Talk about stuck between a rock and a hard place. A Virginia driver found herself sucked into a sinkhole Monday morning. It happened just off U.S. Highway 29 North - that's southwest of Lynchburg.
CBS 6 viewer Leonard Harville captured these images of the car and the Gretna Volunteer Fire and Rescue team in action.
Harville says the driver was stuck inside her green mini-van until crews arrived her injures are not believed to be life-threatening.
He says the ditch was approximately 20 feet deep and had washed the roadway out and other drivers had complained about the potential problem.
Source
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Banning mobile phones in cars don’t reduce car accidents
We are often reminded that when we drive, don’t text. If we text, don’t drive. The campaign drew a lot of support, and I am not surprised. How can you text and drive at the same time? If you know how to drive a car, you know that you need to put your 100% attention to the road or you endanger your own life or someone else’s life.
But a recent study released by the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) study contradicts everything. The study shows that despite the ban, there is no reductions in crashes after hand-held phone bans take effect. Comparing insurance claims for crash damage in 4 US jurisdictions before and after such bans, the researchers find steady claim rates compared with nearby jurisdictions without such bans.
HLDI researchers calculated monthly collision claims per 100 insured vehicle years (a vehicle year is 1 car insured for 1 year, 2 insured for 6 months each, etc.) for vehicles up to 3 years old during the months immediately before and after hand-held phone use was banned while driving in New York (Nov. 2001), the District of Columbia (July 2004), Connecticut (Oct. 2005), and California (July 2008). Comparable data were collected for nearby jurisdictions without such bans. This method controlled for possible changes in collision claim rates unrelated to the bans — changes in the number of miles driven due to the economy, seasonal changes in driving patterns, etc.
Month-to-month fluctuations in rates of collision claims in jurisdictions with bans didn’t change from before to after the laws were enacted. Nor did the patterns change in comparison with trends in jurisdictions that didn’t have such laws.
“The laws aren’t reducing crashes, even though we know that such laws have reduced hand-held phone use, and several studies have established that phoning while driving increases crash risk,” says Adrian Lund, president of both the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and HLDI. For example, an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study that relies on driver phone records found a 4-fold increase in the risk of injury crashes. A study in Canada found a 4-fold increase in the risk of crashes involving property damage. Separate surveys of driver behavior before and after hand-held phone use bans show reductions in the use of such phones while driving.
The HLDI database doesn’t identify drivers using cellphones when their crashes occur. However, reductions in observed phone use following bans are so substantial and estimated effects of phone use on crash risk are so large that reductions in aggregate crashes would be expected. In New York the HLDI researchers did find a decrease in collision claim frequencies, relative to comparison states, but this decreasing trend began well before the state’s ban on hand-held phoning while driving and actually paused briefly when the ban took effect. Trends in the District of Columbia, Connecticut, and California didn’t change.
HLDI added that the new findings don’t match what they already know about the risk of phoning and texting while driving. If crash risk increases with phone use and fewer drivers use phones where it’s illegal to do so, they would expect to see a decrease in crashes. But they aren’t seeing it. Nor do they see collision claim increases before the phone bans took effect. This is surprising, too, given what HLDI know about the growing use of cellphones and the risk of phoning while driving. The company is currently gathering data to figure out this mismatch.”
HLDI researchers compared the District of Columbia’s collision claim frequency trend not only with statewide trends in Virginia and Maryland but also with the trend in the nearby city of Baltimore. Again, the finding is no difference in the pattern of collision claims. Nor were any differences apparent when the researchers applied a time-based regression model to claims data for each of the study and comparison jurisdictions.
Some factors mentioned that might be eroding the effects of hand-held phone bans on crashes - One is that drivers in jurisdictions with such bans may be switching to hands-free phones because no US state currently bans all drivers from using such phones. In this case crashes wouldn’t go down because the risk is about the same, regardless of whether the phones are hand-held or hands-free.
Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia do prohibit beginning drivers from using any type of phone, including hands-free, but such laws are difficult to enforce. This was the finding in North Carolina, where teenage drivers didn’t curtail phone use in response to a ban, in part because they didn’t think the law was being enforced.
Source
But a recent study released by the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) study contradicts everything. The study shows that despite the ban, there is no reductions in crashes after hand-held phone bans take effect. Comparing insurance claims for crash damage in 4 US jurisdictions before and after such bans, the researchers find steady claim rates compared with nearby jurisdictions without such bans.
