The amount of BAC, or blood alcohol content, to determine a drunk driver may drop from 0.08 to 0.05. A stricter standard is being recommended by the National Transportation Safety Board in Washington, D.C.

The NTSB advises that all 50 states reduce the level to 0.05 in order to help reduce the slaughter on America’s roads and highways due to drunk drivers, who kill around 10,000 Americans each year.

The NTSB believes reducing the BAC rate to 0.05 could save 500 to 800 lives per year. Read more »

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Did you know May is Motorcycle Safety and Awareness Month in America? More importantly, did you know Texas now has over 440,000 motorcycles and mopeds on its roads — more than double the number of a decade ago?

Such knowledge is vital since so many Texas drivers fail to observe motorcycles. In fact, turning left directly in their path is the cause of almost two-thirds of catastrophic motorcycle injuries and deaths. That’s why the state urges drivers to “share the road” and “look twice to save a life.” Read more »

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Making cell phone calls and texting aren’t the only ways Americans have become increasingly distracted drivers, leading to thousands of deaths on our roads each year. A new report concludes that other distractions include daydreaming and being lost in thought, which together account for more than half of driver distractions.

Other common distractions causing crashes include eating, tending to objects or pets in a vehicle, talking to other people in the vehicle and rubbernecking at an accident site. Read more »

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Just two days after the tragic Boston Marathon explosion killed three persons, the West Fertilizer Co. plant explosion in the small town of West, Texas proved even more devastating, killing up to 15 persons, including firefighters who haven’t yet been found.

The cause of the massive blast Wednesday night, April 17 isn’t yet known, but it is known that a fire occurred at the facility earlier in the evening, bringing firefighters and other emergency responders to the industrial site. Then a massive explosion erupted at the fertilizer plant around 7:50 p.m., with secondary explosions occurring about 10 p.m. Read more »

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How much is that call or text worth? Is it worth a life — perhaps your own? Is it worth killing 16,000 people?

That’s a question millions of Americans must ask themselves in view of the fact that they text and drive, or make phone calls and drive. Such distractions caused crashes killing 16,000 persons between 2001 and 2007, when cell phones hadn’t even proliferated as much as they have today.

That’s according to a study by the University of North Texas Health Science Center based on data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA.

The study also underscores that America has the worst drivers in the world when it comes to indulging in cell phone distractions. Read more »

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If the Texas Legislature again can’t get a state law passed to ban texting while driving, the city of Houston may pass a local ordinance for such a ban, according to Mayor Annise Parker.

Meanwhile, the city is launching a campaign to deter texting while driving called “It Can Wait.” Through the news media, social media and other means, the city hopes to encourage people to avoid texting while driving, which reportedly caused 13 per cent of Texas’ 3,000-plus traffic deaths in 2011.

The Texas Legislature passed a bill to ban texting while driving statewide in 2011, but Gov. Rick Perry vetoed it. The Legislature is now attempting to pass another such bill in hopes that this time Perry will sign it. Read more »

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Again, an automaker has failed the American public but is trying to rectify it with a car recall. In this case it’s Chrysler, which today issued a Dodge Challenger recall due to a danger of fire in the vehicle.

Not only is Chrysler issuing the fire risk recall, but it’s advising owners of the vehicles not to drive them, but rather to alert a dealer in order to get a free loaner car while a free repair is made. Read more »

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has made another warning about another drug from drug giant Pfizer Inc., a company that’s already inflicted great harm on innocent Americans with defective antidepressants.

This time the FDA warning concerns Pfizer drugs Zithromax and Zmax, which are sold in the form of Z-Pak capsules. Those drugs’ generic name is azithromycin. They’re used as antibiotics to treat bacterial infections such as bronchitis. Read more »

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Subaru of America has recalled more than 47,000 self-starting cars and SUVs. The vehicles in question come with remote starters that can fail and cause engines to start on their own without a driver on board.

Imagine if that happened while your car was parked in an enclosed garage. Exposure to the buildup of contained carbon monoxide could be lethal. Read more »

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Last week’s horrific death of two San Antonio teens in a racing crash underscores an alarming trend: More and more teens are dying on our roads. In fact, in the first half of 2012, teen driving deaths rose markedly after declining for over a decade.

According to the Governors Highway Safety Association — a group of state highway offices — deaths of drivers 16 or 17 years old rose a combined 19 per cent over the same period a year earlier. Such drivers are considered “novice drivers” whose driving skills aren’t yet honed. Read more »

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