10 Tips to Prevent Car Accidents

The Edmunds editors should know something about safety. Their jobs entail extensive test driving, and they've seen it all—or at least most of it—from closed-course tests to interaction with drivers on the L.A. Freeway. Here is what they recommend:

1. Stay out of the fast lane.
2. Keep your eyes scanning the area ahead.
3. Beware of blind spots.
4. Get 'racecar driver control' of the wheel (...) so that, with your arm outstretched and your back against the seat, your wrist could rest on the top of the wheel.
5. Place your hands at 9 and 3.
6. Judge drivers by their cars. Cars with body damage or dirty windows could be indicative of an inattentive driver.
7. Know thy vehicle.
8. Keep your vehicle in shape.
9. Nighttime may not be the right time.
10. Consider high-performance training.

Read more.

Thanks to T&J

Good Samaritan Helps Avoid Accident

...a driver on the Golden Gate became unconscious and her Jeep Grand Cherokee came to a stop in the second lane from the center divide. John Beatty almost rammed his Ford F-350 into the back of the Jeep, but stopped just in time. The 50-year-old man from Mill Valley, CA then noticed the Jeep began to creep forward and to the left. Realizing it was headed towards the divide and into oncoming traffic, Beatty positioned his truck in front of the SUV so that it would hit him instead of crossing over. He then guided the Jeep across two lanes of road, which had fortunately been cleared of traffic when other drivers began to realize what Beatty was doing. Unfortunately... the unconscious driver of the Jeep eventually died at the hospital. If it hadn't been for Beatty, however, you would've heard about a fatal multi-car accident on the Golden Gate bridge

Saw a Crashed Plane This Morning - All Survived

I drove by this plane this morning... actually it was only part of the plane.

Misreporting on Brazilian Plane Crash?

How come that my own self, with no resources but Internet access and a knowledge of Portuguese, can have better information than "real" news channels?

From Fox News:

The Brazilian Tam airlines plane traveled the length of the runway Tuesday before barreling over or across a busy avenue at the height of the evening rush hour and crashed into a gas station and a building owned by the airline.

After touching down, the plane traveled the length of the runway and then barreled over across a busy road at the height of the evening rush hour in South America's largest city and slammed into a gas station, said Jose Leonardi Mota, a spokesman with airport authority Infraero.

From O Globo: (my translation)

...TAM's Airbus 320, flight 3054, traveling from Porto Alegre [to Sao Paulo] with 176 people on board, 6 of which were crew members, skidded while landing on the new runway, crossed Washington Luiz Avenue without touching the asphalt e exploded in TAM Express' building...

It was raining in Sao Paulo when the accident occurred. According to witnesses, the plane was not able to stop in the new runway, which was refurbished and delivered at the end of June without the grooving to avoid skidding. Seconds before, pilots on the take-off queue heard shouts from the Airbus cabin: 'Turn, turn, turn".

As per O Globo, TAM's building was also a fueling station; the plane did not hit a generic gas station.

Photos from Brazil Airplane Accident

These were allegedly found in a digital camera from one of the passengers on the Gol Airlines flight that crashed (read here for more on the accident). Translation from the email that had the photos:

The photos were found on a Casio Z750 digital camera, between debris on "Serra do Cachimbo" hills. Although the equipment was destroyed, the Memory Stick card was recovered.

Major A. Nelson of the Air Force is investigating how did the photos leaked on the Internet. Through the serial number on the camera it was possible to track the owner, Paulo G. Muller...

Air Force's Major A. Nelson, in a report declared the guilt lies with the traffic controllers from Brasilia, that don't speak English and did not press the emergency button on the control tower so the Air Force could intervene and remove the airplane from the collision route...

Here's why I think this is a hoax:

• Casio cameras don't use memory sticks, only Sony.
• If the photos leaked, how come the email carries even more information; did all that leak too?
• I find it hard to believe they could track down the owner with the serial number of the camera.
• How would the Air Force intervene and remove the airplane from the collision route on time? Makes no sense.
• It looks like (and the email mentions this too) that the photographer standing. While the plane crashed? And he took photos the exact moment someone was sucked out?
  

Thanks to Mike W.

UPDATE: This is definetly a hoax. Gol's airplane's tails are red with the Gol logo (See here). These seem to be from the movie "Alive". Thanks to Barry G.