January 23, 2008
National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Mark V. Rosenker spoke yesterday at the 2008 Washington, D.C. Auto Show in which he said the auto industry has recognized the limitations of improving the crashworthiness of its vehicles and has now shifted its focus to developing innovative technologies to help prevent accidents entirely.
“For several decades, the number of fatalities has been dropping, and more importantly, the fatality rate has also been dropping,” said Rosenker, attributing this to many things such as the use of seatbelts and child restraint systems; the development of airbags, antilock brakes, crash-absorbing vehicle frames; and campaigns to reduce drunk driving. However, as the decreases in fatalities and injury rates have leveled off in recent years, Rosenker said the industry has, “reached some practical limits in combating the physical forces involved in crashes. In recognition, the auto industry is moving beyond crash mitigation and into a new era where technology will help us prevent accidents.”
Recently, the NTSB added the issue of preventing collisions using enhanced vehicle safety technology to its list of Most Wanted Safety Improvements. At the event Rosenker highlighted the following categories of crash avoidance technology:
Vehicle-based Crash Avoidance Systems - Rear-end crash warning systems, adaptive cruise control, and automatic braking systems are designed to prevent or at least mitigate this most common type of crash. Lane departure avoidance systems and curve-speed warning systems are being developed to target the most fatal type of events, run-off-the-road accidents.
Infrastructure Telematics - A DOT initiative that includes road-based systems to provide drivers with a sophisticated means for obtaining information about their vehicles and the road, such as location-specific weather conditions, route-specific road closures, and work zone status. Adverse weather is associated with 800,000 injuries and more than 7,000 fatalities a year.
Additionally, Rosenker noted that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is revising its New Car Assessment Program, which ranks automobiles on their crashworthiness using a 5-star rating system, because 95 percent of 2006 model year vehicles received 4 or 5 stars. The new system will reflect more modern crash avoidance technology.
The complete text of Rosenker’s speech may be obtained at

Customers are frequently asking us for advice on the best mounting location for a radar detector. Unfortunately, there is not an easy answer. Choices usually come down to either mounting the detector high on the windshield or visor or low on the windshield or dashboard, and there are advantages and disadvantages to both.
High Mounting
Positioning a radar detector high on a windshield, such as by the rear-view mirror or clipped to a visor gives you better protection against police radar. A detector that is mounted high will catch some radar signals sooner than with a lower mounting. This is particularly true in more hilly terrain, or when your vehicle is travelling up a hill and a police officer is targeting traffic from the other side. A high mounted detector will encounter the radar signal sooner, providing you with more time to adjust your speed.
With a high mounting, however, you risk missing a laser alert. At 1000 feet, the light from a police laser gun is only around 2 feet wide, and this light has to hit your radar detector before you will get an alert. Since the officer is aiming the laser at a front license plate or a headlight, there is a good chance that a high mounted detector this narrow beam.
Low Mounting
A radar detector mounted low on the windshield or attached directly to the dash (with Velcro or a dash pad) will provide the best all-around solution. You will lose a little in radar range, but will gain a lot in the ability to detect laser. Of course, a radar detector alone is not enough to guarantee protection against police laser, so if laser is used in your area be sure that you have a passive solution like Laser Veil or a laser jammer.
Our Recommendation
We recommend you mount high if laser is not used in your area, or if you have an active laser jammer installed.
We recommend you mount low if laser is used in your area and you are using only a passive laser defense product (or no specific laser defense product).

Rival schools take up challenge to become safer drivers
December 20, 2007
Students at two McClennan County high schools are more aware of driving dangers than other Texas teenagers, but those students still admit to risky driving behaviors, so the schools will soon go head to head in a challenge to improve safety on the road. The findings are based on surveys at Connally High School and West High School conducted during the fall by the Teens in the Driver Seat (TDS) Program of the Texas Transportation Institute.

Asian Makers Still Dominate
Latest Crash-Test Ratings;
Stability Control in Demand
By JONATHAN WELSH
November 15, 2007

Safety-minded drivers now have many more vehicles to choose from.
Thirty-four vehicles received the highest safety rating in the latest crash tests performed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, up from 13 a year ago. Asian car makers had the largest number of top-rated vehicles, with 17. U.S. car makers had six vehicles on the list, while Germany and Sweden had six and five, respectively.
The results, which are due to be released today, come as auto makers attempt to boost their safety ratings by adding air bags, crumple zones and crash-avoidance electronics — and as consumers increasingly seek out the latest safety features. Toyota Motor Corp.’s Tundra is the first pickup truck to make the list, and Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd.’s Subaru Impreza is the first small car since stricter criteria were introduced last year. They join Hyundai Motor Co.’s Entourage minivan, Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz M-Class sport-utility vehicle and Ford Motor Co.’s Volvo XC90 SUV, which were also on last year’s list.

