NHTSA road safety research

Posted on May 20, 2012 by admin

Below is straight from the nhtsa.gov web site. As you can see the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has a grandiose plan for spending our tax dollars on research designed to make our roads safe.

Frankly, I’d like to see more resources spent on enforcing traffic laws more effectively such that we would rid our highways of all the aggressive driving.

 

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The advent of advanced electronic, computer, and communication technologies provides an opportunity for seeking new remedies that can help drivers avoid crashes. The ITS Crash Avoidance Research Program is seeking to develop a broad base of understanding that can lead to introduction of advanced crash avoidance systems.
Mission and Goals

NHTSA will continue to fulfill its mission of saving lives, preventing injuries, and reducing traffic related health care and other economic costs, by facilitating the development, deployment, and evaluation of safety products and systems. Among other things, this involves research into the science of crash avoidance to enable the development of safety-enhancing products. The agency will continue to establish the safety goals for crash avoidance technology, develop performance guidelines and specifications for crash avoidance systems, evaluate the safety performance of such systems, and work with industry to demonstrate the most promising ones and to facilitate their deployment in the marketplace. These activities will be accomplished through the combined efforts of NHTSA, the automobile industry, and other technology companies, working together under cooperative programs and partnerships that are sponsored by NHTSA.

The strategic goal of the program for the next 5-10 years is to demonstrate improved capability of collision avoidance systems, ensure that systems are both effective and usable to consumers, and provide a basis for understanding the benefits, (i.e., collisions, injuries and fatalities that will be avoided).

Scope

The central focus of the crash avoidance research program has been, and continues to be, the development of a broad understanding of how advanced technology systems can be used to help avoid collisions on the nation’s highways. The approach to implementing this focus is to arrange projects by problem area. Each of the projects in the program provide specific input to improving the overall knowledge base and understanding of systems that address one or more problem areas. These projects are described [insert link to"projects and tools" page]

Office of Vehicle Safety Research

Other NHTSA Sites Safercar.gov TrafficSafetyMarketing.gov EMS.gov 911.go

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Death and Mayhem on American Roads

Posted on May 19, 2012 by admin

Another day, another 88 die and 6,000 maimed on American roads. That’s right over 88 people die and 6,000 are seriously injured every single day, 365 days per year on our super aggressive roads.

I pray your family was not one torn apart from such a needless tragedy.

Please, if you have a traffic accident story with pics, share it with us.

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Observing Unsafe and Safe Roads

Posted on May 18, 2012 by admin

In our book, Highway Safety’s Best Kept Secret we’ve made the statement that a well trained eye can ride with a teenager, a teen’s best friend, a drunk, anyone for just 20 minutes and tell whether that driver is high risk (for traffic accidents) or not. Furthermore, that same well trained eye can ride for 1 hour on any major street, in any city in America and grade that city for the job the’re doing in making their streets safe.

What a powerful promise!

Think about it, no longer do parents need to worry when their family gets on our dangerous roads. No longer do we just accept that the mayor’s latest highway safety initiative is effective or not. With just a little time on the roads we can all tell if our family drives safely and whether our roads are safe.

So, what does that well trained eye observe when making this inspection of either a driver or a road?

Please get a copy of our book today. You’ll learn more about keeping your family safe when driving or riding on our aggressive roads than all the safe driving courses in the world.

Get your copy at WWW.StopCarCrashes.com/book.

 

 

 

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Tailgating #1 Cause of Car Crashes, but speeding is focus.

Posted on May 17, 2012 by admin

If tailgating is the #1 cause of traffic accidents, why all the speeding tickets?

It couldn’t be because of income, could it?

Please read more about what’s wrong with out nation’s highway safety programs — that’s plural with government highway safety plans numbering in the tens of thousands.

Please get your copy of our new book, Highway Safety’s Best Kept Secret. In it you’ll read about how one community of 102,000 drivers has actually all but eliminated, speeding, tailgating, drunk driving, aggressive driving, wild teen driving, texting behind the wheel, and traffic accidents.

Get your copy today at: WWW.StopCarCrashes.com/book.

