The Most Dangerous Holiday for Drinking & Driving

You might be surprised that New Year's Eve is not the most dangerous holiday for alcohol related traffic deaths and injuries.  It turns out that Thanksgiving has that unfortunate distinction.  The Thanksgiving holiday weekend is the most dangerous due to the high volume of people on the road and the fact that the holiday always begins on Thursday for a four-day-weekend of overindulgence.  According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's report on motor vehicle deaths, Thanksgiving weekend is number one and July 4th weekend is number two as the most dangerous holidays for drivers.  The other long weekends of Memorial Day and Labor Day come in fourth and fifth most dangerous.  New Years is number six because it often does not not fall on a weekend or near the weekend. 

Most people don't realize that for the average person, each drink adds 0.02% to the Blood Alcohol Concentration an hour and in that hour only  about 0.01% is removed by the body's metabolic processing. This is why blood alcohol concentrations build steadily throughout a long day of holiday celebration causing levels to often rise beyond the legal driving limit  (0.08% BAC in Michigan).  Be aware that you cannot speed your body's processing of alcohol with coffee or other urban-myth-remedies.  Be safe and don't make another Michigan family suffer a holiday tragedy of losing a loved-one.  If you over-indulge, or know that you will likely over-indulge, please use a designated driver or call a cab.  Nothing is more heart-wrenching to watch than a drunk driver, who has caused someone's death, facing the family of the deceased while they make victim impact statements to the judge before the judge decides the length of the prison term for the drunk driver.      

Pedestrian Safety Devices Need to Be Installed in Ann Arbor

The recent tragic death of pedestrian Menghua Tian, 70, of Ann Arbor, Michigan must draw the City of Ann Arbor's quick attention and spark action.  Ms. Tian was killed recently by a pick-up truck on Ann Arbor-Saline Road between Eisenhower and South Main.  The City's 2007 Non-motorized transportation plan called for a crosswalk near the place where Ms. Tian was recently hit and killed.  Five years after this plan's publication there is still no cross walk, pedestrian safety island, or High-Intensity Activated crossWalK (HAWK) system, or Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons (RRFBs) in place on Ann Arbor-Saline Road. Several years ago a pedestrian's death near U of M's North Campus on Plymouth Road sparked the City to install several RRFBs with pedestrian safety islands.    Additionally, the pedestrian death in August 2012 on Golfside Drive in Pittsfield Township should spark Pittsfield Township to make safety improvements on this well-known-dangerous road.  All these pedestrian deaths occurred on five-lane roads that lack safe pedestrian crossings between far-spaced stop-light intersections.  Safety developments that have already been tested in Ann Arbor, like RRFBs and HAWK systems, need to be installed as soon as possible to prevent any more tragic pedestrian deaths on these high-traffic-volume dangerous five-lane roads.