Police road blitz reveals Central Coast drivers among state’s worst near schools

A BLITZ on reckless drivers in NSW has revealed a shocking number of motorists flouting the road rules on the Central Coast.

Earlier this month during Operation Compliance police in the state’s northern region busted 32 drivers for failing to stop at school crossings, with Central Coast motorists making up the bulk of those offences.

The damning statistics confirm Wadalba mum Katy Bryant’s worst fears and led her to call for more police patrols around school zones.

Every day Mrs Bryant negotiates four unmanned crossings to walk her children — aged four to 10 — to Wadalba Community School, northeast of Wyong.

“The amount of cars that don’t stop is very frustrating and I’ve even had buses that don’t stop,” Mrs Bryant said. “I’m just waiting for an accident to happen.”

Operation Compliance focused on motorists using mobiles while driving, exceeding the speed limit in school zones, and children’s crossing offences.

MOBILE PHONE OFFENCES
Mobile phone driving offences by police command areas:

A total of 54 Central Coast motorists were caught on the day. Traffic police in the Brisbane Water command caught 17 drivers failing to stop at crossings — the highest number in the northern region.

The Tuggerah Lakes command area was the worst when it came to drivers using mobile phones, with a worrying 33 motorists caught using a mobile device while driving compared to three in Brisbane Water.

Mrs Bryant said the one-day blitz showed drivers on the coast were not taking care around school zones, and that more needed to be done to ensure the safety of children.

“To hear that people are not stopping at crossings and using mobile phones while driving is incredibly frustrating,” she said.

“There are already enough distractions without adding a phone to it. For many parents, this is not just about the school-age kids but also the younger siblings with them on the school run. These are the ones more likely to let go of your hand and run off into the road,” she said.

Warm weather, freezing rain wreak havoc on Alaska road conditions

Update, 6:30 a.m., Monday:

Fairbanks North Star Borough schools are closed Monday because of icy conditions, the district's website said, and all school-related classes are canceled as well because of the freezing rain. Classes are also canceled for Monday at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the university said in an alert, though the campus will remain open.

RELATED:
Parks Highway travel hazardous as freezing rain hits Interior
Freezing rain in Anchorage, Mat-Su could affect Friday morning commutes
Original story:

Freezing rain and unseasonably warm weather prompted officials to issue widespread travel advisories for Interior Alaska on Sunday morning, urging people to stay inside and off the roads unless travel was absolutely necessary. Meanwhile, continued rain falling on already slick streets in Southcentral Alaska prompted a special weather statement spanning from Talkeetna to Homer.

The Fairbanks Police Department on Sunday warned of "extreme" driving conditions and cautioned against non-essential travel.

"Drivers are encouraged to stay off the roadways," the department wrote in a release. "If you must drive, use extreme caution."

The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities echoed the sentiment, warning drivers of ice accumulation on the roads.

"Interior roads are covered in ice," the DOT wrote on Facebook. "All available trucks are out sanding, but please remember that sand stays on the roads for a limited time."

The city of Fairbanks reported Sunday afternoon crews with the Public Works Department had been out sanding major roads since just after midnight.  Stephanie Johnson, the city's emergency communications director, said in a Facebook post that business closures and the suspension of activities kept the number of accidents to a minimum, although there had been a few minor accidents.

Fairbanks International Airport was also briefly closed due to those conditions early Sunday morning, according to Angie Spear, a spokeswoman for the airport. It later reopened, but not before some flights were diverted.

"Two overnight flights from Seattle were diverted to ANC airport," Spear wrote in an email.

A winter storm warning remained in effect in the area through noon Sunday, according to the National Weather Service, which warned of ice accumulations up to a fifth of an inch. Temperatures were expected to dip below freezing for much of the area Sunday night, although more freezing rain could be possible east of the city Monday, the NWS said.


