Category: Car Safety (Page 3 of 3)

A real hell of a backseat driver: who is it?

September 9, 2013 / Staff

Everyone remembers being involved in a situation when you start to lose your temper while driving. What’s the most common reason for that? Surprisingly, our loved ones who, according to the recent survey conducted by Insurance.com, are thought to be the worst backseat drivers ever.

Among 500 drivers polled, both men (40%) and women (34%) say that their spouses can be terribly nerve-racking when sitting on the side-seat of a car. Of course, we do realize the importance of marital vows but who’s supposed to take care about our mental health and the road safety? Apart from getting on the driver’s nerves a nagging-from-the-backseat someone you love can lead to serious road issues by distracting your attention from what’s going on in front of the car.

The #1 backseat monster is followed by friends reported by 17% of polled men, and mothers with 15% of those surveyed claiming them to be extremely annoying. It might be somehow unexpected, but it turns out children are not annoying at all in comparison with other relatives. The rate of frustration provoked by sons and daughters varies from 3% to 7%, depending on the age of children. Only 5 percent of polled drivers pointed out at fathers as the worst passengers, which means you are likely to be in favor when sitting in the car of your grown-up child. Why not buy a car for your kid right now, then, huh?

The most frequently mentioned aggravations include complaints about the speed and giving unwanted advice about directions. The less reported but not less annoying sins of backseat drivers are talking on the phone and texting, eating, pushing an imaginary brake and taking over the radio. Getting car sick and telling about this after there’s anything left to do to prevent the nuisance also has a good chance to tick the driver off.

To avoid getting annoyed when you’re the one to be behind the wheel Insurance.com suggests agreeing on the route and choosing the music for your road trip beforehand. You can also try breathworking and doing yoga before setting off on a journey. The last piece of advice is applicable.

Car Safety

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4 Best Cars for the New Teen Driver

July 12, 2013 / Staff

Let’s face it-new teen drivers’ need cars with excellent safety features and crash-test results, but teens aren’t looking for the safest car like their parents. They want something cool and sporty that they can personalize and show off to their friends. Car safety technology has improved drastically over the past few years, so it’s now an ideal time to trust teens on the road. Luckily, there are cars that fulfill both requirements for teens themselves and their parents. Check out these great options for your teen driver.

Car Insurance, Car Safety, Chevrolet, Ford, Hyundai, New Cars, Volkswagen

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Volvo adds new safety features to detect cyclists

July 9, 2013 / Staff

This new “Cyclist Detection with Full Auto Brake” from Volvo looks pretty interesting. I’m a little skeptical of the automatic brake feature. Yes, it can save lives, but it will be interesting to see how it works in the real world. As more of these “automated driving” features take hold, it will be interesting to see if car insurance companies will give lower rates if your car has these features.

Car Insurance, Car Safety, Car Technology, Video, Volvo

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The dangers of texting and driving

August 3, 2012 / Staff

Here’s yet another story about the dangers of texting and driving. This one has a happy ending, as the young man survived, but he’s adamant about spreading the message of how this behavior can kill you. Hopefully the car insurance companies will get in on this and help spread this important safety message.

Car Safety

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Initial studies not good for lane departure systems

July 3, 2012 / Staff

This is a bit of a surprise.

The high-tech, high-price systems are supposed to help inattentive drivers stay in their own lanes, not stray disastrously into nearby cars. But vehicles with the systems showed increased, not decreased, crashes in a study being released today by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a research group for insurers.

The unexpected finding that lane-departure setups increased crashes as much as 10% is inexplicable, IIHS says.

David Zuby, chief research officer at IIHS, speculates that users might find the warning sounds or vibration alerts used by lane departure systems annoying and shut them off. Or the alarms are too frequent as drivers stray slightly side to side in normal diving, and so are ignored.

That, of course, explains why they might do no good, but not necessarily why they’d do harm, he acknowledges.

The result also could be a statistical quirk, because few cars in the study had the safety feature.

This is just one study so we shouldn’t be alarmed. These things take time for drivers to figure out, but it also highlights the fact that in some ways cars are becoming too complicated to operate properly for some people.

Car Safety, Car Technology

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