Put the Brakes on Fatalities Day

ODE to Driving Safety

Safe driving is a lifestyle, That we should all embrace. Concentrate on the road ahead, Not putting makeup on your face. Texting should be a crime indeed, You can’t drive and type a letter. Loud music more...

Thanks for your support!

by Kim Stich Thanks so much to all the people who blogged and commented on Put the Brakes on Fatalities Day. For 20 days, we’ve heard some heartwarming stories, terrible tragedies, good safety information more...

Put The Brakes on Fatalities Day started right here in Kansas

by Larry Emig National fatality data from 1995 to 2000 indicated that over 250,000 fatalities occurred or an average of approximately 41,500 each year, over 113 per day and nearly one every 13 minutes. Kansas more...

padmai: Larry,
Thank you for your efforts to improve safety and reduce fatalities on our roadways. Most of us know someone who has been injured or killed in a crash. But you took tragedies in your past and turned them into a national campaign focused on saving lives. We'll never know exactly how many people developed safe driving habits or how many kids became safe drivers because of their participation in the poster contest. But I know this campaign has made a positive difference in thousands of people's lives, and you should be very proud. Keep up the good work. 10/9/2009 3:18 PM

Underage Drinking

by Phyllis Marotta When my kids were in high school, I was aware that there were underage drinking parties occurring in our small town. As a parent, I wasn’t thrilled with that, and although I talked to more...

sunflowergal: Just one day after this blog was posted, another young person lost her life, this time at an underage drinking party in Augusta, Kansas. Guns and alcohol do not mix. For a good follow-up to this story, go to: http://www.kake.com/home/headlines/64045892.html# The Augusta Chief of Police has some excellent comments about community responsibility - if you see an underage party happening in your neighborhood, REPORT IT!!! 10/16/2009 10:20 AM

Choices

by Larry Thompson Rock 'n' roll on the radio, and just thinking back in my subconscious somewhere about how we can achieve this goal of a day with no fatalities on the public road system. How do we get drivers more...

This year's new traffic laws

by Tim McCool Hi, I’m Technical Trooper Tim McCool, with the Kansas Highway Patrol. I’m the Public Resource Officer for Troop B, in Topeka. I’m here today to tell you about several new laws more...

Edna Buttler: Excellent information Trooper McCool!

I think the new left lane law will help the flow of traffic tremendously. Traffic driving for prolonged periods in the left lane defeats the purpose of multi-lane highways causing gridlock and road rage.

After the warning/education period, drivers could face a fine of $60 in addition to $86 court costs (based on current fines and court costs). Violations will be considered moving violations and will be recorded on driving records.

One important point to make is that drivers are still required to move out of the lane adjacent to stopped emergency and maintenance vehicles displaying flashing lights. If they are unable to change lanes, they must slow to a safe speed before passing the stopped maintenance or emergency vehicle.

The new Kansas law exempts highway maintenance vehicles and authorized emergency vehicles from the requirement of driving in the right lane. This allows highway maintenance, snow clearing and emergency operations to take place.

The move it law should help prevent those secondary crashes you mentioned. Be safe. 10/6/2009 11:51 AM

Larry Emig: Good information Tim. I believe what you have provided in your blog is not only timely but the lists of information needed in case of an accident could also be useful. Therefore, I am making a copy to put in each of our cars. Hopefully, we do not have to use them. 10/8/2009 4:11 PM

Graduated Drivers Licensing

by Norraine Wingfield They probably don’t want to hear it and they may not believe it, but the fact remains teen drivers are some of the most dangerous drivers on the road. It is a fact – teens are more...

Larry Emig: Your article addresses future Kansas drivers or someone’s’ kids or grandkids. If the new graduated driver's licensing law has an impact on their driving habits, the parents or grandparents may not have to experience getting a call in the middle of the night from a hospital with news that their child was in an accident and is recovering or even worse news that their child is no longer alive.

The statistics for 2008 that you have stated are consistent with National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) data which notes that in 2007 16-24-year olds represented 24% of all traffic fatalities. Passenger vehicle occupant’s ages 10-24 involved in fatal crashes had the lowest restraint use (57%). We can hope under the new law with parental guidance during driver training, more experience, not text messaging and wearing their seat belts, Kansas future teenage drivers will become safer drivers and avoid being in an accident. 10/5/2009 1:09 PM

Why teaching train safety is so important to me

In 2007, I became a certified Operation Lifesaver (OL) volunteer. Kansas OL Executive Director Darlene Osterhaus encouraged me to do so, saying northwest Kansas needed more representatives to pass along the more...

Dangerous when wet: Cruise control

The owner’s manual of nearly every car and truck contains a warning something like this: Don’t use cruise control in the rain, snow, ice, steep and winding roads, or in heavy traffic. The reason is more...

Larry Emig: Unfortunately many people do not read their owner's manual, and if they do look at it the purpose is likely to be for a specific need such as setting the time or how to use the CD player. Reading the section on how to drive safer may be skimmed over and little time spent thinking about the instructions given. Everyone, including myself, believe we are good drivers and do not need more safety information. The safety driving procedures Steve has shared are timely, informative and should be used by everyone. Thus far in 2009 eastern Kansas has received more rain than normal and we could experience above average moisture this fall and winter. Parents should go over Steve’s safe driving procedures with their kids and all drivers should use them when faced with the adverse weather and pavement conditions. 10/2/2009 1:20 PM

Stay Off! Stay Away! Stay Alive!

Each day when people drive to work, most don’t think to themselves, “I hope I don’t kill someone today!” Locomotive engineers have to think that every working day. Someplace in the more...

darcyo: amazing story - good to see he is out there educating 10/1/2009 2:28 PM