Archive for March, 2009
SUV Rollover Deaths
Shortly after the turn of the millennium sport utility vehicles began experiencing awful difficulties with premounted tires that accompanied the vehicle when it left the lot. Specifically the Firestone tire company began experiencing terrible difficulties in manufacturing new tires and this difficulty became a direct influence in causing SUV rollover deaths.
In a study conducted by the United States government it was found that around 300 people died in SUV accidents involving a rollover in 2003. Despite gas prices sport utility vehicles continue to be a popular choice at the car lot. It’s important before purchasing your next vehicle to understand the facts and statistics records on its safety.
Court cases have been heard throughout the country involving people involved in accidents that included SUV rollover deaths. In some the jury has walked away undecided if driving was a factor in a particular case; in others the jury has awarded millions of dollars.
In any given year after the year 2001 nearly four thousand people have been killed either as a result of mixed signals on the highway or reckless driving. Many thousands more have been killed in similar accidents. The statistics are grim. It is far safer to drive a fourdoor sedan than a sport utility vehicle. Despite that many people buy SUVs for the thrill of sitting higher and the perceived safety of having a tougher or betterconstructed vehicle.
Driving an SUV is completely unlike driving a sedan. Turning radii are different time required to speed up and slow down are different and most importantly the aerodynamics of an SUV versus a car is vastly different. By taking these differences into account and living by a few simple suggestions you can greatly improve your chances of not suffering a fatal accident.
First with a different turning radius SUVs also have a different center of balance than typical fourdoor vehicles. Because of these interrelated differences special care must be taken when driving your SUV around curvy roads especially if those curves are enhanced by height and speed.
Always slow down when approaching curves; many accidents occur when drivers turn too quickly and lose control of their vehicle. If your SUV comes equipped with a traction system ensure it is always engaged. When driving your vehicle in fourwheel drive instead of a normal driving mode ensure that you are in the right gear and that your turns are made that much more carefully.
Next avoid becoming a statistic as an SUV rollover death by understanding that it takes longer both to speed up and slow down in an SUV rather than in a car. Because SUVs are larger and heavier than typically automobiles and because their different size and bulk add weight to their frame speed can be a definite factor.
When driving your SUV always allow adequate room behind the car in front of you so that if they need to stop in a hurry you will not cause an accident. When traveling at slower speeds you should be able to see a bit of ground behind the tire of the car in front of you; this will indicate that you are following at a safe distance.
When you are in faster traffic use the rule of three: locate a sign and start counting just when the car in front of you passes it. Stop counting when you pass that vehicle. That means time’s up!
Finally keep in mind that due to vastly different aerodynamics your SUV will drive quite a bit differently than a fourdoor sedan. Wind blowing in your area may have a role in the stability of your vehicle. Minimize this role by planning your drives especially in windy weather quite carefully.
Many drivers tend to lose their cool when a gust of wind blows a car a few feet sideways. When this happens drivers tend to jerk the steering wheel in the opposite direction and end up overcompensating for the difference in geographic placement.
If the worst happens and one of your family members is involved in an accident including SUV rollover deaths you’ll need to give serious consideration to mountain a lawsuit against various parties for having a share of the blame in your accident.
Typical lawsuits are against automobile manufacturers while some also include tire corporations. Do not assume that just because a loved one has died a lawsuit is winnable.
Many factors can lead to a fatal occurrence in your SUV. In court if it can be proven that the driver was in some way responsible the outcome will not necessarily be favorable. Driver responsibility includes knowing the condition of tires pointing out obvious defects.
The key fact to keep in mind is that additional safety and wellthoughtout planning can go a long way towards preventing you and your family from turning into one of the statistics of SUV rollover deaths.
About the writer: Nick Johnson is lead counsel and founding partner of Johnson Law Group. Johnson represents plaintiffs injured in auto accidents truck accidents and vehicle rollovers. Call 18883115522 immediately and visit http://www.topautoaccidentattorneys.com or http://www.toprolloveraccidentattorneys.com
Suv Owners What You Should Know About Factory Tint Versus Installed Window Film
Most if not all new 2008 Model SUV’s and MiniVans come equipped with a dark 15 visible light transmission “factory tint” on vehicle windows other than the front driver and passenger windows and of course the windshield. Most consumers believe that since the glass is already tinted there is no need to install an after market window film other than potentially matching their front windows to the existing tinted glass. SUV owners are not aware that the factory tinted glass has a very limited heat rejection coefficient and in most cases virtually no ultraviolet; UVA or UVB reduction! Sure the glare is reduced by nearly 80 and your passengers have additional privacy but the heat gain through factory tinted glass is very often extreme and the UV remains unblocked!