Meanwhile, in Southcentral Alaska, similarly warm temperatures combined with steady rainfall in Anchorage on Saturday, left driving conditions less than ideal. The DOT warned of winter driving conditions throughout Anchorage and north to the Matanuska Valley, where the Iron Dog snowmachine race start took place across a slushy Big Lake.

A new record was also set in Anchorage Sunday afternoon, when the weather station at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport recorded a temperature of 47 degrees.

The DOT also advised that the Parks Highway in the vicinity of Talkeetna had "difficult" driving conditions and black ice Sunday morning, as temperatures hovered around 36 degrees. Rain showers were expected to continue, and temperatures in the area were expected to reach the 40s on Monday, according to the NWS forecast.

It was even raining in the far-flung Western Alaska community of Nome, which was experiencing temperatures above freezing and rain falling Sunday, according to the DOT.

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Driving Camp 4 with Porsche

housands of bits of information related to dynamics and traction are calculated, analyzed, compared and computed every second you’re driving a new car.

Data related to steering angle, speed, throttle position, gear selection and plenty more are constantly streamed from a sensor network into a sophisticated computer, which checks all data against a mathematical equation relating to the distance travelled between the front and rear wheels of the vehicle.

The computer seeks to ensure that said equation is balanced — if all is well and full control is realized, the front and rear wheels follow one another precisely, travel the same distance, and the equation is balanced. The math gods are happy, the car is in no danger, and life is good.

When a skid occurs, certain wheels travel less distance than others, upsetting the equation, and triggering an orchestrated response, with millisecond precision, from the vehicle’s brakes, throttle, AWD system, and more.

Largely, this computer-controlled conversation of calculus, engineering, physics and mechatronics carries on in the background, invisibly, and undetected by the driver. It’s all done in the name of keeping the car stable, safe, and under control.

However, as a mere computer program, this whole process, typically known as Electronic Stability Control, can be shut down, if desired.

After all, sometimes, slipping, sliding and wheelspin are awesome, and especially when they’re used as learning tools.

“More throttle, Justin. Remember, turn and blip, and turn and blip, and turn and blip.”

It sounded like a bad ’80’s exercise video, but Porsche Camp 4 driving instructor, Kees Neirop, was watching me drive a rear-engine, All Wheel Drive Porsche 911 Carrera 4S through a slalom course on snow and ice with barely enough grip to walk on, and this little jingle helped me use the throttle to help steer the car through.

Timed and executed with precise finesse, you can use controlled pokes on the throttle to turn the car on its axis. Too much, and you’ll spin out.

Not enough, and you won’t break traction, and you’ll just go wide. Get it right, and you can feel the frisky, slippery and active handling built into the 911 as you, literally, steer it with the gas pedal.

It’s not easy, even frustrating at times, but this lesson is fundamental in teaching drivers to use the vehicle’s throttle to control its attitude, where its weight sits, and what angle it’ll corner with.

We repeated the lesson with a two-wheel drive copy of the same car, illustrating the differences when there’s no help from the front wheels.

You re-strategize when and how hard the throttle blips come and realize you’ve got to be plenty quicker on the steering to keep things under control.

Camp 4 started in Canada a few years back as a way for its participants to learn performance driving on snow and ice.

Many participants are Porsche owners and hopefuls, interested in learning how to drive high-performance cars the way high-powered cars are meant to be driven.

Numerous copies of numerous Porsche 911 and Cayman model variants are used for instruction, and participants break into groups led by one instructor to try exercises like the above in various cars.

Another exercise? The skidpad. A great big circle, where you drift perpetually round and round while your instructor watches from a vantage point and provides pointers over the radio.

You’re supposed to stay sideways here, in a big, never-ending drift. Sounds easy enough, though the circle has grippy spots that make the 911 or Cayman want to stop drifting, and slippery spots that make it want to spin out.

You’ve got to manage the throttle, steering and even brake pedal to keep the slide going.

You’re working for it and when you get around the full circle sideways, Kees comes on the radio with genuine enthusiasm and a congratulatory message, and you grin, ear to ear.

