War's aftermath & vehicle crashes

[jks9199]

An interesting article from the Washington Post addresses the significant increase in motor vehicle crashes and fatalities among veterans returning from combat. In brief, many of the driving behaviors that are encouraged and beneficial in a war zone are anything but good when they get home -- and that, by failing to address this, we're failing troops.

Virginia used to capture employment information as part of the FR300 Crash Report, but they took that question out several years ago. I haven't really looked at it myself, but the data sources in the article seem reasonable. I know that cops have some terrible driving habits on and off duty; after all, just to begin with we're doing everything we tell you not to do... we're listening to at least 1, usually 2 radios, talking on them, sometimes monitoring a radar unit, looking all around, and so on... These habits carry over into off-duty driving. (And a fair few of us can tend to have a rather heavy touch on the accelerator pedal, I must admit.) We often don't wear seat belts on the job (I'm a minority in my area, in that I regularly do...), justifying it by saying we might have to get out of the car quickly. I know officers who carry that habit over to their POVs... I suspect that all that saves us from being in crashes is that we have so much practice at it, in the conditions of the roads... and maybe some that do happen are handled more discretely.

Full article here

 

[granfire]

certainly a creepy idea that each tour increases your risk by about 12% points....

 

[jks9199]

certainly a creepy idea that each tour increases your risk by about 12% points....

It actually makes sense on a lot of levels. The combative driving habits get ingrained more thoroughly. The "I lived through war; traffic ain't nothing" mindset also gets reinforced. And any PTSD-type issues would also only be magnified. If those numbers weren't from USAA, I'd be a little skeptical. It's also worth noting that I didn't see anything in the article saying how many of the accidents have the service member at fault... Which could make a big difference.

 

[granfire]

yes, that the risks increase, no argument here, I just found it strangely remarkable that the the increase is aproximately the same for each tour. so if the numbers are right, after 4 tours you are nearing 50%...60 after 5 tours....

Considering all the things the army can make you do, why don't they sign them all up for defensive driving classes? Would that not be cheaper in the long run than paying survival benefits to families?

nvm...that logic thing.....


I am not sure how they broke it down, but the incident of 'at fault' accidents was stated as high, somewhere on page three I think.

i think the motorcycle thing, a replay from WWII...the car thing, from Nam? patterns are repeating, just that you cannot afford these things anymore, the roads are too full.

 

[jks9199]

I know that the services can mandate driver education classes. In fact, I know that at least some are requiring motorcycle training classes before service members may register or purchase a bike. They had too many kids wrapping themselves around trees or otherwise killing or injuring themselves because the would get home from deploymnet, have lots of money burning a whole in their pocket and buy a crotch rocket.

 

[Tgace]

I know that the services can mandate driver education classes. In fact, I know that at least some are requiring motorcycle training classes before service members may register or purchase a bike. They had too many kids wrapping themselves around trees or otherwise killing or injuring themselves because the would get home from deploymnet, have lots of money burning a whole in their pocket and buy a crotch rocket.

I've had to sit through my share of military "safety courses"...Im skeptical of the effectiveness of listening to an officer drone at you for an hour or two. IMO many of these types of mil/LE "classes" are more about limiting liability (the "well we did something" factor) than they are about changing behavior.

 

[jks9199]

I've had to sit through my share of military "safety courses"...Im skeptical of the effectiveness of listening to an officer drone at you for an hour or two. IMO many of these types of mil/LE "classes" are more about limiting liability (the "well we did something" factor) than they are about changing behavior.

Hell, the "real" driver safety classes aren't all that effective, either. I know at least one judge won't accept an on-line class -- you have to attend an actual class taught by a live person.

And, now, I'm waiting for "I was doing combat driving" to show up as an excuse...

 

[arnisador]

Wow, I didn't know of this particular risk--how unfortunate.

 

[Drasken]

Of the several veterans I know, this is indeed a problem. But it is by far not the only one. It is rather hard to readjust in general to life outside of combat, and our military and government doesn't do much to make it easier. In fact the biggest response is anti anxiety meds as well as other medications. Our society looks at people getting psychological help in a negative light, but how are we expecting these men and women to reprogram themselves for normal life, including driving and other things that are so drastically different and ingrained in them for years, without some kind of help?

It's really not a big surprise, though it is very unfortunate.

 

[granfire]

Of the several veterans I know, this is indeed a problem. But it is by far not the only one. It is rather hard to readjust in general to life outside of combat, and our military and government doesn't do much to make it easier. In fact the biggest response is anti anxiety meds as well as other medications. Our society looks at people getting psychological help in a negative light, but how are we expecting these men and women to reprogram themselves for normal life, including driving and other things that are so drastically different and ingrained in them for years, without some kind of help?

It's really not a big surprise, though it is very unfortunate.

Well, readjustment and medication....

We do have this problem with mental health, while we firmly hold the believe that better living is only possible through chemistry.
Behavior modification (not being droned on and talked down to) should work better than meds that can have a Pandora's box of side effects.

I don't think the 'just don't do it' approach works, when these people had been conditioned to break all rules of the road for polite company. That beat up car in Alabama doesn't mean a thing, in a war zone it could be shrapnel camouflaged as a car, etc. You live by that rule for long enough, it won't leave you that easily....