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Eliminate Car Crashes and Drunk Driving At Same Time

Posted on May 16, 2012 by admin

The following road safety campaign from the Governor’s Highway Safety Association and MADD focuses on drunk driving. Interestingly, the campaign has the goal of eliminating drunk driving, not just reduce it.

We at WWW.StopCarCrashes.com have a similar goal but we want to eliminate car crashes, not just reduce them. The point is, if you eliminate traffic accidents you also eliminate drunk driving.

Find out how to all but eliminate traffic accidents: read our Highway safety book, Highway Safety’s Best Kept Secret. Get your copy today at: WWW.StopCarCrashes.com/book.

Please find out how one community of 102,000 drivers has eliminated drunk driving, wild teen driving, distracted driving, texting while driving, running red lights, tail gating, speeding, and oh yea, all but eliminated car crashes.

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Campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving

“The Campaign has had dramatic impact in the states. The dialogue has really changed from how do we reduce drink driving fatalities to how do we eliminate them. We are encouraged that three states have enacted interlock laws for first-time offenders since the Campaign’s launch. However, we need many more to take this critical step to help eliminate drunk driving.”

–Christopher J. Murphy, Immediate Past Chairman, Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) and Director of the California Office of Traffic Safety

CEDD Logo

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is coordinating an ongoing, national Campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving. GHSA is a partner in the campaign and looks forward to continuing to work with MADD and other highway safety groups toward the goal of completely eliminating drunk driving.

One of the four key tenants of the campaign is a call for all states to enact alcohol ignition interlock laws requiring all drunk driving offenders, including first time offenders, to install a breath test device on their vehicle. Ignition interlocks prevent people who have alcohol in their system from driving a car. An operator breathes into an interlock device to determine blood alcohol concentration. If there is measurable alcohol in the blood, the vehicle does not start.

In addition to mandatory ignition interlocks, the campaign also calls for:

  • Iintensive, high visibility law enforcement;
  • Development of advanced vehicle-based technology; and
  • Public support.
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Child Restaints A Must If you can’t avoid car crashes

Posted on May 15, 2012 by admin

As important as child restraints and seat belts are, they are a distant second in the war for saving lives on our highways. For instance I’d much prefer to avoid traffic accidents than be restrained if involved in one.

From the Institute Insurance Highway Safety (iihs.org) comes the following great read on child restraint and seat belts.

After reading it, please get a copy of our book, Highway Safety’s Best Kept Secret to see what we recommend about preventing driver actions that cause car crashes.

Get your copy today at: WWW.StopCarCrashes.com/book. Let’s stop the slaughter.

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Keeping children safe in crashes:
choosing the right type of restraint

More than 1,000 children 12 and younger die in passenger vehicle crashes every year, and more than 100,000 are injured. Parents can reduce the risk to their kids by properly securing them in the back seats.

The videos below help parents choose the right kind of restraint for a child’s age and size and provide general information on installation and use. These videos are also available for purchase on DVD.

 

Booster seats can improve the fit of adult belts for children who have outgrown child restraints, but not all boosters provide the recommended belt fit. It’s important to ensure that the lap belt fits low across the upper thigh, not across the child’s soft abdomen. The shoulder belt should cross snuggly over the center of the shoulder.

What if my vehicle doesn’t have shoulder belts?

Booster seats: poor fit vs. good fit

Booster seats: poor fit vs. good fit

Adult belts

When older children start using the vehicle belts, the shoulder belt should rest across the chest, away from the neck, and the lap belt should fit low and snug across the upper thigh. Your child needs to sit straight up with knees bent at the edge of the seat.

Adult belts: poor fit vs. good fit

 

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Latest Distracted Driving Research

Posted on May 14, 2012 by admin

 

From the Governor’s Highway Safety Association (GHSA.org) come the following, the latest research on distracted drivers and what states need to do about it.

Please get a copy of our book, Highway Safety’s Best Kept Secret to see what we recommend about preventing driver actions that cause car crashes.

Get your copy today at: WWW.StopCarCrashes.com/book. Let’s stop the slaughter.

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Distracted Driving

Driver inattention is a leading factor in many crashes, and cell phone use and texting are some of the most common driver distractions. While more and more states and localities are banning specific distractions, GHSA’s message to all drivers is: don’t use cell phones or other electronic devices while driving, regardless of the current law.

