Car accidents are always a concern when drivers in Oklahoma take to the road, especially with the threat of drunk, distracted or otherwise dangerous drivers. Texting while driving is one of the most dangerous activities while behind the wheel as recognized by the overwhelming majority of survey recipients in a study conducted across the United States by Harris Poll. There are a number of threats to people on the roadway, and these can be escalated by changes such as marijuana legalization and the growing use of smartphones and 24/7 connectivity.
Though Pokémon Go is starting to fade as a gaming phenomenon, that doesn't mean that it has stopped posing safety concerns. Residents of Oklahoma and across the U.S. probably remember the reports of players being injured because they were so engrossed in the game. Two professors from Purdue University have conducted a study that shows how distracted driving has created a worrisome trend among Pokémon Go players.
According to the Federal Highway Administration, there are more than 5.7 million accidents on the road each year, and over 1.3 million of them are weather-related. Winter being the most dangerous season of all, drivers in Oklahoma should make sure that they're prepared every time it rolls around.
Traffic accident deaths in Oklahoma and around the country have been on the rise, but a growing number of lawmakers and road safety advocacy groups believe that autonomous vehicles may one day solve the problem. The goal of the U.S. Department of Transportation's Road to Zero campaign, which was launched in October 2016, is to eliminate road deaths entirely during the next three decades, and both the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Congress have taken action to ease the regulatory burden on companies involved in the development of self-driving cars.
Oklahoma drivers may be interested to know that the size of their vehicle plays an important role in traffic accidents. Larger vehicles typically endure accidents better small cars, particularly if the accident is a collision between large and small vehicles.
Progressive Insurance recently released the results of a survey in which over 90 percent of respondents said that distracted driving should be made illegal. Overall, 65 percent of those who responded to the survey felt that texting or looking at a phone was a major cause of traffic accidents in Oklahoma and throughout the country. However, over a third of respondents also said that they felt they could safely text while driving.
Oklahoma drivers who have collision avoidance systems in their vehicles may be less likely to be in a motor vehicle accident according to a study released by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. For the purposes of the study, the IIHS vice-president of research examined data on more than 5,000 accidents taking place in 2015 that systems alerting the driver to blind spots and lane departure are supposed to prevent.
Oklahoma motorists are permitted to drive at 75 mph on some stretches of road, and a bill signed into law by Gov. Fallin in May 2016 allows the state's Department of Transportation to modify speed limits as it sees fit. While laws such as these may be welcome news to long-distance truck drivers and harried commuters, they are unlikely to please road safety groups like the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The nonprofit advocacy group analyzed the impact that rising speed limits have had on traffic accident fatalities, and it concluded that road deaths increase by about 4 percent every time speed limits are increased by 5 mph.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has added three vehicles to its list of the highest rated in terms of crash safety. Oklahoma drivers who are shopping for full-size cars may therefore want to consider the Toyota Avalon, Mercedes-Benz E-Class or the Lincoln Continental. Each of these cars received Top Safety Pick Plus designations from the IIHS.
Motorists on Oklahoma roads are required to ensure that all of their child passengers are securely restrained by safety belts, harnesses or child seats, but figures from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration suggest that law enforcement may not be doing enough to enforce this. Data from the agency's Fatality Analysis Reporting System was used by researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Harvard University to study fatal accidents involving children under the age of 15, and they found that strict seat belt laws and rigorous enforcement efforts play a crucial role in reducing child mortality rates.