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ROAD
SAFETY NEWS - WEEK COMMENCING 19 APRIL 2004
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Alcohol
limit for drink driving should be lower, medical researcher argues
The alcohol limit for drink driving should be much lower, argued
a researcher in last week's British Medical Journal.
In the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, South Africa, and
Sri Lanka the legal blood alcohol limit is 0.08 mg per 100 ml.
This is too high as there is clear evidence that driving skills
deteriorate and the risk of becoming involved in a crash increases
from a blood alcohol concentration of 0.02 mg per 100 ml, says
the author.
Because the legal blood alcohol concentration in most countries
is so high, people often mistakenly believe that they may drive
up to this limit, overlooking the fact that driving is impaired
at lower concentrations, he added.
To set a blood alcohol limit so high may adversely influence people's
estimates of their relative risk of injury or death while driving.
Drinking and driving policies and decisions about enforcement
need to be hinged on the scientific evidence, he concluded.
More @ http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases
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Prime
Minister gives support to bike helmet law
Tony Blair has given his support in principle to a
Private Member’s Bill that would make it illegal for children
under the age of 16 to ride a bicycle without wearing a helmet (Local
Transport Today, 8 April).
MPs will get the chance to debate the ‘Protective headgear
for young cyclists Bill’ when it receives its second reading
on 23 April. The Bill would apply across the UK and place the onus
on anyone with responsibility for the child - such as parents, guardians
or teachers.
Tony Blair told MPs recently that the Government would give ‘serious
consideration’ to supporting the Bill. Most cycling organisations,
including the National Cycling Strategy Board, oppose compulsory
helmet wearing, fearing it will put children off cycling. |
McCartney's
wife to remove prosthetic leg for road safety awareness
Heather Mills McCartney has said that she will appear
in road safety advertisements without her prosthetic leg - to draw
attention to the one million traffic deaths worldwide each year.
Heather Mills McCartney lost her left leg below the knee when she
was hit by a police motorcycle in 1993. Her mother lost a leg in
a traffic accident nearly 20 years earlier.
The World Health Organisation is kicking off a year long focus on
traffic safety and the former Beatles’ wife was speaking in
Washington at the start of the campaign.
President George W. Bush sent a taped message calling
road safety a ‘significant worldwide health issue’.
The television commercials featuring Heather Mills McCartney will
air worldwide later this year.
More @ http://www.ksat.com/entertainment/2985909/detail.html. |
BMF
Rider Training Line ‘springs’ into action
Spring always kindles an interest in motorcycling and now it’s
easier to find a local training centre thanks to the new BMF Rider
Training Line free-phone number, 0800 328 9609.
Introduced to better meet the demands of new riders, the Rider Training
Line will be staffed from 9am-5pm Monday to Thursday and 9am-4.30pm
on Friday. The trained operators will not offer specific rider training
advice but will determine the caller's specific training course
requirements and identify the nearest suitable BMF affiliated rider
training centre.
"This is all part of our growing range of services to bikers,"
said BMF chief executive Simon Wilkinson. "We
can now offer a one-stop service for riders and would-be riders
alike and provide an additional support benefit to rider training
centres that affiliate to the BMF."
There is no charge for referrals made by the Rider Training Line
to centres and a similar arrangement has worked well for a number
of years for the BMF's other help line, the BMF Biker Legal Line.
The BMF Rider Training Line will be augmented shortly by a web page
on the BMF's Riderspace website, www.bmf.co.uk. |
McNulty
questions DfT road safety guidelines
Transport minister Tony McNulty has endorsed the Royal
Borough of Kensington and Chelsea’s traffic management work
on Kensington High Street - even though it apparently flouts the
DfT’s own road safety guidance (Local Transport Today, 8 April).
Speaking last week at Transport for London’s first walking
conference, Mr McNulty said that officials in his department had
tried to dissuade him from going to see the work on Kensington High
Street where, as part of an environmental traffic management scheme,
the borough has removed pedestrian guardrails and other obstacles.
But Mr McNulty, who is the DfT’s ‘design champion’,
told the conference that the scheme – which this week won a
Civic Trust award – appeared to work well and that he wanted
his officials to work with the council to resolve any safety concerns. |
Prismo
wins innovation award
Road products manufacturer Prismo has won an international award
for a reflective coloured road surfacing material that aims to improve
road safety (Surveyor 8 April).
The York-based company beat off 42 other exhibitors from across
Europe at the recent Intertraffic traffic and transport industry
show in Amsterdam to claim top prize in the event’s innovation
awards for its Colourbright road surfacing product.
The surfacing material uses clusterbead technology to reflect white
light from vehicle headlights back to drivers - but in the colours
of surfaces that have been specially laid to highlight dangerous
areas. The company has introduced it to highlight traffic calming
or road delineations - such as accident blackspots or cycle lanes
on unlit and poorly-lit roads. |
Is
drivetime radio bad for your health?
A new survey has shown that listening to certain
pieces of music while driving may be more dangerous than listening
to others, according to a report in The Guardian last week.
The most dangerous five, apparently, are Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries,
Firestarter by the Prodigy, Red Alert by Basement Jaxx, Insomnia
by Faithless and Verdi's Dies Irae Requiem.
The safest tunes, meanwhile, are Gary Jules's Mad World, Lemar's
Another Day, Sugababes' Too Lost in You, Blue's Breathe Easy and
Norah Jones's Come Away With Me.
To read what drivetime DJs think of the survey, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features |
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