The highest honors from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety were given to fifteen cars and SUVs despite stiffened requirements for 2018; most basic models don't come with the features IIHS requires to make the list, including automatic emergency braking.
Toyota led the industry with 10 vehicles on the Top Safety Pick+ or Top Safety Pick lists. Much-smaller Hyundai was second with nine models. Subaru, which is on a red-hot sales streak, got all but one of its seven vehicles on the lists.
"Automakers have really come to grips with the fact that safety is an important component of consumer choice, and they are working hard to meet the criteria," outgoing IIHS president Adrian Lund said. "They want to be known as leaders of safety."
Read the article at USA Today.
Happy Holiday from the Driving Dynamics Safety Team! Arrive safely and enjoy this special time of the year with your family and friends
By Art Liggio, President and CEO, Driving Dynamics
Between Thanksgiving and the New Year holidays estimates project that more than 100 million travelers will take to the road. This added traffic can bring with it extra stress. The congestion coupled with winter weather and spirited celebrations make for a potentially dangerous time to be driving.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the number of traffic fatalities increases by approximately 25 percent and injuries are in the tens of thousands during the holiday season.
Below are helpful reminders and a winter driving safety tip from Driving Dynamics to assure safe travels during the holiday season and always.
U.S. House and Senate negotiators are reportedly keeping the electric-vehicle tax credit of $7500 as part of a compromise package on tax reform.
Auto industry leaders pushed back on its elimination as the credit has been the primary motivator to electric vehicle sales.
“I’m a proponent of that staying in because it’s the right thing to do,” GM CEO Mary Barra said earlier this week. If the incentives are dropped, “that would change the equation” and make battery-based products less financially attractive she added, though she said GM would not back down on its commitment to the technology.
Read the original article at The Detroit Bureau.
By Mike Cieri
Goals are vital for motivating employees and monitoring their performance
Goals provide the MOTIVATION and DIRECTION necessary for growth and success in important areas of almost every business.
An important aspect of developing goals is the relationship between the difficulty of the task (goal) and performance. If the goal is too easy to achieve, the effort that the employee/team dedicates to the task will be low, and actually un-motivating. Yet if the goal seems impossible, you will have the same effect.
When a goal is difficult and both parties believe it’s achievable, you will maximize intensity and persistence, creating engagement.
Once you have identified a worthy goal, use the SMART goal format.
No one can hear you or feel your positive impact in disruptive waters.
By Laura Jozwiak, Senior Vice President of Sales and Client Relations, Wheels, Inc.
You probably know this scenario. You are enjoying a walk along your favorite lake or stream, and pick up a stone to skip it across the water. Where the stone impacts the water, you can see the ripples fan out from the impact spot. The ripples start close to the stone with a big wave, and as they get farther out, the waves get dulled and smaller until the waters are calm once more. Just a few moments later, all is calm again and you can’t detect the stone was thrown in the first place.
Throw the same stone on a stormy day, with rougher waters or a rushing stream, and you don’t see any of your ripples in the already turbulent waters. Your efforts go unnoticed…just another bump in an already bumpy environment.