dwerner151@verizon.net
I had a recent inquiry to explain again the difference in the terms “no stopping,” “no standing” and “no parking,” and just what they mean. So let’s review exactly how Vehicle and Traffic Law views these definitions. The term “park” or “parking” is pretty basic we park our car, turn it off and leave it there for some period of time. VTL Section 129 defines park or parking as “the standing of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, otherwise than temporarily, for the purpose of and while actually engaged in loading or unloading merchandise or passengers.” The basic concept of parking the car and leaving it there unoccupied is allowed. Depending on regulatory parking or no-parking signs, we may be able to leave the vehicle parked for only a limited amount of time, but we can leave the vehicle.
dwerner151@verizon.net
As with many improvements to automobiles along with driver benefits, there is often an unintended negative consequence. This is true for some of the automated systems now available on the newer vehicles, according to a recent study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in the December edition of Status Report. Drivers reportedly fidgeted with electronics and took their hands off the steering wheel more often as they developed more trust in automated systems. To investigate how experience with automation affects driver disengagement, the researchers studied the driving behavior of 20 Massachusetts-based volunteers over a month’s time as they gained familiarity with advanced driver assistance features, examining how often they removed both hands from the steering wheel or took their attention away from the road to do things like use their cellphone or adjust the controls on the vehicle’s console.
dwerner151@verizon.net
Have you noticed how fast traffic moves when entering our rural villages, where the posted speed limits are normally 30 mph? This is also where enforcement sets up with radar. Measurements show speeds generally in the 40s as vehicles enter our villages. There is a reason for this, and it is called “speed adaptation.” Tom Vanderbilt, in his book “Traffic Why We Drive the Way We Do,” explains that the longer we drive at high speeds, the harder it is for us to slow down. The reason is that neurons in the brain that track forward movement begin to become fatigued as a person looking ahead drives at the same speed for a time. The fatigued neurons begin to produce, in essence, a negative “output,” which fools you into thinking you are moving slower than you actually are.
dwerner151@verizon.net
The involvement of alcohol and/or drugs continues to be a serious issue in fatal crashes, with more than two out of five fatalities (44%) being alcohol or drug-related. Continuing efforts are needed to improve the effectiveness of public awareness initiatives that are designed to educate the motoring public on the dangers of driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs. In June 2020, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that of the 36,560 traffic fatalities in 2018, an estimated 10,511 people (29%) were killed in alcohol-impaired-driving crashes. Because of concerns these findings have raised, the New York State Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee provided funding for the Institute for Traffic Safety Management and Research to update its earlier study on the involvement of alcohol and/or drugs in fatal and personal injury (F&PI) crashes on New York roadways.
dwerner151@verizon.net In August 2020, the CTIA, a representative of America’s wireless industry, reported that there were 442.5 million U.S. wireless subscriptions, up more than 20 million year-over-year. The CTIA further reported that in 2019 consumers exchanged 2.1 trillion text messages, up 52 billion from the prior year, and spent 3.1 trillion minutes talking on their cellphones, up nearly 30% from 2018. Implications of the increasing use of cellphones and messaging continue to be of serious concern to New York’s traffic safety community. To help address these concerns, the state’s Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee provided funding for the Institute for Traffic Safety Management and Research to update its earlier study on cellphones and distracted driving. Focusing on the five-year period from 2015 to 2019, this research note presents a variety of information on cellphone use, texting and distracted driving related to fatal and personal-injury crashes, tickets i