| Subject: |
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Driving While Inattentive: The New DWI? |
| Name: |
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Bruce Arnold |
| Date Posted: |
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Apr 21, 06 - 7:28 AM |
| Email: |
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Bruce@LdrLongDistanceRider.com |
| Message: |
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Fellow Freedom Fighters,
Over the past several days, we have issued a series of emails and forum postings on the subject of INATTENTIONAL BLINDNESS, which is the cause of 50 percent of ALL motorcycle accidents. Many concerned motorcyclists have responded and provided valuable feedback, and we thank them for that. We also issued a challenge to MRO/SMRO leaders and bikers' rights activists everywhere, asking "If addressing one issue--inattentional blindness--has the potential of reducing ALL motorcycle accidents by as much as 50% ... then why in the f**king world are we wasting our limited time, money, human resources and political capital on anything else?!?" No national MRO has responded as of yet, but we have received feedback from several state, regional and local chapter SMRO leaders, and we greatly appreciate that as well.
The problem (inattentional blindness) and our initial proposed solution (broadly enforced and widely advertised laws mandating specific and severe penalties for the maiming or killing of bikers) are documented in these two postings:
50% Of *ALL* Motorcycle Accidents Are Caused By Inattentional Blindness
http://pub42.bravenet.com/forum/3562429698/fetch/679540/
Specific and Severe Penalties Offer A Cure For Inattentional Blindness
http://pub42.bravenet.com/forum/3562429698/fetch/678120/
I think I can fairly summarize the feedback to date by saying that no one denies the gravity of the problem, but some (perhaps many) believe that passing legislation with specific and severe penalties for maiming or killing bikers (as opposed to maiming or killing anyone) is a "hard sell" because the law would be viewed as "biased". To those taking that position, I ask this: IF IT IS "OK" TO PASS MOTORCYCLE SAFETY LAWS THAT RESTRICT ONLY BIKERS, THEN WHY IS IT "NOT OK" TO PASS MOTORCYCLE AWARENESS LAWS THAT PROTECT ONLY BIKERS?
While you ponder that question, let me mention that this week the NHTSA Safety Nazis may have actually done us a favor by releasing this report ...
The Impact of Driver Inattention On Near-Crash/Crash Risk ...
http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/departments/nrd-13/driver-distraction/PDF/DriverInattention.pdf
... the abstract of which states that "... The results indicated that driving while drowsy results in a four- to six-times higher near-crash/crash risk relative to alert drivers. Drivers engaging in visually and/or manually complex tasks have a three-times higher near-crash/crash risk than drivers who are attentive. There are specific environmental conditions in which engaging in secondary tasks or driving while drowsy is more dangerous, including intersections, wet roadways, and areas of high traffic density. Short, brief glances away from the forward roadway for the purpose of scanning
the driving environment are safe and actually decrease near-crash/crash risk. Even in the cases of secondary task engagement, if the task is simple and requires a single short glance the risk is elevated only slightly, if at all. However, glances totaling more than 2 seconds for any purpose increase near-crash/crash risk by at least two times that of normal, baseline driving."
These conclusions may not be earth-shattering, and the report contains only one reference to "motorcycle", but the word "inattention" appears in the title and 399 more times throughout the 224 page document. So as I see it, the release of this report benefits our cause by having NHTSA legitimize "inattention" as a significant causal factor in motor vehicle accidents.
This NHTSA report also contains 51 references to "inattentive" and some discussion of driving while intoxicated or under the influence of alcohol. Putting those two together gave me another idea as to how we might structure laws to combat inattentional blindness. What if we were to propose laws that penalized ...
DRIVING WHILE INATTENTIVE (DWI)
Society already understands and respects that if they get caught with their driving skills impaired by alcohol, they face the following DUI first/second/third offense fines, license restrictions and revocations, punishments or prison terms:
http://www.1800duilaws.com/default.htm
Why not have a similar slate of penalties apply when driving skills impaired by inattention result in the maiming or killing of bikers? Each state's DUI laws could be modified or at least serve as a model for "the new DWI" ... we'll have our own catchy TLA to champion ... and the Motorcycle Awareness publicity campaign possibilities would be boundless.
***
Fifty percent of all motorcycle accidents are caused by INATTENTIONAL BLINDNESS. Here is yet another way to do something about it. What are you going to do, AMA? What are you going to do, MRF? What are you going to do, ABATE?
What are YOU going to do? |
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