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Showing posts with label car accident. Show all posts
Showing posts with label car accident. Show all posts

Friday, June 08, 2012

Cars that avoid crashes by talking to each other

car accident
In this photo taken, Tuesday, May 22, 2012, professional test driver J.D. Ellis of Cincinnati, Ohio, demonstrates the dashboard warning signal in a Ford Taurus, at an automobile testing area in Oxon Hill, Md.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- As a safety demonstration, it was a heart-stopper: A Ford Taurus was seconds away from cruising through an intersection when suddenly a row of red lights pulsed on the lower windshield and a warning blared that another car was approaching fast on the cross street.

Braking quickly, the driver stopped just as the second car, previously unseen behind a large parked truck, barreled through a red light and across the Ford's path.

The display at a recent transportation conference was a peek into the future of automotive safety: cars that to talk to each other and warn drivers of impending collisions. Later this summer, the government is launching a yearlong, real-world test involving nearly 3,000 cars, trucks and buses using volunteer drivers in Ann Arbor, Mich.

The vehicles will be equipped to continuously communicate over wireless networks, exchanging information on location, direction and speed 10 times a second with other similarly equipped cars within about 1,000 feet. A computer analyzes the information and issues danger warnings to drivers, often before they can see the other vehicle.

On roadways today, the Taurus in the demonstration likely would have been "T-boned" - slammed in the side by the other car. There were more than 7,800 fatal intersection accidents on U.S. highways in 2010.

Called vehicle-to-vehicle communication, or V2V, more advanced versions of the systems can take control of a car to prevent an accident by applying brakes when the driver reacts too slowly to a warning.

V2V "is our next evolutionary step ... to make sure the crash never happens in the first place, which is, frankly, the best safety scenario we can all hope for," said David Strickland, administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

V2V technology holds the potential to help in most crashes that aren't alcohol or drug related, Strickland said. But a lot will depend on how drivers respond to the warnings, and that's one reason for the Ann Arbor test. Overall, more than 32,000 people were killed in traffic accidents last year.

In addition to warning of cars running red lights or stop signs, "connected cars" can let drivers know if they don't have time to make a left turn because of oncoming traffic. When driving on a two-lane road, the systems warn when passing is unsafe because of oncoming cars - even vehicles around a curve that the driver can't see yet.

In a line of heavy traffic, the systems issue an alert if a car several vehicles ahead brakes hard even before the vehicle directly in front brakes. And the systems alert drivers when they're at risk of rear-ending a slower-moving car.

It's also possible for connected cars to exchange information with traffic lights, signs and roadways if states and communities decide to equip their transportation infrastructure with similar technology. The information would be relayed to traffic management centers, tipping them off to congestion, accidents or obstructions. If cars are reported to be swerving in one spot on a roadway, for example, that could indicate a large pothole or obstruction. The constant stream of vehicle-to-infrastructure, or V2I, information could give traffic managers a better picture of traffic flows than they have today, enabling better timing of traffic signals to keep cars moving, for example. Correspondingly, cars could receive warnings on traffic tie-ups ahead and rerouting directions.

NHTSA has been working on the technology for the past decade along with eight automakers: Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai-Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Toyota and Volkswagen.

"We think this is really the future of transportation safety, and it's going to make a huge difference in the way we live our lives," said Scott Belcher, president of the Intelligent Transportation Society of America, which promotes technology solutions to transportation problems.

The technology is already available, said Rob Strassburger, vice president for safety of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. He said what's needed is for the government to set standards so that all automakers use compatible technology.

The safety benefits of V2V won't be fully realized until there is a critical mass of cars on the road that can talk to each other, and just where that point lies isn't known. By the time the government sets standards and automakers are able to respond, it may be 10 years before the technology is widely available on new cars. It takes about 30 years for a new technology to work its way into the entire population of cars.

Creating consumer demand for the technology could speed up its introduction, Strassburger said. There's already demand for information on traffic tie-ups and rerouting that drivers can download to their smartphones, he said.

