wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

its because americans (for the most part) drive automatic cars. When you drive a manual transmission vechical, the driver is forced to listen to how the car is running (do I need to up shift, down shift) and adjust to what is infront of him/her (hill, curve, rotary, bicycle, stop sign etc) infront of him/her, because if the driver does not pay attention, the car will stall out.
driving an automatic (which almost no else drives, out side of the us) - is so easy it almost allows the driver not to pay attention.

All the signs should be SIGNS, not written in words like "Bridge freezes before the road does" "Do not walk" or "Buckle-up. It's the law" Who has time and extra eyes to read all of that! Just stick to international signs: Drawings of people not walking, or snowflake for freezing or just a seat belt on a person. It is more effective, faster to spot, and you don't have to know English to understand it.

While I do love the UK, there was an excessive bit of praise for this country in this segment. Then toward the end, the lady who called up was complaining about how we rely on GPS here?

Here are two news stories I would like to share:

http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/20/uk-drivers-trust-gps-more-than-their-own-eyes/

http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/17/bus-driver-chooses-gps-over-gigantic-warning-sign-plows-into-ov/

No. I'm sorry. It's not just the US.

I think that tailgaiting is one of the most dangerous driving habits. Within 3 months, I have seen 4 accidents on highways in upstate NY that probably could have been avoided by keeping the proper distance between cars when driving. Better driving education and maybe more thorough testing before we give out licenses might help to develop better judgement.

don't they drive less in europe, because they have a better public transport infrastructure?

In Hartford, cars DRIVE in the bicycle lanes. I had to stop riding my bike to work after several would-be-deadly close-calls. How do you make drivers respect cyclists? what does it take!?

Alright, Andrea, speaking from a cyclist's perspective! It is true, the pedestrians don't see you, and ironically because of all the chaos, drivers DO see you. But the peds have their complaints since a lot of cyclists don't respect them.

When I lived in London for a year I was working with a group of graduate students at Imperial College. Several of them were in process of getting their drivers licenses. They were absolutely terrified of the drivers test--I think they were put through a much more rigorous drivers training--If we had better drivers we would have fewer accidents--signs arent the problem!

This is called shared space - google will tell you about it. Hans Monderman helped implement this in Drachten, Netherlands and some other towns in Europe.

Why don't you compare it to road situation and driving in Eastern Europe? People do routinely ignore street signs, and get into accidents constantly. Drving is flirting with death. There are not enought signs, and many times there are simply no signs at all. We need more signs, clearer signs, and not less signs.

I think your research is provocative but misguided.

one word: trafficcircles

Well maybe drivers stay more alert to signs, which is something I wouldn't know since I'm not a driver. But I think sometimes signs can fade into the landscape and not be noticed and so accidents happen. How can I say that? Well to help me break some bad habits around the apt I put up signs such as the HUGE one in my kitchen that reads "TURN OFF OVEN" which is posted close to the stove (cooker for you british folk). I put it up after numerous times of removing food from the oven and not turning it off for as long as 4 hours later. That was scary, so the sign. But as time passed (a week probably) I didn't even notice it anymore and now after years it is still there oxidizing. I still forget to turn off the oven. So sometimes something more effective regarding signs ought to be done...like have them flash and jump out at you in 3-D fashion so drivers can't miss them.
Again, I'm not a driver but when I am in a car as passenger driving at night the signs like sheep tend to be a regular intervals and they make me drowsy. Can they be doing that to drivers too!!

What's truly dangerous is when you need a sign to direct you and it's old, faded and illegible so you have to be virtually on top of it to read it. So you slow down, change lanes or slam on your brakes as you nearly miss your turn. NJ's the worst.