Emphasis to be on seat belts this holiday
Illinois is a dangerous place to drive.
That's especially true with the upcoming holiday weekend - but even scarier are the
results of a recent testing procedure that showed Illinois drivers are among the
worst in the nation.
In 2006, 20 people died on Illinois roads over the five-day Thanksgiving holiday.
This year, police have instituted several initiatives to keep people safe on the
highways.
"The emphasis is directly on seat belts," said Bernie LaValle, who works in the
Lincoln office of the Illinois Secretary of State, where area drivers go to be
tested and obtain their licenses. "That would probably be the biggest thing for
anybody traveling this weekend, is to make sure they observe the laws in reference
to seat belts."
The Illinois State Police will continue the "Stay Alive on the I's" campaign, with
troopers placed every 10 miles along interstate highways. The initiative began Nov.
16 and continues through Dec. 2.
The Click It or Ticket campaign and the Thanksgiving Combined Accident Reduction
Effort (CARE) will also be in operation. Police will conduct more than 2,000 details
focusing on safety belt enforcement, speed reduction, impaired driving, and underage
drinking in an effort to decrease fatalities.
"Police agencies throughout Illinois are joining together this Thanksgiving holiday
with one simple goal - saving lives on our roadways," said Larry Trent, director of
the Illinois State Police. "As we reflect on what we are thankful for this holiday
season, please make sure to wear your safety belt and slow down."
But with 36 million licensed drivers unfit to get behind the wheel, it's still
dangerous. The recent driving test, administered by GMAC Insurance, showed drivers
in only five states scored lower than Illinois. All were populous East coast states
(Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York).
That's a scary prospect for Thanksgiving travelers - and the effects of the GMAC
test are more long-lasting than Thanksgiving.
Two questions consistently caused problems for test-takers.
The first asks what the correction response is when approaching a yellow light. The
second asks about the proper following distance.
Fully 84 percent of test-takers missed the yellow-light question, and 55 percent
couldn't come up with the correct following distance.
The national average score was 77.1 percent.
By the way, people should stop at yellow lights if it is safe to do so, and the
proper following distance is two seconds.
"The results (of the test) were pretty eye-opening to us," Gary Kusumi, president
and CEO of GMAC Insurance Personal Lines, told CNN. "Not only did they indicate that
there are wide differences in terms of state scores, but there were significant
trends that demonstrated the general public might have forgotten must-know items
from when they first took their driver's test."
The test can be taken online at http://www.gmacinsurance.com/safedriving.
Illinoisans must pass a vision test, a written test and a driving test to obtain a
driver's license. They must retake the driving test at least every 8 years.
The states that performed best on the test are Idaho, Alaska, Minnesota, Wisconsin
and Kansas, in that order.