AP
The 2008 Toyota Tundra is the first pickup to get a top overall crash-test rating from the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety.
To receive the top rating, vehicles have to be available with electronic stability control, or ESC, and get a top score of “good” in front-, side- and rear-impact crash tests. Other ratings in each category include “acceptable,” “marginal” and “poor.”
Drivers have long been drawn to vehicles that have more horsepower, luxury amenities or conveniences than the competition. But as creature comforts such as heated leather seats, CD changers and navigation systems have proliferated even among budget-priced cars, drivers and car makers have begun to focus on safety features. As a result, attributes such as side-curtain air bags, which cushion occupants in a side collision, and stability control systems, which help drivers avoid accidents, are now among the latest must-haves.
Stephanie Sanford says injuries she suffered from a head-on collision that destroyed her sedan earlier this year persuaded her to look more closely at safety ratings. She recently bought an Acura MDX, an SUV made by Honda Motor Co. that was named a top pick by the Insurance Institute. “I wanted to make sure it had all the stars,” says the Denver flight attendant, referring to high scores in crash tests.
Car companies have rushed to make their vehicles more crash-resistant by strengthening their bodies and adding air bags and electronic collision-avoidance systems. Some are paying particular attention to redesigning seats, seat belts and headrests to better protect passengers when the car is hit from behind, which has been a weak spot for many vehicles since the Insurance Institute began rear-impact crash tests in 2004. Indeed, another 23 vehicles would have made the top-rated list if their seats and head restraints hadn’t fallen short.
The test results also show that car makers are moving faster than ever to make vehicles more appealing to consumers through safety improvements. Some cars made the list only after their makers quickly made changes to improve their safety ratings. Making such design changes in the past could take several years.
Seats and head restraints in BMW AG’s X3 and X5 sport-utility vehicles, and the Honda Accord sedan, Element SUV and Odyssey minivan received “good” ratings for 2008, compared with “marginal” or “poor” ratings a year ago. Volkswagen AG’s Audi reworked the seat and head restraints on its midsize A3 to improve the car’s rating to “good” from “acceptable.”
There are also vehicles that received top ratings this year in categories that weren’t represented in last year’s top picks, which also helped expand the list. These include two convertibles — the Volvo C70 and General Motors Corp.’s Saab 9-3 — in addition to the Tundra and the Impreza.
The auto industry’s newfound agility in making last-minute tweaks to vehicles reflects growing consumer awareness of safety, science, marketing and even how cars are made. Consumers increasingly research a vehicle’s safety ratings along with quality and reliability records before buying. In response, car makers have recognized the appeal of safety as a marketing tool and often refer to crash-test results in their advertising.
Consumer demand and government regulations will continue to make safety more of a core element in vehicle design, says Rebecca Lindland, an analyst with research firm Global Insight in Lexington, Mass. As fuel-economy standards increase, for example, some cars will become smaller and lighter, necessitating new safety features, she says.
“Federal mandates will drive some of this, but it’s also happening because of consumer demand,” says Ms. Lindland.
The Insurance Institute, a research group funded by the insurance industry, says its ratings are designed to make it easier for consumers to identify the vehicles that provide the best protection in the most common types of crashes.
The institute’s ratings are based on frontal offset crashes at 40 miles per hour — in which part of the car’s front end is hit — and side impacts at 31 mph. The two-step rear-impact tests include measurements of the head restraints. Vehicles whose head restraints are judged “good” or “acceptable” are tested in a rear impact of 20 mph to a stationary vehicle. The group began frontal-impact testing in 1995, adding side-impact tests in 2003 and rear tests in 2004.

On May 04, 2007 a UK man took his brothers Bugatti Veyron out for a spin, literally.
On a rainy stretch on Renfree Way in Shepperton, Surrey the driver spun out at 100 mph, colliding with a van and then spinning into the trees, but luckily no one was seriously injured although we don’t know what happened to the driver after his brother got a hold of him.
The car ended up a write-off and the insurance bill will be topping £800,000 which does not include the damage to the van.

Businessman Kumar Soni is facing the prospect of writing off his £830,000 Bugatti supercar after a horrific accident saw it spin out of control, crash into a vehicle driven by a pregnant woman and smash into a hedgerow.
The French made model crashed on Sunday afternoon near the £3 million Surrey home of the car’s 41-year-old owner.
Yesterday insurance assessors were left examining what remained of the supercar - capable of reaching a top speed of 253 mph - and deciding whether the vehicle could be repaired or is destined for the breakers’ yard.
It is not known who was behind the wheel at the time of the crash.
But neighbours of the wealthy Soni family claiming the accident had caused a furious row between Kumar Soni and his younger brother 39-year-old Ajay, prompting speculation the owner of the rare car was not the driver.
It is thought the vehicle was only delivered to the family home last week.
Photographs taken immediately after Sunday’s accident show Ajay Soni inspecting damage to the car along with a family friend.
The car left the road on a 40mph stretch of the B375 road near Chertsey, Surrey shortly after 3pm on Sunday afternoon.

Locals told yesterday how the low slung car had been driving repeatedly through Shepperton before heading for the B road as a heavy rainstorm began.
The sleek Bugatti Veyron - one of only a dozen such models in the UK - had been hand-built at the company’s French base in Alsace and is as powerful as a Formula One car.

The eight litre 1,000 horsepower engine beneath the bonnet is capable of taking the vehicle from 0-60 in just 2.5 seconds. source: pixalo.com/community