HLDI researchers calculated monthly collision claims per 100 insured vehicle years (a vehicle year is 1 car insured for 1 year, 2 insured for 6 months each, etc.) for vehicles up to 3 years old during the months immediately before and after hand-held phone use was banned while driving in New York (Nov. 2001), the District of Columbia (July 2004), Connecticut (Oct. 2005), and California (July 2008). Comparable data were collected for nearby jurisdictions without such bans. This method controlled for possible changes in collision claim rates unrelated to the bans — changes in the number of miles driven due to the economy, seasonal changes in driving patterns, etc.
Month-to-month fluctuations in rates of collision claims in jurisdictions with bans didn’t change from before to after the laws were enacted. Nor did the patterns change in comparison with trends in jurisdictions that didn’t have such laws.
“The laws aren’t reducing crashes, even though we know that such laws have reduced hand-held phone use, and several studies have established that phoning while driving increases crash risk,” says Adrian Lund, president of both the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and HLDI. For example, an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study that relies on driver phone records found a 4-fold increase in the risk of injury crashes. A study in Canada found a 4-fold increase in the risk of crashes involving property damage. Separate surveys of driver behavior before and after hand-held phone use bans show reductions in the use of such phones while driving.
The HLDI database doesn’t identify drivers using cellphones when their crashes occur. However, reductions in observed phone use following bans are so substantial and estimated effects of phone use on crash risk are so large that reductions in aggregate crashes would be expected. In New York the HLDI researchers did find a decrease in collision claim frequencies, relative to comparison states, but this decreasing trend began well before the state’s ban on hand-held phoning while driving and actually paused briefly when the ban took effect. Trends in the District of Columbia, Connecticut, and California didn’t change.
HLDI added that the new findings don’t match what they already know about the risk of phoning and texting while driving. If crash risk increases with phone use and fewer drivers use phones where it’s illegal to do so, they would expect to see a decrease in crashes. But they aren’t seeing it. Nor do they see collision claim increases before the phone bans took effect. This is surprising, too, given what HLDI know about the growing use of cellphones and the risk of phoning while driving. The company is currently gathering data to figure out this mismatch.”
HLDI researchers compared the District of Columbia’s collision claim frequency trend not only with statewide trends in Virginia and Maryland but also with the trend in the nearby city of Baltimore. Again, the finding is no difference in the pattern of collision claims. Nor were any differences apparent when the researchers applied a time-based regression model to claims data for each of the study and comparison jurisdictions.
Some factors mentioned that might be eroding the effects of hand-held phone bans on crashes - One is that drivers in jurisdictions with such bans may be switching to hands-free phones because no US state currently bans all drivers from using such phones. In this case crashes wouldn’t go down because the risk is about the same, regardless of whether the phones are hand-held or hands-free.
Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia do prohibit beginning drivers from using any type of phone, including hands-free, but such laws are difficult to enforce. This was the finding in North Carolina, where teenage drivers didn’t curtail phone use in response to a ban, in part because they didn’t think the law was being enforced.
Source
Monday, March 15, 2010
West Virginia traffic fatality leads to DUI charge
An Ohio driver on the West Virginia Turnpike has been charged with DUI involving death following a Sunday accident.
32-year-old Joseph Scott Adkins was charged late Sunday night to early Monday morning. No bond has been set as of today. Officers say the accident occurred on I-&& southbound near the I-64 split. Adkins allegedly rear ended a tractor trailer, though the exact cause of the accident is not reported yet. A passenger traveling in Adkin's car, 43-year-old Terry Mays, died at the scene of the accident.
The tractor trailer driver and other passengers on the roadway were uninjured. Adkins was taken to the hospital to be treated for injuries prior to being booked in the jail. Reports do not indicate what substance Adkins had ingested, meaning he could have been under the influence of alcohol, illegal drugs or prescription drugs. Further investigation will reveal the exact substance as well as the circumstances that lead to the crash.
Source
32-year-old Joseph Scott Adkins was charged late Sunday night to early Monday morning. No bond has been set as of today. Officers say the accident occurred on I-&& southbound near the I-64 split. Adkins allegedly rear ended a tractor trailer, though the exact cause of the accident is not reported yet. A passenger traveling in Adkin's car, 43-year-old Terry Mays, died at the scene of the accident.
The tractor trailer driver and other passengers on the roadway were uninjured. Adkins was taken to the hospital to be treated for injuries prior to being booked in the jail. Reports do not indicate what substance Adkins had ingested, meaning he could have been under the influence of alcohol, illegal drugs or prescription drugs. Further investigation will reveal the exact substance as well as the circumstances that lead to the crash.
