SAFE TRAVELS NC
ISSUE 11 | AUGUST 2025
Our Greatest Hits!
Welcome to another edition of Safe Travels NC! It may feel familiar.
Consider this our "greatest hits" episode, packed with the most helpful tips and key facts we've shared over the last 11 months. If you haven't seen it, it's new to you. If you have, sometimes a message is worth telling twice.
We've also got two new items this month: A video recap of North Carolina Alliance for Safe Transportation initiatives and another review from our series on safe driving apps.
Thanks for reading, and we'd love it if you share posts with someone who needs to hear them.
NCAST Highlights
COPY THIS STORY LINKLet us tell you about NCAST’s mission to and show how we make an impact—promoting safe driving habits, saving lives, and reducing traffic-related injuries in North Carolina. If you think our non-profit work is important, please consider making a donation.
“Best Of” Feature: What’s a Jamiton?
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You know when you’re on the highway and traffic slows for no reason? Then it speeds up, only to slow down – again – for no reason (AGAIN).
That’s called a phantom traffic jam, though mathematicians at MIT and other research universities gave it another name about 15 years ago: A jamiton. Jamitons are named after solitons, which is a type of wave that physicists study.
Traffic often moves like a wave, and the predictability of waves can be used to smooth traffic, reduce accidents, lower vehicle fuel usage and cut vehicle emissions. The idea is that a minor disturbance on the highway sets off a chain of events. Something as simple as one driver suddenly braking triggers a wave, and researchers say this is particularly true if cars are spaced less than 35 meters apart.
Once the wave passes, drivers tend to accelerate too quickly, causing another wave of braking.
Studies indicate that even if just 1 out of every 20 drivers change how they brake and accelerate, we could avoid jamitons. Researchers in this study added a single autonomous vehicle to the traffic flow and found that throughput – the number of cars that pass a given point in an hour – increased by 14%.
Fuel consumption in that experiment decreased nearly 43%, and “excessive braking events” dropped precipitously.
This suggests that changing habits for just 5% of drivers could make a difference on our roadways, according to Benjamin Seibold, a Temple University mathematics professor who has studied “jamitons” for more than 15 years.
The best results would likely require a sprinkling of vehicles that are fed data about traffic conditions well ahead and gently decelerate to increase the gap between vehicles even when traffic is slowing a mile away.
But the basic lesson is one we can all take to heart, Seibold says, “Brake earlier and softer.”
Get Good Directions!
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Lenora Berryman is a retired special ed teacher, and she’s been teaching Wake County teenagers to drive for a decade. Here are her top tips for student drivers and their parents.
Let them drive. Start in an empty parking lot, of course, but once they know the basics, every opportunity you have to let your teenager drive you somewhere, take it.
Start with hand positions. Whether it’s 10 and 2, 9 and 3 or 8 and 4, make sure your child knows where to place their hands on the wheel.
MAKE them trust you. Students HAVE to listen. If yours starts interrupting you and saying “I got this,” tell them to stop the car. You’re taking over.
Announce EVERYTHING. Stop signs. Traffic lights. Upcoming turns. Point them out well in advance, then announce them again when it’s time to stop or turn.
When are they ready for the interstate? Sooner than you think. Berryman says get out there just before you, the parent, are comfortable doing so.
How do you stay patient? “I’m a praying person, number 1,” she said. The trick is to do your best and keep your teen driving until you AND they feel relaxed.
Remember: Anxiety transfers.
“They Save Lives”
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It’s this simple: Every year the state of North Carolina surveys seatbelt usage, sending observers to more than 100 locations to watch and see whether people are wearing them.
Usage hovers around 90% and 44% of the people who died in car crashes here weren’t wearing their seatbelt.
Wear your seatbelt and insist that your children do the same. In 1985 North Carolina implemented a mandatory child seat belt law. Crash deaths and serious injuries have dropped 42% since then.
One more thing to remember: Wear the shoulder harness over your shoulder, not beneath the armpit. You might be surprised how many people wear them wrong.
A Minute of Your Life
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How much time do you think it would add to a trip if you drove 45 mph through a 2-mile highway construction zone instead of going 65 mph?
Bear in mind that 31 people died in work zone crashes in 2023, just in North Carolina. There were 2,800 injuries and 7,500 crashes, according to the North Carolina Department of Transportation.
It’s less than a minute. Slowing down — for 2 miles — costs less than a minute of your time.
But speeding? Looking at your phone? That could cost a life, because speeding and distracted driving cause more than half of work zone crashes, according to NCDOT.
Be careful even if you don’t think anyone is working. As The Charlotte Observer noted last year, you can still be ticketed if you speed through an empty work zone.
The minimum fine is $250!
“Best Of” Ask a Trooper
COPY THIS VIDEO LINK“Can I turn right on red?”
This month’s question comes from Autumn, from Randleman.
Got a question? Ask it in a short video and send it here.
