Monthly Archives: June 2011
Cars and Waterways
June 28, 2011
Although Florida is known to have many canals, lakes, pools and waterways, many recreational communities in all states have these types of waterways also, and with summer these areas will soon be busy with many visitors.
Could your car end up in the water because of a mistake, like hitting the gas instead of the brake, or being involved in a crash and suddenly you are pushed into a situation that you didn’t expect. Sometimes flooded areas can merge together with a canal or river or lake. What do you do if you find yourself in your car that went into the water?
The answer of course is “Be Prepared”. Have a Plan. There are several acronyms that might help you remember and that can apply to such situations.
The SOS-GO is one emergency reminder.
S – Stay calm
Evaluate your situation quickly. Realize that there may be pressure against the doors and they cannot open immediately.
O – Open the Window
You can roll down the window and leave the vehicle. If you have power windows it may be more difficult. Sometimes the window will work for a few minutes or they could stop working as soon as you hit the water. If that becomes the case, you should have something available to break the window. There are commercial tools available on-line, in dealerships or in auto supply stores. There is the window punch which can be on a key chain or the life-hammer which is mounted in the car somewhere near the driver.
S – Seatbelt must be disengaged.
If you cannot unclip your seatbelt, the life hammer usually has a way to cut the belt.
GO – Get Out
It is most important to leave your vehicle as quickly as possible.
The other acronym that is sometimes used as a reminder is POGO.
P – Pop your belt.
This tells you first to open your seatbelt. If you cannot get it off, cut it with your tool.
O – Open your door.
If the door cannot open, break the window.
GO – Get Out.
Again, the most important thing to remember is that you cannot stay in the vehicle to wait for help.
Some suggestions for surviving a sinking car include being calm and working quickly to get out. Most vehicles will float for only a minute or two before they begin to submerge.
5 steps to safety include:
- Unclip your seat belt or cut it.
- Roll down your window quickly or break it.
- If you cannot get the window to open, look for another means of escape like the rear window or sunroof.
- If there is no other way to get out, try to open the door. The door may be very heavy, make sure it is unlocked.
- If the door will not open, try to be calm, wait until the inside of the car is almost filled with water. Take a deep breath and keep trying to get the door to open. When the pressure is equal the door will open.
The most important things to remember is that you must find a way to GET OUT.
National Drivers Test Highlights
June 17, 2011
Every year, GMAC Insurance offer up a National Drivers Test available for all, regardless of age or state, in order to get a better insight on how motorists are driving around the country. This test usually yields interesting results, such as which is the state with the most capable drivers, or which age group is best at driving performance on the road.
According to the test, these are the top 10 states when it comes to knowledgeable drivers:
1. Kansas
2. Iowa
3. Colorado
4. Minnesota
5. Oregon
6. Nebraska
7. Indiana
8. Missouri
9. South Dakota
10. Wyoming
They have also found that:
- 1 in 4 women failed the test (27.2 percent versus 13.6 percent for male).
- The Northeast is the worst driving region, while the Midwest is the best, based on test scores.
- The elderly succeed. Out of all the test takers, those that belong in the oldest group, aged 60-65 have the highest scores.
- New York and Washington: 1 out of 3 of all drivers in both states failed the test. Be careful on these roads. While New York did move a couple of notches from the bottom of the test results last year, it’s still valid to point out that a majority of NY drivers are getting something wrong on the test.
Do you think this data accurately represents reality? Now in its 7th year, the GMAC Insurance National Drivers Test point out that drivers have improved all over the nation in the last year, but it still tells a sad reality that a large number of people still lack basic driving knowledge. 85 percent were unable to point out the proper course of action when faced with a yellow light, while only a quarter of all test takers were aware of safe following distances.
There’s a lot to be said about the validity and accuracy of tests like these, but there’s more to be said about the results that we’re getting. Law enforcement and driving advocacy groups should see options such as driver’s education in schools and other such initiatives to make sure that year after year, points only go up — along with that, the percentage of safety on the road.
Project Ignition Brings out the Best in Teen Driving Safety
June 3, 2011
Since 1983, the National Youth Leadership Council has strived to “create a more just, sustainable, and peaceful world with young people, their schools and their communities through service-learning.” They have been coordinating a lot of initiatives, research/leadership programs and professional development programs for over two decades now.
The one we will be focusing on is Project Ignition, which brings out the best in students, teachers and the community when it comes to creative service-learning programs designed to promote teen driver safety.
What is service-learning?
In their words, service-learning is “learning in action.” Creating a driving safety video about seat belt safety is a service. Sitting in front of a computer, watching that seat belt safety video is learning.
Service-learning is a method of teaching that puts the ball in the hands of the students, teachers and the community. With the freedom to create something based on things that they know their peers will learn from, regardless of the method of delivery, but also inclusive of things one might learn from a classroom creates a service-learning program that will be easier to comprehend. It is learning in action.
So what is Project Ignition, and how does it fit into all this?
Project Ignition is a service-learning grant program focused on providing high schools with great teen driver safety-focused service-learning ideas and giving them the spark necessary to get these ideas happen.
These ideas may engage students, teachers and the community to evaluate how they fit into the whole teen driver safety issue, and what can and must be done for them not only to be the cause of safety, but also influence attitudes and spread the overall message that not only do their peers care, but also the community. The impact of these ideas may change city policies; it may give students a platform for a dialogue with lawmakers they otherwise wouldn’t have got to; it may bring out stories from families of teen driving crashes; at the very least, these ideas might change minds.
The ripple effect achieved by these ideas is like throwing a boulder into a small pond.
What Project Ignition does to get these service-learning ideas started is provide a $2,000 grant for 25 selected schools which may enable the idea to become reality. But it doesn’t stop there: the 10 best out of the 25 schools selected stand a chance of becoming one of the Project Ignition National Leader Schools. Leader schools will be given the chance to expand their original campaign for a second year with a funding of $2,500, along with $5,000 to support their participation in the National Service-Learning Conference in 2012.
How do I get our school’s teen driver safety service-learning idea funded?
Project Ignition’s contact details are on the site. Application for becoming one of the 25 selected schools (in the US or Canada) is open in August, but interested parties may contact them as early as now. http://www.sfprojectignition.com/
Image: statefarm.com