Source
Sunday, February 28, 2010
What's Next After Bus Accident?
Parents still have questions after a bus accident on Indian Trail Road Monday morning.
According to Rockingham County Public Schools, the school bus carrying 63 students was traveling south on Indian Trail Road towards Montevideo Middle School as a car was traveling north.
The road is fairly narrow, and where the two vehicles were passing was more narrow than most places because of a telephone pole close to the road.
"In an effort to make room for the car, the bus, while going very slowly, clipped its side mirror on the telephone pole causing the mirror to crash into the school bus door and shatter the glass," explains Jim Slye, the Transportation Director for Rockingham County Public Schools.
This is the second accident on Indian Trail this school year.
In a similar setup during the first couple weeks of school, a bus driver veered off the road into a tree on a narrow part of Indian Trail Road to avoid hitting an oncoming truck.
After the first accident, RCPS asked the Virginia Department of Transportation to help out and now it's asking again.
"We are concerned, because I feel like, the last time we were called, we reacted and fortunately the land owners allowed us to cut the tree, because the tree wasn't on our property," says Don Komara, the Resident Engineer with VDOT.
While VDOT works from its end, RCPS will work to see what changes if any it can make to the route.
"We'll find out if there is a need to be on this road at all. If there isn't then you know, we'll make a change. There may not be anything we can do. We may have to stay on that road, but if there is anyway to keep from that road, we will," says Slye.
"In this case, we're going to look at the pole, the utility pole. We're going to contact them to see if it is somewhere in their maintenance to move it back and see how amenable they are to that. Then we'll have to contact the property owner because you just can't move the pole back without asking permission," says Komara.
Source
According to Rockingham County Public Schools, the school bus carrying 63 students was traveling south on Indian Trail Road towards Montevideo Middle School as a car was traveling north.
The road is fairly narrow, and where the two vehicles were passing was more narrow than most places because of a telephone pole close to the road.
"In an effort to make room for the car, the bus, while going very slowly, clipped its side mirror on the telephone pole causing the mirror to crash into the school bus door and shatter the glass," explains Jim Slye, the Transportation Director for Rockingham County Public Schools.
This is the second accident on Indian Trail this school year.
In a similar setup during the first couple weeks of school, a bus driver veered off the road into a tree on a narrow part of Indian Trail Road to avoid hitting an oncoming truck.
After the first accident, RCPS asked the Virginia Department of Transportation to help out and now it's asking again.
"We are concerned, because I feel like, the last time we were called, we reacted and fortunately the land owners allowed us to cut the tree, because the tree wasn't on our property," says Don Komara, the Resident Engineer with VDOT.
While VDOT works from its end, RCPS will work to see what changes if any it can make to the route.
"We'll find out if there is a need to be on this road at all. If there isn't then you know, we'll make a change. There may not be anything we can do. We may have to stay on that road, but if there is anyway to keep from that road, we will," says Slye.
"In this case, we're going to look at the pole, the utility pole. We're going to contact them to see if it is somewhere in their maintenance to move it back and see how amenable they are to that. Then we'll have to contact the property owner because you just can't move the pole back without asking permission," says Komara.
Source
Monday, February 15, 2010
Elderly woman dies in car crash
HARPERS FERRY- An 87-year-old Harpers Ferry woman was killed and two other women were injured in a two-vehicle accident Monday afternoon on U.S. 340 North near Harpers Ferry.
Bettie Lee Bond was pronounced dead at Jefferson Memorial Hospital shortly after being transported by Jefferson County EMS from the accident scene, according to a news release issued by 1st Sgt. E.D. Burnett of the West Virginia State Police.
Bond was a passenger in a light blue 2000 Honda Civic driven by Elizabeth Auvil, 63, of Martinsburg.
According to the release, Trooper M.C. Harper of the West Virginia State Police was patrolling U.S. 340 North when he came upon a motor vehicle accident at the highway's intersection with Millville Road.
A yellow 2006 Dodge Charger was facing northwest and partially blocking one northbound lane of the highway, while the Civic was found facing southeast into a guardrail. Each car had sustained heavy damage, and the occupants of the Civic were trapped inside their vehicle, the release states.
Harper was able to administer first aid until EMS units arrived. Once the victims were extricated, Auvil was air lifted to Winchester Medical Center, while Bond was transported to Jefferson Memorial Hospital.
The driver of the Charger, Donna E. Sutch, 43, of Harpers Ferry, was treated by EMS at the scene.
