TV News Investigations And Projects

Highway Hazards And
Commuting Survival Strategies

Television stations have created many projects and stories that help viewers improve their commutes to work and watch out for driving dangers.

The Street Zapper Documents Speeding, Dangerous Drivers
	Motorists speeding through residential neighborhoods endanger the people who live there, particularly the children. News managers at WTOL-TV, Toledo, developed an innovative feature that addressed the viewers' frustrations. They purchased a radar gun, timed the speeders, and confronted them.
An Investigator's Test: Dangerously Dim Headlights
	In Boston, an investigation by WHDH-TV revealed that your automobile headlights are probably not as bright and reliable as you assume they are.   It can be tragic for the walker and the driver if the driver doesn't have enough light to see there is someone on the road in front of him.
Investigators Revealed Dangerous Tires
	In Houston, KHOU-TV raised major questions about whether certain Firestone tires were unsafe.
Driving Hazard:   Dangerous Highways
	In every area there are certain places that are the most dangerous for drivers.   Year after year these are the spots where accidents are most likely to occur.   The driver who understands these hazards may have a better chance of avoiding a devastating crash.
Driving Hazard: Dangerous Vehicles
	Parts of a car --- from the tires to the brakes --- can fail when a driver needs them most.
Beating The System: Traffic Offenders Get Off
	Several stations have done investigative reports on problems with speeders and drunk drivers having the charges dismissed. It's outrageous that the most flagrant offenders sometimes go unpunished.
Checking the Emergency Response: Truck's Chemical Spill Stopped Traffic
	The Chicago government's emergency response to a major public safety disruption was examined by WGN-TV.  "Danger Downwind" analyzed a big traffic accident.   A tanker truck overturned during a morning rush hour. Hundreds of commuters were stranded in their cars. Trains were stopped.  High-rise apartments were evacuated as a toxic cloud spread across the area.
Upgrade and Differentiate Your Traffic Coverage
	Accurate and up-to-the minute information offered in an interesting way is valuable to people who will be driving on the highways.
At The Edge of Gridlock: A Traffic Congestion Project
	In San Francisco, KPIX-TV ran a month-long investigation of traffic traumas and the possibility that mass transit might offer a solution.
A Life-Saving Campaign: Drive 4 Life
	A campaign to reduce the high number of motor vehicle accidents in South Carolina was created by the managers at WYFF-TV, Greenville.
Teen Driving Project Draws Very Well
	A project on the dangers of teen drinking and driving, and teenagers' basic driving problems connected with viewers at WFSB-TV, Hartford.  They had strong firsthand testimony from an injured girl, advice from a driving expert, and extensive promotion.

Upgrade and Differentiate
Your Traffic Coverage

Traffic headaches --- in the city and the suburbs --- often score high on your viewers' lists of public problems. These issues are quite relevant to people --- they directly experience them every day.
Here are approaches to covering traffic in interesting ways the details of a traffic e-mail service.

Traffic reports offer conditions, features, and fun

In Chicago, WMAQ-TV has had a heavy emphasis on traffic and weather in the morning.
"We do as many as 20 traffic reports in our two-hour morning news block," said Bill Keller, the full-time traffic reporter who also reports feature stories.

They vary their on air presentation.
Two or three days a week, Keller is out on the road either at a feature, or standing by an expressway, or up in the helicopter. Sometimes he reports from the studio. It is never the same thing from one day to the next.

There is a difference between how the radio and the television audiences will use a traffic service.
"For many years, people have been doing radio traffic reports on TV. We wanted to do it differently. The home viewer has a different need than the person who is sitting in his car," said Keller.
"If it is a normal rush hour, and it normally takes you 45 minutes, we'll say it is a normal rush hour --- that it's heavy, which is the way it normally is," he explained.

Chicago has a substantial number of in-bound and an out-bound commutes. "In Chicago, there is a definitive starting point and an end point.
We are able to accurately give people travel times, which is what Chicagoans really need," said Keller.
The Illinois Department of Transportation has sensors along the major roads. These sensors provide real time information.

The travel times appear frequently in the newscasts. They are used as bumps into the commercial breaks and run as crawls on the bottom of the screen.
"When people are in their cars, the radio traffic reporter reads the travel times, and it can take 1:00 to 1:30 to get through the whole list," said Keller.
"For the person sitting on their couch in the morning, they may not need travel times, because they may not be commuting to work. We are giving viewers the information, but we are not wasting part of our morning news block reading it to them," he said.

Keller's reports focus on major disruptions that will impact people.
"What I usually report on are hot spots --- accidents, stalled cars, car fires --- all the usual mayhem. We want to report on things that will definitely affect your commute to work," he said.

Commuter Crew augments coverage, involves viewers

The station is soliciting viewers to be part of its new Commuter Crew.
"This is a chance for our viewers to get involved. They call from their car and we put them on the air. We do phoners with them from their cars," explained Keller.

Viewers can log onto NBC5.com and click on the Traffic Page, where they can get real time traffic information.
To apply for the Commuter Crew, people enter their names, phone numbers, and information on what routes they take and what time of the morning they are on the road.
"If we have something on a particular expressway, we can go into our database and see who normally takes it at that time. We can call them, or they have a number where they can call us," he explained.

It gives the station first-person reports of conditions from the middle of the problems.
"Whenever we have a big weather situation, we call the Department of Transportation and do a phoner with them. We can now call people in their cars and ask them what the conditions are actually like out there," said Keller.
"We want them to tell us what they are experiencing. It may be much worse or much better than we are reporting," he added.

As the Commuter Crew got off the ground, the producers initiated the calls. They hoped that eventually members would call and function almost like traffic tipsters.
"It is a chance for audience involvement. We want to get to know these people. We'll ask where they work, what they do, and how their morning commute is going this morning. Even if it is a normal commute, that is fine, because people who take that expressway can look for a normal trip in," Keller explained.

They began averaging two or three Commuter Crew phoners a week.
It was especially helpful during a storm.
"The weather forecasting is so good these days, our team was able to predict exactly when the storm was going to hit --- and it hit during the morning rush hour," said Keller.
They predicted more snow to the south of the city. The night before he set up a Commuter Crew phoner with someone who drove in from one of the southwest suburbs.
"We had a live phoner on the air from someone who was on one of the worst roads. We timed it so they were able to provide us with information right when they were in the thick of it," he added.

It is important to pre-screen the people who have volunteered to do the phoners.
Keller stressed that you don't want any unpleasant surprises on live television.
"It's important to know if their personality fits and whether or not they are going to be able to communicate with us in a way the viewers will respond to," he explained.

Garage of the week reached men

Another experimental element of the WMAQ traffic franchise was the Xtreme Garage Challenge. The segment ran once a week.
Keller is a former producer, and said he approaches the job the way a producer would.
"I look for ways to vary our presentation. I like doing feature pieces, and this is a lot of fun," he explained.
"There are 'men zones' --- basements, attics and garages. Guys love stuff like this," he laughs.

Garage participants were recruited online. They were asked to attach a computer image of their garage (if it was available) with their e-mail. They described their space and include name, address, and phone number.
If they were chosen, Keller visited, and their special space was shown on television.
They kicked off the segment live from a man's six-car garage/workshop.
Keller said, "It had a tiled floor, was heated and had a mini-bar. Another guy turned his garage into a sports shrine. He had the infield of Wrigley Field painted on his floor --- to scale. All his memorabilia was displayed."
Another piece featured a woman who lived in a high-rise and didn't have a garage.
"She rents a garage across the alley to use it as a patio! These are just fun little features," he said.
The response was good, he added.

This traffic reporter stressed the need to keep in mind the many viewers who didn't need specific road conditions at the time they were watching.
He said, "The people who are watching on TV are still maybe a half an hour from getting in their car. A portion of them are not even commuting. That's where things like the Xtreme Garage Challenge and the Commuter Crew come in. It keeps it interesting."
When the circus was in Chicago, Keller did the last hour of traffic reports from the circus.
"It keeps it relevant to the person who is not commuting. There is a good segment of the audience not commuting," he added.
"The last thing we want to do is go through a litany of road conditions going from Point A to Point D. If I were a viewer, I would tune to something else. We're trying to keep it as an 'executive summary.' Or if we're out doing something fun, we will show viewers that, too," he said.

Listen to your viewers

Feedback from the people caught in the motoring mess is critical to the success of traffic reporting that goes beyond just the conditions at the hour.

Traffic trouble spots were investigated and explained in a weekly report on WTVJ-TV, Miami. Traffic Busters was placed in the 5:30 p.m. news each Monday.
Many of the topics were suggested by drivers.

Reports included:

Citizen activist won a light.  Six people in five years died at a dangerous intersection. A woman involved in one accident led a campaign to have a light installed.

Construction trouble point. This highway headache caused motorists great delays and tension. When it was finally finished it would --- hopefully --- help them move briskly on their way.

Viewers were urged to find car pool partners by using the online bulletin board of WTVJ.
The Carpool Connection was pitched as a way to save money and reduce the stress of getting to work.

Station and newspaper partner on traffic site

In Washington, WRC-TV's Web site partnered with washingtonpost.com for traffic updates, information and opinion sharing.
A person clicking on "Traffic" at the station's home page was linked directly to pages at the site which was maintained at the paper.

Driver comments and questions were a central features.
This included Traffic Talk bulletin boards where people could "share your war stories and weigh in on the many issues facing D.C., Maryland and Virginia commuters."
Partnering with the paper gave WRC online access to Dr. Gridlock, a very popular traffic column. Dr. Gridlock was veteran reporter and editor Ron Shaffer.

Dr. Gridlock drew many letters from interested and concerned drivers.
The result was a full discussion of all the issues facing commuters.

Typical subjects included:

--- Subway security. What do I do if I discover an abandoned briefcase? (1) pull the emergency alarm, leaving us stranded in the middle of the tracks; (2) alert security at the next station; or (3) call the conductor?

--- Driver education advice. What are the names of the driving schools which offer defensive driving?

When you checked the column titles in his archive of articles, you really could see the wide range of strong material that can be covered by a traffic beat.

Some examples:
--- High-power headlights create serious hazard for blinded drivers.
--- E-ZPass can be your ticket to hassle-free travel.
--- Parkway's engineering challenged.
--- Tips for protecting vehicles, valuables at commuter lots.
--- Commuting the sentence: audio books can help break the monotony of driving.
--- Readers toss out ideas for dealing with littering.
--- Key Bridge drivers look for a sign.

See: Dr. Gridlock at the Washington Post

E-mails give user-specific information

Commuters could create their own customized traffic profile by going to the Web site of KRON-TV, San Francisco.
KRON 4 TrafficWarn provided current information about traffic conditions. The person who used the service didn't have to bother with all the regional data that didn't impact his trip. This was useful material personalized for the individual.

This was a tool that could make the daily commute quicker and easier.
"Our market is very large. When people in Marin county are going to and from the city they don't really care about traffic on the eastern side of the bay," said Michael Gay, Internet Coordinator.
"What we have done is to eliminate areas that people don't care about for their commute," he explained.

The station partnered with a California software company to develop an individualized e-mail service.
People accessed the traffic page online and went through and customized the routes they took in order to get to and from work each day. They also selected the times they traveled.
"Each day we e-mail them with the current traffic report for them. They get it before they leave the office or home," said Gay.

The e-mail portion of the service was free. People who wanted the data sent to their wireless devices paid a monthly fee of $4.95.

"The Internet is not broadcasting. We are narrowcasting when it comes to the Web. We do it with our weather forecasts and all kinds of different products. Traffic is the most recent one we launched, and it may be the most effective," he added.

TrafficWarn used information provided by the California Highway Patrol on all traffic calls they respond to, and added traffic information from Shadow Broadcast to provide custom traffic reports.

Registration was about two-to-one male to female. Ages ranged from under 18 to 65+.
"People across the board are interested in traffic," said Gay.
He believed it is an excellent technique for brand extension.

E-mail's biggest impact is at work

People who were utilizing the service were most interested in the afternoon commute.
Gay said there weren't that many people who jumped online before they left the house in the morning.
"But when you're getting ready to leave the office, the chances of going online are much higher," he explained.
"In the Bay Area, our morning commute is a lot longer than the evening commute. It starts at 5:30 a.m. and ends at 10," he said.
With the time difference, people had to get to work early to do business with the East Coast.
The evening commute was much more condensed --- lasting roughly from 4 to 7 p.m. --- so roads might be more congested.

Mike Crossfield, President of Universal Software Systems, said because the system was already set up with the California Highway Patrol data, they planned to roll it out to other California television stations.
"The service can be custom-branded to match the look and feel of the TV station, so it looks like they have engineered this for themselves," he said.

March 18, 2002

At The Edge of Gridlock:
Traffic Congestion

VOLUME IX, NUMBER 9                   FEBRUARY 27, 1989

A major project examining traffic headaches and mass transit possibilities was produced by KPIX-TV, San Francisco.
Traffic frustrations touch many viewers. This project was directly relevant to their daily lives. It was not one more non-surprising story --- not another "someone robbed a liquor store on the wrong side of town."

"In almost every survey which is done in the Bay Area asking residents what the Number One problem is, transportation is always cited as the Number One issue," said Peter Maroney, News Director.

The San Francisco Bay separates many of the communities and there are long bridge approaches to the city.
"It is primarily the bridges which back things up, but the population growth has been so phenomenal in the Bay Area that it has outstripped the capacity of the highways," he added.

The station ran a month-long campaign featuring news reports, announcements, and extensive alliances with other media companies, and public agencies.
The campaign built to a day dedicated to mass transit.
"It's similar to the Great American Smokeout Day," said VP/GM Carolyn Wean.
Motorists who normally drove alone were be urged to try an alternative --- car pool or mass transit --- on February 28th. The hope was: If they do it once, they might do it again. And, again.

