Distracted Driving: How Does It Impact You?

Earlier this week, Oprah Winfrey tackled the problem of distracted driving on her television show. If you were at work and missed the broadcast, please take a few moments not only to view part of the show, but to visit her website Americas New Deadly Obsession where a plethora of information has been posted about texting and talking on cell phones while driving.

What Is Distracted Driving?

According to the DOT there are three main types of distraction:
 
Visual — taking your eyes off the road
Manual — taking your hands of the wheel
Cognitive — taking your mind off what you’re doing

Distracted driving is any non-driving activity a person engages in that has the potential to distract him or her from the primary task of driving and increase the risk of crashing.

Click here  to see an interesting video about why your brain can't multitask that way you'd like and here to see why Oprah's campaign might be one of the best ways to get this important message out.

In the new few posts, we'll be talking more about distracted driving.

Have thoughts or suggestions about this topic? Post them in the Comments section.

Child Passenger Safety Law Enforcement Course Announced

Child Passenger Safety Law Enforcement Awareness

Pilot Course

Gaylord, Michigan

The Marquette County Health Department in conjunction with the Michigan Department of Community Health and the Office of Highway Safety Planning is pleased to offer a special pilot class for Michigan law enforcement officers.


Class Details: Child Passenger Safety Law Enforcement Awareness Pilot Course
Date: Thursday, February 25, 2010
Time: 12:00 - 4:00 pm
Place: Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) North Region Office, 1088 M-32, Gaylord, MI 49735
Cost: FREE


Please note that lunch will not be provided for this class. Participants should plan accordingly.

It is important to realize that children are passengers in motor vehicles every day. Many of these children are improperly restrained. Law enforcement personnel can help save the lives of these children in several ways:

1) By issuing citations or written warnings;
2) By providing CPS education and
3) By providing families with CPS resources.

Upon completion of this 4-hour training course, attendees will have a basic awareness of child passenger safety (CPS) and an understanding of their role in CPS. We expect attendees will have be better prepared to answer CPS questions and be able to identify basic car seat misuse. This course is not intended to make students “experts” or certified CPS technicians.

If your application is accepted, you will receive more detailed class information.

This pilot course is being held in Gaylord to facilitate enrollment by both Upper Peninsula and Northern Lower Peninsula law enforcement officers. Enrollment is limited to 25 people. Please obtain an application by contacting:


Diane Curry, Upper Peninsula CPS Coordinator
Email: dcurry@mqtcty.org
Fax: 906-475-9312

National Road Safety Laws Report Released Today

Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety will release the "2010 Roadmap to State Highway Safety Laws" today, which grades each state on passage of model traffic safety laws addressing teen driving, distracted driving, drunk driving, safety belts, booster seats and motorcycle helmets. The 2010 report will feature the best and worst performing states, states making the most and least progress over the past year, dangerous loopholes in each state that contribute to preventable death and injury, and state-specific data on traffic deaths, injuries and related economic losses.

This event will occur today, January 11 at 11:30 a.m. EST in Washington D.C.

A live WEBCAST of the news conference and an ELECTRONIC PRESS KIT will be available at: http://www.saferoads.org/

 Here is a link to the 2009 report:
http://www.saferoads.org/files/file/RoadmapReport20090303.pdf

And here is a link to Michigan's 2009 report:
http://www.saferoads.org/michigan

NMU Regional Police Academy Accepting Applications For Recruits

NORTHERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY

Public Safety Institute

The following information does not supercede the Michigan Commission of Law Enforcement Standards (MCOLES) required by the State. The Public Safety Institute has set procedures and requirements to be met in order to be considered for entry into the Regional Police Academy.


Northern Michigan University’s Public Safety Institute holds a 16 week, 900 hour, Regional Police Academy once a year beginning in May with graduation in August. It is designed to provide basic law enforcement training to in-service and pre-service recruits.The next Academy is slated to begin May 2, 2010 with a graduation date of August 18, 2010. Deadline for registration completion is February 15, 2010.


