Apr 23, 2008

Road Crashes Can Be Prevented

Every day we put our lives and those of the people we love at risk. How? By driving or riding as passengers in motor vehicles. At least that is the contention of author Bruce Moeller, and he has statistics on his side. The death rate for vehicle crashes is nearly 43,000 each year in the United States alone. That is 117 deaths per day and nearly five every hour, as reported in AAA’s Crashes vs. Congestion Report (2008). Crashes aren’t just deadly; they are expensive, too. The report also states that the per-person cost of a fatality is $3,246,192 and the cost of an injury is $68,170.

In response to this daily carnage, Bruce Moeller, behaviorist and driving risk expert, has written his second book, Driving Me Crazy. In this heartfelt and insightful tome, Moeller explores our driving culture and what has gone wrong. In his view, automobiles, trucks and buses have become lethal weapons capable of causing mass destruction on a daily basis. And he asks, what can we do to improve the situation? Moeller argues that it is not the vehicle’s fault, but rather, the driver’s.

Moeller provides an insight that few can, since he serves as CEO of DriveCam Inc., a company that monitors risky driving in commercial fleet and automobile drivers daily and then provides programs to improve it. The collection of observations, reflections, stories and commentary is designed to fuel readers’ passion to do what they can to make our roads safer.

“Moeller has brought us important information in a clever style designed to capture attention,” said Patrick J. Garahan, traffic engineer and former Vermont Secretary of Transportation.