Station adapted an advocacy approach

Wean said the role of a TV station was multi-faceted --- to provide entertainment, to be a news source, and to put a spotlight on the important community issues.
"When you choose things which really concern people, it reminds the community you are involved and you are concerned. That goes a long way towards building loyalty," she said.

"We decided to take a very strong advocacy position," Maroney said.
"As a station, we are attempting to position ourselves as being an advocate for long-term solutions, as well as short-term solutions," he said. He added they were doing that on all fronts, in all programming," he added.

Partners were recruited

The television managers recruited a major media partner, plus public agencies and corporations and got them involved in the project.
They met first with the major transit agencies to see if they'd be interested. The 20 transit agencies came up with 25 free year-long regional transit passes which the station gave away as prizes.
Secondly, they approached the Bay Area Council --- a think tank supported by major companies.
"We used them to pull together all kinds of corporations. This is a huge corporate issue," said Special Projects Producer Candy Meyers.
Next, they talked to the officials of the surrounding municipalities, who quickly supported the project.

Finally, one of the most important elements in the campaign: KPIX teamed up with KCBS-AM which had the most active radio traffic reporting outlet in the area.
"In drive time, news and talk radio is going to be able to reach commuters more than TV can. KCBS has 24-hour traffic reporting which ties in nicely," she added.

Promotion was crucial to the project.
"We told the transit agencies we weren't going to do this unless they promoted the heck out of it," Meyers explained.

There eventually were "Beat the Back Up" banners at Golden Gate Bridge and at the Bay Bridge --- promotion it would have been hard to buy.

The cross-promotion with KCBS worked well, too. KCBS ran public service announcements which carried KPIX's call letters.
Maroney said, "We are working hand in hand to do stories which promote each other, too. When we do a story in our Nightcast, we remind people they can tune in KCBS the next day and hear traffic reports on their way to work. During those traffic reports, KCBS is telling listeners what to expect in our reports at 6 and 11 that night."

Bumper sticker survey stimulated interaction

One of the most unique elements was the "Beat the Back Up Day" bumper sticker which was distributed at a chain of grocery stores and a chain of gas stations. This device reinforced the campaign and the station.

The sticker served several purposes:
1. It, of course, promoted the event.
2. On the back of the sticker was a survey on transportation attitudes.
"We can get a good baseline of information," said Meyers. It asked people what they were willing to do to solve the traffic problem --- pay more in sales tax, gas tax, etc.
"We're going to use the results of that poll to do editorials and take it to the governor's office," added Maroney.
3. Surveys which were returned were used to draw names for prize trips to "traffic-free places." The contest was run on the station's Evening Magazine.
"It's an incentive for people to put the stickers on their car, to mail them in, and also to watch our programming," said Meyers.

Traffic subjects were varied

The stories explaining traffic issues ran in the 6 p.m. news. They were interesting --- not the run-of-the-mill transportation stories.

Worst Case Scenario. A typical traffic report in the year 2010. They researched what the traffic conditions would be like in the 21st century, wrote it up like an actual report, and sent it over to KCBS to be recorded up in one of their traffic planes --- as if it were a day in 2010.
The report talked about the number of hours of commute in a day and suggested people who were stuck in the traffic jam have their office fax them some work to their car! It also showed 10-lane freeways running at peak capacity --- 30 mph.

Commuter Race. This pitted a solo driver against a BART commuter. They left the same area at the same time.
"We compared their commutes in terms of time, convenience, cost, and stress. The BART commuter paid less and got there 15 minutes earlier," Meyers said.

Physical Impact. They took a man who alternates between driving and taking the bus and wired him up with a portable EKG and blood pressure monitor.
"We rode with him as he drove along in his car in a huge traffic jam," said Meyers.
The next day, they did the same on the bus to see the difference in stress.
"It was pretty substantial. There was a 30 to 40 point difference. The bus was much less stressful," she said.

Anatomy of a Traffic Jam.
"The premise was that even when there are no accidents, there are still huge traffic jams," she explained.
Why was that? What they found was individuals' driving habits added to traffic jams, such as driving too slowly, pulling off freeways and re-merging, or suddenly changing lanes. They also showed what people could do to minimize the problem.

Car As Kingdom. So many people are spending so much time in their cars, they are equipping them like a second home with computers, fax machines, and car phones.

Traffic Dollars. Traffic is costs a region lost hours and lost jobs when business which locate elsewhere. This focused on a doctor who got stuck in a traffic jam on the Bay Bridge. He couldn't get to surgery and called on his car phone and told them not to put the patient under anesthesia. Unfortunately, the patient was already under.
"We tabulated how many dollars were lost because of that traffic jam," Meyers explained.

Highway Heroes. Planners who were finally planning with traffic in mind when they put up big developments.

Psychological Impact. The telltale signs of commuter stress. Five warning signs of road stress. How you can comfort yourself.

Air Quality. Pollution from autos.

Why Drive Alone. How to get in a car pool and why people don't join them.

Truck Problems. "San Francisco has the busiest truck corridor in the nation," said Meyers. The problems this raises. Plans to limit trucks during peak commuting hours.

Commute of the Future.
"Companies are now offering not only health and retirement benefits, but commute benefits as well," said Meyers. Pacific Bell, for example, offered discount books and shuttle services.
"They're also getting into tele-commuting, which lets people stay at home and work on a computer," she explained.

Water Transportation. The Bay as an unused freeway.

Commuter's Worst Nightmares. The station began soliciting the worst nightmares a month earlier, asking people to send their stories.
"We're going to use these personal stories as springboards to discuss solutions to Bay Area traffic problems," said Meyers.

Project became an on-going commitment

"It is incredible how much we have already learned about this. It's been a real education," said News Director Maroney.
"We knew a lot already having done a series last year on the ten worst traffic jams. But, this has taken us far beyond that in terms of getting up on the learning curve about the issues," he said.

Some elements of the campaign lived on beyond the actual project.
For example, KPIX did a commuter forecast in the 11 o'clock show. They talked about road conditions, road repair, transit problems, changes in transit schedules and how weather will affect transit the next day.
Maroney explained that would continue, and they would continue to report on transit issues.
"We've done it in the past, but we'll be doing more showcasing of it," he added.

Would people change their habits?

While the managers had hoped to have a big impact with their "Beat the Back Up Day," Maroney conceded it was very difficult to get people to change their commuting patterns.
"In California, people love their cars. They love to get in their cars and drive alone on the freeway. To convince people to change that behavior --- even for one day --- is a gimmick. But, it may convince some people it isn't so bad and they can actually save money," he said.
For example, for the commuter who drove, bridge tolls were $2.00 a day and parking could run $5.00. You could take the ferry round-trip for half that.

February 27, 1989

A Life-Saving Campaign
Drive 4 Life

People driving today face many hazards ranging from aggressive out-of-control individuals to drunks to hazardous highways. This is a problem that impacts and interests most of your viewers.
Here are the specifics of a project that is designed to save lives and increase driving safety.

Drivers are educated about the dangers

A year-long campaign to reduce the high number of motor vehicle accidents in South Carolina has been launched by the managers at WYFF-TV, Greenville.

"In meeting with community leaders and law enforcement, we discovered we have a very high fatality rate on our highways, and particularly on the secondary roads," says News Director Andy Still.

The state is tied for second place in the nation for its death rate on highways.
Most of the deaths are occurring on secondary roads, even though that's not where most of the traffic is. More than 65 percent of all South Carolina roads --- some 25,000 miles --- are secondary roads. The problem is that most of the highway money ends up being spent on interstates.
"The secondary roads are narrow and often don't have shoulders. Plus, there are many people driving at high speeds," he says.

Station aggressively stays in touch with community

The idea for the Drive 4 Life project came out of the ongoing community meetings that the station's managers hold throughout the year.
Still explains, "We have a deep dedication to community service. We meet once every quarter with community leaders from different parts of our hyphenated market."

The station representatives include those who are responsible for PSAs, managers and newspeople. They want to keep on top of what key leaders feel are important issues before those issues are part of the general news.
"A lot of what we get is information on festivals that are coming up or community events, but we also get information on real issues," says Still.
For example, if the local relief agencies are seeing an increase in the number of homeless on the street, the station managers want to know about it. If health officials are worried there may not be enough beds to treat influenza victims, this is important for the station to act on.
"We hear about some real deep issues and problems that might come up that we are able to discover beforehand and do stories on," Still explains.

Another significant campaign that came from this process was the highly successful News 4 FireWatch.
Following a string of fire deaths, the station devoted resources to educating the public about fire safety. The campaign continued across several years, and reached many, many people.
"We had days where we sold smoke detectors at cost. We ended up selling about 200,000 of them," Still adds.

Highway safety covers many issues

The news managers realized there would be many possible stories that would come under the umbrella of Drive 4 Life.
"It could be anything from an anchor going to driving school to tips and PSAs to looking at specific problem areas," says Still.

The news team had done stories on cross-over accidents on the interstates --- accidents that happen when drivers fall asleep or lose control of their vehicle and cross into oncoming traffic. The news reports helped lead to the installation of cable barriers to prevent cars from crossing over.
The managers hope to have a similar impact here with this project. "We are doing PSAs and news stories that basically deal with how to help people keep from killing themselves on the road," says Still.

Some information is very basic --- safe driving tips that serve as reminders to everyone.
In one PSA, meteorologist John Cessarich speaks to viewers from a car.
He offers some basic ideas:

--- Plan ahead. Cut down on distractions such as talking on the phone, looking at a map or eating.
--- Be alert. Constantly watch what's ahead of you.
--- Anticipate traffic patterns and road conditions.
--- Adjust the mirrors. Avoid blind spots. Stay alert by checking the mirrors often.

Cessarich's bottom line to viewers: "So pay attention, keep your mind focused on driving. WYFF wants you to Drive 4 Life."

In-depth material is covered in news packages.
There is no set number of stories or specific time when pieces will air.
"There are a number of things we will do throughout the year to heighten the awareness of driving safely," says Still.

One piece showed viewers how they could drive more safely by leaving more room between their car and the vehicle in front of them.
Police traffic statistics showed that 600 times in 2001, Greenville drivers couldn't stop in time to avoid running into the vehicle in front of them.
A police officer showed reporter Tim Waller the problem at a stoplight. As the vehicles lined up, some were clearly too close to those in front of them. The policeman suggested drivers should allow a car length for every 10 miles of speed.
A simple, effective rule of thumb: If you can't see the rear tires of the vehicle in front of you, you're too close.

Investigation: Small Roads, Big Danger

An investigation looked at the reasons for the high number of fatalities on secondary roads.
This ran during February.
South Carolina's motor vehicle death rate is 60 percent higher than the national average, with most of the deaths happening on the secondary roads.
"The most dangerous roads in South Carolina aren't city boulevards or urban interstates, but the two-lane secondary roads that most folks drive on every day," said reporter Chris Cifatte.

"Small Roads, Big Danger" included:

Personal example. A man who was involved in a serious crash and lived told his story. A car with five teenagers hit his car on a narrow, rain-slick road. One of the teenagers died. The man said, "You don't have any where to go, you're off the road or in the other lane."

Demonstrations. The reporter used a tape measure to document the width of the highway where the man was injured. The nat sound: "We have 9 feet, six inches of useable space." That was just one lane.
To convey just how narrow these roads are, Cifatte did a standup in front of a typical two-car garage. It was twenty-one feet wide. It was about the width of a road through the country. The two cars in the garage fit snugly inside.
"So you have two cars driving down the road sharing about this much space," he said.
You also felt how narrow the space was when you saw eight foot-wide school buses moving swiftly past, running in lanes just a little more than nine feet wide.

Authority. The danger was confirmed by an expert, a Clemson University researcher who had studied this for two years. He said that narrow lanes, uneven shoulders and obstacles too close to the road are some of the things that make secondary roads so deadly.
Lawmakers were slow to endorse a solution. It would take substantial amounts of taxpayer money, including raising the gasoline tax, to pay to widen roads and shoulders and install guardrails.

April 8, 2002

Return to top of page.

Checking the Emergency Response:
Truck's Chemical Spill Stopped Traffic

The Chicago government's emergency response to a major public safety disruption was examined by WGN-TV.

"Danger Downwind" analyzed a big traffic accident.
A tanker truck overturned during a morning rush hour in August, 2001,  on one of the city's busiest expressways. The Dan Ryan was shut down for hours.  Hundreds of commuters were stranded in their cars. Trains were eventually stopped.  Nearby high-rise apartments were evacuated as a toxic cloud spread across the area.

It was an emergency with many facets.
"At first it appeared to be just a bad accident. Then it became an environmental problem because there was a chemical leaking, and a cloud of chemicals drifted over the area as the commuter trains passed through," said News Director Carol Fowler.

The news team members took all the time needed to fully investigate what happened.

Crisis responders' actions were precisely documented

The investigative team set out to create a timeline.  The goal was to establish a minute-by-minute account of what happened, and how the emergency personnel responded.
"We looked at why they made the decisions they made," said Fowler.

Right after the incident, investigative producer Jason Jedlinski began checking the emergency response.
"We started looking at it, because we weren't sure how it happened. We knew a truck had overturned on the highway, and the next thing there was a huge cloud," he said.
The truck swerved out of control, flipped on its side, slammed into a barrier, and caught fire at 6:45 a.m. At 7:05, there was an explosion and a cloud of ammonia vapors spread.
Jedlinski said, "Our initial suspicion was the fire department could have started, accelerated, or otherwise caused this to happen by mishandling the situation. When our helicopter got there, it was an overturned truck. When the fire department got there, there was a huge cloud. We wondered if a mistake was made that turned this into a disaster," he said.