In 2011, GHSA released Distracted Driving: What Research Shows and What States Can Do. The report summarizes what distracted driving is, how often drivers are distracted, how distraction impacts driver performance and what countermeasures may be most effective as well as what states can do to reduce distracted driving.

Among the findings:

  • Distractions affect driving performance.
  • Drivers frequently are distracted, perhaps as much as half the time.
  • Distractions are estimated to be associated with 15 to 25 percent of crashes at all levels.
  • Texting likely increases crash risk more than cell phone use.

Based on the existing research, the report urges states to:

  • Use low-cost engineering solutions such as edgeline and centerline rumble stripes to alert motorists who may drift.
  • Record distracted driving in crash reports.
  • Evaluate other distracted driving laws and programs.

States should also consider:

A news release summarizing the report is here.

In 2009, GHSA joined a coalition of safety and transportation groups in writing letters to key members of the U.S. House pdf icon [46 KB, 3 pgs.] and Senate pdf icon [47 KB, 3 pgs.] advocating a broad approach to distracted driving and supporting a strong federal role.

 

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Teen Slaughter on our Aggressive Roads Continue

Posted on May 13, 2012 by admin

From the Governor’s Highway Safety Association (GHSA.org) come the following, very tragic story of how teen deaths on our roads on increase.

Please get a copy of our book, Highway Safety’s Best Kept Secret to see what you can do about preventing car crashes, which is the #1 Risk for all age groups between ages of 3-33.

Get your copy today at: WWW.StopCarCrashes.com/book. Let’s stop the slaughter.

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New Study: Teen Driver Deaths Increase in 2011

First Increase in Eight Years Raises Concerns

WASHINGTON, D.C.—A report released today by the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) reveals that the number of 16- and 17-year-old driver deaths in passenger vehicles increased slightly for the first six months of 2011, based on preliminary data supplied by all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Overall, 16- and 17-year-old driver deaths increased from 190 to 211 – an 11 percent increase. If the trend continued for the second half of 2011, it will mark the end of eight straight years of cumulative declines in deaths for this age group.

The new report – the first state-by-state look at teen fatalities in 2011 – was completed by Dr. Allan Williams, a researcher who formerly served as chief scientist at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Dr. Williams surveyed GHSA members, who reported fatality numbers for every state and D.C. The report comes as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has released a statistical projection suggesting that total motor vehicle deaths for the first six months of 2011 declined 0.9 percent.

Deaths of 16-year-old drivers increased from 80 to 93 (16 percent) while the number for 17-year-olds went from 110 to 118 (7 percent), a cumulative increase of 11 percent. Twenty-three states reported increases, 19 had decreases, and eight states and the District of Columbia reported no change. While the changes in state-by-state fatality numbers generally are small, states such as Florida, Texas and North Carolina reported significant increases.

Dr. Williams attributes much of the increase to the fact that the benefit of state Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) laws may be leveling off, as most of these laws have been in place for some time. Additionally, Dr. Williams speculates that improving economic conditions are contributing to an increase in teen driving, thus increasing their exposure to risk. Dr. Williams notes, “While it is not a surprise that these numbers are stabilizing or slightly increasing, states should not accept these deaths as something that cannot be prevented. More work can and should be done to save teen lives.”

Troy E. Costales, Chairman of GHSA, said, “While it is good news that overall deaths appear to have declined during the first six months of 2011, we are concerned that the trend with teens is going in the opposite direction,” He continued, “As the report notes, a widespread strengthening of laws is still possible and finding effective tools outside of GDL is an important goal. These include improving driver education and involving parents in proactively establishing safe driving habits for their teens.”

Chairman Costales added, “As the parent of a young driver and a soon-to-be-driver, I know firsthand the pressures parents face in allowing their teens behind the wheel. As parents, we must set and enforce strict rules for our new drivers, making sure risks are minimized. This includes limiting other teens in the car, limiting nighttime driving and absolutely prohibiting any type of cell phone or electronic device use while driving.”

