By Art Liggio, President, Driving Dynamics

I had reached a certain age; grown the requisite oversized waistline (I’m being kind to myself) and now sported a graying beard. Like tens of thousands before me sharing these similar traits, I purchased my first motorcycle. Go figure! And I have to say I’m enjoying the heck out of my weekend rides.

May is Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month. While many drivers may be subject to the antics of certain motorcyclists, by far most of the people who ride motorcycles are just like you and me, average Joes and Janes who enjoy their hobby and are mindful and respectful of everyone’s safety on the road.

And because we need to share the road with all types of vehicles I want to offer several techniques to help create greater awareness of the particular hazards that may be encountered when on the road with motorcyclists.

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Huffington Post

Texting while driving may pose a unique risk compared to other forms of distracted driving, according to an experiment recently published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Unlike driving while absent-minded or driving while emotional, driving while texting actually caused study participants to drive unsafely by deviating from the lines. Comparatively — and counterintuitively — the cognitive and emotional distractions actually made participants drive even more safely and in an even straighter line.

The researchers attributed this hyper-focus despite distracting thoughts to a “sixth sense” that corrects driving deviations.

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By Eelco van de Wiel, Managing Director, FleetInsurancePlus

European fleet consulting firm FleetVision has formed a unique partnership with FleetInsurancePlus to define a proper fleet insurance strategy taking into account risk profiles and corporate culture.

Optimal insurance structures, optimal pricing, improved risk profiles, enhanced reporting, and monitored supplier performance are the elements in the mix for an optimized total cost of insurance.

The difference between ‘best in class’ and the market average amounts to 600 Euro per vehicle per year

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The Detroit Bureau

Teachers often say that students thrive in classrooms with clear rules and expectations and a new study shows that concept translates to the road when teenage drivers get their license.

Parents who lay out clear guidelines and parameters and then model those behaviors develop the safest drivers.

A research study from Safe Kids Worldwide and the General Motors Foundation reveals that teens who are given rules about what they can do when driving are less likely to engage in risky behaviors behind the wheel.

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AutoBlog

After spending years searching for the cause of deadly ruptures in Takata airbags, federal safety officials believe they finally know why certain inflators spray lethal amounts of shrapnel at motorists.

Mark Rosekind, administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said a review of ongoing investigations into the cause determined that a combination of time, temperature fluctuations and moisture make chemicals in the airbags degrade.

“The science now clearly shows these inflators can become unsafe over time,” he said.

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Reuters

Car windows don’t protect against harmful sun exposure, so it might be a good idea to wear sunglasses and sun block even while driving, a new study suggests.

While windshields blocked the vast majority of ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun, car door windows offered varying levels of protection from the rays that are tied to cataracts and skin aging.

“Some cars were as low as 50 percent blockage,” said researcher Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler of the Boxer Wachler Vision Institute in Beverly Hill, California.

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New York Daily News

Lots of lucky teenagers get a new car in the summertime, either because they’ve graduated from high school or because they’re heading off to college in the fall. If you’re a parent and you’re thinking of getting your kid a new car this summer, this list of the 6 best cars for teen drivers is an essential read.

Before you take a look at our recommendations, though, it’s important to understand how we determined the finalists.

Each of the six vehicles listed below had to meet the following criteria:

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AAA

Fatal crashes involving drivers who recently used marijuana doubled in Washington after the state legalized the drug, according to the latest research by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.

New research also shows that legal limits for marijuana and driving are arbitrary and unsupported by science, which could result in unsafe motorists going free and others being wrongfully convicted for impaired driving.

Washington was one of the first two states to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, and these findings raise serious concerns about drug-impaired driving with at least 20 states considering marijuana legalization this year.

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By John Wolford, CEI director of client and network services

In most areas of business where people and companies want to get the best value for their dollar it’s common practice to seek three estimates instead of just one. It’s a practice that some fleets still follow for collision repairs, but the truth is it’s not necessarily the best approach and at times could just be the worst.

Your goal should be to obtain the correct estimate, not necessarily the lowest. That’s because there are ways for shops to keep an estimate low, and not all of them are good, like using inferior parts, materials or repair methods, or simply failing to recommend all the repairs that might be necessary.

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The Car Connection

You certainly wouldn’t be an outlier to think that a vehicle dash that’s cluttered with individual buttons looks so dated.

It’s been nine years since Apple introduced the first iPhone, which replaced the typical cellphone’s suite of buttons and replaced it with a capacitive touch screen and a home button.

And with as much time that we spend with our smartphones and tablets, it’s not surprising that consumer preferences for vehicle interfaces are closely mimicking that of the devices they carry in their pocket.

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