The live coverage airchecks provided a foundation of information and video.
"We had the video. But it was a huge undertaking for our investigative unit to dissect what had happened, and go back and construct a timeline," said Fowler.

Response times were scrutinized closely.
In checking their video of the incident, the newspeople found vital equipment actually arrived on the scene sooner than the city computer said it did.

Key public records, including dispatch logs, were requested.
Then the 9/11 atrocities happened, and the expressway investigation was put on hold.
"The time spent investigating terrorism for the next few months allowed the various agencies to get their documents together and respond to our requests. In the end, we had over a four-inch stack of paperwork," said Jedlinski.

Each time they received a response from an agency, they would find new leads in the material. Often when one agency would not release records, the same or related documents would be among the papers released by another agency.

Many departments had useful records.
"Of course you are going to check with the highway patrol and the environmental authorities, but you might not think to check with the Sewer Department," he said.
The Sewer Department workers stopped up the drainage tunnels running under the expressway to keep the chemical from going into the river and killing fish.
"Everywhere we looked there was another agency we could check with," he added.

There were many incident debriefings done by the 18 local, state and federal agencies that responded.
The minutes from those meetings showed problems, including:
--- A delay in identifying the chemical.
--- Failure to communicate just how toxic it was.
--- Confusion over command structure and who was on the scene.

When the news team returned to the expressway issue, 9/11 had given the probe new urgency.
How prepared were Chicago's first responders to handle a Hazmat incident?
What kind of safeguards existed in the licensing process for driver's licenses and permits for hauling hazardous materials?
"As we wrote the story, we wanted to make sure we didn't get into scaring people or to make it worse than it was," Jedlinski added.

The former fire commander (now retired) who created the hazardous materials squad analyzed the response.
It was 20 minutes into the emergency when the expressway was ordered shut down. It took an additional 20 minutes to accomplish it. Several trains went through the toxic smoke. One bus was stopped for several minutes in the smoke. High rises were evacuated after the toxic plume was no longer visible.
The former chief said, "All these people are probably too close ... You can't wait until people start falling over to say, 'Maybe we should have gotten you out of the way.'"
"Some of the things we didn't get into. We learned ambulances were sent into the hot zone on the wrong side of the highway. They had to be decontaminated because they were in the path of the fumes," Jedlinski said.

Look at the communications

Jedlinski feels that other stations' investigators looking at Hazmat responses should focus on the communications (particularly communication between agencies).
"It wasn't that they weren't trained to fight it. The problem was they didn't start making decisions about evacuations or shutting down the commuter train running through the middle of the cloud, until after they had contained the threat," he said.
"Once they knocked down the big cloud, that's when the wheels started turning. It may take 45 or 50 minutes to marshal those resources, but is there a way it can be done faster in the future?" he asked.

With the decision to shut down the trains, there were 10 to 15 minutes between the decision and the time it actually happened.
Jedlinski said, "Is there a way to speed that up? Communication and cooperation are vital. Everyone was quick to point out that there were no turf wars here. No one was getting territorial about who was in charge. Everyone cooperated. What we saw was more of a lack of ability to communicate effectively or to get a unified message out."
In his narration, anchor Steve Sanders said, "Despite the good outcome, we found transit riders put at risk by numerous breakdowns in communication between agencies."

Another area where communication was important was in determining the type of chemical involved.
On the fire dispatch tape, a commander reports, "The only thing I can get from the driver is 3,000 pounds of a flammable liquid."
Actually it was 33,000 pounds. The driver had no real idea what he was hauling.
"There was a lack of communication as to what it was. In this case, it was toxic, but it was not deadly or anything extremely poisonous. But, had it been, would people have known?" he asks.

Conclusion: Tough situation, room for improvement

The story did not turn out to be a damning indictment. But the next Hazmat/traffic mess could be handled better. The emergency teams were lucky the chemical wasn't more toxic.
Sanders felt they did a "pretty good job."
Jedlinski said, "Our ultimate conclusion was we're reasonably prepared. But had this been something more dangerous, this response would not have been adequate. If this was some kind of chemical weapon, we would have been in big trouble."

WGN also raised the fact there was only one Hazmat truck available.
It was the backup unit without computers. The main truck was out of service for maintenance.
Chicago is so big it can take too long for the one unit to get to a scene.
"Had this been something planned, or a chemical weapon, and if there was an incident somewhere else in the city, who would have been able to respond to that?" he asks.

An online opinion poll asked people whether money should be spent to build a second station to deal with Hazmat incidents. People were in favor of it.

The driver and trucking company were penalized

A second segment of "Danger Down-wind" looked at the truck that caused the whole mess. (Besides the outrageous statement this made about highway safety, this showed how easily terrorists could get ahold of trucks and fill them with explosives.)

The driver had received his license using the identity of a dead man!
He was a Mexican national who entered the U.S. through Canada.
"He got his driver's license by purchasing the identity of a man who had been dead for seven years. As we investigated how that happened, we learned the Secretary of State's Office in Illinois does not have a procedure for making sure that anyone who applies for a license is not doing so under someone else's identity," said Fowler.

The state officials claimed they were trying to come up with a system to check the validity of Social Security numbers.
"We proved that it is simply a matter of going on the Internet, and it takes a matter of seconds. There is a Web site you can go to and enter a Social Security number, and it'll say immediately whether that person is living or dead," she explained.

Driver Fernando Ruiz (real name) had incorrect entries in his logbook. He had no shipping papers that would help emergency crews identify and handle the leaking chemical.
He served four months in prison and was deported to Mexico.

The trucking company was not licensed to haul hazardous materials. It was fined more than $2,000. Its federal motor carrier authority was suspended.

Emergency response lessons apply to possible terrorism incident

The news team also looked at the incident as one that might hold lessons larger than a Hazmat crisis.
"In this post 9/11 environment, we are always looking for ways we can be better prepared for terrorism," said anchor Sanders, who reported the piece.
He added, "I thought the story provided a window for us to take a look at how Chicago's first responders dealt with a dangerous situation."
Chicago could easily be a prime target for attacks. It is America's third largest city, and with all the high-rise buildings, mass transit and interstate highways, Sanders saw it as a target-rich environment.

Official response system failed, people drowned

Serious weaknesses in the local emergency response system were documented in 1997 by KCRA-TV, Sacramento.
Severe floods did widespread damage and people drowned.
When massive winter floods threatened, some elected and appointed officials failed. Agencies that were supposedly monitoring the water levels did not properly warn the people in danger.
News Director Bill Bauman created a team to investigate.
They began by putting together a very specific timeline of when decisions had been made, warnings issued, evacuations ordered and lives lost. They built their documentation by including all faxes received, and a careful logging of the airchecks of the live coverage during the emergency.
It was a story of chaos and confusion that cost lives.
The investigation was wrapped up with a half-hour special that ran on a Sunday night at 6:30. Many viewers were interested. The show did an 11 rating/26 share.
Bauman and his investigative reporter explained to The Rundown exactly how they conducted this major investigation.

You can retrieve the story here in our story database.

The Street Zapper Documents
Speeding, Dangerous Drivers

Motorists speeding through residential neighborhoods endanger the people who live there, particularly the children. The neighbors look for the police to enforce the speed limits and are frustrated when enforcement is not aggressive.
Here is how the news managers at WTOL-TV, Toledo, developed an innovative feature that addressed the viewers' frustrations.

SOS: Streets of Speed

"This is one of those low effort/high payoff franchises," said WTOL-TV News Director C.J Beutien.
He explained, "Everybody is always looking for some kind of series or franchise we can do that hasn't been done 100 times before. We were looking for what is unique to Toledo."
They were brainstorming for sweeps. Several staff members mentioned doing something on motorists and the problem of "maniac motorists." Beutien felt that just going out and videotaping people doing dumb things as they were driving wouldn't have much of an impact.

One day he saw a radar gun advertised for sale in a mail order catalog.
"It was for people who wanted to check how fast their golf swing was or if they were at a race track and they wanted to see how fast the cars were going," he explained.

Beutien ordered a radar gun, intending to do speed checks in different neighborhoods.

Viewers were invited to report speeding problems in their neighborhood. The station would send the Street Zapper to document the hazard. Announcements ran on air and the station's Web site.

They had given away trips and all kinds of things, and might typically receive 300 or 400 e-mails in a week's time.

"What we found is there are a lot of people who are very frustrated about speeders in their neighborhood. They have children who play in the front yard, and are worried about a ball rolling into the street. If people go 25 mph, it's not so bad. But there is always someone zipping through," he said.

Too often when someone calls the police about the problem, the complaint seems to fall on deaf ears. Police departments only have so many people they can devote to speed traps and only so many radar units to deploy.
"People were lined up to do this! We started it two weeks ago, and it generated even more e-mails. When people see Channel 11 crews now, they mention Street Zapper. I don't think I have ever had a project that connected this quickly," said Beutien.

It helped on a number of fronts:

Differentiation. People clearly identified the Street Zapper with WTOL.

Interaction. Viewers visited the Web and requested the station to come to their neighborhood. The invitation online was to "Send us your SOS --- your Streets of Speed."

Serving the community. It shined a light on a significant problem and got results.

Speeds documented, violators confronted

A news crew went to the neighborhood for several hours.   They kept track of all the cars shot with the radar gun.
They'd report something like: "For two hours, we were over on Barrington Drive, and we measured the speed of 30 vehicles. Ninety-eight percent of them were going over the speed limit. The speed limit is 25, but the average speed was 38.5 mph..."
The data also went on the Web site.

The person who sent the e-mail was introduced to the viewers. The individual explained why the Street Zapper was needed in the neighborhood.

The violators were asked to explain their driving.
"We document the patterns with the radar gun, and then we confront the motorists," said Beutien.
One newsperson had the radar gun, and the cars were videotaped going along the road. Using a cell phone or two-way, the person with the gun called ahead to another crew stationed at a stop sign up the road, and explained that "the black mini- van was going 42 mph" in the 25 mph zone.

The crew at the stop sign approached the drivers, and told them how fast they were going.
People had many excuses. They were late for a doctor's appointment. They didn't realize they were going so fast. A few were angry about being clocked.

The district city council person was interviewed for a reaction.
The elected officials were generally happy the station exposed the problem and documented the speeding.
"They say that we are putting attention on a problem that really needs to be fixed. All the feedback we have is that people are very thankful," said Beutien.

Beutien's advice: Make sure you purchase a good speed gun. WTOL bought a Bushnell Speedster on the Internet for about $180.
"We've had the speed gun calibrated to make sure it is accurate," he said.

The news managers decided against calling it a "speed gun." Some women in their focus group at the station didn't like calling something a "gun." They decided on the "Street Zapper." The distinctive name connected with people. At the end of the second week, they received about 60 new e-mails and every one Beutien read called it the "Street Zapper."

An added bonus was that the project appealed to an attractive demo --- young mothers.
"The moms with the little kids are the most concerned, but it is of interest to older people, too. Nobody likes speeders in their neighborhood," said Beutien.

He said that people were glad the station was putting a spotlight on the problem. Every year there were children (and adults) struck by cars that were speeding.
"Although it wasn't our intention, the Street Zapper has become a star of Channel 11. Are speeders going to go away? I don't think so. Is the concern about speeders going to go away? I don't think so. This isn't a flash in the pan," said Beutien.

Other Liberty-owned stations also saw instant success

In Lubbock, KCBD-TV launched the franchise in its market.

They jump-started their project by going live from a location where police said speeding was a problem.
"Immediately after the live broadcast at 6, we received 15 phone calls to our hotline within the first five minutes --- and over 200 e-mails!" said Benji Snead, News Director KCBD-TV, Lubbock.

Prior to the live shot, the newsroom managers had created a hotline and a specially named e-mail: SOS@kcbd.com
"We obviously hit a nerve, because viewers really wanted us in their neighborhoods. While we understand that we can't stop people from speeding, we hope to raise the awareness of what appears to be a common problem in residential areas and school zones here in Lubbock," he said.

This reaction followed the research.
"The research said people want news where they live, but that is a hard thing to accomplish. This helps us do that, because we can go to your neighborhood, and there is a common interest citywide --- no matter what neighborhood you live in. This lets us touch that news image of news where you live. Weather is the only way we have been able to touch that so far," said Snead.

KCBD generated more attention by partnering with a morning radio show.
"We sent a reporter and photographer out with a speed gun and did it live for about a two-hour block off and on with the number one morning radio show in Lubbock," said Snead.

Not all motorists were happy about being spotlighted.
"We had to blur out the finger we got from one man," he said.

Snead's advice: If you are reporting on people speeding, you must make sure your own people are NOT speeding.
"People have called a few times saying they have seen our marked units speeding. They have clocked our units speeding, and say 'You can't throw stones if you live in a glass house.' If you are going to do this, your people must obey the speed limit," he stressed.

KLTV, in Tyler, TX, also had "enormous success" with the franchise, according to News Director Kenny Boles.
"We've received more than 550 e-mails and 145 phone calls in the first week and a half. Our audience skews a little older, and so we still have a lot of viewers without computers. We set up a hotline people could call and leave their name, address, phone number and their problem," he explained.

He said, "It's not like they can run the speeders down and give them tickets. They really, really want help, and many of them don't feel their police departments have been responsive enough. They are hoping that the more attention that is brought to their community, the police will have to respond."

Boles' advice: Buy a good radar gun and READ THE DIRECTIONS.
"You need to get a top quality radar gun," he urged. He also purchased a Bushnell Speedster.
"You need to read the directions. Don't do the typical guy thing and take it out and start playing with it. You must read the directions, because the accuracy you bring to the story is very important. There are different angles and ways to get your best readings with a radar gun. You must know how it works most efficiently," he stressed.
Then, you must have a reporter who brings some personality to the story.
The station started soliciting for neighborhoods with speeding problems five days before the first story ran.
"We had more than 125 e-mails and 30 phone calls the first night we went on the air asking people to contact us if they'd like help fighting a speeding problem. We hadn't even done a story, and we got 125 e-mails!" he said.

