Blog Post #30

This is Blog #30, and I asked my friends/readers on Facebook and Twitter to suggest topics for me to write on. I got several good suggestions and I could not just pick one. So this blog will be of three topics suggested by others. Enjoy.

Aggressive Drivers/Driving

Aggressive driving has become a serious problem on our roadways. What is aggressive driving? Most of us know it when we see it, but NHTSA, after discussions with law enforcement and the judiciary, defines aggressive driving as occurring when "an individual commits a combination of moving traffic offenses so as to endanger other persons or property." The NHTSA provides guides, planners and information to law enforcement professionals and prosecutors to assist in the reduction of aggressive driving. Aggressive driving can also lead to road rage.  The following statistics are courtesy of the NHTSA:

Approximately 6,800,000 crashes occur in the United States each year; a substantial number are estimated to be caused by aggressive driving.
1997 statistics compiled by NHTSA and the American Automobile Association show that almost 13,000 people have been injured or killed since 1990 in crashes caused by aggressive driving.
According to a NHTSA survey, more than 60 percent of drivers consider unsafe driving by others, including speeding, a major personal threat to themselves and their families.
About 30 percent of respondents said they felt their safety was threatened in the last month, while 67 percent felt this threat during the last year. Weaving, tailgating, distracted drivers, and unsafe lane changes were some of the unsafe behaviors identified.
Aggressive drivers are more likely to drink and drive or drive unbelted.
Aggressive driving can easily escalate into an incident of road rage. Motorists in all 50 states have killed or injured other motorists for seemingly trivial reasons. Motorists should keep their cool in traffic, be patient and courteous to other drivers, and correct unsafe driving habits that are likely to endanger, antagonize or provoke other motorists.
More than half of those surveyed by NHTSA admitted to driving aggressively on occasion.
Only 14 percent felt it was "extremely dangerous" to drive 10 miles per hour over the speed limit.
62 percent of those who frequently drive in an unsafe and illegal manner said they had not been stopped by police for traffic reasons in the past year.
The majority of those in the NHTSA survey (52 percent) said it was "very important" to do something about speeding. Ninety-eight percent of respondents thought it "important" that something be done to reduce speeding and unsafe driving.
Those surveyed ranked the following countermeasures, in order, as most likely to reduce aggressive and unsafe driving behaviors: (1) more police assigned to traffic control, (2) more frequent ticketing of traffic violations, (3) higher fines, and (4) increased insurance costs. Increased police enforcement was rated "Number 1," both for effectiveness and as a measure acceptable to the public to reduce unsafe and illegal driving.
NHTSA research shows that compliance with, and support for, traffic laws can be increased through aggressive, targeted enforcement combined with a vigorous public information and education program.
When Maryland launched its "Aggressive Driver Campaign" in 1995, with an emphasis on public information, education and enforcement, the media and the public praised the state police for their efforts. The public's perception was that the police were "out there to catch the other guy." Related fatalities have declined dramatically.

If you are not sure about the Aggressive Driving Law in your state the following is a list of the 11 states that have an aggressive driving law or amendment.

State Aggressive Driver Actions Defined by Statute:

Arizona Speeding and least two of the following: failure to obey traffic control device, passing on the right out of regular lanes of traffic, unsafe lane change, following too closely, failure to yield right of way; and is an immediate hazard to another person or vehicle.

California Amended reckless driving law to include causing certain bodily injuries to people other than driver. Specifically cites drivers engaged in speed contests.

Delaware At least three of the following: failure to obey traffic control device, passing on the right, driving outside the lanes of traffic, following too closely, failure to yield right of way, failure to signal, failure to stop or yield at signs, passing a stopped school bus, speeding.

Florida At least two of the following: speeding, unsafe or improper lane change, following too closely, failure to yield right of way, improper passing, failure to obey traffic control devices. Not an enforceable offense; violator is cited for specific traffic infraction(s). Issuing officer can select "Aggressive Driving" checkbox on traffic tickets for data collection purposes.

Georgia Intent to annoy, harass, molest, intimidate, injure or obstruct another person, while doing one or more of the following: overtaking and passing another vehicle; violating traffic lane markings; following too closely; violating signal, lane change, slowing or stopping laws; impeding traffic flows; reckless driving.

Indiana At least three of the following: following too closely, unsafe operation, passing on the right off of roadway, unsafe stopping or slowing, unnecessary sounding of the horn, failure to yield, failure to obey traffic control device, speeding, repeatedly flashing headlights.

Maryland At least three of the following: failure to obey traffic control device, overtaking and passing, passing on right, driving on laned roadways, following too closely, failure to yield right of way or speeding.

