Apparently, the drunk driving costs a lot: around $50 billion per year (for alcohol-related crashes) and $60 billion in quality of life losses.
Ok, those are the overall numbers. But if you make a short estimation, drunk driving costs you $500 per year. Now driving after having a drink doesn’t sound so good, does it? To this, add 32% alcohol related traffic deaths and 10,839 people who have died from drunk driving in 2009.
Infographic by Criminal Justice Degree Schools
Now it’s time to become responsible and take attitude: don’t drive if you know you have drunk alcohol!
[Source: Criminaljusticedegreeschools]
Post tags: Tags: car-crash, drunk driving, drunk persons driving, infographic, study
According to the American Journal of Public Health, there’s a difference between genders even when it comes to car accidents. So, the study results have indicated that women are more likely to be hurt in comparison to men in similar crushes in severity.
The reason for this conclusion: the combination of stature and differences in the seating positions which make women more vulnerable to this kind of threat. So, by wearing the seat belts, the risk of chest and spinal injuries are higher for women – with 47% higher than for men.
As expected, there are already parts that do not agree with the results of the study. One of these is Clarence Ditlow of the Center for Auto Safety, who sustains that the date used for the analysis is out-of-date – no data more recent than 1998 were used, which means that the cars involved in crushes are very likely not to have incorporated most of the modern crash protection technology (including “female friendly airbags” – Ditlow said).
What do you think: are the results of this study accurate?
Post tags: Tags: car crush, risk of injury, study, women
For the past few weeks, results of different type of analysis were released. Some were about the cars / brands in top consumer preferences in different areas around the world or, why not, actually in the entire world. Consequently, we’ve decided to present them in the same article. So, here we have:
BMW – world’s best-selling premium automaker through September: sales increased by 9.3 percent in September 2011. On the next two places: Audi and Mercedes-Benz. You can find out details here.
Aston Martin – the coolest automotive brand in Britain: for the fifth time in six years. The criteria included: “style, innovation, authenticity, originality and desirability”. More info about that, here.
Audi – the most social luxury brand in China: if we take into account the fact that China became the world’s second largest luxury goods market in 2010, a study about how top luxury brands in China are performing in social media was normal to be initiated. The winner: Audi. Details are here.
What do you think about the results?
[Source: Photo]
Post tags: Tags: Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, charts, first place, study
Waiting in traffic is horrible: it means wasted money and time, meetings cancelled, moments of tension and anger, high blood pressure. The next infographic shows the following:
– Chicago is the most congested city, although it benefits of a strong public transportation system. – the average one-way length of the commute is 12.8 miles, taking about 33 minutes.
In 2010, 3.9 million gallons of fuel were wasted across the US.
For more numbers and details, check out the following infographic:
[Source: Carbuzz]
Post tags: Tags: infographic, study, traffic costs
We know: this is an evergreen topic, and everyone is working hard to stop these situations from happening. Still, as “seeing is believing”, here we have some numbers about this issue:
– this year, 10,839 people will die in drunk-driving crashes. – an average drunk driver has driven drunk 87 times before the first arrest. – every minute, one person gets injured in an alcohol-related crash.
– teen alcohol use kills about 6,000 people each year.
If these are not enough, watch this infographic:
[Source: sr22insurancequotes, Photo]
Post tags: Tags: alcohol, driving, dui, no drinking, study
The results of a new research were made public: according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, SUV’s and pickup trucks made nowadays pose less risk to drivers in cars and minivans than their versions from the past. They aren’t more likely to be a part in a fatal crash than cars and minivans of the same weight.
In numbers, this is the situation: – in 2000-2001, the traffic fatality rate was of 44 deaths per million registered vehicles – for the accidents involving SUV cars between 3,000 and 3,499 pounds vs. cars and minivans.
– in 2008-2009, the numbers have dropped to 16 deaths per million registered vehicles. For comparison, cars and minivans in the same weight category were involved in the deaths of other car/minivan passengers at a rate of 17 per million in 2008-09.
“Whether you’re in an SUV or just sharing the road with one. (…) Recent improvements to these vehicles are making you safer.” said Joe Nolan, the Institute’s chief administrative officer and a co-author of the study.
The researchers consider this change is the result of some improvement of cars and minivans in the area of crash protection (side-by-side airbags, advanced crash structure). To this, SUV’s bring their contribution too: their manufacturers now use front ends designed for a better alignment with those crash structures mentioned above.