They wanted to identify the neighborhoods with the biggest problems.
"After soliciting for five days, it was easy to get a sense of which communities we were getting the largest numbers of responses from," he said.

Boles said if your reporter is going to stop motorists who are speeding, you must find locations where you can clock motorists, and then where you can stop them further down the road.

Consider hiring security. He added that depending on where you are doing the story, you might think about providing security from angry and aggressive drivers. Road rage is not limited to aggressive encounters with other motorists.

May 26, 2003

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Beating The System:
Traffic Offenders Get Off

Several stations have done investigative reports on problems with speeders and drunk drivers having the charges dismissed.
It's outrageous that the most flagrant offenders sometimes go unpunished.
Here are the details of three projects.

Speeding tickets routinely dismissed

In San Antonio, WOAI-TV investigators found that speeding tickets were often dismissed because of lack of evidence: a police officer either couldn't recall the stop or didn't show up for court.

Nearly 12,000 tickets were dismissed between 1998 and late 2003. Troubleshooter Brian Collister broke the story.
About 2,000 of those cases were dismissed because the officer failed to show up in court. In the other 9,000, the officers couldn't remember the traffic stop. When you were issuing hundreds of tickets, it was supposedly hard to remember each one.

Speed traps, ticketing patterns and going to traffic court are things many motorists are interested in, and many have experienced first hand.
"Everybody drives. I want to know where that speed trap is. Even though it may not be useful to some people, everyone got a kick out of knowing which color cars get the most tickets and how fast over the speed limit you can go. That information pulled in a lot of people," said Collister.

Starting point: ticket database

The project began by researching the areas where people received the most tickets.
"We paid several hundred dollars for the city's database from municipal court. There was a field on the location where the ticket was written. We were able to come up with the Top 10 Speed Traps --- down to the intersection or the stretch of road," said Collister.

The average speed over the speed limit? Seventeen miles per hour.

"It was information people always talk about, and think they know the answers to. Most people think you can't go more than 5 miles per hour over the speed limit without risking a ticket. The average speed was 17 miles an hour over," he said.

The two-parter began with a quiz, letting viewers guess the answers.
"We did it like a test. We asked people what color car they thought got the most tickets, and edited the soundbites together. Everyone except one person thought it was red. Then we put the answers up," he said.

The second part was a more serious investigation looking at the fact that officers weren't showing up for court, or when they did show up, they couldn't remember the details.

One man told Collister, "I get a thrill out of it ... I was on my Yamaha R-6, but actually I was doing 145 when the cops pulled me over. He got me at 121. I 'm guessing his radar was off."
He didn't pay a fine.
At least eight of his citations had been dismissed.

"How could you not remember a guy doing 145 miles per hour?" asks Collister.
Collister didn't want to go after people who were doing 60 in a 55 mile an hour zone. It was important to show examples where people were doing a high rate of speed.

Speeders' secret: pleading to lesser offense

The idea behind the point system is that bad or unsafe drivers accrue points for every traffic violation, and eventually, they lose their license.

However, in one suburban Kansas City county, speeders were allowed to plead down to a non-moving violation and pay double the fine. It maked money for the municipalities, but it defeated law enforcement's mission of keeping the streets safe.

"We discovered a weakness in the legal system in Johnson County, Kansas, which is one of the five counties that makes up the metro area," said KCTV investigative reporter Steve Chamraz.
"People can plead down to a non-moving violation. Basically, the prosecutor turns it into a parking ticket. You pay double the fine, and it never shows up on your record," he explained.

Chamraz found that some who pleaded down were "serial speeders."
"We discovered a weakness in the system that allowed one driver to rack up 13 pleas in 11 years. This man had three tickets in five weeks. Because the communities don't communicate among themselves, he was able to plead down two of the three tickets, and save his license," Chamraz explained.

After three tickets, the state could take action against a person's license if state officials knew about the tickets. One prosecutor pleaded down seven tickets in eight months for one man.
"It is a major weakness in the system that a lot of people don't want to see changed," said Chamraz.

Everyone who benefited from avoiding the point system wanted to keep this as it was.
--- The drivers. They didn't want to change it, because they liked it when the tickets didn't show up on their records.
--- The cities. They didn't want to change, because they were getting double the fine.
--- The prosecutors. They were part-time employees of the city, and to change would mean extra work.
--- The lawyers. They didn't want it changed, because the speeders didn't know how easy it was to plead down, and they often hired a lawyer.

Each town in the county had its own procedures and its own rules, and none of them communicated with each other.
"They don't have a system in place to make sure they don't let serial speeders continue to drive. In some cases, these people are 'speed demons.' The way it is now, the system lets them keep driving. It lets them off the hook," he stresses.

Thousands were getting away

Using the open records law, the news staffers obtained more than 15,000 records of moving violations that were pleaded down during a two- year period.
Only half of the cities in the county turned over their records. Chamraz said the numbers could be as high as 30,000 speeding tickets pleaded down.

The worst of the worst were confronted.
Chamraz highlighted the case of the man who had 16 tickets in 11 years. He dealt down 13 of them. One violation was for a fatal accident, although he wasn't found to be at fault.
"The other driver ran a red light. The man was doing 63 in a 35 mph zone and just creamed the poor woman," Chamraz said.

Viewers responded to the revelations.
The promotion began on a Thursday night, and the story ran at 10 p.m. on the last Monday of the book.
"It did a very large number, and won the night handily," he said.

Chamraz added that he received a lot of cooperation from police departments, who understandably weren't too happy about the practice.
"The police are out there writing tickets only to have them pleaded down," he said.

Drunk drivers weren't always charged after an accident

Investigators at WCNC-TV, Charlotte, uncovered a disturbing trend: drunk drivers who were injured in accidents they caused often were never charged with DWI.

Investigative producer Rick Yarborough was going through court records for a piece on "Speed Demons" --- people who were charged with driving in excess of 100 mph --- when he noticed a lot of the DWI cases had been dismissed.
"When I was pulling cases by hand to see why the cases had been dismissed, I noticed several of the drunk drivers had been injured, and were transported to hospitals," he said.
"I talked to a defense attorney who was very open, and told me point blank that the worse a drunk driver was injured, the better chance he had of getting off," said Yarborough.

Yarborough went through more than 7,000 DWI cases from 2001 and 2002 and found repeated instances of the case being dismissed because the driver was injured.

The district attorney admitted it does happen, and explained there are a lot of reasons why the case was dismissed.
"When a person is transported to a hospital, a lot of the evidence prosecutors need to make a case is not there. Officers don't do a field sobriety test. Their first priority is to try and save the life and get them to a hospital. Often a person is not arrested, and the accident report is secondary," Yarborough explained.
"Many times the information on the accident report doesn't get transferred to arrest papers for a DWI, so there is a miscommunication," he added.

He discovered the case of a young woman whose car was hit by a drunk driver. Her SUV was totalled, and she was seriously injured. The other driver was charged with DWI, but a few months later, while she was still recovering from her injuries, the case was dismissed.
The man who hit her had a blood alcohol content three times the legal limit, but the blood records were missing.

Witnesses had not even been subpoenaed.
When the investigators tried to find the witnesses, Yarborough easily found them listed on the accident report.
"I talked to them, and they said none of them were ever contacted to appear in court," he said.
"We profiled her case, and pointed out these were the kind of problems that happen all the time when there is an accident involving a drunk driver," he added.

Often these people were repeat offenders.
Yarborough said in going through the records for the last two years in the county, as many as one in three drunk driving cases were dismissed for various reasons. Many of those people were still on the road.

Yarborough was also surprised to learn that while DWI seemed to be such a high priority, there were no grants to help clean up the problem.

While of doing the research, he found a study on the same topic that had been done in Charlotte in the 1990s.
"It showed that more than 70 percent of the people who came into the emergency room, who were drunk drivers and had been injured, were not charged with the crime," he said.

December 8, 2003

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Driving Hazard:
The Drivers Themselves

The biggest danger for a person on the road is often our fellow motorists.

Motoring maniacs
KMGH-TV, Denver

In Denver, KMGH-TV tapped into drivers' pet peeves for two popular series:   "You're Driving Me Crazy" and "You're Still Driving Me Crazy."
"We've been showing people doing things on the road that  really bug other people," said News Director Arlin Stevens.

They covered many angles:

--- Dangerous Drivers. They shot footage at intersections and showed how three or four cars in a row often run the light after it changes to red.

--- Ambulance Blockers.  Drivers routinely ignore emergency vehicles running with red light and siren.
"We rode with them and showed how people refuse to get out of the way, and then we talked with an EMT who told us how getting to the hospital quickly can make a difference," he said.

--- School Buses. Crews followed school buses. Most drivers did very well. But in one suburb, bus drivers went through red lights, neglected to put the stop arm out while discharging students, and routinely exceeded the speed limit.

Stevens told The Rundown,"It has been our single most successful  series because everybody drives and everybody has something to say about drivers."

The feedback portion of it was a key element.
He said anyone else doing a similar project should include it. "They should make sure there is a way for viewers to call in with their comments," he added.
The station had an open line for people to call with their favorite pet peeve. At the end of the week of reports, they did a piece on what viewers said they hated the most.
"In Colorado, what apparently annoys people the most is drivers who get out in the fast lane and drive slowly," he said.
It's a real problem on two-lane, winding mountain roads where it is difficult to pass.
Another pet peeve: mass transit drivers who pull out in traffic without signaling or looking to see if a car is coming. Many Denver drivers felt bus drivers bully drivers of smaller vehicles, and get away with it.
"You could come up with a list of about 20 pet peeves that many of your viewers can identify with," Stevens added.

The station also did a piece on auto repair.
"We put a camera under the hood and referred to it as the 'Sneaky Cam' and showed how mechanics work," said Stevens.
The camera was about the size of a small flashlight and was hidden under the hood. No one discovered it.
The news crew took a well-tuned car, pulled a wire on it and took it around to various places for repair estimates.
"Most of the places we went were very good," said Stevens.
"It was interesting because we were listening to and watching mechanics as they opened the hood and went about discovering what the problem was. In some cases, they found it right away. In some cases, they didn't. Some still charged a good chunk of money for repairing something that wasn't broken," he said.

June 22, 1992

Rude, aggressive drivers in the Bay State
WGGB-TV, Springfield

WGGB produced a series on things that drive motorists crazy.

"If anyone has moved here from any other part of the country, one of the first things they learn is that Massachusetts drivers are extremely aggressive, and don't always follow the rules," said Dan Salamone, News Director.
He explained, "We decided to do a month-long look at people's driving habits. It has an appeal to all demographics, and people can relate to the topic."

Week 1. Highway driving.
Speeders, weavers and other obnoxious motorists.
A news crew spent a week with the state police. Using wireless microphones, they recorded the excuses of the drivers --- everything from "My radiator is leaking, and I'm trying to get to the next exit" to "I didn't know I was going so fast."
The most popular reason: "I have to get to the next exit, because I have to go to the bathroom."

Week 2. Handicapped parking violators.
By staking out handicapped parking places over a three-day period, the photographers were able to get a number of offenders on tape.
"We confronted them as to why they parked in a handicapped spot, and we demonstrated to them by going out with handicapped drivers how inconvenient it is not to get a spot," said Salamone.
"Once again, their excuses were pretty lame," said Salamone.
"I was just going in for a few minutes." "Oh, am I parked in a handicapped spot?" "My leg hurts today." "I bruised my leg yesterday."
"Everyone has rationalized why they do it. It was a particular problem on rainy days when people want to park close," he said.

Week 3. School bus violators.
Some motorists pass buses when the vehicles are loading or discharging students.
One couple talked about how their daughter had been run over and killed by a motorist who passed a school bus.
"It happened years ago, and they are still in pain over the senselessness of someone who simply didn't adhere to the flashing red lights. We were able to demonstrate the problem fairly easily by staking out six or seven different locations where school buses stop," he said.
A news crew rode on the buses and talked to the drivers, as well as talking to parents.
Some bus drivers wrote down license plate numbers, but there weren't enough police to enforce the law.
The news crew chased drivers who passed illegally.
"They said they either thought there was nothing wrong with going around it, because they went around wide, or they had no clue that they had even done it," Salamone said.

WGGB had a tie-in with a radio station.
"We told people after they watched each report that they could call the next day during morning drive on WHYN radio and talk about what is driving them crazy," said Salamone.
During the first three weeks, excerpts of the comments were used on the air each night.
"We installed a camera in the radio station and recorded the talk show host taking the phone calls. The radio station provided us with the audio of the phone callers," he explained.
The TV station used cover video of whatever the topic was people were calling about and ran two or three minutes of comments each night.

Week 4. Follow up on popular topics.
"We left the final week open to explore some of the topics people are calling in about," said Salamone.
For instance, to many Massachusetts drivers, a yellow light meant green. And, rotaries were a problem, too. Many people didn't know who had the right-of-way.
Also, many people didn't know what to do when an ambulance or a fire engine came their way. A crew rode with an ambulance crew for a day to see how motorists reacted.
"You're supposed to pull over to the right and stop and wait for it to pass, but you get some people who freak out and stop in the middle of the road, or who pull over to the left. Some people don't pull over at all, because they have the radio so loud, they can't hear the siren!" he said.
"It didn't take us long to show this is a legitimate problem. The EMTs wanted to drive home the message that if it takes an extra 60 seconds for them to get to someone's house, it may be too late. If someone has a heart attack or is choking, if they are not breathing, after five minutes there is brain damage," he said.