According to police, Sutch was traveling east on Bakerton Road and was crossing U.S. 340 onto Millville Road, while Auvil was driving in a northbound lane of U.S. 340. The Civic crashed into the passenger's side door of Sutch's vehicle as she was crossing the road.
Police said Bond was not wearing a seatbelt.
Sutch was cited by police for failure to yield, police said.
Harper was assisted by Trooper T.S. Perry and Trooper C.J. Berry of the West Virginia State Police, along with Chief Donald Buracker and Patrolman M.T. Schul of the Harpers Ferry Police Department.
Source
Bettie Lee Bond was pronounced dead at Jefferson Memorial Hospital shortly after being transported by Jefferson County EMS from the accident scene, according to a news release issued by 1st Sgt. E.D. Burnett of the West Virginia State Police.
Bond was a passenger in a light blue 2000 Honda Civic driven by Elizabeth Auvil, 63, of Martinsburg.
According to the release, Trooper M.C. Harper of the West Virginia State Police was patrolling U.S. 340 North when he came upon a motor vehicle accident at the highway's intersection with Millville Road.
A yellow 2006 Dodge Charger was facing northwest and partially blocking one northbound lane of the highway, while the Civic was found facing southeast into a guardrail. Each car had sustained heavy damage, and the occupants of the Civic were trapped inside their vehicle, the release states.
Harper was able to administer first aid until EMS units arrived. Once the victims were extricated, Auvil was air lifted to Winchester Medical Center, while Bond was transported to Jefferson Memorial Hospital.
The driver of the Charger, Donna E. Sutch, 43, of Harpers Ferry, was treated by EMS at the scene.
According to police, Sutch was traveling east on Bakerton Road and was crossing U.S. 340 onto Millville Road, while Auvil was driving in a northbound lane of U.S. 340. The Civic crashed into the passenger's side door of Sutch's vehicle as she was crossing the road.
Police said Bond was not wearing a seatbelt.
Sutch was cited by police for failure to yield, police said.
Harper was assisted by Trooper T.S. Perry and Trooper C.J. Berry of the West Virginia State Police, along with Chief Donald Buracker and Patrolman M.T. Schul of the Harpers Ferry Police Department.
Source
Thursday, January 28, 2010
US Suspect in Afghan Deaths to Be Held Until Trial
A former Blackwater contractor charged in the shooting deaths of two Afghans will be held in custody until his trial because his history of disregarding authority suggests he would break conditions set for his release, a judge ruled Tuesday.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Tommy Miller also found that Christopher Drotleff, 29, of Virginia Beach would be a potential danger to the public if he were freed on bond. He cited a bizarre incident in September in which prosecutors say Drotleff invited FBI agents to his home to talk, then refused to let them in and called police to report that armed men were trying to enter his house.
Miller said Drotleff's actions created ''the equivalent of an ambush situation'' that could have had local police confronting armed FBI agents they believed to be intruders.
Drotleff and another former contractor, 27-year-old Justin Cannon of Corpus Christi, Texas, are charged with second-degree murder, attempted murder and weapons charges. They are eligible for the federal death penalty, although the attorney general has not determined whether to seek it.
Both men have said they were justified in opening fire last year on a car that caused an accident in front of their vehicle at a Kabul intersection. The men were in the country to train the Afghan National Army.
Federal prosecutor Randy Stoker said Drotleff had been drinking in violation of military and company policy the day of the shooting and that he left the base without authorization. Drotleff's attorney, Lawrence Woodward, said the men were driving some interpreters home when a car rammed the vehicle ahead of them. He said they got out to help the crash victims and fired their weapons only after the car that caused the accident sped toward them.
Stoker said the shooting was unprovoked. He said bullet holes showed that some of the shots were fired from behind the car as its driver tried to flee.
Much of the 90-minute hearing focused on Drotleff's military and criminal records. Drotleff was punished several times for unauthorized absences and disrespecting officers during more than two years in the U.S. Marines. Stoker said Drotleff told court officials he was discharged in 2001 for refusing an anthrax shot, but records showed he received a less-than-honorable discharge after altering a military ID.
The prosecutor also noted that Drotleff's criminal record includes drunken driving, assault and resisting arrest.
Woodward acknowledged that Drotleff had a bad military record, but he said that was 10 years ago. He also said Drotleff's criminal record shows no felony convictions.
Woodward said Drotleff had a job lined up working for a plumbing company. He said that if Drotleff had wanted to flee, he could have done so months ago but he stayed and cooperated with authorities.