“Best Of” Ask a Trooper
COPY THIS VIDEO LINK“There are so many safety mechanisms in modern cars. Do I still need to wear my seatbelt?”
You asked, Sgt. Marcus Bethea of the NC State Highway Patrol answered. This month’s question comes from a student in Chapel Hill.
Got a question? Ask it in a short video and send it here.
“Best Of” Ask a Trooper
COPY THIS VIDEO LINK“What’s NC’s move-over law?”
You asked, the NC State Highway Patrol answered.
Got a question? Ask it in a short video and send it here.
Farmers: Be Safe, Be Seen!
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It’s late in the afternoon, and you’re so close to being finished with harvest. You have just enough time to move the combine from the field you’re in to the one you need to cut tomorrow. You barely pull on to the road before a line of honking cars seems to appear out of nowhere.
You’ve waited for weeks to get in the hayfield for the last cutting, and finally get a break in the weather. You’re headed back to the main farm with the mower and notice a car behind you trying to pass on a double yellow even though your mower extends into the left lane and you have nowhere to pull over.
Both of these scenarios sound all too familiar for farmers.
Like other commuters, farmers are just trying to get to and from their jobs, and then get home to see their families. While passenger drivers need to stay alert for equipment on rural roads, it is our job as farmers to be vigilant that tractors and equipment are visible.
Many motorists do not recognize the silhouette of tractors and equipment, so farmers must be diligent to ensure they are seen. Despite your best efforts, there will be times when passenger vehicles will line up behind equipment due to factors out of your control such as wide equipment, lack of space to pull over, no passing zones. But, as in athletics, the best offense is a good defense – never assume that other drivers know or understand your intentions.
So what can you do?
Pull over when possible to allow cars to safely pass. Traffic build up can exacerbate aggressive driving.Be particularly mindful when turning. Added implements could block turn signals. Be cautious using hand signals to turn, as motorists often misinterpret the left turn hand signal as an indication to pass which could result in a left turn sideswipe.
Because some of the most common rural roadway accidents are rear end collisions, farmers should pay special attention to maintaining SMV signs, lighting, and reflectors. Replacing broken light covers and faded SMV signs, repairing light wiring, cleaning dirt and debris off lenses, and adding rear view mirrors help to ensure that you are seen.
Be Safe, Be Seen!
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Repair or replace SMV emblems, lighting, reflectors, and/or flagging on farm equipment as needed. Inspect each time equipment will be on a roadway to ensure visibility
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Determine if additional lighting, reflectors, or flagging is needed to increase visibility.
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Purchase and have replacement lights, reflectors, flagging, and SMV signs on hand before they are needed.
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Adjust travel routes if possible to avoid peak passenger travel times.
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Use an additional escort vehicle as an escort in high traffic or low visibility areas.
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Be aware of traffic behind you that may not anticipate your movements, and allow them to pass when possible.
Be familiar with NC DMV laws regarding farm equipment transportation, and consider utilizing additional lights and flagging. Provide training for all farm workers who might operate equipment on roadways, and never allow anyone under 14 to operate farm equipment on roadways!
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New: Safety App Review
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This is a greatest hits episode, but we started a new feature last month - reviews of cell phone driving safety apps - and wanted to keep it going.
This month I tried Oto Zen, which warns you if you speed or move your phone while driving. The app has a free trial, then it’s $9.99 a month for a family of four.
I was speeding on the interstate, and the app warned me with a series of beeps. I slowed down.
I picked up my phone, and it buzzed angrily. I put the phone down without using it.
The phone didn’t buzz when I picked it up at a red light. And, like many of these apps, it sends you a wrap-up notification after a trip. All in all, it’s a worthwhile tool, but the effectiveness fades if you let it - personal accountability will always be the key.
Got a safety app you swear by? Let us know so we can review it!
Time to Talk?
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Even as older drivers as a group are some of our safest drivers, they’re more vulnerable to injuries in a crash.
And, eventually, time retires us all from driving.
How do you know it’s time to step back? Or whether it’s time for that conversation with parents?
Here are some signs, pulled from a longer National Institute on Aging list.
Fender benders
Two traffic tickets or warnings within 2 years
Friends or neighbors share concerns
You feel anxiety about driving
You’re complaining more about other drivers
Stiff joints make it harder to check mirrors
You get lost on a familiar route
Trouble staying in your lane
You confuse the brake and gas pedals
Abrupt braking for no reason
The AARP also offers an online seminar for members to help you assess skills and prepare, as well as online and in-person driving courses for drivers aged 50 and up.
AARP even offers a free phone app that lets family members track and compare and even compete over each other’s driving habits. The SafeTrip app logs speed, fast braking incidents, cell phone distraction and other metrics.
One Last Thing…
A Weighty Topic
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The average vehicle weight in the United States has increased by more than 1,000 pounds over the last 40 years, according to statistics kept by the Environmental Protection Agency.