May 30, 1994

Running the light
WFTS-TV, Tampa

Drivers who run red lights are a menace.
"We did this just two days before the report was released by the federal government that said running red lights was as deadly a problem as drunk driving and not wearing seat belts," said Steve Barrett, Managing Editor.
The problem was documented by staking out the intersections.
"We sat at a red light with a police officer and watched people flying through," he said.
Some had excuses.
"We caught them on camera, and then got their reactions.  Many claimed the light was yellow. But we had it on tape showing it was definitely red, and they ran through," said Barrett.

May 25, 1998

Red light camera debate
KOVR-TV, Sacramento

Catching traffic light offenders with a camera and a computer is controversial. The system is supposed to increase enforcement at dangerous intersections and reduce accidents.

In Sacramento, critics claimed:
--- The program was designed to generate the most tickets, i.e. most fines, as was possible.
--- Three-second yellow lights were too short and encouraged drivers to "go for it." A city traffic engineer responded that people would adjust to any time length, and keep gunning it anyway.
--- The private contractor didn't constantly check and maintain the cameras. The companies denied this.

On the city's side, officials told investigative reporter Jon Baird that accidents dropped by ten percent at the intersections involved after the system was installed.

July 30, 2001

Red light photos causing collisions
WBTV-TV, Charlotte

Rear-end collisions have increased since red light photo enforcement arrived in Charlotte, according to critics.
Investigative reporter Bob Knowles found that while the state law enabling the cameras was designed to increase safety, they were not necessarily being deployed at the most dangerous intersections.
Total accidents were down 1% in three years. But, rear-end collisions were up 15%. A motorists association representative claimed red light cameras made city streets more dangerous because drivers were panicking and hitting the brakes for fear of being ticketed.
Knowles also found a controversy over where six million dollars worth of fines has gone. The state constitution earmarks fines to help support public schools. However, the city government has kept the fines collected, and not sent them to the educators.

April 8, 2002

Red Light Photos
XETV-TV, San Diego

An investigation into the city's red light photo enforcement cameras resulted in some red faces at city hall.

Investigative reporter Greg Phillips said the new system caught more than 3,000 people every month running red lights. Most had to pay a fine of $300.
"We wondered who was getting caught by the cameras but wasn't paying these fines," said Phillips.

A public records request to the San Diego Police Department was met with resistance, and led to a showdown with lawyers. Phillips wanted two years of records of the government vehicles caught by the cameras, and the results of those tickets.
"The department's attorney told us we could only get the last two months of violations. We immediately knew we were onto something," said Phillips.

The PD finally agreed to give up the documents.
"What we found was very surprising. Government vehicles --- city, county, state and federal vehicles --- were caught 542 times, and not once were the drivers of those vehicles required to pay a fine!" said Phillips.

The investigative reporter conceded that some of them were on legitimate emergency calls, such as police and fire vehicles.

Phillips said the chief of police admitted serious mistakes were made in the handling of many of the citations. The reporter added that as a result of the station's investigation, the citations were being sent to the appropriate city, county, state or federal agency in an effort to identify the drivers and enforce the tickets.

October 23, 2000

Road construction deaths
WSB-TV, Atlanta

Work-zone fatalities were declining in Georgia, but they began rising.
Actually the drivers were more likely than the workers to be killed in work zone accidents. One estimate was that three out of four who died were driving.
Many motorists ignored the reduced speed limits around work zones, putting their lives and the lives of the highway workers in danger. A laser radar detector showed drivers speeding as high as 74 and 77 mph through one work zone.
Working on the highway was a dangerous job. Often, there were just a few feet that separated the person from life and death. About 50 of these workers were been killed on Georgia roads in the previous 30 years.
One man told reporter Tom Regan that he tried to be always on guard, always alert. The mother of man who had died recently said her only son was going to be married in a short time.
Surviving workers had impressive stories. One survived a wreck involving a tractor-trailer truck. Another man lived through being hit by a car going at least 70.

June 24, 2002

Turnpike construction dangers
WPXI-TV, Pittsburgh

Highways that appear narrow due to construction barriers can be scary and dangerous.
Some drivers panic. Others are caught with barely any extra space between the concrete barrier on one side and a big truck on the other. One woman who had driven through a stretch of the Pennsylvania Turnpike told reporter Alan Jennings, "It was terrible, there is no room for error at all."
A turnpike representative claimed the lanes in the construction zones had the same, standard width. He said the narrow look was just an illusion.
Turnpike records listed speed as the most likely cause of accidents on the road. Most drivers said they'd prefer wider construction zones.

June 24, 2002

0ne For The Road
WTSP-TV, St. Petersburg

Convicted drunk drivers, whose licenses had been revoked, were videotaped getting into their cars and driving again.
WTSP investigators documented dozens of convicted drunks driving illegally --- some were caught on tape coming out of bars and getting in their cars to drive home.

"Nationwide, there were 56,000 people killed in the last two years by drunk drivers," said reporter Kevin Kalwary.
"More people have died in drunk driving accidents in the last few years that all the deaths in the Vietnam War. That was probably the most staggering statistic I've seen."

Florida is the second worst state for drunk driving, second only to California, according to Kalwary.
"The Tampa-St. Pete area is one of the worst in the country because it is a resort area and there are a lot of transients," he explained.

The news managers decided to do the story after photographer Dave Herring saw an item in the newspaper.
"Way down, buried low in a story, was a comment from a judge saying, 'I don't even think you people are following the rules.' When our photographer saw that he said 'Why don't we go out and see if they are?' And, that's how the idea was born," Kalwary explained.

Finding the Suspects

In Florida, drunk driving convictions are a matter of public record. I-Team members went to traffic court and combed through the records looking for people with multiple convictions.

"According to the doctors we interviewed, the likely profile was middle-aged single men. After we looked at them, we looked at some elderly people and some women. Ninety-five percent of them drove and probably about 15 to 20 percent drink while they drive, " Kalwary explained.

The I-Team members spent four months outside of the homes of the convicted drunk drivers --- waiting for them to come out and drive. The photographers shot tape after work, mornings, and weekends.
"We sat in a surveillance van Friday and Saturday night and day waiting for them to go to work or to come home. We couldn't let anyone see us follow them," said Kalwary.

"They are all aware that they're not supposed to be doing what they're doing. They did try to be somewhat cautious, although I was surprised they weren't nearly as cautious as I thought they would be," he added.

All of the 30 to 40 violators they followed were convicted four times or more. One had been convicted 11 times.

Kalwary said, "All we did was go through the court files in our surrounding counties and found the drivers who had the worst records. Then we went down and looked at the ones we thought were most likely to be driving and started watching them. Every single one of them drove. We got video of everybody."

They taped one man going into a bar, coming out, and followed him down the road, where he pulled over and went to sleep.
"We got him up and offered to take him home," said Kalwary. They also interviewed him about why he continued to drink and drive.
"He said he was going to do it as long as they made cars. And, that he is as good a driver as anyone who doesn't drink because he's had enough practice at it," said Kalwary.
The man had served time in jail two times and, totally, had spent close to three years in jail off and on.
"He had a bunch of cases still pending when we caught him. He's now in jail as are all of them for violating their probation," said Kalwary.

Violations were widespread

The news team also went to the DUI program which is a court-ordered session for convicted drunk drivers. They did surveillance of the parking lot and found that five of the ten students drove themselves to the class, which was illegal to do.
Then, the news investigators went into the courtroom and watched DUI defendants turn over their license to the judge.
"They were immediately told not to drive again. We followed them outside and they drove off in their cars," said Kalwary.

All this was captured on tape.
"The judges who saw it were flabbergasted. Everybody was flabbergasted. But, I think they were more flabbergasted that we got the video rather than that the people were doing it," said the reporter.
"But, the gist of the story was that the people we were watching just couldn't help themselves," Kalwary pointed out.
They were alcoholics and he felt that putting them in jail was not going to stop them.
"Our conclusion was, if they were put in the rehab, and kicked the drinking habit, then they wouldn't be drinking and driving," he added.

Legislators and judges asked for copies of the series to see if they could stiffen the penalties.

July 4, 1988

Drunk driving dangers
WFTV, Orlando

A database was compiled to identify the most dangerous drunk driving areas.
The focus was on areas that had the most accidents involving alcohol and the most drunk driving arrests.
"We wanted to let people know what time it happens, and what the most dangerous spots on the road are," said anchor Wayne Havrelly.
"It was interesting, because you could really see the areas. It was primarily all along the bars. The biggest surprise was that most of the arrests don't happen on weekends. The worst time is weeknights at about 11 p.m.," he said.
The college section was also very high.

March 12, 2001

Who's at the wheel?
WMAQ-TV, Chicago

Persons with DUI convictions and suspended driving licenses were regularly driving --- and having accidents --- for the Chicago Transit Authority.

Typical abuses discovered by WMAQ investigators:
--- A man was hired despite a DUI on his record.  He subsequently drew 2 more DUIs and his license was revoked. He kept on driving for the CTA.
--- A man with at least 3 DUIs and a suspended license was training other bus drivers.
--- A driver who killed a bicyclist had had at least five accidents while driving a bus for ten years.
--- Agency officials would routinely ask judges to approve restricted driving permits for problem drivers.
--- Driver histories that could be routinely checked by computer weren't being checked.

December, 2000

Return to top of page.

Over-the-counter DUI
WMAQ-TV, Chicago

Over-the-counter antihistimines can undermine a driver's ability.

News photographer Slyvio Costales tested the theory at the University of Iowa. He "drove" on a simulator after taking Benadryl. He failed to respond quickly to a truck that pulled in front of him. He vowed he'd never again drive after taking this medicine. The manufacturer denied there was a significant problem. However, the Illinois state police reviewed it all.

Researchers concluded a medication commonly found in over-the-counter cold and allergy remedies caused more driving impairment than being legally drunk. University of Iowa scientists made the finding by studying the driving performance of people who had hay fever and were given diphenhydramine (Benadryl), fexofenadine (Allegra), alcohol and a placebo.

The subjects' performance, tested in the Iowa Driving Simulator, was poorest after taking diphenhydramine, even poorer than when they were legally drunk. In comparison, performance after taking fexofenadine was comparable to performance after taking the placebo, an inactive substance.

May 29, 2000

Left lane slowpokes
WWOR-TV, New York

Motorists crawling along in the left or fast lane can be menaces. The impatient drivers, who think they have places to go and things to do, weave to the right and then dodge back to the left. Many of these moves are less than safe.
A slow road hog may also set off rage and anger, stimulating other motorists to become hazards.
When one slowpoke finally slid into a rest area, it was time to find out if he was even aware of the rules requiring motorists to stay right if they are going slower.  He certainly did know about this, even if he had slowly ignored it.

July 26, 1999

Distracted drivers
WRC-TV, Washington

Drivers who aren't paying full attention to other motorists and the highway are dangerous.
A photographer set up a camera for morning rush hour and documented the casual approach of some motorists. They drove and read papers and shaved and applied lipstick and combed hair and ate and drank. Many, many drivers were using phones.
One woman explained how she had been permanently disabled when she was hit by a woman who was talking on her cell phone and didn't seem to realize that she was drifting over the yellow line into the oncoming lane.
One danger is looking down to tap in the numbers on the phone. Another is not having hands securely on the wheel, ready to react.

March 23, 1998

Drowsy drivers
KMSP-TV, Minneapolis

Fatigued drivers are potentially dangerous, and they are common.
A news crew went with a state trooper who uses an EyeCheck (a drug, alcohol, and fatigue detection device that is designed to rapidly assess impairment via a hand-held pupillometer) unit to measure the level of fatigue during traffic stops. They went out on a Thursday afternoon. Thirteen drivers agreed to be checked. The device showed that nine of them were drowsy. They were comparable to at least a .05 blood alcohol level if they had been tested for drinking. One man was shocked, and wondered whether he should be driving home. Experts say you can feel rested, awake, and still be sleep deprived. Dr. Michael Bornemann works at the HCMC Sleep Center. He said, "There is significant cognitive impairment, lapses in judgement, emotional irritability, and mobility as a result of deprivation."
One sign that you're tired is if you suddenly realize that you don't remember just having driven some familiar stretch of road.

August11, 2003

Older drivers
WJBK-TV, Detroit

Should elderly people --- 80 years or older --- be under tougher restrictions for driver's license renewal?
These motorists want to keep motoring. Their activity will be greatly restricted if they are forced out from behind the wheel.

On the other hand, some of these seniors were hurting themselves and others.
"We had some good video of people driving on the wrong side of the road. We just sat and waited for it," said News Director Mort Meisner.

They also used footage of serious accidents in the Detroit area and around the country involving people over 80.

May 30, 1994

Too old to drive?
WBRZ-TV, Baton Rouge

As drivers age, their eyesight and reactions erode.
Sharpness, field of vision, depth and motion perception decline.  However, their cars are of course critical for older drivers to continue shopping, visiting, working, getting out and having freedom.

An uncle told how his nephew had been killed when a 72-year-old woman pulled out suddenly in front of him. The victim's grandmother quit driving when she couldn't see at age 69. However, a records check showed a 105-year-old man still has an active Louisiana driver's license.

July 26, 1999

Saving teenagers
KMOL-TV, San Antonio

Requiring teenagers to gradually grow their driving skills might save lives.

The Texas legislature considered a phase-in program where for the first six months, nighttime driving would be prohibited.  In many cases, passengers under 21 would be banned.
This idea was based on the concept that many young drivers are inexperienced and dangerous, especially when they have friends in the car. The grim statistics told the story of how youngsters and cars could be a deadly combination.
Teens hated this proposal. A veteran driving instructor said it was much needed.

March 12, 2001

Peers impair driving
KSL-TV, Salt Lake City

If a teenage driver has passengers, it greatly increases the risk of a fatal accident.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins documented a difference. A teen with other youthful passengers can become distracted and even show off.

