the parking lot of Cumberland Farms around 9:40pm last Saturday night. She confused the brake and the gas pedal, and the 2006 Pontiac Vibe crashed into the brick and glass façade of the store. Fortunately, the customers and cashiers scattered and no one was harmed.

The man, 49-year-old Thomas M. Gibbons, told police he was giving her a driving lesson. The received a traffic citation for driving without a license. According to police, the car crash caused “significant damage” to the store’s brick façade and window display.

A similar incident occurred last April, when a 49-year-old woman was drove into the façade of the former Sunrise Bagel Shop during her road test for her driver’s license. She, too, had mistaken the brake and the gas pedal. But because she had a valid learner’s permit, police did not cite her. She was treated for minor injuries, but no one else was harmed.

Unlicensed teen slams car through Cumberland Farms, The Call, February 23, 2009 Continue reading

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Yesterday morning, an 82-year-old woman from Dorchester, Massachusetts died on an escalator at the MBTA’s State Street station. Helen Jackson was on her way to an eye doctor’s appointment around 10am when the escalator accident occurred.

According to MBTA officials, she was leaving the Orange Line platform, almost at the top of the escalator, when she fell, catching a piece of her clothing in the escalator. Jackson suffered a cardiac arrest, but it was unclear whether that occurred before or after her fall.

Though rescue crews rushed to her aid, she was pronounced dead at Massachusetts General Hospital. The accident is under investigation, and authorities plan to perform an autopsy.

The Boston Globe reports that another MBTA escalator accident occurred in 2005, when a 34-year-old from East Boston died at Porter Square Station on the Red Line. The man’s sweatshirt got caught a gap in the escalator’s machinery and the moving stairs pulled the hood taut around his neck.

The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission states that there were 11,000 escalator-related injuries in 2007, most the result of falls.

Woman dies in T escalator accident, Boston Globe, February 25, 2009 Continue reading

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Boston is a notoriously difficult city for motorists and cyclists to coexist. Drivers sometimes “door” bikers as they glide by, and SUVs pose an especially dangerous safety threat to bikes, Alex Tee thinks he may have the solution. The cyclist and mechanical engineer is working on creating a bring-your-own bike lane, which would be fashioned out of lasers.

Cyclists would mount the device, called LightLane, under their bicycle seat, boosting visibility to nighttime drivers and marking the turf around the bike. The more conventional “blinky lights” highlight the center of the bike, so motorists still sometimes clip the handlebars.

Tee is collaborating with Evan Gant, an industrial designer, and the pair is trying out different colors and orientations for the lasers. They plan to have their product ready for the Interbike bicycle trade show in Providence next fall.

A bring-your-own bike lane, created by lasers, February 16, 2009, The Boston Globe Continue reading

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