This exercise is all about looking ahead, thinking ahead, being gentle and calculated with the controls, and knowing where your ride’s weight, steering and traction are at all times.

And forget that thrashy, stabby-looking driving you see on Top Gear or Fast and Furious; in real life, gentle, easy, and controlled inputs are the name of the game.

Nierop comments “it’s all about traction, and working with or controlling the available grip. On ice everything happens big, even at slow speed. It is knowing where to look and how to manage the weight transfer. If you can learn to understand what the car wants to do before it does it, then you are one step ahead of the game and therefore you are a safer driver on the road.”

Once drivers have learned the basics on the skid-pad and slalom, they’re let out on two full-track surfaces with varying traction levels, higher speeds, and more challenging driving.

You put all of the lessons together, build speed and confidence, and if you manage to keep your 911 or Cayman out of the snowbanks flanking the track surfaces, you’ll be wearing a huge grin.

The day concludes with a rapid lapping session, where participants drive the largest track on site at speed, moving between rear-engine 911s with rear- or all-wheel drive to mid-engine, rear-drive Caymans, to exploit their new skills while driving varying Porsche models with very different handling characteristics.

There’s no comfort zone: get the hang of a rear-engine AWD car, and it’s time to switch to a mid-engine, rear-drive machine to try again.

And therein lies the learning experience at the core of this Camp 4 program; by applying the same lessons and nearly constant feedback between varying cars, you learn how to use what you learn in any car, any time of year, and not just in a Porsche driven on an ice track.

Further, with an instructor that gets to know you and your strengths and weaknesses throughout the day, they offer advice and tips that drive true improvements in your driving.

You leave Camp 4 with a real skill set, not just a few hours of rockstar powerslide experience.

Nierop adds “the dynamics are the same of course, when we are talking about looking for grip. During Camp 4 this year, we introduced you to our rear-wheel drive cars and our all-wheel drive 911s. And then we had exposure to the mid-engine Cayman. These are all totally different driving styles, based not only on their drive wheels but also on the engine position. Each vehicle has its dynamic qualities, and understanding them is an important part of learning how a vehicle behaves, regardless of the type.”

So, whatever you’re driving, in whatever season you’re driving it, a course like Camp 4 builds driver confidence and skill and will let drivers realize more performance from their sports car, Porsche or otherwise.

A driving course like Camp 4 might be the best performance upgrade you can make for your sports car.

Teen attacked with machete during driving lesson

A 17-year-old from East Hanningfield was attacked today by two men wielding a machete, during a driving lesson with his 22-year-old brother.
Archie Kirkwood, 17, was driving along Leighams Road at around 1.30 pm, supervised by his older brother Angus, when a small commercial van followed the pair, flashing its lights and beeping, the boys' father David Kirkwood told the Chronicle.

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The boys stopped the car, and were attacked by the two men, who pulled a machete from the van, Mr Kirkwood said.
"My sons were attacked with a machete," he explained. "It was a hideous incident and fortunately they weren't badly hurt. One man hit my son Angus on the head and the body with a machete, but luckily he was inept at using it and Angus wasn't badly injured."

"It's almost staggering that they weren't killed. Fortunately there were no serious injuries, but that is just their good fortune. Archie was punched in the face several times by one of the men and Angus was hit in the head with a machete.
"We are all in shock, it just seems so surreal. They were just driving along a country road. It's just the most bizarre thing to have happened that these men have gone to their van and intimidated these boys and launched an attack with a machete."

Police remain at the scene of the attack today, and anyone with any information is asked to contact Essex Police on 101.

