What’s New: In Brief (June 25, 2008)

More than 3,000 people are injured and 116 people are killed, on average, in nearly 5,000 alcohol-related crashed in British Columbia each year, according to ICBC. The public auto insurer says these stats translate into more than Cdn$140 million in claims costs each year. ICBC says its Drinking Driving CounterAttack initiative has helped reduce the number of alcohol-related crashed in B.C. by roughly 50% over the last 30 years. The ICBC and B.C. police launched the month-long drinking and driving public awareness campaign on June 25 at a graveside service. “The RCMP’s goal is to have the safest roads in the world by 2010,” said RCMP staff sergeant Andrew Isles, a member of the Capital Regional District Integrated Road Safety Unit.

A rapid severe weather alerting and response service is now available in the United States. Send Word Now has launched WeatherBlast, powered by the WeatherBug Network, which uses pre-defined user profiles to deliver precision-targeted early warning alerts to inform and prepare citizens, business, customers and employees within minutes in the event of severe weather. Notification can be sent via voice and text devices. WeatherBlast offers dramatic advancements in alerting by proactively monitoring and notifying subscribers of storm threats, tornadoes, hurricanes, lightning strikes, dangerous wind gusts, extreme heat and humidity (heat index) and heavy precipitation, according to a release.