Driving through roundabouts and traffic circles can be confusing if you’re unfamiliar with them. Motorists must obey the rules of these circular intersections to ensure pedestrian and car safety. Here are some of the most crucial roundabout and traffic circle rules you should never break.
Enter the intersection only when your vehicle is within the designated lane. Drivers who try to cut in front of oncoming cars in the circle could get a ticket. Also, if a vehicle is so large that it doesn’t fit within the circular pattern, it might cross several lanes of traffic at once, so drivers should proceed with extra caution.
Maintain a constant speed around the traffic circle or roundabout, and strive to keep an open line of sight with other nearby drivers.
National Teen Driver Safety Week, which runs from October 16-22, provides the perfect opportunity for parents to talk with teens about safe driving habits.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and The National Road Safety Foundation (NRSF) encourage parents to discuss safe driving habits with their young drivers and to be sure teens know the rules of the road before they get the car keys. Ultimately, parents are in control.
There were 2,276 people killed in crashes involving a teen driver in 2020; 748 of the deaths were the teen driver. In 2020, an estimated 90,564 teen drivers were injured in traffic crashes and an estimated 153,566 people were injured in crashes involving a teen driver, accounting for almost seven percent of all roadway injuries that year.
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) will conduct a public hearing on 27 October in Sacramento to consider the proposed Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) regulation. The proposed regulation would set a clear end date for combustion-powered new vehicle sales in California by requiring all new medium- and heavy-duty vehicle sales to be ZEVs starting in 2040.
The estimated number of ZEVs would increase from about 320,000 to about 510,000 in 2035, from about 780,000 to about 1,230,000 ZEVs by 2045, and from about 950,000 to about 1,590,000 ZEVs by 2050, according to CARB’s modeling.
The proposed regulation includes four components: three sets of fleet requirements for State and local government fleets, drayage trucks, and high priority and federal fleets, and a ZEV sales requirement for medium- and heavy-duty truck manufacturers.
In recent years, the autonomous driving and ADAS tech space have found exponential interest both on a global level and in the number of major automotive and software companies becoming involved.
The software behind that innovation has also evolved with every success and challenge identified. This level of exploration has resulted in a more defined relationship between software companies and the automotive industry, especially with regard to international standards for functional safety and the process toward more mass production of tech.
To be a leader and innovator in that field’s safety brings the need not only to rely on automakers, Tier 1s, and OEMs for guidance and understanding but also for the software companies themselves to build an internal team and put a system in place that embraces a forward-thinking automotive understanding.
By Ed Pierce, Fleet Management Weekly Contributing Editor
Each quarter, Element Fleet Management conducts research to uncover the latest macroeconomic trends affecting fleets.
The latest Trends brought to you by Element report for 2022 Q3 identified three major trends impacting the fleet industry.
1. The increased adoption of EVs,
2. Continued supply chain challenges, and
3. Increased maintenance costs.
Steve Jastrow, Element’s vice president of consulting & analytics, expanded upon the 2022 Q3 Report to help fleet managers meet their 2022 objectives and start budgeting for 2023.