Search results for road safety
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Posted
Sep 28 2009, 11:26 AM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from James Limbach at partner site ConsumerAffairs.com.
The vast majority of U.S. drivers believes handheld texting while driving is very dangerous and should be banned nationwide, according to a new survey.
The survey, conducted by Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates on behalf of the Ford Motor Co., found that 86% of U.S. drivers believe handheld texting while driving is "very dangerous" and 93% support a nationwide ban on it.
At the same time, only 42% of those asked think drivers would stop texting behind the wheel if the practice were banned. However, more than 75% say there would be more compliance if hands-free or voice-activated technologies were widely available.
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Posted
Jul 29 2009, 02:57 PM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Sorry, folks, but sometimes lawmakers do need to legislate against stupidity. Is there no better example than DWT -- driving while texting?
We weren't surprised that some of our readers found it difficult to believe that talking on a cell phone -- handheld or hands-free -- is more distracting to a driver than talking to a person who is sitting in the car. But could anyone really think that DWT is safe?
Common sense screams that it's not, and the newest evidence just confirms the obvious. Surely you've read about the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute study that found that a driver who is texting is 23 times more likely to crash or have a near crash than drivers who are actually paying attention to the road. Also, according to The New York Times:
In the moments before a crash or near crash, drivers typically spent nearly five seconds looking at their devices -- enough time at typical highway speeds to cover more than the length of a football field.
Equipped with this new information, four U.S. senators have introduced a bill that would require states to ban driving while texting or e-mailing within two years or lose a quarter of their federal highway funds "each year until the money was depleted," The New York Times says.
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Posted
Jul 21 2009, 12:56 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner site ConsumerAffairs.com.
Since 2003, the government has known that drivers talking on cell phones experience the same potentially deadly distraction whether they are using a handheld device or hands-free technology, records obtained by consumer advocacy groups Public Citizen and the Center for Auto Safety show.
By keeping this information secret from the public for the past six years, the government has endangered even more lives, the groups said.
Cities and states across the country have passed laws and ordinances requiring drivers to use hands-free phones, mistakenly believing those devices to be safe and encouraging drivers to use them.
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Posted
Jan 06 2009, 02:31 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
You're zooming down the highway, cell phone in hand, checking your hair in the mirror, and then you hear a welcome "ding." Hooray! The breakfast sandwich in your in-car microwave has finished heating.
We're willing to bet that for every person who says in-car cooking is idiocy, there's another who thinks this new device is yet another great on-the-road convenience.
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Posted
Dec 24 2008, 10:05 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Talk about optimistic: Personal finance blogger "Brooke" at Dollar Frugal admits to a case of "the cold weather blahs" yet in the same post suggests that a cold winter may save her money. Seemed a little counterintuitive to us. Aren't heating costs breaking some people's budgets? Don't icy roads create the perfect environment for fender benders? Isn't everybody sick with cold after flu after bronchitis, which not only costs for doctor's visits and medication but also missed time from work?
Even so, Brooke does make something of a case for Seasonal Affective Disorder as frugal hack.
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Posted
Sep 30 2008, 12:53 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
"Frugal Babe" knows how to get the most from a car. Her 1991 Honda Civic has 214,000 miles and is still going strong. Her husband's 1990 Audi has 110,000 miles. If one of the vehicles dies, they'll become a one-car family. So when a reader complained that her parents are trying to force her a buy a brand new, "safer" car to replace a paid-off Subaru, Frugal Babe was ready with advice. Part of it came in the form of a question: How many people "on the interstate driving 80 mph, talking on the phone, 15 feet behind the car in front of them, bought their new car because of the safety features?" Or, allow us to paraphrase: Are you really making a frugal choice if you buy a huge vehicle for safety reasons and you figure that allows you to drive like a jerk?
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Posted
Sep 11 2008, 10:33 AM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Joseph S. Enoch at partner blog ConsumerAffairs.com. A report released today by consumer advocates says vehicles that passed the national roof- crush standard generally performed poorly in real-life rollover tests and that in many cases any passengers would likely have been killed or paralyzed in those tests. The Center for Injury Research at George Washington University tested six vehicles sold in the U.S. on the Jordan Rollover System, a dynamic test that subjects vehicles to repeatable real-world conditions. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration relies on a static test in which a crusher slowly applies a metal plate to a corner of the roof. A vehicle must withstand 1.5 times its own weight, applied by the static crusher, without caving in five or more inches.
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Posted
Aug 22 2008, 02:14 PM
by
Ryan MacClanathan
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
"Slugging" an impromptu form of hitchhiking/car pooling is quickly
becoming the hottest way to travel in our nation's capital. The practice allows
commuters to save money, time and the environment by driving in a car-pool
lane.
The catch -- you must be willing to share your car with a stranger.
Matt at the GreenUpgrader
describes this simple concept:
- Drivers line up in a
designated area.
- The drivers pull up to the
line of people waiting for a ride and hold out signs with their destination or shout it out to the
first person in line.
- If that person isn't heading
to that destination, he or she shouts it out to the rest of the line and
the first two people going that way jump into the car.
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Posted
Aug 14 2008, 03:19 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
We have great memories from our many travels across the country by bus: the image of the first working cowboy we'd ever seen as we crossed into New Mexico, a new card game we learned from fellow passengers as we pulled out of the Chicago terminal, our first visits to New Orleans and San Francisco. As Amy L. Fontinelle at Two Pennies Earned says, the bus is an affordable alternative to plane and train travel. The round-trip fare between New York City and Washington, D.C., is about $20 to $40 depending on which bus company you use.
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Posted
Aug 12 2008, 03:30 PM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Joe Benton at partner blog ConsumerAffairs.com. The owners of millions of Ford cars and trucks could be driving vehicles still equipped with a faulty cruise-control switch that can start a fire under the hood even when the vehicle is parked and the ignition is turned off. As of July 31, in its most recent report to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Ford Motor Co. said about 4.8 million of the more than 10 million recalled vehicles are now repaired. Some vehicles were included in more than one recall, making it hard to calculate precise numbers.
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