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Mother-daughter driving lesson ends in fatal shooting

Tammy Meyers had just finished a driving lesson with her teenage daughter Thursday when she had a near-collision with another car on the way to her nearby Las Vegas home. Meyers and the male driver of the other car got into an argument before the mother of four left the scene and the other driver followed her home, her family says. lRelated Nation Now Alabama policeman arrested after video shows him slamming man to ground See all related 8 Montana man who trapped, killed German student gets 70-year sentence Montana man who trapped, killed German student gets 70-year sentence When Meyers arrived home, she and her daughter called for help from another family member who was armed with a handgun. The other car, described as a four-door gray or silver sedan, appeared on the street and multiple shots were fired. Meyers was struck by one round and died Saturday night after being taken off life support, her family said during a news conference outside the hospital. Police are still searching for the suspect or suspects involved in the shooting, according to a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department news release. cComments @He Is I... Lack of male impulse control IS so out of control it's an epidemic. It is not a stereotype. It is no longer a stereotype that females are worse drivers because facts have shot that down. Mile for mile, male drivers are less safe than females, have 3.5 X increased reckless and... PeterLawrence at 6:09 PM February 16, 2015 Add a comment See all comments 33 Meyers was described as "the most giving person one could ever know" on a page for a memorial fund set up on the crowd-sourced fundraising site GoFundMe. Meyers, a nurse, died on Valentine's Day, a day her husband would always bring her red roses, the page said. "Today, we watched as her husband Robert gave her the last red roses that she will ever receive," the post continued. So far, her family has raised over $3,000 for hospital and funeral expenses. Robert Meyers, 49, told the Associated Press that their 23-year-old son fired several shots at the fleeing car and told his father there were three people inside. Robert Meyers, who was in Los Angeles on business during the shooting, said he thinks at least one 9-millimeter shot fired by his son hit the fleeing car, according to the Associated Press. "This was a loving mother of four kids teaching our daughter how to drive," Robert Meyers told the AP. One of the vehicle's occupants was described as a man about 25 years old with dirty blond hair worn in a spiked style and with hazel or blue eyes, according to the news release. The car police are searching for might have damage to the front driver's side, the release said, and possible damage from gunfire.

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High School Girl, 17, Killed in Collision With School Bus

A 17-year-old high school student died behind the wheel of an SUV that collided with a school bus, the Frederick County Sheriff's Office said.

Claire Knight was killed Wednesday morning when the SUV she was driving north on Old Middletown Road crashed into the front end of the southbound bus, Deputy First Class Amanda Hatcher said.

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Knight, a senior, was on the way to Middletown High School at the time of the accident.

Police were called at 7:15 a.m. to the crash scene about a mile south of Middletown.

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The bus driver sustained minor injuries and the lone student on the bus wasn't hurt. A school system spokesman says the bus had just begun its route.

School principal Lee Jeffrey says counselors are available to students and staff. She says now is the time for community members to pull together and support each other.

"All around the school was pretty gloomy," Middletown High School student Stephen Coston said. "It was like someone in their family had just died which was basically what happened."

Officers say Knight was not on her phone at the time of the crash.

The crash happened one day after another Frederick County student was released from the hospital following a shooting.

"We've had a difficult week here in Frederick County," Michael Dorerrer with Frederick County Public Schools said.

School bus driver enters no plea to Norwich DUI charges

 NORWICH - A school bus driver accused of drunken driving and hitting a parked vehicle on North Main Street without stopping on Feb. 6 entered no plea to the numerous charges during his arraignment Monday in Norwich Superior Court.

    Edwin F. Gonzalez, 30, of Willimantic, is facing charges of drunken driving, reckless driving, evading responsibility in an accident, two counts of risk of injury to a minor and second-degree reckless endangerment.

    Gonzalez was given a March 2 court date.

    No one was hurt in the accident, according to Norwich Public Schools officials.

    Police said a witness saw the accident and then the school bus driving away erratically, and called 911.

    The First Student school bus also had a driver’s aide and seven students aboard, police said. Two of the students were younger than 16.

    The students had been picked up at their homes and were being driven to a community-based program, officials said.

    First Student is a Cincinnati-based company that serves school districts in 38 states.

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