Barbara Harsha, Executive Director of GHSA, said states could use federal support to save more teen lives. “As part of the upcoming highway reauthorization bill, Congress should provide financial incentives to states that have strengthened or will strengthen teen driving laws. Additionally, Congress should provide adequate funding so that NHTSA can research and support demonstration projects to determine the most effective ways to increase teen seat belt use and compliance with GDL laws. Congress also should fund NHTSA and the states to carry out distracted driving campaigns aimed at teen drivers.” Harsha added, “Research also needs to be done to determine the impact of changing school start times so that teens are less likely to be driving fatigued.”

The full report, including state-by-state data, is available online at www.ghsa.org.

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The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA)® is a nonprofit association representing the highway safety offices of states, territories, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. GHSA provides leadership and representation for the states and territories to improve traffic safety, influence national policy, enhance program management and promote best practices. Its members are appointed by their Governors to administer federal and state highway safety funds and implement state highway safety plans. Contact GHSA at 202-789-0942 or visit www.ghsa.org. Find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GHSAhq or follow us on Twitter at @GHSAHQ.
© 2011 Governors Highway Safety Association, 444 N. Capitol Street, NW, Suite 722, Washington DC 20001-1534
phone 202.789.0942 , fax 202.789.0946, headquarters@ghsa.org

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How To Determine If Your Kid is Ready to Drive

Posted on May 12, 2012 by admin


A Comprehensive Approach to Teen Driver Safety.
 

Parents & Teens It’s not just good parenting, it’s a matter of life and death. You need to talk to your kids about traffic safety early and often – before they reach driving age. When your teenager begins driving, we recommend that you set rules and then clearly outline the consequences of breaking the rules.

We know that getting through to your teen can be tough, but research tells us that teens listen to their parents, and that you influence your kid’s driving habits. Remind your teenager that driving is a privilege – a privilege they will lose if they don’t drive by your rules.

Set the standard

You need to teach safe driving behavior from the beginning. As the parent, you can start by modeling safe driving behavior anytime you drive your kids anywhere, even before they begin to drive.

Talk to your teen about safety issues and the rules you are setting. Explain each one of your rules and the consequences for breaking it. Write up a contract with your teen driver to make sure they drive by the rules and drive as safely as possible. Include the most important issues. Here’s how:

Spell out the rules

    1. Alcohol: Absolutely No Alcohol
    2. Seat belts: Always Buckle Up!
    3. Cell phone/texting: No talking or texting while driving
    4. Curfew: Have the Car in the Driveway by 10 p.m.
    5. Passengers: No more than one at all times
    6. Graduated Drivers License: Follow the state’s GDL law
    7. Parental Responsibility: Set your house rules and consequences
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Distracted Driving from Governor’s Highway Safety Council

Posted on May 11, 2012 by admin

Distracted Driving

10 Tips for Managing Driver Distractions

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Distracted drivers pose a deadly risk to everyone on the road.

Here are 10 tips from GHSA for managing some of the most common distractions.

  1. Turn it off. Turn your phone off or switch to silent mode before you get in the car.

  2. Spread the word. Set up a special message to tell callers that you are driving and you’ll get back to them as soon as possible, or sign up for a service that offers this.
  3. Pull over. If you need to make a call, pull over to a safe area first.
  4. Use your passengers. Ask a passenger to make the call for you.
  5. X the Text. Don’t ever text and drive, surf the web or read your email while driving. It is dangerous and against the law in most states.
  6. Know the law. Familiarize yourself with state and local laws before you get in the car. Some states and localities prohibit the use of hand held cell phones. GHSA offers a handy chart of state laws on its website: www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws/cellphone_laws.html.
  7. Prepare. Review maps and directions before you start to drive. If you need help when you are on the road, ask a passenger to help or pull over to a safe location to review the map/directions again.
  8. Secure your pets. Pets can be a big distraction in the car. Always secure your pets properly before you start to drive.
  9. Keep the kids safe. Pull over to a safe location to address situations with your children in the car.
  10. Focus on the task at hand. Refrain from smoking, eating, drinking, reading and any other activity that takes your mind and eyes off the road.

© 2011 Governors Highway Safety Association, 444 N. Capitol Street, NW, Suite 722, Washington DC 20001-1534

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