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distracted driving

Safety Tips for Chicago Bicyclists

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Chicago’s mostly cold. Cold weather makes for hardy people who drink black coffee, eat pizza that’s really a casserole, and put hot peppers on everything. People from Illinois also know how to navigate in the snow without a dogsled. And, they don’t lose their cool when the roads are slippery, even when riding a bicycle. 

Chicago is a city that has a lot of people riding around on bicycles in all types of weather conditions, even those few weeks and months when the sun comes out of hiding. Bicycling is so popular here that Divvy, Chicago’s bicycle share program, is set to expand its coverage over the entire City by 2021. Currently, there is no service on the West Side, the Far South Side, or the Far Northwest Side. 

With even more people riding around on bikes than ever before, making sure everybody gets to their destination safely is, or at least should be everybody’s number one priority when it comes to transportation. 

There is no such thing as an accident

The word accident implies that the unfortunate or terrible thing that happened was unavoidable. A car crash is almost never an accident because a car crash is often times avoidable. Crashes occur when someone makes a poor choice. People drive drunk. They look at their phones while driving. They get behind the wheel when they haven’t had enough sleep and drive fatigued. Choices like these can lead to grave consequences especially when a car hits a bicycle.                                         

The U.S. Department of Transportation reported that 783 cyclists were killed in traffic crashes nationwide in 2017. There are steps that drivers and cyclists can take to decrease that number, if not eliminate bicycle traffic deaths altogether. 

Know the statistics

The U.S. Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administrations maintains statistics on traffic deathseach year. 

  • Regardless of what time of year it is, the highest percentage of bicycle deaths happen between the hours of 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. 
  • Over 70% of cyclist fatalities occur in urban as opposed to rural areas. 
  • Alcohol use was reported in 35% of fatal crashes involving bicycles.  

Get to know the rules of the road

Cyclists in Illinois are required to follow the same traffic rulesthat apply to motorists. This also means that bike riders generally have the same rights as drivers do. Drivers need to give cyclists enough space to travel safely. The Chicago Municipal Code prohibits cars from driving, standing, or parking in a bike lane. Cyclists should generally keep as far to the right as is practically possible, with a few exceptions. Both bike riders and drivers should remember that they have to share the road and that keeping a proper lookout for other travelers is paramount. 

Don’t get distracted

Distracted driving is a big problem. This applies to people riding bikes as well. Not only that, but walking around in Chicago, you’re bound to see pedestrians looking down at their phones, too. Standing on the side walk and looking at your phone may be excusable, if not annoying to some, but propelling any form of transportation forward on city streets requires a person’s undivided attention. 

We’ve all heard that texting and driving can kill. According to U.S. Government statistics, 1 in 10 fatal crashes involve people who were distracted while driving; an entirely preventable statistic. There is no excuse for pulling your phone out if you’re driving or if you’re riding a bike. Just pull over. Even the most important phone call can wait when it’s a matter of life or death. 

If in doubt, learn to ride

The Chicago Department of Transportationand Divvy are offering free bicycle riding classeswith limited spots this summer. The classes are meant to help adults who never learned to ride a bike or haven’t ridden in a long time to ride with confidence and to feel comfortable riding on Chicago’s city streets. Space for these classes is limited. Classes may be open to children based on availability. Divvy will provide bikes to participants over the age of 16 because the program doesn’t allow kids under 16 to use its bikes. Participants under age 16 will have to provide their own bikes. 

The Trouble With Drowsy Driving

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Some of us are old enough to remember when phones were mounted on kitchen walls or sat on end tables in the living room. Now, of course, they’re everywhere. We use them as movie studious, virtual wallets, personal assistants, heart monitors, and a million other things you can think of, or a million other things you haven’t thought of yet. Today they’re unavoidable. Everywhere you go you see people looking down at their hand-held mini-screens. It’s almost as if they’re addicted. Even if you’re reluctant to admit you have a problem, with as much time as people spend on their devices, before you know it, you’ve spent half the day checking your timeline.  

A study published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, titled, Time distortion associated with smartphone addiction: Identifying smartphone addiction via a mobile application (App)., looks at exactly this issue. (By the way, the irony of studying smartphone addiction using a mobile app is not lost on this writer). The authors of the study noticed that people reported looking at their phones a lot less than the app tracking their use recorded them actually using their devices. This tendency to under-report seem to suggest that phone addiction is a real thing. Similar to a person who may have had a few too many at a bar insisting he, “only had a couple.”

