Find sites for fatal crashes on saferoadmaps.org. (saferoadmaps.org)
Road trip? Plotting safe routes online
Savvy trip planners may soon be able to add another feature to their itinerary: the safest highways en route. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety is working with eight states in a pilot program to map their safest roads -- those with the lowest rates of traffic deaths and serious injuries. The information could be used within the next two to three years to create a website to map routes. Public interest in such a service is strong: A 2009 foundation survey of 2,141 drivers found that 73 percent would consider using the data to pick roads. A site already in place to plot fatal crashes on a map is saferoadmaps.org, developed by the University of Minnesota's Center for Excellence in Rural Safety.
--The Associated Press
(Havis)
Device monitors idling to save gas in emergency vehicles
Police departments are trying out a gadget to help save gas and conserve the battery when a squad car is idling, often for hours at a time, by starting and stopping the car automatically. IdleRight is made by Havis, a company based in Warminster, Pa. It monitors the battery and starts a vehicle when the level dips too low. Havis estimates a squad car idling at an emergency for six hours uses up to four gallons of gas. The company says the same car using IdleRight would use less than a gallon. Havis designed the system specifically for emergency and construction vehicles that are on scenes for long periods, usually with warning lights flashing continuously.
--The Associated Press
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