There are two issues that a professional window film installer will consider when approaching a factory tinted vehicle. The first is the critical requirement to “match” the color of the aftermarket window film and the flat reflectivity; or rather non reflective elements of the “factory tinted” glass. It makes little sense for an SUV driver to install a window tint that is shiny or a completely different color hue as compared to the balance of their vehicle’s glass. This issue is resolved by having a non reflective ceramic window film installed like the FormulaOne Series Pinnacle window films or the nanoceramic Huper Optik German Technology Window Films. In both instances the front driver and passenger window will have a perfect color match to the rear glass. FormulaOne Dealers http://www.formulaone.com are all quite familiar with their local state tint laws and will only install front window visible light transmission films VLT that meet the statutes. In Florida that requirement is a 28 VLT for front windows. The installation of window film on a windshield is expressly forbidden with the exception of a strip that is frequently installed on the top of the windshield glass from the interior right up to the AS1 line. The aftermarket professionally installed films have nearly 99.9 UVA and UVB rejection and heat rejection at a factor of double or more compared to the “factory tinted” rear windows. Many SUV drivers will have a very light 50 VLT film or higher installed on their interior glass on the “factory tinted” glass to gain double the heat rejection and UV rejection without adding any additional reflectivity to the glass! In addition with the rapid growth of onboard electronics and BlueTooth technology these Pinnacle and Huper Optik Films will not interfere with EM signals that also relate to GPS radar detectors or premium satellite radio like XM or Sirius. Several other window film manufacturers have or are in the process of introducing their own non metallic high performance window films.
SUV owners should recognize that they have only tackled one very small portion of their tinting requirements! This is a new age in technology and there are solutions available that will match any budget.
About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;Mike Feldman is President of Advanced Film Solutions Tampa Bay FormulaOne High Performance Window Film http://www.advancedfilmfl.com
Mr. Feldman a 33 year veteran of 3M and former National Sales Manager of 3M Window Film founded Advanced Film Solutions after taking an early retirement from 3M.
Semantics Gives The Web Meaning
Gives the Web Meaning
Where would we be without the web? It is such an immense and rich source of information; we feel that every answer is out there. All it takes is a bit of searching…
But internet searches are often fruitless even Google’s eight billion indexed web pages and vast store of data and documents. Textbased searches do what they say on the box: they find keywords within documents. But what kind of web search could quickly give you a list of foods triggering adverse reactions in elderly women taking medication for high blood pressure?
The current web is a web of text and pictures says Frank van Harmelen a researcher in the Department of Artificial Intelligence at the Free University of Amsterdam. Data is everywhere but most of it is locked in inaccessible databases behind websites locked within documents or held within silos so it cant be linked to related data elsewhere.
What’s more computers / are unable to understand the data that they find. To a computer the number 00352 is just a series of digits. Type this into Google and the top hits are an eclectic collection of unrelated pages usually because the number 0352 features somewhere within a code number or filename.
But a new era of the web is upon us. The semantic web codes data in a way that gives meaning to words and digits in a way that computers can understand. Given just a little bit of context applications can now recognise when 00352 is actually an international dialling prefix.
And by linking unrelated data sources the semantic web might be able to tell you the name of the person you are calling their email address the cheapest carrier for calls to Luxembourg and even link to profiles of several of your contact’s friends and colleagues.
The semantic web is a web of data van Harmelen continues It realises the vision for interoperability between data sources on the web and it gives the data meaning in a way that computers can understand and reason with it.
From trumpedup to joinedup data
Tim BernersLee the beknighted father of the web famously said: I have a dream for the web in which computers become capable of analysing all the data on the web the content links and transactions between people and computers.
European research has long sought to materialise that dream. Since before 2000 Europe has driven research on the semantic web and taken a strong lead on the development of concepts underlying standards and more recently software and services for the semantic web. But the semantic web is not just some European pipedream. Other big forces in the world are also hearing the semantic call.
About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;ws
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