Archive for January 14th, 2009
SecNav: Motorcycle makers must help with safety
The secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force will meet this week with four major motorcycle manufacturers following a year in which a record number of Marines died in motorcycle accidents, Navy Secretary Donald Winter said.
The meeting will cover motorcycle safety and how the bikes are marketed to service members who buy them, Winter said in a meeting Monday with Military Times reporters and editors. He did not disclose which manufacturers would be present.
“We have so many cases these days with sailors and Marines who buy sport bikes that are really intended for racing purposes as their first motorcycle,” Winter said. “We’ve had cases with people who have crashed them causing disabling injuries and, in a few cases, death, just after a few hours on those motorcycles.
“People need to understand what they’re buying and that there are alternatives,” Winter said. “I believe that it is appropriate to expect that the manufacturers will help in explaining that and making clear the [full range] of products that they have available, and more appropriately, if you will, target the market that is represented by our young sailors and Marines.”
A Corps-record 25 Marines died in motorcycle accidents in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, breaking the Corps’ previous record for motorcycle fatalities by six and outpacing the number of Marine casualties in Iraq, 20, during the same period. Thirty-three sailors were killed in motorcycle accidents in fiscal 2008, 15 more than the previous fiscal year, according to statistics released by the Naval Safety Center.
In both services, a majority of the victims were killed on sport bikes, known for their high speeds and low-profile driving. Twenty-one of the 25 Marine deaths and 27 of the 33 sailor deaths in fiscal 2008 occurred on sport bikes, according to the Naval Safety Center.
Winter did not disclose when the meeting will occur. Some of the new rules and motorcycle safety classes put in place for Marines and sailors during the last few months originated in his office, Navy officials said.
Safety Council Says Phoning and Driving Don’t Mix
A national safety group is advocating a total ban on the use of cellphones while driving, saying the practice is clearly dangerous and leads to fatalities.
States should ban drivers from using both handheld and hands-free cellphones, and businesses should prohibit employees from using cellphones while driving on the job, the congressionally chartered National Safety Council says, taking those positions for the first time.
The group’s president and chief executive, Janet Froetscher, likened talking on cellphones to drunken driving, saying cellphone use increases the risk of a crash fourfold.
“When our friends have been drinking, we take the car keys away. It’s time to take the cellphone away,” Froetscher said.
No state currently bans all cellphone use while driving. The District of Columbia and six states — California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Utah and Washington — ban the use of handheld cell phones behind the wheel, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Also, 17 states and the District restrict or ban cellphone use by novice drivers.
“Public awareness and the laws haven’t caught up with what the scientists are telling us,” Froetscher said. “There is no dispute that driving while talking on your cellphone, or texting while driving, is dangerous.”
Hands-free cellphones are just as risky as handheld phones, she added.
“It’s not just what you’re doing with your hands — it’s that your head is in the conversation and so your eyes are not on the road,” Froetscher said.
John Walls, vice president of CTIA-The Wireless Association, a cellphone trade group, objected to a complete ban. He said there are many instances where the ability to make a phone call while driving helps protect safety.
“We think that you can sensibly and safely use a cellphone to make a brief call,” Walls said.
Extreme Weather Defeats Speed Cameras
Legal challenge mounted to the use of speed cameras in extreme high and low temperatures.
Questions are being raised about the reliability of speed cameras in extreme weather conditions are being raised as temperatures drop across the globe. Parts of Minnesota, for example, saw lows of -37 degrees Fahrenheit while residents of some areas in North Dakota and Maine braved -8 degree temperatures. A Dutch lawyer is now using a recent cold snap in Amsterdam as the basis for a legal challenge, arguing that any ticket issued outside of the certified temperature range is invalid.
In exploring the issue, the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf cited Dutch Meetinstituut (NMi) Senior Product Manager David Stam who explained that fixed speed cameras have sensors that turn off sensitive electronic components when temperatures become too hot or too cold. Stam’s contention is confirmed by a 2007 incident in Finnish Lapland where speed cameras were literally frozen in place, unable to issue citations, as temperatures reached -25 degrees Fahrenheit. Despite the frigid climate, officials had not installed heating units in the devices. Nevertheless, NMi, which relies on government contracts, quickly distanced itself from De Telegraaf’s account the next and said it tests equipment in all conditions.
“It is possible, for example, that equipment is protected at lower temperatures by heating units,” the NMi press release stated.
US speed camera and red light camera equipment is also affected by temperature swings. While some components boast recommended operating temperatures as low as -4 to -13 degrees Fahrenheit, such as the radar units manufactured by AGD and used by Redflex speed vans, others are less tolerant of cold weather. Brochures for the Australian company’s laser-based mobile speed camera product list an operating temperature range of 32 to 122 Fahrenheit.
The camera vendors themselves have bickered about the heat tolerance of rival systems. Lasercraft, for example, cleverly distanced itself from the Nikon DX2 camera used by American Traffic Solutions (ATS) when trying, unsuccessfully, to land a red light camera contract in Florida.
“Most importantly, the camera referenced (Nikon) is not the camera system used by Lasercraft, therefore eliminating this argument that Lasercraft camera systems may not operate properly in varying temperatures,” Lasercraft wrote to officials in the city of Orlando.
Nikon lists a maximum operating temperature of 104 degrees and a low of just 32 for its DX2 model cameras. ATS insists these attacks are absurd. Although the temperature in a parked car in Arizona can easily exceed 120 degrees on a hot day, the ATS speed camera vans can constantly run their motor to provide air conditioning.
“The cameras have been aggressively tested for humidity in Houston and Southeast Asia, for searing heat in the Arizona desert, and in sub-zero temperatures in Calgary, Alberta Canada,” ATS explains in its sales material.
In 2007, a UK motorist asked the Avon and Somerset Speed Camera Partnership for any documentation regarding the operating temperatures in which the area’s speed cameras were certified to operate. Officials responded that they did not know the answer.
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