Nevada Within one mile, commits all of the following: 1) speeding; 2) at least two of the following: failure to obey traffic control device, passing on the right off of paved roadway, following too closely, lane violation, failure to yield right of way; and 3) creating an immediate hazard for another vehicle or person. Increased penalties for subsequent offenses.

New Jersey Enforces against aggressive driving by charging under 39:4-97 (Careless Driving), 39-4-97.2 (Operating a vehicle in an Unsafe Manner) or any other statute at the discretion of the officer.
North Carolina Speeding and driving carelessly and heedlessly in willful or wanton disregard of the rights or safety of others while committing at least two of the following violations: running a red light or stop sign, illegal passing, failing to yield right of way, following too closely.

Pennsylvania House passed a resolution to encourage drivers to drive courteously and defensively, not aggressively and resolved to support measures that would promote safe driving practices.

Rhode Island Speeding and at least two of the following: failure to obey traffic control device, overtaking on the right, driving outside the lanes of traffic, following too closely, failure to yield right of way, entering roadway unsafely, failure to use turn signals, failure to stop or yield at signs, use of emergency lane for travel.
Utah Amended reckless driving law to include willful and wanton disregard for safety of persons or property or three or more moving violations in a single continuous period of driving.
Vermont Following too closely, crowding, and harassment.

Virginia Is a hazard to others with the intent to harass, intimidate, injure or obstruct another person while committing at least one of the following: failure to drive on the right side of highway, driving outside of marked lanes, following too closely, failure to yield or stop before entering roadway, failure to obey traffic control device, passing when overtaking a vehicle, passing on right, failure to yield right of way, speeding, stopping on a highway.
Total States 11

Why Colors are Named the Way They are?

This is the second of three topics that were suggested by friends/readers this was a debate on how to answer this topic but I am going to take my best shot at it and with a little research courtesy of Google.

The names are derivatives of old latin and Greek words. That was one answer that I found Another answer comes from the idea that different cultures see colors differently from other cultures. In Japan, people often refer to traffic lights as being blue in color. And this is a bit odd, because the traffic signal indicating ‘go’ in Japan is just as green as it is anywhere else in the world. So why is the color getting lost in translation? This visual conundrum has its roots in the history of language.

Blue and green are similar in hue. They sit next to each other in a rainbow, which means that, to our eyes, light can blend smoothly from blue to green or vice-versa, without going past any other color in between. Before the modern period, Japanese had just one word, Ao, for both blue and green. The wall that divides these colors hadn’t been erected as yet. As the language evolved, in the Heian period around the year 1000, something interesting happened. A new word popped into being – midori – and it described a sort of greenish end of blue. Midori was a shade of ao, it wasn’t really a new color in its own right.

One of the first fences in this color continuum came from an unlikely place – crayons. In 1917, the first crayons were imported into Japan, and they brought with them a way of dividing a seamless visual spread into neat, discrete chunks. There were different crayons for green (midori) and blue (ao), and children started to adopt these names. But the real change came during the Allied occupation of Japan after World War II, when new educational material started to circulate. In 1951, teaching guidelines for first grade teachers distinguished blue from green, and the word midori was shoehorned to fit this new purpose.

And it’s not just Japanese. There are plenty of other languages that blur the lines between what we call blue and green. Many languages don’t distinguish between the two colors at all. In Vietnamese the Thai language, khiaw means green except if it refers to the sky or the sea, in which case it’s blue.  The Korean word purueda could refer to either blue or green, and the same goes for the Chinese word qīng. It’s not just East Asian languages either, this is something you see across language families. In fact, Radiolab had a fascinating recent episode on color where they talked about how there was no blue in the original Hebrew Bible, nor in all of Homer’s Illiad or Odyssey!

Texting and Driving

This is the 3rd and final topic offered by my friends/readers. Texting and Driving has been compared to being just as if not more dangerous than drunk driving. In 2011, 23% of all crashes involed a cell phone. That adds up to about 1.3 MILLION CRASHES. It is estimated that at least 5 seconds is the minimal amount of time you lose attention to driving while you are texting and driving. 13% of drivers age 18-20 involved in car wrecks admitted that they were on their phone at the time of  a wreck. These same 18-20 year olds think that texting and driving is not a big concern. 77% of these drivers claim that they are very or somewhat confident that they can safely drive while texting. 55% claim that it is easy for them to be able to text and drive. And this same age group all agree that they watched their parents do it. So what has been done about it. Well 39 states and D.C. has laws prohibiting all drivers from text messaging.

I would like to thank my friends/readers for participating in suggesting topics for this blog. I am very grateful to all who read, comment, share my blog.