When I became an instructor in The Dynamics of Fleet Safety, I became more involved with driving safety.  We know that the greatest rise in worker’s injury and death is occurring with motor vehicle accidents.  Speed, alcohol and failure to use seat belts are the major cause of these incidents, however I recently did some research on 2 other driving problems, which are my driving pet peeves.

How often have you had a car make a right turn on red in front of you almost causing an accident?  During the past month I recorded each time I saw it happen whenever I was in a car.  Any guess as to the number?  Would you believe in 30 days the number was 182?  This number represents a motor vehicle which, in my opinion, made a right turn on red without stopping at the red light, did not yield to on coming traffic, or just made a dangerous right-turn-on-red. 

During the second part of the research, I recorded the number of motor vehicles that failed to use turn signals.  This number is staggering.  Over 450 vehicles failed to use their turn signals and over 225 did so when turning either right or left.

Interesting that over 80% of these infractions were with passenger vehicle drivers.  Professional drivers did much better, especially when making a turn.  The Federal Highway Administration estimates the cost of moderate accident is about $40,000

To be fair, research done by the Transportation Research Board for Federal Highway Adminstration showed no significant increase in accidents with since the start of right-turn-on rid.

These two driving infractions are not reported to have the same impact as speed, alcohol and driving without using your seat belt on injuries and deaths.   Yet, they still can initiate accidents without be recorded as the primary cause.  As an example, the other day I had to rapidly change lanes a car made a right-turn-on-red in front of me.  If there had been a car in the left lane, the accident would have been my fault for improper lane change.  The accident report would show nothing concerning the illegal right turn on red. 

Driving safely is being constantly aware of everything that is happening around us.  Don’t even get me started on using cell phones, reading, eating, putting on makeup, or anything else which distracts drivers.

Please use the comment section below to let us know what bothers you when you are driving.