It probably doesn’t take reading through scientific studies for the average person to see that we’re on our cellphones way too much. So much so, that it’s even become a safety concern. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported 3,450 fatalities resulting from cell phone related distracted driving in 2016 alone. There’s no doubt that looking at your newsfeed while driving is incredibly dangerous, yet it happens every day. But, even if you put your phone away when you get behind the wheel, your phone habits even when you’re not in the car could be affecting your driving.

Consider another symptom of our increasingly busy modern lives – drowsy driving. It might be much harder to track than smartphone related crashes, but the government statistics on traffic accidents caused by tired drivers are no less concerning. Based on police statistics, 2015 saw over 72,000 car crashes attributed to drowsy driving.

Drowsy driving is a lot more common than you might think. Consider the average work day in America. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC), at least a third of Americans are getting less than at least 7 hours of sleep a night. For people getting less than that, say 6 hours per night, that means they are up for at least 18 hours a day. This may not seem too concerning to some, however studies have shown that being awake for 18 hours straight has the same effect on a person as having a blood alcohol content of .05%, just shy of the legal limit for driving in most states. The bottom line is, if you get behind the wheel without a good night’s rest, much like enjoying too many cocktails, you risk having delayed reaction time, difficulty with decision making, and you can have trouble just paying attention.

Much of the blame for this growing exhaustion seems to be linked to us looking at our phones at night. With most people checking their phones before bed, there seems to be a quiet, lack of sleep epidemic growing in this country. Research has shown that the light from our screens is not only keeping us from getting enough sleep, but also keeping us from getting enough quality sleep to be able to be rested and alert the next day. The type of light emitted by these electronic devices not only disrupts our ability to fall asleep, it also delays our circadian clock, keeping our bodies from resting and repairing themselves, and it decreases melatonin production, our body’s sleep-promoting hormone.

It’s not just our driving that affected by lack of sleep. Sleep deprivation can lead to cognitive deficiencies like memory loss and difficulty thinking clearly. There are plenty of health risks associated drowsiness as well, including increased risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, and diabetes.

So, what do we do to lower these adverse health risks and get more rest? There are a few life hacks that can get you back on track to a normal sleep schedule. It may sound simple, but try putting your phone away more often. At least one hour before going to bed, put your phone in a drawer. If you don’t want to turn it off in case you get an emergency call in the middle of the night, set your phone on “do not disturb” and designate certain numbers, like your spouse or your closest relatives to ring regardless of those settings. If you have trouble falling asleep, try reading a book with a traditional book light. If you prefer e-readers to physical books, get one that doesn’t light up and use the book light. These light tones don’t disrupt your sleep rhythms the way phones do. Limiting screen time allows your body to relax and naturally get ready for bed. Then, you can wake up the next morning refreshed  and alert, and ready to navigate traffic. Hopefully, you’ll feel better and avoid becoming a statistic.

 

Should Illinois consider jail time for distracted driving offenders?

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We’re taking it to the extreme in the name of safety

On the heels of a May report that Chicago’s distracted driving citations took a dive in 2016, it’s fair to wonder: should Illinois consider stricter penalties for first-time distracted driving offenders?

The basis for my argument is a simple one. If law enforcement can’t reasonably enforce the law, then the law should reasonably enforce itself. In other words, devising harsher, more damning penalties for talking on a cell phone or texting while driving may be the extreme deterrent law enforcement needs to cut down on the rate of distracted driving offenses.

If the matter is purely about making comparisons, then I refer people to this statistic: The Brain Institute of Chicago equates distracted driving as the equivalent of consuming four beers. If you happen to weigh 160 pounds, that’s a 0.080 blood alcohol level content, the threshold by which most states declare someone legally impaired. For first-time offenders, Driving Under the Influence can run in the neighborhood of a $2,500 fine, a suspended license for at least one year, and up to one year in jail time. Second and third-time offenders face even stiffer penalties, going as far as revoking licenses altogether.

There are many people who would have you believe that enforcing such laws is not only impractical but severely lacking enough statistical evidence to prove beneficial. We can look to a 2014 article by U.S. News and Reports, which pointed to 2004 when the NHTSA lowered the minimum BAC threshold in all 50 states from 0.10 to 0.08.

In this case, Gary Biller, president of the National Motorists Association and author of the article, argued that lowering the threshold would do practically nothing to change the drinking habits of Americans. He cited statistics from the NHSTA showing that highway fatalities dropped by 8.6 percent since 2003, but, he argues, the stats didn’t account for advances in auto safety technology like side air bags and better harnesses.

