Scientist develop a device that won't let motorists fall asleep

Do you know that approx 300,000 people die in road accident that occurs to sleepy driving.

Now, this can be prevented. Scientists from Germany have developed a device to prevent motorists from falling asleep.

Developed at the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany, It is a system which involves tiny cameras that monitor eye movements which trigger an alarm when drivers seem about to nod off.

Cameras are set up to follow the line of vision even when the driver's head moves left or right, reports the Daily Mail.

Utilising up to six dashboard-mounted cameras with compact three to four mm lenses, the system processes up to 200 images per second to detect sleepiness using parameters like line of vision and eyelid position, irrespective of the position of the driver's head.

The system is called 'Eye Tracker' and could be in the market as early as the end of next year.

The alarm can either come in the form of flashing lights or a bell or siren, or even a vibrator on the steering wheel, and can be adapted to any car on the market.

Its testing is due to start January, 2011 and scientists hope it will be ready for sale by December at around 100 pounds a unit.

- IANS Inputs

Src: [NDTV]

U.S. highway accidents deaths drop to 60-year low

WASHINGTON (Bloomberg) -- The number of people killed on U.S. highways fell last year to the lowest level since 1950, the U.S. Transportation Department said, crediting seat-belt use and campaigns to combat drunk-driving for the decline.

Fatalities in motor-vehicle crashes in 2009 fell to 33,808, a 9.7 percent decline from a year earlier, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said today in a statement. The decrease came as people in the U.S. drove 0.2 percent more than the year before.

The death rate fell to 1.13 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 2009, compared to 1.26 deaths for 2008, the agency said.

“Today's numbers reflect the tangible benefits of record seat belt use and strong anti-drunk driving enforcement campaigns,” NHTSA Administrator David Strickland said in the statement.

“But we are still losing more than 30,000 lives a year on our highways, and about a third of these involve drunk driving.”

Ferrari recalls Italia cars after reports of suspectable fire.

Ferrari has decided to recall all of the 458 Italia cars it made this year, following reports of a number of the luxury cars catching fire.

Ferrari said its engineers had flown around the world to investigate five reports of "thermal incidents".

As a result, it will be asking the owners of more than 1,200 of the supercars to bring them in for modification work.

The 458 Italia typically costs about £170,000 ($260,000).

There were reported incidents in California, Paris, Switzerland, China and one other unnamed location.

Ferrari said the problem had been traced to adhesive used in the wheel-arch assemblies.


In certain circumstances, the glue can begin to overheat, smoke and even catch fire, a spokesman told BBC News.

In extreme cases, the melting of the adhesive can lead the heat shield - the liner which protects the engine - to deform and move closer to the exhaust, causing the lining to catch fire.

The handful of owners who first reported the fires - and that were later confirmed to be due to this problem - will now receive a new model, Ferrari said.

For the rest, their cars will be modified to replace the adhesive with mechanical fasteners.

Ferrari launched an investigation last month after photos purporting to show 458 models on fire or burnt out emerged.

- BBC

Ford settles Explorer accident suit after losing $131 million verdict

(Bloomberg) Ford Motor Co. settled a lawsuit over the death of a New York Mets minor league baseball player in an Explorer accident after a jury ordered the company to pay his estate $131 million.

A Jasper County, Miss., jury awarded the verdict today and the case was settled on confidential terms before punitive damages could be considered, said attorney Tab Turner, who represented the family of Brian Cole.

Cole, 27, was ejected from an Explorer in a March 2001 accident in Florida while he was going home from spring training with the Mets. His family claimed the Explorer's seat belt was defective and failed to keep him in the vehicle during the rollover, Turner said.


“His belt was still buckled after the accident was over but he was thrown from the car,” Turner said today. “Physical evidence” showed that Cole had been wearing the belt, he said.

The jury also awarded $1.5 million to Cole's cousin, Ryan, who was injured in the accident. The total verdict is the eighth-largest jury award in 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It's the ninth biggest U.S. verdict against an auto company.

Brian Cole “was not wearing his safety belt,” said Marcey Evans, a Ford spokeswoman. “His passenger, who was properly belted, walked away from the accident,” she said.

Cole had been traveling at more than 80 miles an hour before drifting off the road and losing control of the Explorer, she said.

At the time of Cole's death, he was an outfielder in the AA minor leagues, two steps from the majors, Turner said. “He had been player of the year in the Mets organization,” he said.

How did UK's First road accident occured ?

Bridget Driscoll labourer's wife, 44, took a trip to the Crystal Palace, south-east London, on 17 August 1896.

So she could be forgiven for being bewildered by Arthur Edsall's imported Roger-Benz which was part of a motoring exhibition taking place as she attended a Catholic League of the Cross fete with her 16-year-old daughter, May, and a friend.

But as the Times recalled 70 years later, when giving mention to a memorial service for Mrs Driscoll at her local church, hers was the misfortune of becoming the UK's first traffic fatality.


"At the inquest, Florence Ashmore, a domestic servant, gave evidence that the car went at a 'tremendous pace', like a fire engine - 'as fast as a good horse could gallop'," it read.

"The driver, working for the Anglo-French Motor Co, said that he was doing 4mph when he killed Mrs Driscoll and that he had rung his bell and shouted."

The car's maximum speed, the inquest heard, was 8mph but its speed had been deliberately limited.

One of Mr Edsell's two passengers during the exhibition ride, Ellen Standing, told the inquest she heard the driver shout "stand back" and then the car swerved - giving her a "peculiar sensation", according to a contemporary edition of Autocar.

Mrs Driscoll had hesitated in front of the car and seemed "bewildered" before being hit, the inquest heard.

Three of the German-manufactured, French-assembled cars were being demonstrated at the Dolphin Terrace, an area at the back of the palace, according to an edition of local paper the Norwood News published on 22 August 1896.

It reported May Driscoll as claiming the driver "did not seem to understand what he was doing" and that he had zig-zagged towards them.

"The car then swerved off, and [the] witness looked to see where it was, and it was then going over her mother. (Here witness broke down.) Her mother was knocked down, and the car was at once pulled up," the paper reported, in rather equine terms.

- BBC Exclusive

It is safer to drive on holidays: NMA Study

Based on the average number of collision claims submitted per year by State Farm policyholders from 2005 to 2009, the ranking of holidays from most vehicular accidents to least is:

1. July 4th: 6,031 claims
2. New Years Day: 5,403
3. Memorial Day: 5,321
4. Easter: 5,261
5. Labor Day: 5,211
6. Thanksgiving: 4,271
7. Christmas: 4,092

The interesting thing is that State Farm reports that their average daily intake of accident claims over that same five year period, outside of the seven holidays listed above, is 7,435. Yes, even the holiday with the highest risk of car crashes had almost 20 percent fewer reported mishaps than the days when drivers go about their usual tasks.

This would seem to be an indication that the special circumstances usually surrounding holiday travel plans keep motorists more sharply focused on the road. It is the days where driving fits into a repetitive daily routine that many people behind the wheel apparently are less attentive to what is going on around them.

4th of July holiday is the most dangerous major driving holiday for the accident to happen, according to State Farm Insurance.

Src: [National Motorists Association]