At East High School, students agreed with the study. A typical tale: A boy showboating slammed on his brakes as a joke --- and two following cars slammed into him.  Other students claimed they were smart enough to drive carefully. Friends' lives were in their hands.

July 17, 2000

Teen driving course
KGO-TV, San Francisco

KGO went to Los Angeles for a special driving school for teenagers.

"They put the kids on a race track to do maneuvers that look dangerous, but are actually designed to teach them to be a better driver," said Brad Stone, Executive Producer of Special Projects.
"In Driver's Ed, they don't really teach you how to deal with things like skids," he said.

The instructors wetted down the race track and showed the young drivers what happens when they slam on the brakes on a wet road.
"It was an action-packed piece. Our reporter rode along with the kids, and then tried it herself. We saw her spin out, too," he said. he said.

November 29, 1999

Driver Ed II
WSOC-TV, Charlotte

Stimulated by teen highway tragedies, some parents are putting their young drivers into drivers education for a second time.
It appears the great bulk of accidents involving teens are due to driver error.
A mother who is concerned about a possible accident said she feels much better that her son is taking an extra ten hours of private driving lessons.
A student had seen a classmate killed in a car crash and turned to a school to upgrade his own skills.

July 8, 2002

Penalty for young driver who killed
KMOL-TV, San Antonio

Many people feel drivers who kill shouldn't escape strict punishment simply because they are not adults.

The station asked viewers to indicate their feelings online when a 15-year-old stole a car and caused an accident that left two children dead.

Should the driver be tried as an adult? If found guilty as an adult, he could conceivably be sentenced to life for two murders. As a juvenile, he would be under the supervision of youth authorities until age 21, when the case would be reviewed.

By roughly a 7 to 1 margin, those who responded favored trying him as an adult. One viewer added that his parents should pay for the children's funerals. On the other side, it was argued he would be better off with counseling, that he was too young to fully realize what he was doing.

November 29, 1999

Uninsured and driving
KCBD-TV, Lubbock

There are a lot of drivers rolling around out there who have no insurance.

Four thousand of these motorists were caught in six months in Lubbock.

Some people don't make any attempt to obtain coverage.  Others get just enough to get re-registered each year. A producer went undercover into an agency and asked for a
month's worth of insurance to get through the registration process. The person in the office said it was no problem. It was legal. But it did show what some people will try.

July 17, 2000

Solution to unlicensed drivers
WPVI-TV, Philadelphia

The number of people driving without licenses (and insurance) grew in Philadelphia.
Victims of these drivers included two teenagers killed while standing on their front lawn and a woman who lived to explain on camera how her nose had been reconstructed. Possible solutions included increased use of the authority to impound cars on the spot if a person was caught without a license.

Another possible effective penalty was placing violators on a payment plan so that fines are collected and have maximum impact.

May 7, 2001

Defensive driving instructors cutting corners
WABC-TV, New York
Drivers who go to defensive driving schools to reduce points on their licenses can sometimes get away with doing little.
Defensive driving courses are a popular way for drivers to cut their insurance rates. Some judges order violators to attend.
An investigation revealed there were schools that gave certificates to drivers who received little, if any, safety instruction. The motorists got credit for supposedly attending required classes.

Investigator Jim Hoffer reported, "We went undercover to several driving schools in the city and found instructors cutting corners for cash."

A producer attended what was supposed to be a six-hour class. But the course came to an abrupt end after the participants viewed a two-hour tape. The teacher was captured on tape telling the students to keep quiet about the short "course." At another school, the instructor cut the required six hours to a 45-minute video. A Spanish-speaking driver was frustrated that it was in English. At a third school, it was worse. The instructor simply offered to sell the certificate for an extra $5. This offer was taped for another strong piece of video. A similar experience was found at a fourth school.

The state agency responsible for monitoring this claimed it was in the middle of a crackdown, with 200 part-time investigators. But Hoffer said that after seven months, the DMV had taken action against one school. It had taken the television team just a few days to find four schools with violations.

June 18, 2001

Drivers ignore speed limits
KTRK-TV, Houston

Many, many motorists overdrive the highways, ignoring the speed limits.
Consumer advocate Marvin Zindler went out with the traffic officers who were executing their chief's order that the 55 miles an hour speed limit is the law, and it would be enforced.
At one particularly active location, the police cars were lined up like taxis at the airport. The officers didn't have to wait long. A patrolman with a radar gun found many drivers going 60 to 65. The team would routinely write 40 tickets an hour on busy roads.
Was the enforcement effort doing any good?
Zindler concluded in one report that perhaps it was. Many motorists had at least slowed down to 65!

August 5, 2002

Fast and Furious
KMSP-TV, Minneapolis

Drag racers keep up their dangerous tradition in St. Paul. It's been a summer scene for years.
The undercover cameras were rolling as the starter sent the competitors speeding along the river downtown. Hot rods raced around unsuspecting, uninvolved drivers.
The police may have higher priority assignments, Friday and Saturday nights are the busiest nights for law enforcement.
The officers appear from time to time.
The racers scatter. They often have spotters with cell phones who warn as the patrol cars arrive.
The police admit they have a tough time catching the racers. Often they can only charge a person with reckless driving.
It's a dangerous scene. Two people were killed racing. A spectator was killed by a motorist trying to avoid a race. A motorcyclist was killed when he hit a car leaving the scene of a race.

August 9, 2004

Traffic stop excuses
WCCO-TV, Minneapolis

State troopers and local police officers were surveyed to discover their real feelings about drivers, speeding and highway safety. More than half of the surveys were returned completed, providing roughly 400 responses.

The news team members wanted to know everything from which excuses work when someone is pulled over to how likely an officer is to issue a ticket. It is a tense moment. You see the lights. Your heart starts racing. What are you going to tell them?

Officers were videotaped stopping drivers. The motorists had many explanations of what they'd been doing.

Is it possible to offer an excuse that has a good chance of preventing a ticket being written?
One out of four (25%) surveyed said there were no effective excuses. However, a substantial minority (42%) agreed that the excuse "most likely" to work was for a person to admit being wrong and apologize. One officer explained on camera, "We're like anyone else. We want to be told the truth." The possibility of this working depends on the severity of the offense, the circumstances, etc.

Drivers often claim they are over speed limits simply because they were inattentive.
"How fast were you going?" asked one officer.
"I don't know, I have to take her (her daughter) to the doctor," responded a woman.

What are the most common excuses?

A woman told one patrolman, "I'm not feeling very well right now, I'm trying to get to work, I feel like I'm going to vomit."

Don't try these. Some of the most creative excuses included: menstruation, lactation, sexual activity, a dog on the pedal, I'm too drunk, there's a swarm of insects in the car, there are wood ticks on my knee.

Other questions asked on the survey included:
Does speed contribute to crashes?
What should a driver do during a traffic stop?
How many tickets do you write in a week?
What's the highest speed you've clocked a speeder?
On average, at what speed to you stop for speeding?
What percentage of stops get tickets?
Are there legitimate reasons to speed?
Excuse most likely to prevent a ticket?
How many motorists get argumentative/confrontational?

April 2, 2001

Traffic ticket tips
WTMJ-TV, Milwaukee

A ridealong with a veteran police officer provided a chance to see traffic tickets from the viewpoint of the person issuing them.
Drivers were urged to remember that while being polite and clear are possibly good tactics for trying to talk your way out of a ticket, anything you say can be used against you. A person who goes to court to explain what has happened will sometimes find it was worth the effort of going before a judge.

As for people afraid of police imposters, this particular lawman suggested asking the approaching man to call in a back up unit, proving he is for real.

March 23, 1998

Getting out of speeding tickets
WTTG-TV, Washington

There may be no sure-fire way to avoid a speeding ticket, but you sometimes may be able to increase your chances of escaping.
When approached by an officer, obviously avoid confrontations and probably avoid blatant lies. Veteran patrolmen recalled excuses ranging from diarrhea to leaving a roast that had set the house on fire.
A lawyer advised that it is best not to admit to speeding. An admission might be used against you. A veteran officer disagreed, saying he was more likely to give a break to a person who said he was wrong.
The lawyer suggested it is often helpful to go to court if you get a ticket. The officer might not appear. The paperwork might be wrong. A judge might offer a break, possibly on points. At the same time, you could also have to pay court costs, which can be higher than expected.

July 18, 2001

Lawmakers, Lawbreakers
WMBD-TV, Peoria
When the Illinois General Assembly adjourned each week, members rushed for their cars and headed for home.
It was a mistake to get in their way.

News Director Bob Richardson put a crew on Interstate 55 to see how well they were following their own laws.
He explained, "We instructed reporter Maria Henneberry to drive a marked news van at 65 miles per hour (the posted speed limit in Illinois) along the interstate while photojournalist Jason Fowler kept his camera trained on the 'fast lane."'

The legislators were fairly easy to spot because of their distinctive license plates.
"We spent a total of two hours on the highway on two different afternoons. We videotaped twelve speeding lawmakers. A few were just a few miles above the limit, others were approaching an estimated 90 miles an hour," said Richardson.

Highway patrol officers claimed they hadn't seen any speeding lawmakers. State police refused to provide any information on any lawmakers being ticketed, citing privacy concerns.

There was an Illinois law which prevented "arrest" of lawmakers while traveling to and from a session or during a session, but an appeals court ruling in 1977 made it clear a traffic violation was not an arrest.

The news team went to Springfield and met the lawmakers they'd taped.
The responses ranged from what you would normally expect: "I was just keeping up with the flow of traffic." Or, "I was late for a meeting." One representative after stumbling for 14 seconds said, "I'm sorry, I don't understand your question." Another just walked away from the camera.

Richardson said, "The piece evolved into four parts which aired in the May sweeps period. It invoked a large response from viewers."

July 26, 1999

Traffic peeves
CITY-TV, Toronto

E-mails flooded in when viewers were asked what drives them crazy on the road.
Driving can be "frought with frustration, impatience, and let's face it, irritation!" said reporter Pam Seatle setting up the series. Sample complaints from e-mails and soundbites:

Red light runners. "Driving in Ontario has become a game of Russian Roulette."

Unusued signals. "My personal pet peeve is people who wait for the light to turn green to before the turn on their left turn signal ... It's obnoxious."

Ignoring merge and yield signs. "Instead of waiting in the lane, they're just cutting right in front."

Rolling stops. "I think I'm the only one in the city who makes complete stops at stop signs." "Come to a complete stop, and you get honked at."

Not getting out of the way of emergency vehicles. One firefighter said, "We could be on the way to your house or the house of a friend."

These were just a very few of the complaints. Loud blaring music. Bicyclists who don't obey the rules of the road. People driving little cars erratically. Pedestrians who cross improperly. The list was impressive.

September 6, 2004

Accident damage costs
KATU-TV, Portland

The cost of a highway accident can run from the thousands of dollars to the millions. There's the damage to the road and the emergency personnel response. It can be expensive.
Some typical Portland-area bills included:
--- $6,100 for the damages and repairs when a tank truck fire melted a piece of the highway.
--- $562,000 for repairs when a truck crashed off a bridge into the Columbia River.
At times the government's transportation agency can collect from an insurance company.
Often the always generous taxpayers pick up part of a tab. People also pay with their lost time. Some accidents may take several hours to clean up, costing delayed motorists and truckers what should've been productive hours.

June 24, 2002

Teen Driving Project
Draws Very Well at 11

It's a story that has been done many times before, but here's proof that if a subject is given the proper treatment, even an "old" story can still connect with viewers.
A project on the dangers of teen drinking and driving, and teenagers' basic driving problems started the May, 2004 book at WFSB-TV, Hartford.

Dangerous Decisions shows strength

Viewer interest was substantial.  A special segment grew audience share during the 11 p.m. news the first night of the sweeps on WFSB.
It was promoted all week, telling viewers the station was devoting 10 minutes to this important topic, and urging parents to watch the story with their teenagers.
"It was a teen driving story where nobody dies. In this case, it was the aftermath that is impactful," said News Director Lyn Tolan.

Elements included:

Firsthand view of drunk driving consequences. A young woman's body and legs were scarred from the accident and fire that she barely survived. Her life was forever changed.

Driving instructor ridealong. This second report had useful advice for both parents and teens. Parents must be assertive, maintaining rules and supervision.

Teases by students. Teases in the newscast included teens giving the deadly driving statistics.

Success was not a given

Tolan admitted that it was a risk devoting 10 minutes to one topic, much less an "old" issue like teen driving.
"We knew we had to tell it in a way that the viewers would have an emotional connection to it," she said.

The project actually grew share.
Tolan said WFSB went into the 11 p.m. news with a 10.8/18.
In the first quarter-hour, they went to a 19 share. In the second quarter-hour, which is where the special report ran, they increased to a 20 share.
Meanwhile, NBC's ER finale delivered a whopping 18.2/31 to WVIT. However, their share fell to a 22 in the first quarter-hour and an 18 in the second quarter-hour.

The numbers for the 11 p.m. newscasts were:

Promotion was key to building the audience

"The important thing in order to get people to watch was to let them know it was going to be an emotional experience --- that it wasn't going to be another lecture about not drinking and driving. That's why we titled it Dangerous Decisions," said Tolan.

• The promotion ran all week prior to air.

• The message: "Here's something you need to sit down and watch with your teenager, before they go off to the prom or graduation."

• In the early evening newscast, the project was promoted with a pre-prom VO, teasing the later story.

• A news release was sent to all schools.

• On the Thursday of the big event, internal show teases ran in all day parts for a "must watch" at 11.