In closing, Biller says this: “The millions of dollars that would be spent in lowering the DUI limit to 0.05 would divert critical resources from that effort. And by arresting tens of thousands of moderate social drinkers every year who have not operated their vehicles unsafely but been deemed legally impaired, we have further burdened our overtaxed legal and correctional systems.”

Biller may have a point to a certain extent, but he also fails to acknowledge what the purpose of enforcing impaired driving is ultimately meant to do, and that’s keeping people safe. It may be impractical for local law enforcement to cite every possible distracted driver, as it is to cite every drunken driver, but it’s certainly better than nothing happening at all.

As we’ve seen in the last two years, the number of auto-related crashes nationwide has jumped by as much as 14 percent. Many attribute that to habits like texting while driving. As Tribune reporter Mary Wisniewski pointed out from her interview on WGN Radio a couple weeks ago, most people believe they can do it safely, and so they do so without thinking about the consequences.

If the penalties were steeper (increasing fines, sending people to jail, etc.), perhaps drivers might think about the consequences more seriously.

As summer arrives, teen drivers require preparation

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Tips for keeping your teen safe

With the weather warming and gas prices declining, it seems inevitable that we’re heading towards a summer with hefty consequences.

As the National Safety Council made clear over Memorial Day Weekend, the season of dangerous teen driving behavior is upon us. And now with a new report that gas prices in Illinois are the lowest they’ve been in years, there’s reason to believe the summer of 2017 could potentially turn into one of the deadliest in recent memory.

It doesn’t have to be this way, and it starts by setting examples.

Recently, Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) partnered with Liberty Mutual to look at both teen and adult driving behavior. What they found was disturbing, but not surprising: just as teens are prone to distracted driving behavior, adults engage in distracted driving behaviors more frequently than younger drivers. That’s according to SADD senior advisor Gene Beresin, who told the Tribune that parents are poor role models when it comes to using cellphones while driving.

According to stats compiled by SADD, 55% of surveyed parents admit they use apps while driving, compared to 62% who say they use their cellphone to check incoming calls or talk. One third of teens said they have asked their parents to stop using their phones while driving. Out of 1,000 parents surveyed, 50% admitted texting or calling their teen despite knowing that their son or daughter was on the road and behind the wheel.

Promoting safe driving habits is one thing, but failing to live up to those habits is worse. Take steps to ensure that doesn’t happen.

Establish parameters for the trip ahead

Any road trip is bound to include music, podcasts, or the radio. The best course of action is to curate your set-list in advance, staving off the temptation to change stations or fiddle with phones mid-drive. Take an opportunity to sit down with your teen and jot down a predetermined set of programming that requires little to no adjustments, at least while driving. Better yet, set your list and immediately toss the phone where it can’t be touched, e.g. the glove box.

Bluetooth is your friend

The beauty of tech is that there’s always something to look forward to. Most cars today are equipped with Bluetooth, allowing drivers to control their device hands-free. This is especially important for anyone using a navigation app to steer their course. Take the opportunity to investigate, install, and setup any navigation or incoming call settings to keep distractions at a minimum.

Incentivize good behavior

Money certainly isn’t the solution to all the world’s problems, but there’s something to be said for incentivizing good behavior. Some people will tell you that’s a bad idea, especially as it pertains to young kids. But once your child enters the teen years, there’s perhaps hope that their behavior won’t be influenced by the thought of receiving a reward. In that sense, consider some small but effective bonus for driving safely. It may require a bit of detective work as far as your teen’s phone is concerned (checking text timestamps and call logs, for example), but it may prove beneficial if it keeps them free of distractions and safe.

At the very least, mount the phone on the dash

Consider this a last resort. A very last resort. One of the things that Beresin pointed out to the Tribune was how challenging it is to suppress the effect of instant gratification. A text or a phone call is, in the minds of many, a gift waiting to be opened. Fighting off that temptation, especially when a parent is not around to supervise, may be too much to overcome for a teenage driver, barring your ability to lock the phone in the glove box and throwing away the key.  In that sense, a phone mount for the console dash is, at the very least, a way to keep eyes focused towards the road. Fidgeting with a phone while looking down is never a good idea.

‘Ghostrider’ efforts could prove useful to Chicago police

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It works in Michigan. What about here?

