The AgeLab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology conducted a study on various type faces in an attempt to discover further reasons why sending a text while driving may be such a dangerously distracting activity. Researchers reportedly discovered that a very popular font legible on paper can become so squished together that it becomes illegible and difficult to read on a screen.
Read the full article here:
Monotype Imaging Sponsors Study that Links Typeface Style with Reduced …
Maine Natural Health Company, in cooperation with the Food and Drug Administration has announced a voluntary recall affecting products containing whey protein concentrate, which could be unsafe for consumers with specific allergies. Consumers who may be affected food allergies and are in possession of products included in this recall have been advised to return or discard them.
Read the full article here:
Maine Natural Health Company Issues Allergy Alert on Undeclared Allergens in Products containing Whey Protein Concentrate
A Lubbock, Texas, law enforcement officer investigating a minor automobile accident saved a woman from a possible severe or even fatal injury recently when an a van allegedly piloted by a drunken driver collided with a parked squad car. The police car was sent flying out of control on impact. The officer, noticing the woman had not seen the accident take place, pushed her out of the way of the careening squad car. Both the woman and the officer suffered minor injuries in the accident, but the woman later speculated that she might have been killed had the officer not intervened, according to news reports.
The impact force of the van when it collided with the squad car was great enough to send the car spinning over a nearby concrete median. The officer, who was unable to remove himself from harm’s way before impact, became trapped between the woman’s vehicle and the police car. He reports seeing his leg turned at an unnatural angle. After he was extracted from the scene, the officer was transported to a local medical center for the treatment of pulled muscles and a bruises. The woman sustained minor abrasions on her face, and the driver of the van, according to official police reports, was arrested at the scene of the accident. The in-dashboard camera in another nearby police car caught the accident on video.
Photo credit: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland
As vehicle congestion increases and more motorists, in the face of ever-rising gas prices, become pedestrians and bicyclists, modern traffic management infrastructure is being adapted to meet the evolving needs of commuters. Several such technologies and innovations are currently being installed on roadways around the world.
Bicyclists in Portland, Oregon, for example, are the first in the world to benefit from a new active warning traffic signal. Installed in the city last fall, the signal uses a sensor to determine whether a bicyclist is approaching the intersection. If the signal is activated, drivers turning right are required to yield to any bicyclists in the designated bike lane. The signal is designed to prevent vehicles making right turns at an intersection from colliding with bicycles going straight in the far right lane, one of the more common causes of accidents in which a motor vehicle strikes a bicycle. In an attempt to dissuade cyclists from running through red lights in the perceived absence of oncoming motor vehicles, the city also recently installed blue LED indicator lights at intersections to signal to cyclists approaching a red light that they have triggered the sensor in the pavement that will turn the light green.
Dutch cyclists in the city of Groningen, meanwhile, are reportedly crossing busy intersections more efficiently after the introduction of the new “tegelijk groen” signal. Dutch for “green together,” the signal is a bikes-only light allowing bicyclists to cross the intersection in any direction, even diagonally, without being forced to dodge or yield to cars attempting to cross at the same time.
Pedestrians in some parts of Mexico have begun to see a new type of walk signal installed at intersections. The signal, an animated man walks in place, moving faster as the walk signal’s time limit begins to diminish until he is sprinting for the safety of the curb.
Other innovations, such as connected vehicle technology — a U.S. Department of Transportation project which would allow wireless communication between automobiles in order to provide motorists with real-time traffic warnings based on the behavior of other vehicles, providing early alerts for situations before they become visible to the driver – are currently in development. A new traffic sign combining a stop sign with a yield sign has been proposed for installation at the intersection of a minor and a major road, allowing motorists to proceed with their own judgment based on traffic conditions. This sign has yet to be installed anywhere, however. Similarly, a three-arrow LED traffic signal patented by a Georgia traffic engineer layers red, yellow and green arrows in single units with each arrow corresponding to a specific lane of traffic in an effort to reduce confusion at intersections, but no working model has been built of the design at this time.
Employing experimental features augmenting detailed GPS navigation maps with telemetry recorded during previous manual drive throughs, BMW’s TrackTrainer technology allows a 330i sedan to automatically drive itself through demanding racetracks such as the Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca, which includes a series of hairpin turns known as the Corkscrew. The technology installed in the sedan allows it to duplicate the maneuvering of a professional driver who has previously driven the car for a lap on the track.
Autonomous driving technology of this kind has led many experts to predict a time in the near future when self-driving vehicles will become safer than their current manually controlled predecessors. Automated technology, many theorize, would lead to a decrease in traffic collisions because computer programs would not get drowsy, distracted or impaired by drugs and alcohol, some of the most common contributing factors in modern auto accidents. Some speculate that manually controlled vehicles may become obsolete in as little as 25 years if current trends continue, but many drivers, either for financial or preference reasons may not adopt self-driving vehicle technology readily, possibly endangering other drivers and causing difficult infrastructure problems.
According to AAA estimates, traffic collisions cost approximately $300 billion per year in the United States, as measured in losses due to property damage, medical expenses, disability, and death. The cost in both money and human lives could greatly be reduced, some safety experts hypothesize, with improvements in self-driving car technology.
Distracted drivers are causing numerous accidents, according to accident reports, and distractions aren’t limited to talking or texting. Drivers put themselves, other drivers and passengers at risk when they are eating and drinking, talking to other passengers in the car, reading maps, using a navigation system, even just adjusting the radio while the vehicle is in motion, according to law enforcement officials.
Read the full article here:
Deadly distractions
A new amendment to the energy bill passed recently will require the Transportation Department to report the analysis of benefits of cars with higher gas mileage ratings. There is controversy over requiring car manufacturers to start producing vehicles capable of traveling more miles per gallon. The analysis done by the Transportation Department will look into the number of jobs that will be lost due to the lower demand of higher priced vehicles. They will also look into whether or not the cars will be less safe than current vehicles.
Read the full article here:
House Bill Demands Safety, Jobs Analysis Of Gas-Mileage Rules
Hanover Pike Enterprises has issued an allergy alert for some of its products. The involved products are the 8 and 4 ounce Hot Pepper Jelly and Green Pepper Jelly and 4 and 9 ounce jars of Blackberry Brandy Jam and Peach Brandy Jam. These products were not marked as containing milk and soy but in fact do. The company has given retail stores new labels to mark the presence of milk and soy.
Read the full article here:
Hanover Pike Enterprises, Inc Issues Allergy Alert on Undeclared Margarine Containing Milk and Soy In Jams and Jellies
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that for the first two years of a child’s life, they should be sitting in a rear facing car seat while riding in a vehicle. Because children grow so much within the first two years of life, they will outgrow their car seats quickly. One product, the Graco SnugRide Click Connect 40, addresses this issue by expanding to fit the child’s size. Other things to do to increase children’s enjoyment while driving include, music, installing sun protectors on the windows, and keep someone next to them to interact with.
Read the full article here:
Car-safety tips to keep your new bundle of joy safe and happy
Approximately 430,000 GM vehicles are being recalled in separate instances. Model year 2007-2010 Saturn Aura and model year 2008-2010 Chevrolet Malibu and Pontiac G6 vehicles are being recalled because the tabs on the transmission shift cable end may fracture and separate. If the tabs were to fracture and separate, the shift lever and the actual position of the transmission gear may not match. The driver would be able to move the shifter to ‘PARK’ and remove the ignition key, but the transmission gear may not be in ‘PARK.’ The vehicle may not be able to be restarted and the vehicle could roll away after the driver has exited the automobile, resulting in a possible crash without prior warning.
Read the full article here:
Not a good week for GM: 430000 vehicles are recalled