Post tags: Tags: accidents, car-crash, minivans, safety, study, suv
So, this is an infographic resulted from a small study on Kelley Blue Book visitors. To summarize, the results show these: – 59% hate haggling the price when purchasing a car. – 56% would take that car to a test drive, mostly alone. – 42% would never buy a car online.
– 29% don’t need any hi-tech features on new cars.
The other results are in the graphic bellow:
So, are you one of the persons who like buying cars?
Post tags: Tags: americans, infographic, study
“Commuter Pain 2011″ is a survey made by IMB, asking people’s opinion about what city they commute in and how’s its traffic. It doesn’t look for solution, it doesn’t want to find out what causes the problems. It’s only a finding, and the numbers show that Mexico City has the world’s worst traffic.
The results include the situation of 20 cities. The interesting part is that 8,042 people surveyed were 18-65 years old, and drove a vehicle alone as their main mode of transportation (as if there was no other option). In other words, these are people who complain about something they actually cause daily: traffic jams.
Anyway, do you think we can consider these results accurate?
[Source: Jalopnik]
Post tags: Tags: ibm, study, traffic jam, world’s worst traffic, worst traffic
Car insurance applications and the same problem with men and women and their specific relationship to insurance premiums: nothing new so far. Until a study developed by a United Kingdom-based eInsurance Group (which serves almost 280,000 insurance applications a month) has discovered that women lie more than men on car insurance applications to get cheaper car insurance. This conclusion was extracted from the fact that 51% of declined premiums were ones handed in by women.
The study revealed a series of top lies too on car insurance applications, such as those related to convictions (where men lead with 64%), experience in driving and possess a no claims discount (having women as “winners” with 68% for the license length and 53% – for the latter).
“These results show that basing insurance premiums on gender alone is misguided. The insurers should do more to tackle the liars, whoever they are, and reward honest drivers.” said Alan Sanderson, CEO of eInsurance Group.
How you ever lied on a car insurance application?
Post tags: Tags: car insurance, car insurance application, car insurance policy, study
Researchers from MIT’s Impact and Crashworthiness Laboratory have discovered that the same type of computer modeling used for testing whether car components can hold their own in a crash could also predict whether pipes will resist or not at offshore drilling sites. The discovery is even more important, as identifying the potential of a pipe to fracture can save the site from an ecological disaster.
This method taken from the automotive industry could combine computer simulations with physical experiments. The same could happen with pipes too, similar to car testing, where the process is as follows: samples from the commonly used material are taken, sprayed with small dots and then bombarded with different loads while being fixed into a machine. Each moment of the impact is recorded on camera and then analyzed using a computer program. So, all the deformations that appear during the test are taken into account.
The researchers have tested this option by simulating the conditions of Deepwater Horizon disaster from 2010 and using a computer model of the drill riser and a reconstruction scene of the accident. Their result was that the exact location and type of the fracture were predicted by the model.
So, we believe this is a wonderful discovery for oil companies. Nice know-how transfer between domains!
What other technologies transferred from the automotive industry to other domains do you know?
Post tags: Tags: car-crash, ecological disaster, offshore drilling, study, testing pipes resistance, tests
Road trips with your wife or girlfriend are now statistically confirmed that cause couple problems. The most common cause seems to be you driving too fast, that your lady does not agree with (in 22.72% of cases this was given as a reason for fighting). Whether you drive so fast that you miss the exit or the entry on a street (18.01%), whether you don’t keep the right distance from the car in front of you (13%) or your parking skills (5%): these are all enough reasons to destroy your journey and in-car arguments to start.
At least this is what a study made in the UK by Tesco Cars, an online used car channel, has shown.
The surprising thing is that kids fighting in the back seat of the car do not cause problems to couples (only 3.9% of in-car arguments were indicated as being caused by kids).
So, if you want to enjoy a great car ride with your lady, you should think about not making the mistakes mentioned above. Or you should take a journey by yourself.
What is in your case the most frequent reason to get into a fight with your partner while being in the car?
Post tags: Tags: couple fighting, in-car arguments, speeding arguments, study
When it comes to car servicing, battle of the sexes has definitely a winner: man. It’s not that all women are not good at cars, but statistically, only 3 in 10 women take their cars for servicing on their own (compare this with seven out of ten men who does this). At least this is the situation in United Kingdom.
The research was conducted by a car servicing network, Bosch Car Service, on 1022 British adults over eighteen. It revealed the fact that the problem comes from women’s fear they have no good experience with that (35% of participating women indicated this reason, while 24% of men have chosen the same answer). However, women might have lately made efforts to improve their driving skills, but men are still better at car servicing duty. No offense, ladies!
