Bad Weather: Bad Drivers

Reported June 2008

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Each year, nearly 7,400 people are killed and over 670,000 are injured in crashes. But not all wrecks are because of driver error. Ivanhoe reveals what really factors into many of these accidents.

Rainy weather can wreak havoc on highways. When a big storm rolls in, drivers tend to either slow down too much or not enough. Drivers need to be wary of driving in any change in the weather. A new study by transportation engineers reveals that nearly one-quarter of all crashes occur in bad weather conditions. Most happen on wet pavement.

"We found that more fatal crashes occurred in the south," Lynette Goodwin, lead transportation engineer at Noblis in Falls Church, Va., told Ivanhoe. "This region experiences the highest rainfall totals. It also has a very high population."

Unlike snow and ice covered roads that scare drivers into staying home or driving more carefully. Many drivers don't consider rain as 'bad' weather, so more cars end up on wet roads, and drivers don't slow down enough to avoid serious accidents.

"Weather can impact visibility, distance, pavement friction, vehicle performance and travel speeds," Goodwin explains. "We need to have a better understanding of how weather impacts our roads and then we can make better travel decisions."

More wet weather accidents can be avoided if drivers slow down and increase their distance from the car ahead. "I'm very cautious when I know that there's going to be inclement weather so I try and get ahead of the weather and drive either earlier on or much later," one driver says.

Keeping a step ahead may help you get to where you're going … alive! Researchers also found an increase in crash risk at the start of the winter season. Throughout the winter season, drivers seem to adjust and relearn how to drive in snow.

The American Meteorological Society and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report.

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

U.S. DOT Federal Highway Administration; Washington, D.C.
Nancy Singer (PAO)
(202) 366-4650
Nancy.Singer@dot.gov

American Meteorological Society
Boston, MA 02108-3693
(617) 227-2425
http://www.ametsoc.org

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. IEEE-USA
Washington, DC 20036-5104
(202) 530-8353
http://www.ieee.org
ieeeusa@ieee.org

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