A minimum of an Associates Degree or higher is required upon completion of the Academy, or: a minimum of one year training and experience in the Military Police (contact MCOLES to obtain education waiver), or: the candidate is sponsored by a law enforcement agency – this means being hired and on the payroll, and pass a drug test. Pay stubs will be required throughout the Academy. There are 12 NMU credits in Associate of Applied Science in Law Enforcement granted upon completion of the academy. Additionally there are 12 NMU credits offered to complete a Bachelor’s degree in any major.

Requirements for Admission are as follows: You must be 18 years of age or older; U.S. citizen; High school diploma or GED; No felony convictions; Good moral character; Possess valid Michigan operator’s or chauffeur’s license; Pass a physical examination, which also includes a vision and hearing test; Normal color vision; Weight proportionate to height; Free from mental or emotional disorders; Physical integrity; Pass limited background check; Pass an oral interview.All potential candidates must successfully pass the MCOLES physical fitness test, as well as the MCOLES reading/writing test. NMU is a regional test site for the aforementioned tests.


Selected candidates will be advised of informational meetings held at the Public Safety Institute to give the candidates some information about the Academy and fill out pre-applications of intent.


After receipt of your application of intent, the candidates will be contacted for an orientation meeting (usually held in December) to continue the process. At this time the candidate will be issued a packet of forms to be completed prior to the formal oral interview held in March. These forms include a physical examination signed by an occupational physician stating you are medically able to perform physical training while attending the academy (exceptions are given to, but not limited to, medical conditions such as diabetes and epilepsy). Explanations are given in more detail at the orientation meeting.


The physical examination will also include a statement of vision test results, both corrected and uncorrected which must be correctable to 20/20 and statement indication you have normal color vision, as well as normal hearing.


Additionally an MCOLES Personal History Statement that must be filled out to completion, as well as a completed fingerprint applicant card.


The current curriculum includes: Physical Fitness Training; Firearms; Precision Driving; First Aid and CPR; Police Tactics; Defensive Tactics; Criminal Investigations; Domestic Violence; Traffic Enforcement and Patrol Techniques; Criminal Law and Procedure; Michigan Vehicle Code, and other law enforcement areas.


Academy costs: Academy fee is $4900.00; NMU application fee, if applicable, Uniforms and boots are approximately $300.00. Financial Aid is available through NMU for qualified applicants. A $75.00 dollar scholarship fee is awarded for the MCOLES certification exam.


Additional costs: Housing and food; Physical examination; Hearing examination; Vision examination; Physical fitness test; MCOLES reading/writing test.


After a recruit has met all academy requirements he/she will be administered the MCOLES State Certification Examination. Once the certification exam has been completed and passed by the recruit he/she will be certifiable in Michigan to become a police officer. Certification is granted upon employment by a law enforcement agency.

For more information, contact Lt. Len Dawson, Phone: (906) 227-1408 or e-mail: ldawson@nmu.edu


Web sites to visit: http://www.mcoles.org/ or http://www.nmu.edu/

A Traffic Safety History Lesson

For those of us working in the field of traffic safety, features on vehicles like safety belts, anti-lock brakes, air bags and traction control systems have become so second nature that we don't even think about it.

Yet as recently as 1965, Attorney Ralph Nader wrote a book titled "Unsafe At Any Speed" which gave detailed information about the reluctance of auto manufacturers to spend money on mechanisms that would enhance safety. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unsafe_at_Any_Speed . This groundbreaking book gave rise to a new awareness about the important of consumer protection and advocacy in the automobile industry.

In 1966, Congress passed the Highway Safety Act. This created a highway safety office in each state that was charged with reducing deaths,  injuries and property damage caused by crashes.  In addition, this act estabished nationally what we know today as our Emergency Medical Services (EMS) System. In 1967, the Department of Transportation was formed under then-President Lyndon B. Johnson. At that time, over 50,000 persons a year were dying on our roadways. At the signing of the bill, he said,

"...we have tolerated a raging epidemic of highway death … which has killed more of our youth than all other diseases combined. Through the Highway Safety Act, we are going to find out more about highway disease—and we aim to cure it.”