The interesting part comes with the next results: three out of ten drivers under the age of 24, regardless of sex, are letting their parents deal with the duty of car maintenance. The same number of persons have indicated they take the car for servicing on their own, while the rest of questioned persons recognized they leave this job to mum and dad. The reasons for this latter category of drivers could be inexperience and also costs.
So, do you take your car for servicing on your own?
Post tags: Tags: car servicing, study
A new study made by the satellite navigation company TomTom has revealed that women’s stress level is seven times lower than men’s when they are stuck in traffic. The research tested stress level on volunteers, by analyzing chemicals in their saliva while being caught up in a traffic jam.
Therefore, the British psychologists have discovered that women’s stress level increased by 8.7%, while men’s – 60% in the same traffic situation. Consequently, many heart and breathing diseases can appear on men. Surprisingly, many of the volunteers participating to the experiment did not feel like being stressed, even if the chemical results have showed otherwise: after 20 minutes in heavy traffic, 67% of the women and 50% of men said they had no idea they were experiencing stress.
In addition to those statistic results, the study has revealed that 48% of adults go to work every day by their own car, which means they are daily exposed to traffic jams and implicitly to health problems. All those aspects make driving more risky and potentially dangerous.
The psychological explanation of this difference between men and women is due to men’s normal attitude and reaction in case of a difficult situation: they either confront it or walk away from it. In this case, they cannot do either of those. On the other hand, women find different ways of relaxing the atmosphere and releasing the pressure, for example, by turning on the radio (apparently, 77% of British drivers caught up in traffic listen to music, while 23% sing for themselves, 16% make phone calls, 20% – eat or drink, 3% – put on make-up or shave).
So, how do you release your stress while being stuck in heavy traffic?
Post tags: Tags: stress level, study, traffic jam
According to a study conducted by Glass’s, who is the leading valuations expert in United Kingdom, leasing the batteries for an EV can offer whole life costs superior to other alternatives. The data was revealed at an RAC Foundation at the beginning of this month.
You probably know that it is a very crucial time for the electric vehicles market and probably one of the most important factors that a customer has to take into consideration is the cost. The battery is the most expensive component of an EV and at the same time it is a part of the car that we can’t be sure of its reliability, durability and residual value.
This situation makes things considerably more difficult for electric car manufacturers as they don’t know whether they should sell these cars with the batteries included or they should lease them. The study shows that for the Nissan Leaf, the purchase cost (including the battery), retains 35% of its value after 36 months and 36,000 miles, compared to a similar EV in size for which the owner has to lease the batteries, and should retain 54% of its value over the exact same period.
As far as a range-extender car that drives using only electric power and in which the battery is charged by a gasoline power unit, it will hold 43% of its value. For a diesel, the Glass’s study shows that after 36 months and 36,000 miles, the car will retain 44% of its value.
The depreciation costs of these EVs are calculated to be 16,765 pounds for the Nissan Leaf; 16,570 pounds for the range-extender and 8,275 pounds for an electric vehicle with a leased battery; while a diesel model will lose 9,750 pounds of its value over three years. The costs per mile are: 0.49 pounds for the Nissan Leaf; 0.52 pounds for the range-extender and 0.39 pounds for the diesel. The winner here is the EV with a leased battery – 0.33 pounds per mile.
Source: Glass’s via NextGreenCar
Post tags: Tags: ev, leasing batteries, study
2011 Lexus IS 250
The reason why you shouldn’t get a Lexus IS if you live in the United Kingdom is because according to a recent study, it is the most vandalized car in the country. Other “desirable” cars are the BMW Z4 and the Mini One. SwiftCover.com’s Vehicle Vandalism Index has revealed this information, analyzing more than 2,200 motor insurance claims.
Here is the complete top 10 of the most vandalized cars in the United Kingdom. The last figure is the “VV Index” which shows the percentage possibility that the car would be vandalized in a 1-year period (2009-2010) multiplied by 10.
1 Lexus IS 5.56 2 BMW Z4 4.75 3 MINI One 4.62 4 Mercedes-Benz CLK 4.52 5 Audi TT 4.48 6 Mazda MX-5 4.31 7 BMW X5 4.24 8 Skoda Octavia 4.09 9 BMW 525 4.05
10 BMW 530 3.92
Source: Swiftcover.com via Yahoo
Post tags: Tags: study