School staffers approached the station

The idea was developed after a high school asked the station to participate in the Every 15 Minutes national program.
The school was putting on a series of events such as a mock car crash, the arrest of a group of students who were drinking, and other situations. The educators wanted the station to produce a "newscast" about the "accident" as part of the experience.

Tolan rejected that request, but provided an alternative.
"We can't ever be in the position of 'making up' news or newscasts, because we work so hard to gain credibility with the viewers," she maintained.
No matter how good the intentions were, she didn't want to be involved in making up something.

Instead, she suggested they tell the real story of what happens after a car crash --- a story that most people don't see.
She took the idea to reporter Len Besthoff and photojournalist Eric Budney.
"I told them what we were looking for, and let them decide how they wanted to go about telling the story," said Tolan.
She explained the end result had to be something "very real, that showed the stark reality of what happens."

Drinking is only one danger

It became a project about teenagers making bad decisions and driving.
As the journalists investigated, it became clear it wasn't just a question of prom night, graduation night, or just teenaged drinking and driving.

"Speed is the number one killer. Not wearing seat belts and distractions are the next leading causes of fatal crashes. In terms of accidents overall, it is speed, alcohol and distractions," explained Tolan.
"We wanted to encompass it all --- talking on the cell phone, goofing around with other kids in the car, going too fast --- all of that. We didn't specifically target drunk driving, but the goal was to bring a very real story about what happens after the accident," she said.

A young woman's life was in shambles

The centerpiece for the project was the story of a young woman who left a party with a boy she was dating.
He had been drinking and had a serious auto accident.
"The car caught on fire, so she was not only broken, but burned, too. The reporter and photographer did powerful things with the shooting, editing and storytelling," said Tolan.

The piece ran more than eight minutes. It included interviews with the young woman, her mother and veteran photographer Rick Huntington. Huntington had worked at the station for 25 years and had covered many serious accidents involving young people.
The girl told her story. The mother told the story from her perspective as a parent. Huntington gave a larger view of the many, many crashes with the same basic patterns repeated over and over.
"They intercut the three people, so that the whole way through the eight minutes, the viewer was getting a well-rounded picture," said Tolan.

The young woman talked about reading the police report that described how the car crossed over the center line. She didn't remember any of it.
The mother told of her worry and anguish over her daughter's injuries. The photographer said, in some ways, these accidents were all the same. Each time he arrived at a scene he hoped there were no young people involved, but often there were.
"The interviews were from the heart. What they each had to say was very moving," said Tolan.

Video made injuries clear

The young woman not only was willing to share pictures of her injury, she wanted them to be included in the story.
"When she was talking to the crew, they told her that some of the pictures of the injuries were pretty graphic and personal. She said people have to see it, because otherwise they can't imagine the life that has been taken away from her," said Tolan.

At the beginning of the story, you only saw her sitting on the sofa from her waist up. She was a beautiful girl.
Then they showed the pictures of her on ski patrol and on her soccer team. You could see she was very athletic.
After she told the story of the accident, they revealed from the waist down. She was sitting in shorts, and her legs were badly disfigured.
It was a year and a half later, and she still hurt every day.
"As she started talking about what she faces now --- $1 million in hospital bills and no insurance --- she goes to get up with the crutches and she can barely walk," said Tolan.

It was very important to have the voices of both the mother and the daughter, because the whole idea was to have parents and teens watch the story together.
"Ultimately, in our research, we discovered some of the decisions must be made jointly. For example, if you have a teenager who doesn't wear a seatbelt, and you continue to let them have the car, you are really reinforcing the bad behavior," said Tolan.
"If your child doesn't wear a seatbelt, you should take the car away for a certain period of time. There are responsibilities that go along with being a new driver," she said.

Advice from a driving pro was valuable

The second piece was a ridealong with a driving instructor, who had useful advice for both parents and teens.
"The biggest point was that parents can't let their child get a driver's license and then walk away from it. There must be a lot of monitoring still. That means letting them drive while you are in the car," said Tolan.

The problem of distractions was a major issue with the driving instructor.
"You must make sure your kids know if they are going to use a cell phone, they must pull over to the side of the road, even with a hands-free unit. For someone in the 16 to 18 age range, even a hands-free unit isn't such a good idea," she said.

Another tip: Set a curfew for the car.
A good curfew time for the car might be 10 p.m. weekdays and midnight on Saturdays.

Choose the right vehicle for your child.
"One thing a driving instructor said was the old theory was to buy a teen a big, old car so they have more protection around them. But the instructor said the whole theory has changed now. Because of the safety equipment in cars --- airbags, better seatbelts and anti-lock brakes --- you are better off to let them use a newer car," she said.
SUVs were not a good choice, because the vehicles were prone to rollovers, particularly if the teenagers were speeding.

Project worked well

Not only was the content good, the strategy helped to build an audience for the event. There was a substantial audience to hear this safety message.
"You know how hard it is to grow coming out of the 11 o'clock lead-in. Our goal many nights, as with most television stations, is to hold steady. Of course we want to grow, and we try to grow, but it is very difficult. People are just ready for bed. For us to grow share each quarter-hour, is impressive," said Tolan.

Another thing that impressed Tolan was the number of calls the station received from people who wanted to get copies of it.
High schools, fire departments, driving schools, community groups and libraries asked for copies.

The station made it available on DVD to those groups.
"Some of the schools had already done the prom safety programs, but wanted to show it to their students before the senior graduation activities and parties," she added.

It was truly a project that may have saved lives.
"The ones we will never hear from, but the ones we wanted to reach, are the ones who will think twice now about what they are doing, and maybe will make a better decision. Although we'll never know about it, that's where we will have made an impact," she said.

May 3, 2004

Driving Hazard:
Most Dangerous Highways

In every area there are certain places that are the most dangerous for drivers.   Year after year these are the spots where accidents are most likely to occur.   The driver who understands these hazards may have a better chance of avoiding a devastating crash.

The Most Deadly Roads
KDKA-TV, Pittsburgh

Giving viewers the chance to go to a database was effective when highway safety was examined. People could check the roads they use.

KDKA utilized an NHTSA database, the FARS (Fatality Analysis Reporting System) and linked to it. (www.fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/)
"The database has data on every fatal accident in the U.S. for the past five years. It used to be you could only get the data on a CD or a tape, but now they have a database online. You can search it for whatever you want," said Executive Producer Anne Linaberger.
"We wanted to look at specific roads, and see if we could tell which roads were more deadly, and then go out into the field and find out why," she explained.

It wasn't the high speed interstates that were the most deadly.
"It was the intermediate roads. Western Pennsylvania is very hilly with a lot of older roads that were first used as coach roads," she explained.

Route 30, which goes all the way across the state, was the most deadly road in Pennsylvania.
"One reason it is so deadly is it is a long road. But in one of our counties, it is by far the most deadly road. When you drive it, you see why. It was never built to handle the traffic that is on it. There are many, many driveways connected to it. People are constantly turning across traffic. There are blind curves and steep hills. Plus, people speed. The design of the road was never meant to handle the development that has happened," said Linaberger.
"All of the deadly roads have those characteristics in common. They are heavily traveled secondary roads that have a lot of development," she added.

The people who had suffered because of the dangerous roads made the story come alive.
One man's mother was killed earlier while riding in a car. The driver was making a left turn across Route 30. 
The victim's son said, "It's not protected at all. There's no light. There's nothing. People are speeding home or to work or whatever. It's ..... like Russian Roulette."

A police chief blamed the highway's blind curves, steep hills and crowded retail shops for the roadway's deadly record.
He told KDKA, "You have to have eyes in the back of your head watching people cut into traffic or whatever."

Viewers could go to the station's Web site and link to the federal database.
"In our story we could only look at the most deadly road in five different counties in our area. But on the Web site we showed the top five in each county, and created a link so people could check out their own area," she explained.

November 29, 1999

Dangerous Driving
WBZ-TV, Boston

The Boston area's roads ranked low in a national survey. One piece of Interstate was particularly bad.
A man who was lucky to be alive told his story to reporter Joe Bergantino. The man was driving on 495, north of the city. With no warning, a 20-pound chunk of concrete smashed through the windshield and hit him in the chest. Damage included a torn heart valve. His lungs were severely impacted.
Bergantino obtained an internal state highway department report that showed the road deterioration was known as early as 1994. Asked about it on camera, a state official claimed they did their best with the resources available. He conceded that it was wrong that the road had been allowed to erode.

February 19, 2001

Crumbling concrete
WABC-TV, New York

Bits of concrete fall off an aging expressway and injure motorists.
Investigative reporter Jim Hoffer consulted with structural engineers, drivers, and a dead motorist's surviving brother.
The controversial area was a 10-block stretch of the city's FDR drive that carries an average of 160,000 people a day.
The engineers felt that aging, water and salt were eroding the concrete and rods. The road was weakening and the pieces falling off it were dangerous.
All this was particularly frustrating because the city highway inspectors kept reporting dangers.
One man's brother had been killed by falling concrete while driving 13 years ago on the FDR. The survivor thought the troubled area looked similar to when his brother died. He told Hoffer, "Do the right thing and take care of it. Make sure that this tragedy doesn't repeat itself again."

April 8, 2002

Most dangerous freeways
KCBS-TV, Los Angeles

The best way to avoid an accident is to expect one, according to a veteran police officer.

To help viewers avoid trouble, the station's investigators identified the places where the most collisions occur.
Producer Adam Symson analyzed two years worth of accidents that result in injuries and deaths.
From his numbers came this lesson: watch out where freeways converge and drivers merge. A highway patrol officer explained the motorists are sometimes confused about where they have to go as they merge. He identified speed as probably the biggest cause of accidents. People are often simply driving too fast.

November 29, 1999

The most dangerous intersections
WFSB-TV, Hartford

Staffers obtained the state's transportation database and looked for the areas with the most automobile accidents.
"The state had it listed by town. Then, we would call the town police departments to find the intersections," said News Director Deborah Johnson.

They found where the most accidents occur, what time the most accidents occur, and the circumstances surrounding them.

Additional information was posted on the station's Web site, so viewers could check the highways they use.

August 16, 1999

Accident statistics reveal threats
WSMV-TV, Nashville

Police traffic accident statistics can yield lifesaving information.
Investigative reporter Nancy Amons talked with a police analyst about the region's trends.

Conclusions and theories included:

--- People may relax and make fatal mistakes when the highway appears to have few hazards. The Nashville road with the most fatal accidents is a comparatively quiet stretch of I-24.

--- Wearing a seat belt will improve your odds. Of the 95 people killed in Nashville accidents last year, seven out of ten were not belted.

--- Driving an older car with fewer safety protections appears to be more dangerous. People in low income neighborhoods have the same number of wrecks as the higher income communities. But the death rate is higher in the poorer sections. It might be a function of driving older cars.

--- Increased enforcement can save lives. A suburban town had five deaths on one stretch of road in one year. The chief deployed officers there. There were no fatalities the following year.

July 11, 2005

Freeway hazards
KNBC-TV, Los Angeles

State highway analysts say about a third of the time the road itself is a factor in freeway accidents in Los Angeles.
An engineer who retired from the state after 40 years is now an expert witness on accident reconstruction. He told reporter Ana Garcia that the state had a confidential internal safety rating system that was not revealed to the public.
A review of ten years of data from the highway patrol and the transportation department revealed freeway stretches where a driver was two or three times more likely to get into an accident. One of the worst is 60 years old and outdated. The lanes are a foot narrower than current standards. Curves are sharper. On ramps are about one- third shorter.
The state has made improvements, such as road widening and grooving to reduce accidents.

July 11, 2005

Rural road dangers
WCMH-TV, Columbus

While the crash frequency on freeways is higher in central Ohio, the crash severity of rural roads is greater.  Fatal accidents are more common on the rural highways.
Memorials have become common sights along the roadsides.
The state has responded with interstate-style rumble strips, improved signage and more lighting.
A state highway department official suggested, however, that the biggest factor in country crashes is driver behavior. People routinely cross the center line, speed, and drive without seatbelts.

July 11, 2005

Danger ahead, no warnings
WCPO-TV, Cincinnati

A super highway opened without adequate warnings of dangerous curves.
Many drivers explained their injuries and accidents to investigative reporter Laure Quinlivan.
Trucks and cars had flipped, crashed and had close calls.
One exit had a sharp curve that was a surprise at the end of a tunnel. A man who had wrecked his Land Rover predicted that someone would be killed there. A truck driver claimed he had never lost a load in 25 years of driving until he hit that stretch.
City officials promised to install warning signs. Why weren't they there when the road opened? The officials thought that they had adequate signage.

February 19, 2001

Impaled by guardrails
KGO-TV, San Francisco

A driver can be impaled by hitting an improperly installed guardrail that remains rigid when stuck.
Investigative reporter Dan Noyes learned that in California the state highway workers had sometimes installed the rails incorrectly. The rails were too rigid. They were supposed to give, bend and buckle.
Typical mistakes: The rail was installed perfectly straight and washers were used on posts where there should be none. Without washers, bolts were more likely to pop lose on impact.
One lady was a dramatic, tragic example of what could go wrong. She hit a guardrail at 20 miles an hour, and it cut off one of her legs.
She said, "I thought I just hit a bump or this guardrail, and instead my leg was cut off. I looked down and my whole leg was cut off."

May 20, 2002

Danger Zones
WTNH-TV, New Haven

Some motorists may be dangerous, but many pedestrians are careless.
Three children were hit in one week near a busy intersection.
A visit to the scene found the occasional driver blasting through a red light. But, just as common were people crossing where it was most convenient for them, often in the middle of the block. Jaywalkers really hadn't thought much about what they were doing.
Most responsible motorists fear a youngster darting out into the street. Police maintained they do sometimes ticket jaywalkers --- but virtually never cite jaywalking children.