The MI Office of Highway Safety Planning (OHSP) was established in 1969 under Governor William Millikan as part of the Michigan State Police. The 1970 Highway Safety Act formed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), formerly known as the National Highway Safety Bureau.  NHTSA is charged with a variety of roles, including setting and enforcing safety standards, providing grants to state highway safety offices,  investigating safety defects in motor vehicles, setting and enforcing fuel economy standards, investigating odometer fraud, establishing and enforcing vehicle anti-theft regulations and providing consumer information on motor vehicle safety topics. NHTSA also conducts research on driver behavior and traffic safety to develop the most efficient and effective means of bringing about safety improvements.

http://www.usrecallnews.com/2008/06/history-of-the-u-s-national-highway-traffic-safety-administration-nhtsa.html

So there you have it- a short lesson in why we are where we are today. Keeping our highway safe is an important job because of the human toll. It took our country many years to come to that conclusion, but we seem to be doing a pretty good job.

Perhaps Sgt. Joe Friday says it best:

Driver Escapes Fiery Crash

http://www.dailypress.com/

MANISTIQUE - Seat belts and air bags contributed to two college students not being seriously injured in a head-on collision that resulted in a vehicle explosion in Schoolcraft County Monday.

Escanaba resident Sean Sapino, 23, was driving east on U.S. 2, near Kelly Road in Doyle Township. His vehicle crashed head-on with a vehicle driven by Kyle Fiebernitz, 19, of Bancroft, Mich., according to a press release issued by Michigan State Police from the Manistique Post.

Road conditions were described as icy and slippery when the accident occurred at around 9:15 a.m., backing up traffic for more than a hour, said Trooper George Kanyuh.

After the collision, Sapino's car careened into the snow-filled ditch on the south side of the road, the trooper said. The driver was able to free himself from the car.

Fiebernitz's SUV came to rest in the center of the road where a fire broke out underneath the vehicle.

Fiebernitz was able to get himself out of the SUV shortly before the vehicle exploded and burst into flames.

"Upon the arrival of emergency personnel, the vehicle was completely consumed by flames with black, billowing smoke visible in the sky for some distance from the crash scene," Kanyuh stated.

Both drivers were transported by Manistique Ambulance to Schoolcraft Memorial Hospital in Manistique. They were treated for non-life-threatening injuries, he said.

"Seat belt use and air bag deployment appear to have contributed to the drivers not being seriously injured," Kanyuh commented. No tickets have been issued as the post continues to investigate the accident, he added.

Prior to the accident, Sapino was driving to Ferris State University in Big Rapids where he is a student. Fiebernitz was on his way to Michigan Technological University in Houghton where he attends college.

Following Monday's collision, traffic was backed up for miles.

"All eastbound and westbound lanes of U.S. 2 were shut down for approximately one and a half hours as first responders worked at tending to the injured, putting out the fire, and clearing the scene of vehicles and debris," Kanyuh said.

"Salt trucks were then called in to treat the roadway from the fire hose water that was freezing on the highway," he explained.

State police were assisted at the scene by Doyle Township Fire Department, Schoolcraft County Sheriff Department, Manistique Public Safety and Ambulance crew, Schoolcraft County Road Commission, and Don's Towing Service from Gulliver.

Child Safety Seat Check Event Scheduled in Houghton

Trooper Mark Ealy at Classic Auto Collision in Marquette

A Child Passenger Safety Seat Check Event will be conducted on Saturday, February 13, 2010, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Houghton City Fire Hall in Houghton, Michigan. The event features certified child safety seat technicians who will inspect seats for recall, proper fit, seating position and other factors. In Michigan, the usage rate for child passenger safety seats is over 90%, yet the mis-use rate is at 77.8%, according to a 2009 Wayne State university study.

Sponsors for the check event include: Houghton City PD, Portage Health, the Office of Highway Safety Planning and the UP Child Passenger Safety Coalition.

Contact Ms. Judy Pruner at JAPruner@sbcglobal.net for more information.