But the judge said he was troubled by Drotleff's ''abysmal'' military record and scrapes with the law. ''He has disobeyed direct orders on numerous occasions,'' Miller said.
A trial date has not been set.
A detention hearing for Cannon is scheduled for Thursday in Texas, Stoker said.
Drotleff and Cannon were arrested last week, a day after Xe -- the North Carolina-based company formerly known as Blackwater -- settled a series of federal lawsuits alleging that illegal activity by the company led to the deaths of dozens of Iraqis. Those killings and other problems in Iraq have led to the U.S. government's push to increase oversight of contractors in war zones.
Source
U.S. Magistrate Judge Tommy Miller also found that Christopher Drotleff, 29, of Virginia Beach would be a potential danger to the public if he were freed on bond. He cited a bizarre incident in September in which prosecutors say Drotleff invited FBI agents to his home to talk, then refused to let them in and called police to report that armed men were trying to enter his house.
Miller said Drotleff's actions created ''the equivalent of an ambush situation'' that could have had local police confronting armed FBI agents they believed to be intruders.
Drotleff and another former contractor, 27-year-old Justin Cannon of Corpus Christi, Texas, are charged with second-degree murder, attempted murder and weapons charges. They are eligible for the federal death penalty, although the attorney general has not determined whether to seek it.
Both men have said they were justified in opening fire last year on a car that caused an accident in front of their vehicle at a Kabul intersection. The men were in the country to train the Afghan National Army.
Federal prosecutor Randy Stoker said Drotleff had been drinking in violation of military and company policy the day of the shooting and that he left the base without authorization. Drotleff's attorney, Lawrence Woodward, said the men were driving some interpreters home when a car rammed the vehicle ahead of them. He said they got out to help the crash victims and fired their weapons only after the car that caused the accident sped toward them.
Stoker said the shooting was unprovoked. He said bullet holes showed that some of the shots were fired from behind the car as its driver tried to flee.
Much of the 90-minute hearing focused on Drotleff's military and criminal records. Drotleff was punished several times for unauthorized absences and disrespecting officers during more than two years in the U.S. Marines. Stoker said Drotleff told court officials he was discharged in 2001 for refusing an anthrax shot, but records showed he received a less-than-honorable discharge after altering a military ID.
The prosecutor also noted that Drotleff's criminal record includes drunken driving, assault and resisting arrest.
Woodward acknowledged that Drotleff had a bad military record, but he said that was 10 years ago. He also said Drotleff's criminal record shows no felony convictions.
Woodward said Drotleff had a job lined up working for a plumbing company. He said that if Drotleff had wanted to flee, he could have done so months ago but he stayed and cooperated with authorities.
But the judge said he was troubled by Drotleff's ''abysmal'' military record and scrapes with the law. ''He has disobeyed direct orders on numerous occasions,'' Miller said.
A trial date has not been set.
A detention hearing for Cannon is scheduled for Thursday in Texas, Stoker said.
Drotleff and Cannon were arrested last week, a day after Xe -- the North Carolina-based company formerly known as Blackwater -- settled a series of federal lawsuits alleging that illegal activity by the company led to the deaths of dozens of Iraqis. Those killings and other problems in Iraq have led to the U.S. government's push to increase oversight of contractors in war zones.
Source
Friday, January 15, 2010
WR Moody in severe car accident
Wide receiver Ryan Moody was severely injured in a car accident late Saturday night and was listed in serious, but stable condition early Tuesday, according to a College official. The redshirt freshman was taken to Riverside Medical Center following the accident, and had an unspecified surgery late Tuesday afternoon.
Moody was able to receive visitors Sunday and Monday, and appeared to be progressing well in his recovery.
“Obviously, the thoughts and prayers of our entire department are with he and his family at this time,” Athletic Department spokesman Pete Clawson said.
Moody had been out for the season following an ankle injury suffered against Central Connecticut on Sept. 12. He had three catches for 70 yards in his collegiate debut Sept. 5 against Virginia, and had remained with the team, including being on the sideline in a cast Saturday against James Madison.
Source
Moody was able to receive visitors Sunday and Monday, and appeared to be progressing well in his recovery.
“Obviously, the thoughts and prayers of our entire department are with he and his family at this time,” Athletic Department spokesman Pete Clawson said.
Moody had been out for the season following an ankle injury suffered against Central Connecticut on Sept. 12. He had three catches for 70 yards in his collegiate debut Sept. 5 against Virginia, and had remained with the team, including being on the sideline in a cast Saturday against James Madison.
Source
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