November 29, 1999

Homes and highway expansion
WGN-TV, Chicago

People who live next to an expressway fear that when it is expanded, their homes will be condemned.  It won't happen any time soon, but they are trying to influence government, and reduce the chances that some day homes will be sacrificed to relieve traffic congestion.
The film from 50 years ago recalled a time when the Eisenhower Expressway was pushed into suburban Oak Park.
To stop any more change, the town has spent $300,000 lobbying the federal government against the road.
A woman who lived 30 feet from the highway provided a personal face for the story. She and her husband had moved there just before the homes were condemned 50 years ago. Now she will go to every forum she can to fight to prevent it from happening again.

April 8, 2002

Modern pothole monitoring
WBNS-TV, Columbus

A sophisticated system with the latest technology was used to measure potholes in central Ohio. The state transportation department had a bumper-mounted laser device that fed information into a monitoring van.
The machine was supposed to identify the worst potholes. This allowed officials to set priorities for road repairs.
According to a state insurance group, typical costs of repairing wheel alignments, bent rims and bent frames ranged from under $100 to over $1,000.

June 24, 2002

Highway debris hazards
KOVR-TV, Sacramento

Trash on the highway can cause an accident when drivers hit it or swerve to avoid it.
Debris falls off trucks and cars. Sometimes it is thrown out on purpose. A driver may well realize something has dropped on the road and still does nothing about it.

A state highway supervisor went on patrol with reporter John Iander.
They found a piece of a truck tire, a ladder, and more.
Damaged tires were simply left when a new one was put on in an emergency. The refrigerator now in a highway crew break room was recovered from the side of a road. Not only was the junk hazardous to motorists, it was dangerous for a highway worker or police officer to get out on a high speed road to remove it.

The news crew shot an emergency caused by debris. A truck driver ran over trash when he couldn't swerve out of his lane.
There was a wall to his right and a car to his left. The debris ripped off the truck's fuel tank. Diesel fuel spilled onto the road. It ended up a job for a Hazmat team.

April 2, 2001

Trashy Highways
WBTV-TV, Charlotte

Trash and debris are littered along the major roads.
The station's investigative team found old boxes, shingles, carpet, insulation, tire treads, papers, and Christmas trees. 

The irresponsible motorist was not the prime problem. The filth was flying off of trash trucks. As the news team members followed one violator, the problem was vividly demonstrated when a piece of insulation hit and stuck on the windshield.
The driver claimed he didn't know he was losing debris.

February 19, 2001

$37 million mile
WSOC-TV, Charlotte

The bill for one mile of a Charlotte highway construction project was $37 million.   It was $7,000 a foot.
Neighbors were surprised that the Independence Boulevard pricetag was this high.
A state highway engineer said that building a highway in the city wasn't easy or cheap. The land along the existing road cost $14 million. It cost millions more to move power lines above and below ground. Also impacted were water lines, sewer lines, and fiber optics.
Some other per mile pricetags on Charlotte regional Interstate projects included: $20.1 million, $13.4 million, $8 million.

June 24, 2002

Hidden dangers of street flooding
WGN-TV, Chicago

Heavy rains can turn streets into streams and surprise drivers who don't fully realize the possible dangers.
Meteorologist Tom Skilling showed viewers how to protect themselves from this warm weather killer.
Video of past floods and rescues showed the threat. Even with a large four-wheel drive SUV, it only takes two feet of water to float the vehicle. It can be swept off the road and lodged in a place where the waters keep rising around it. The pressure can make it hard to escape by opening the doors and windows to escape.
Floods can also be dangerous to people standing on the ground. Especially vulnerable are children.

September 1, 2002

Problem paving may cause accidents
WCNC-TV, Charlotte

A roadway paving technique may make the surface more susceptible to dangerous icing in the winter.
An open grade surface is supposed to run the water off the road when it rains. It's filled with tiny gaps that channel the rain away. Highway crews used this technique to pave a major Charlotte freeway.
Critics argued this had the potential to produce an icier surface in the winter.
A man who went sliding out of control in January told his story. He had just crossed into South Carolina and arrived at an open grade sector of Interstate 77.
"It just froze over. Then three other cars skidded out right there," he said.
A study by the National Center for Asphalt Technology at Auburn, Alabama, indicated other states with this paving have had problems with freezing, ice, snow removal and re-freezing.

July 27, 2005

Driving Hazard:
Dangerous Vehicles

Test your tires
WPVI-TV, Philadelphia

There are many motorists who don't know how to keep their tires functioning safely.

A Penn State transportation expert surveyed drivers.
Half of them didn't know the recommended pressure for their car's tires.
Two-thirds didn't know that tires should be rotated and balanced regularly. An AAA expert said proper inflation was most important. Low tire pressure could cause overheating and tire failure.

Other advice:
--- Excess weight can over-stress tires.
--- Take time once a month to inspect your tires, checking everything, including uneven tread wear.
--- Check the side walls for bubbles and signs of weakening.
--- When it's time for replacements, buy tires that match the original specifications.

November 13, 2000

When air bags explode
WPXI-TV, Pittsburgh

An air bag that blasts open when it shouldn't might cause serious injuries and damage.
Consumer reporter Becky Thompson talked with a minister who escaped dazed, with minor injuries. But the repair bill for his Subaru was $3,300. He had just gotten into his car, turned on the key and radio, when the bag went off. A second man told a similar story about a van. A few moments later he would've been pulling out into traffic.

May 20, 2002

Back seat danger
KTRK-TV, Houston

The middle back seat may have only a safety belt for the waist, and that may not be enough.  Belts with shoulder straps are much safer.
One expert said the lap belt alone can lacerate the liver or spleen. A person could be paralyzed or bleed to death.
A young woman in a wheelchair talked with reporter Nydia Han. She'd been seated in the middle back with just a lap belt. An SUV ran a red light and hit the family car. Her parents in the front escaped with broken bones, while she suffered a broken back.
Auto safety experts added their endorsements of the shoulder belts in all the rear positions.

May 20, 2002

Risky repairs
KING-TV, Seattle

Some damaged cars are still dangerous to drive, even after major repairs, because the work wasn't done correctly.

Investigator Duane Pohlman spoke with an auto repairman who claims insurance companies press mechanics to save money and do less than a complete job. Wrong or incomplete repairs are often difficult to locate, they are hidden or hard-to see.
A shop had charged $14,000 to fix a woman's van. The independent repairman said it still needed work and had major problems. An expert confirmed this judgement.
Several insurers responded that they didn't cut corners and were committed to quality and safety.
The outspoken mechanic claimed that there were thousands of cars on the road that were "death traps."

September 6, 1999

Protective glass underwater
WFOR-TV, Miami

An enhanced laminated automotive glass is difficult to break --- this is a negative if your car slides into the water, and you're trapped. Consumer reporter Al Sunshine found this could be a real danger. South Florida has many canals and waterway. A car going into the water is not a rarity. There are more than 1,000 water immersion incidents in the state each year.
The danger was dramatically focused with the 911 tape of a desperate woman calling for help on her cell phone as her car sank. "I'm sinking in the water ... Oh my God! Oh my God!"
She drowned before rescuers could get to her.
Keeping a small center punch has been the traditional suggestion of emergency personnel. A firefighter showed how easily it broke a window. But a new enhanced protective glass is being used in all the windows on some models made by some manufacturers. Because it is shatterproof, it takes too long to break through.
Miami firefighters helped Sunshine conduct a test. He used an old Buick with a laminated windshield and regular side windows. He and a rescue diver drove into the water.
Within a minute, he was sinking. He tried the center punch which made a few tiny holes in the laminated glass. The diver tried hacking through the window with a fireman's axe, it didn't work.
The answer: Sunshine used the old punch on the old regular side window. He was able to safely break the old-style glass and quickly popped to the surface. He and the diver felt that without the old glass they might not have gotten out.

July 8, 2002

An Investigator's Test:
Dangerously Dim Headlights

At least half of the pedestrians killed by cars die after dusk or dark in many areas. It can be tragic for the walker and the driver if the driver doesn't have enough light to see there is someone on the road in front of him.
Here is the story an important television news investigation into the quality of one of your car's most fundamental elements: your headlights.

Headlights are not necessarily bright enough to do the job

If you think you can't see at night, it might not be your fault.
An investigation by WHDH-TV, Boston, revealed your automobile headlights are probably not as bright and reliable as you assume they are.
Driving with headlights that are too dim can have tragic consequences. When Massachusetts state police analyzed an accident where three pedestrians were killed, they found the killer's car lights were too dim. The driver may never have seen the people walking.

WHDH investigators found there were many complaints to the Center for Auto Safety about headlight brightness.
"We were alerted to the story by a viewer who wrote and said the headlights in her car weren't bright enough. She thought all headlights were the same, and asked what I knew about it," said investigator Hank Phillippi Ryan.
Ryan had thought that all headlights probably were the same, held to some safety standard by a government agency.
"It seemed logical that there would be a rule regarding headlight brightness, and that someone must regulate it," she said.

There is a stringent yearly safety check that each vehicle must go through in Massachusetts. But they weren't reviewing every single item on the car.
"We found they weren't checking the brightness of headlights. They only checked the aim," Ryan explained.
When she examined state regulations, she found there was a regulation that headlights be a certain brightness. But she knew that no one was checking them.

All headlights aren't the same

There are minimum brightness standards for headlights that are set by the federal government. But, all headlights don't have to be the same brightness.
A state motor vehicle registry official told her that a decade ago the Department of Transportation had changed a one-size-fits-all approach to allow carmakers to create different styles.

The state standard was that headlights must illuminate 115 feet.
The news team members set out to find out if most automobiles were equipped with headlights that did that.
"We realized that people in Massachusetts could be driving around thinking their headlights met state standards, when in reality, they might not, and no one was going to know it, or be able to tell them that," she said.
This is a national problem.
There have been complaints to the Center for Auto Safety's hotline. The center is the organization founded by Consumers Union and Ralph Nader in 1970 to provide consumers a voice for auto safety and quality in Washington, and to help lemon owners fight back across the country.
"They had had many complaints from people who said their headlights weren't bright enough. We made a public records request for all the complaints to the Center for Auto Safety for their reports of complaints. There were dozens of them. There was obviously a pattern," she said.

The full reports had the names of people who complained.
Ryan talked to the people, and in one case, looked at the car.
"When they were driving, they realized there were certain situations where they couldn't see well. At first they thought it was them, and then they realized it was the headlights," she explained.

Next, Ryan approached the state police accident reconstruction team and asked for accidents where headlights might have been a factor.

The test:  cars and experts at a dark track

They tested a group of cars to see whether the vehicles met the state standard of illuminating 115 feet. The test demonstrated the problem in very real terms.

Experts: Members of the state police accident reconstruction team, an AAA representative and a master mechanic agreed to participate in a test of headlight brightness.

Test Sample: A group of fifteen cars was assembled by producer Maureen Hayes.
"We got cars from dealers and people in the station. We all showed up at the State Police test track at the same time one night --- 15 cars and 15 drivers," said Ryan.
Some vehicles were older and some were brand new.

Starting Point: The headlights were aimed and calibrated.

Test 1: The Tire. A tire was placed in the middle of the road for the first test.
"If you were an oncoming car, you'd have to swerve to avoid this," explained the mechanic.
The headlights were supposed to pick up the object 115 feet away, according to the state standards.
The outcome was impressive. Very impressive.
"The results surprised everyone: only one car passed! All other vehicles only reached visibility of the tire at 97, 91, 88, and 87 feet," said Ryan.
A trooper said if the tire had been a child, the driver would have hit him.

Test 2: The Walking Child. Recognizing a child on foot was the next challenge.
The trooper's son walked along the side of the test track.
"This time, three out of five cars failed to meet the state's standard," she said.
The trooper said it clearly showed that all headlights are definitely not the same.

Test 3: The Walking Adult. As a group, the lights did not do particularly well spotting Ryan.
When she walked toward the headlights of the test cars, in three out of five cars, the headlights did not pick her up until she was much closer than the required 115 feet.
She was wearing a navy blazer. When she set that aside, and was wearing a white shirt, she did become much more visible. This was an important safety footnote for parents and people who are out walking or jogging at night.
She explained, "I put myself out in front of cars, and we measured how close I had to be before someone could see me. It was very different for the individual car.  If your headlights are on, and someone is walking down the street, you'd think every car's headlights would pick them up the same distance away. But that just wasn't true."

Round Two: The results were so dramatic, they re-did the experiment.
They had planned to do the test only one night, but so many of the cars failed to pass, they did a second test with five more cars.
"We did it again to make sure the test was correct," said Ryan.
The results were still disappointing.

Government may need to do more

State officials looked into whether they should add a brightness check to the annual safety inspection, but apparently it was a complicated thing to do.
"The key to our story was warning viewers that if they are having trouble seeing at night, the problem may be their headlights. And, when you purchase your next car, test drive it at night. See if you can see," she urged.
Some experts said the motorist could change headlight bulbs in some cases and get more light. Others said it depended on the make and model of the car for this technique to be effective.

If you are interested in conducting an investigation in your market, Ryan said there are two things to look for:
1. Does your state have a regulation about headlight brightness?
2. Does your state include a test for headlight brightness in its safety inspections for cars?

"In our story, we were able to show that all these cars failed the state standard for brightness, but they all passed the state inspection, because they don't check for brightness. Viewer response to this was huge," said Ryan.

Unfortunately, it wasn't possible to make sweeping statements about what to do with the different auto models and which were the biggest problems, because it varied from year to year.

"We felt comfortable just raising the question for people, and telling them that all car headlights are not the same. Some may be too dim for you, so check it out.  If you can't see when your car headlights are on, it may not be your fault. It may be the headlights," said Ryan.

November 1, 1999

TV Investigation
Leads To Massive Tire Recall

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