Men, women react differently on road

Men, women react differently on road

Though it may be open to debate whether men or women are generally safer drivers, men over age 45 are much more likely to crash their vehicles on icy and snowy roads, according to a new study.

Those risks, notable as winter approaches, are even greater if the older men are driving four-wheel-drive pickup trucks, Purdue University researcher Fred Mannering found. It could reflect a false sense of safety, he said.

In addition, men under age 45 are more likely to get into serious accidents on dry roads, perhaps because of overconfidence, the study of single-vehicle accidents involving Indiana drivers indicates.

Female drivers of all ages, meanwhile, lose control and crash on rain-slicked roads most often because of their failure to sense reduced friction on wet pavement, Mannering’s analysis of more than 23,000 police accident reports determined.

Pastor taking break from megachurch

LITHONIA, Ga.

Megachurch leader Bishop Eddie Long announced Sunday he’s taking time off to focus on his family after his wife filed for divorce.

Long’s spokesman, Art Franklin, said the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church leader told his congregation during church services that he will continue to serve as senior pastor at the church in Lithonia just outside Atlanta. But Long said he needs a sabbatical.

Long’s wife, Vanessa Long, filed a petition for divorce Thursday in DeKalb County Superior Court to end her 21-year marriage to the embattled minister.

Former Miss USA faces DUI charge

HIGHLAND PARK, Mich.

A lawyer for ex-Miss USA Rima Fakih says police in the Detroit enclave of Highland Park arrested his client on a drunken-driving charge.

Doraid Elder says police arrested Fakih early Saturday.

The 26-year-old Fakih was born in Lebanon. She was raised in New York and moved to Michigan in 2003. Her family lives in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn.

She won the Miss USA Pageant in May 2010. Her reign ended June 19, 2011.

She was the first Arab-American winner.

Church nixes ban on interracial couples

PIKEVILLE, Ky.

An eastern Kentucky church under a firestorm of criticism since members voted to bar mixed-race couples from joining the congregation overturned that decision Sunday, saying it welcomes all believers.

Stacy Stepp, pastor of the Gulnare Free Will Baptist Church in Pike County, told The Associated Press that the vote by nine people last week was declared null and void after it was determined that new bylaws can’t run contrary to local, state or national laws. He said the proposal was discriminatory; therefore, it couldn’t be adopted.

Iran: Military shot down US drone

TEHRAN, Iran

Iran’s armed forces brought down a U.S. drone that officials said had violated the country’s airspace along the eastern border, Iranian media reported Sunday.

The aircraft suffered minor damage and was in the possession of the armed forces, according to an Iranian military official quoted by the official Islamic Republic News Agency.

NATO’s U.S.-led force in neighboring Afghanistan said Iranian authorities might be referring to an unarmed U.S. reconnaissance plane that went missing during a mission in western Afghanistan late last week.

Combined dispatches