Fleets, Leasing Firms and Dealers Urged to Train Drivers on ADAS
Training fleet drivers at vehicle handover could ensure that advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) are used correctly, making them a road safety benefit and not a potential hazard.
Awareness and understanding of these systems is generally low among drivers – and most do not receive any training. Instead, drivers turn to the user manual and apply a ‘trial-and-error’ method. And IAM RoadSmart says this could have potentially worrying consequences for all road users.
“Lease companies and fleet managers should also ensure that the new features on the cars they give to staff are fully understood,” said Neil Greig, director of policy & research. “Driver training companies can provide a more comprehensive back up but it is important that drivers know about assistance system from the moment they start their first journey and that is best done at handover.”
Read the article at International Fleet World.
Speed, Alcohol, and Drugs Increase U.S. Traffic Fatality Rate
New preliminary data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) shows that as Americans traveled fewer miles due to the pandemic, fatality rates increased.
Overall, during the first nine months of 2020, deaths rose 4.6% despite a 14.5% drop in vehicle miles traveled. During the third quarter of 2020, after states lifted coronavirus lockdowns, the death rate rose 13.1% compared to the same period in 2019.
Drivers may believe that lax law enforcement allows for riskier driving behavior. Jonathan Adkins, executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association, told the Associated Press: “A big factor here is the lack of enforcement. We are hearing from many states that traffic stops have declined during COVID-19. Drivers feel like they can speed and get away with it,” he said.
Read the article at J.D. Power.
GM Launches BrightDrop Company to Make Electric Delivery Vehicles
GM unveiled a new business venture, BrightDrop. The company's plan is to create an ecosystem of electric products to be used as delivery vehicles and "last mile" delivery solutions for commercial customers.
The new company will produce multiple vehicles, starting with the EP1, an electric pallet that looks like an oversize library cart with doors. GM envisions the vehicle will help deliver packages from a vehicle to a customer. The electric box on wheels rolls at up to 3 mph while being directed by a courier and can carry up to 200 pounds.
According to GM trials conducted with partner FedEx Express, the EP1 can help deliver 25 percent more packages a day than a delivery driver alone. According to the two companies, couriers said the EP1 was easy to maneuver and reduces strain.
Read the article at Car and Driver.
Opening Your Car Windows Could Reduce Your COVID-19 Risk
By now, we all know the basic coronavirus rules. Wear a mask, limit your exposure to other people and when you can't, keep your distance, and ... keep wearing your mask. But what we haven't known is whether we should keep the car windows up or down.
A new study from Brown University seeks to answer that question. Using complex computational fluid dynamic simulations, Varghese Mathai, Asimanshu Das, Jeffrey Bailey and Kenneth Breuer studied how the aerosols that we breath (some of which do escape even properly worn masks) move about a car's cabin and how those flows change with various windows up and down.
The details of the study are worth noting. The team of researchers found that opening the windows opposite of each occupant can create a flow that drastically reduces the collection of aerosols in a car's cabin. They also found that opening the windows even halfway can be very helpful but that just cracking them a bit doesn't generate enough airflow.
Read the article at Autoblog.
Screens in Cars are Getting Even Bigger? Is it Safe?
Gone are the days of playing-card-sized screens causing drivers and passengers to squint their eyes at low-resolution text and poorly designed graphics.
German automaker Daimler's Mercedes-Benz revealed a new 56-inch screen nearly spanning the width of an entire car earlier this month, becoming the latest brand to bet on larger-than-ever digital displays.
“There are already some studies that indicate significant driver distraction can be a result of in-dashboard screens," Jason K. Levine, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, said in an email. "The question is, by making them bigger, wider and more integrated with the vehicle, does this make an existing problem worse?"
Read the article at USA Today.