Going undercover may be one of the better ways to prevent unnecessary traffic fatalities, if we’re to believe a new program coming out of Michigan.

According to the Wall Street Journal, several police departments In Macomb County and Shelby Township have been conducting covert operations to crack down on distracted driving behavior. Among them is a program called Operation Ghostrider, and it’s paying dividends for cops struggling to clearly identify people breaking the law.

As the Journal reports, officers in Macomb County ride in unmarked cars while others roam busy streets disguised as panhandlers, a subversive but effective way to catch distracted drivers in the act of texting or even applying makeup while driving. Stats compiled by the Journal reveal that the Ghostrider op. is responsible for pulling over 140 drivers and issuing more than 100 citations since the start of the campaign. In two four-hour stretches, Shelby Township Police pulled over 93 drivers, all of which received traffic citations.

It’s not just working in Michigan, either. Another program in Tennessee sees officers ride in large buses, a tactic designed to provide a better vantage point when patrolling traffic. And while the buses are marked, the results have typically been the same.

Chicago might take a lesson from Michigan and Tennessee. It wasn’t long ago that Tribune columnist Mary Wisniewski detailed how distracted driving tickets fell precipitously in 2016, down to a few hundred from tens of thousands just a couple years ago. It seems Chicago’s problems stem from less manpower and more bureaucratic red tape.

Those are just two problems. But we’ll have bigger problems if we continue to ignore a deadly trend.

Over the last two years the country has seen a surge in motor-vehicle related fatalities, up six percent in 2015 and up 14 percent compared to 2014. Nearly every expert agrees: distracted driving is one, if not the, primary culprit.

There are differences between rural townships in Michigan and a city like Chicago. But whatever the differences, we can all agree that more needs to be done locally to prevent the city’s downward trend from spiraling further out of control. It doesn’t hurt to look at examples of things that’s proved successful elsewhere.

Distracted driving tickets took a dive in 2016

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From tens of thousands to hundreds

Distracted driving remains a low priority for the Chicago Police Department, a consequence of less manpower and changes to city ordinances, according to Tribune Transportation Columnist Mary Wisniewski.

Wisniewski made appearances on WGN Radio and WBEZ this morning to discuss the huge drop off in the number of citations being doled out by the CPD for things like texting while driving. In 2015, nearly 26,000 distracted driving tickets were written, compared to 46,000 in 2014. In 2016, the CPD wrote just 186 tickets.

“They’ve all but given up on enforcing this particular city ordinance,” Wisniewski said on WGN’s The John Williams Show, prompting host John Williams to ask why. Wisniewski explained:

In 2015, there was a change in the law that made police treat citations under the cell phone ordinance the same as other moving violations, which means that [officers] now have to go to traffic court and appear when the person who’s going up there with their ticket is appearing. [Officers] used to be able to not appear and the tickets could be upheld without them.

Wisniewski also pointed out that the CPD now employs fewer officers and that the department is placing stronger emphasis on other areas of law enforcement, like guns and gang violence. Still, she continued, the CPD hopes to make distracted driving a priority in the future.

The U.S. has experienced an influx of crashes over the last two years, including a 14 percent jump in auto-related fatalities nationally—the highest in almost half a century. Officials at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration attribute at least some of that to distracted driving.

The people who are experts on this said that people are very complacent about distracted driving. Everyone thinks they can do it safely. Everyone thinks, ‘well, I made it home okay, I must be a great driver.’

One of the ways that we can change that is through technology. One of things I brought up in my article is a technology that a company’s working on called a textalizer, which will be able to look at your phone’s operating system after you’ve been in a crash. You’ll be able to plug in your phone and see if you were just texting or on the phone.

Williams countered by saying that while a textalizer might be a good thing, it still wouldn’t prevent people from doing something bad in the first place, would it?

Do we need stronger penalties?

As we’ve outlined here on the blog, and as Wisniewski illustrated to Williams, the key to prevent distracted driving may be imposing stricter penalties to deter people from doing it at all.

Driving Under the Influence is considered a class A misdemeanor in Illinois for first and second-time offenders. Some instances qualify as a felony, which carries much stiffer penalties, including hefty fines and extended jail time.

Organizations like the Brain Injury Society go as far as to say that texting while driving is the equivalent of drinking four beers, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has said that the two are similar as far as the level of distraction. As it stands, Chicago and other cities and states could benefit by qualifying the word “impairment” to cover a much broader scope of infractions. One hopes that doing so would effectively scare people straight.