A 28-year-old Staff Sergeant assigned to Fort Liberty, North Carolina, died in a PMV-4 mishap 18 June 2023 in Valley, Alabama, at 0235 local. The Soldier was reportedly traveling on County Road 379 when his vehicle left the roadway, striking a culvert, a stop sign and several trees. He was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected from the vehicle. The Soldier was pronounced dead at the scene. It is currently unknown if speed, alcohol or drugs were contributing factors.
Since FY18, the Army has lost an average of 35 Soldiers a year to PMV-4 mishaps. This mishap was the 27th PMV-4 fatality of FY23 and above the number of fatalities for the same time last year.
Safety tips
Seat belts
Buckling up helps keep you safe and secure inside your vehicle, whereas not buckling up can result in being ejected from the vehicle in a crash, which is almost always deadly. Air bags are not a replacement for seat belts. They are designed to work in conjunction with seat belts. If you are not buckled up, the force of an air bag can cause serious injury or death.
Visibility at night
Night driving is dangerous because, even with high-beam headlights on, visibility is limited to about 500 feet (250 feet for normal headlights), creating less time to react to something in the road, especially when driving at higher speeds.
- Slow down to compensate for limited visibility and reduced stopping time.
- Ensure your headlights are clean and aimed correctly.
- Dim your dashboard.
- Look away from oncoming lights.
- If you wear glasses, make sure they're anti-reflective.
- Clean your windshield to eliminate streaks.
Drowsy driving
In addition to the obvious risk of falling asleep and running off the road or into another vehicle or object, drowsy driving affects your ability to drive safely even if you don’t fall asleep. Drowsiness makes you less able to pay attention to the road, slows reaction times if you must suddenly brake or steer, and affects your ability to make good driving decisions.
- Don’t drive if you have been awake for 16 hours or more.
- Stop every two hours to rest.
- Pull over and take a nap if necessary. It’s better to arrive late than not at all.