Research

The Safe Transportation Research and Education Center's research goal is to effectively tap UC Berkeley's diverse community of experts in public health, transportation engineering and planning, vision, human factors, technology and other disciplines to execute research projects that address traffic safety issues in California and beyond.

Many of our researchers report on their activities at the annual meetings of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) and the American Public Health Association (APHA). A list of those presentations can be found on our research publications page.

Featured Projects

screen shot of distracted driving press release

 

57,000 Distracted Driving Month Tickets in April; Cell Phone Usage Rate Down

More than 57,000 drivers were ticketed for handheld cell phone talking or texting during April’s Distracted Driving Awareness Month, according to the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) and the California Highway Patrol (CHP). The citations were written by CHP officers as well as over 250 local law enforcement agencies across the state match the number handed to drivers in last year’s April campaign. The monthly number of cell phone tickets outside of this special high visibility enforcement averages 36,000 violations. Over 3,500 citations were handed out for other types of distracted driving violations.

The Office of Traffic Safety also announced today that the percentage of drivers actively using cell phones at any one time in the state dropped from 10.8 percent in 2012 to 7.4 percent in 2013, nearly returning to the baseline 2011 total of 7.3 percent. The largest drop, 33 percent, was from those holding a cell phone to their ear. The information was contained in the third annual cell phone observational survey conducted in March by OTS through the UC Berkeley Safe Transportation Research and Education Center. The results are likely the low-end indicators due to the short, limited view observation of whether a driver was using a phone, especially for texting.—California Office of Traffic Safety Press Release

 

"Observational Study of Cell Phone and Texting Use Among California Drivers 2012 and Comparison with 2011 Data" 13-4877

Jill F. Cooper, David R. Ragland, SafeTREC, University of California, Berkeley; Katrin Ewald, Lisa Wasserman, Ewald & Wasserman Research Consultant, LLC; Christopher J. Murphy, California Office of Traffic Safety

This methodological report describes survey research and data collection methods employed for the second Observational Survey of Cell Phone and Texting Use among California Drivers study. This study was conducted by Ewald & Wasserman Research Consultants (E&W) on behalf of the California Office of Traffic Safety and the Safe Transportation Research and Education Center at University of California at Berkeley. The survey’s goal was to obtain a statewide statistically representative observational sample of California’s cell phone use behaviors, focusing on cell phone use. Vehicle drivers were observed at controlled intersections, such as traffic lights and stop signs, using a protocol similar to the National Occupancy Protection Use Study methodology published by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. The sample frame included a total of 5,664 vehicle observations from 129 sites. The total percentage of distracted driving by electronic devices (holding a phone to the ear, manipulating a hand-held electronic device while driving, or talking on a hand-held device) observed increased to 6.2% in 2012 from 4.2% in 2011. California’s baseline level of cell phone use and driving will be a critical metric over the years as traffic safety stakeholders mobilize to conduct high visibility enforcement campaigns, explore new policies, expand educational programs, and engineer countermeasures to increase safety on the roads.

Session 543 Driver Distraction, Driver State, and Vehicle Safety Systems
Tuesday, January 15, 2013 10:45AM - 12:30PM
Marriott, Salon 2
Poster Session

 

 

 

Previously Featured Projects

 

SafeTREC Project Areas

Crash Analysis
Active Transportation
Land Use and Safety
Occupant Safety
Transportation Safety Contexts
Special Groups
Driver Behavior
Other
 
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