Automakers dislike government mandates requiring them to add technology to cars, but that's probably what's needed, said Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, a consumer group.

"If you have the technology, and the price has gone down so much, use it," he said. "You aren't going to get it into the marketplace as fast as you could and save as many lives as you could unless you mandate it."

Some of the safety technologies for V2V are already available in cars, although they tend to be offered primarily on higher-end models. Lane departure systems, for example, warn drivers when their vehicle unintentionally wanders from its lane, and some can automatically steer the car back. Blind spot systems warn drivers of vehicles in adjacent lanes, and some can also steer away from hazards. Forward collision warning systems alert drivers to impending crashes, and some can automatically brake if the driver doesn't respond. Adaptive cruise control automatically adjusts vehicle speed to maintain a set distance from the car ahead in the same lane. Adaptive headlights change their aim in conjunction with the steering wheel. Parking sensors and rear-mounted cameras help a driver parallel park without scraping paint, bumping fenders or hitting pedestrians.

A key difference is that most of the current technologies rely on radar or laser sensors to "see" other nearby vehicles. They can't warn drivers about cars they can't see, such as the car that ran the red light in the intersection demonstration, or an oncoming car around a curve in the road.

Together, the currently available technologies and the future V2V systems may effectively form a kind of autopilot for the road. Said Strassburger: "The long-term trajectory for these technologies is the vehicle that drives itself - the driverless car."

News by AP

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Sunday, November 27, 2011

Togo Bus Crash: Soccer Players Killed After Vehicle Plunges Into Ravine

togo bus crash
Soccer Player
LOME, Togo — At least six topflight Togolese soccer players were killed and another 28 people critically injured on Saturday after a bus carrying their team plunged into a ravine and caught fire.

In a statement read on national television, the Togo government said President Faure Gnassingbe had ordered that those injured from the Etoile Filante club be taken to the military wing of the Lome Central Hospital to receive urgent medical attention.

A delegation, led by sports minister Christophe Tchao, traveled to the accident site with an ambulance to evacuate the injured.

The accident happened near the city of Atakpame, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) north of Lome, as Etoile Filante was on its way to Togo's second largest city of Sokode for Sunday's league game against Semassi.

A tire is believed to have burst, causing the bus to topple over and plunge down a ravine. Some of the victims reportedly burnt to death. Eyewitness accounts said the bus flipped over several times as it crashed into the ravine.

"We do not know how we managed to get out of the accident," said one of the survivors, goalkeeper Mama Souleyman.

Images on Togo national television showed the smoldering wreckage of the bus, which was almost completely burnt to ashes.

Lome-based Etoile Filante is a seven-time Togo national league champion and was runner-up in Africa's continental club competition in 1968.

Last year, two Togo national team officials were killed and several players hurt after a gun attack on the team's bus as it traveled to the African Cup of Nations tournament in Angola.

In 2007, Togo sports minister Richard Attipoe was among 22 people who died when a helicopter carrying Togolese soccer fans and officials crashed in Sierra Leone after an African Cup qualifying match.

News by Huffingtonpost



Tuesday, November 15, 2011

9-year-old NC girl survives 2 days in car wreckage

car accident
Car Accident
COVE CITY, N.C. (AP) — A 9-year-old North Carolina girl pinned in a wrecked car for almost two days ate Pop-Tarts and Gatorade to help her survive the single-car crash that killed her father, police and relatives said on Monday.

Jordan Landon of Cove City was airlifted to a hospital Sunday night after rescue teams cut her out of the 1995 Chevrolet Monte Carlo that had been upside down in a culvert since Friday night, the North Carolina Highway Patrol said. Killed was 39-year-old Douglas Landon, police said.

Sgt. David Clifton called the girl "heroic" and that she was able to stay calm despite being trapped in the dark and cold. He says the girl was talkative and is expected to fully recover.

Clifton said a person walking by saw the car off the state highway and called 911 late Sunday afternoon, more than 40 hours after the pair was believed to have crashed on their way to a store. Temperatures at night had dropped into the 30s in the area in eastern North Carolina.

News by Yahoo



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