Data collection

2022 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Fact Sheet: Distracted Driving

Katherine L. Chen
Bor-Wen Tsai
Garrett Fortin
Jill F. Cooper
2022
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) defines distracted driving as activities that divert attention away from safe driving. This may include talking on the phone, texting, eating or drinking, manipulating audio systems, etc. According to the National Safety Council, cell phones remain a top distraction because of the length of time they are used by drivers on a daily basis.

The United States Department of Transportation uses the Safe System Approach to work towards zero roadway fatalities and serious injuries. The Safe System Approach recognizes that people...

2022 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Fact Sheet: Bicycle Safety

Katherine L. Chen
Bor-Wen Tsai
Garrett Fortin
Jill F. Cooper
2022
Bicycling is becoming more popular across the country, for commuting, exercise, and leisure. However, in the event of a traffic crash between a motor vehicle and a bicyclist, the bicyclist is the more vulnerable party and more likely to be injured or killed. In 2020, there were 938 bicyclists killed in a traffic crash in the United States. American Indian/Alaska Native persons had the highest per capita rate of bicyclists deaths, followed by Black and Hispanic persons; the differential was smaller than for other categories of traffic deaths by race.

In citing concern about the...

2022 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Fact Sheet: Alcohol-Impaired Driving

Katherine L. Chen
Bor-Wen Tsai
Garrett Fortin
Jill F. Cooper
2022
While alcohol-impaired driving fatalities have fallen significantly in the last three decades, NHTSA reports that alcohol-impaired driving still comprises a large percentage of traffic injuries and fatalities. On average in 2020, someone died from an alcohol-impaired driving crash every 45 minutes. There was an increase in the number of alcohol-impaired driving fatalities and rate per 100 million Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) in the United States between 2019 and 2020.

The United States Department of Transportation uses the Safe System Approach to work towards zero roadway...

2022 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Fact Sheet: Aging Road Users

Katherine L. Chen
Bor-Wen Tsai
Garrett Fortin
Jill F. Cooper
2022
The older adult population in the United States aged 65 and older is expected to almost double between 2016 and 2060, from 49 million to 95 million. In 2020, there were 6,549 people aged 65 and older killed in traffic crashes in the United States; this accounted for 16.9 percent of all traffic fatalities. Older drivers 65 and older involved in fatal crashes decreased by 9.8 percent between 2019 and 2020.

As drivers age, physical and mental changes including reduced visual acuity, increased fragility, restricted movement, and cognitive impairment may directly and indirectly result in...

Perceptions of Bicycle Safety: A Data and User-Experience Approach

August 30, 2022
New research brief explores the existing bicycle infrastructure in the City of Oakland as it relates to cyclist safety

Climate change has caused unprecedented problems, which has increased efforts to fund sustainable green alternatives, including funding for alternative means of transportation such as active transportation and micro-mobility infrastructure improvements. In a new research brief, Perceptions of Bicycle Safety: A Data and User-Experience Approach, UC Berkeley SafeTREC's Graduate Student Researcher Greg Harasym explores existing bicycle infrastructure in the...

Perceptions of Bicycle Safety: A Data and User-Experience Approach

Gregory Harasym
2022
Climate change has caused unprecedented problems, which has increased efforts to fund sustainable green alternatives. In California, the transportation sector accounts for approximately 50 percent of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions. California’s Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program (ARFVTP) provides $100 million annually to develop and deploy alternative fuel options, including infrastructure for zero and near-zero emission vehicles. In addition to ARFVTP, Senate Bill 743 was passed in 2013 which re-shaped the focus of traffic analysis from congestion and level...

New Publication - Highway Crashes in California During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Insights and Considerations

August 8, 2022
New publication provides insights on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on road safety in California

SafeTREC Co-Director Offer Grembek, former Postdoctoral Researcher Praveen Vayalamkuzhi, and Applications Program Manager SangHyouk Oum have co-authored a book chapter, "Highway Crashes in California During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Insights and Considerations" as part of the new publication "Pandemic in the Metropolis:...

Highway Crashes in California During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Insights and Considerations

Offer Grembek
Praveen Vayalamkuzhi
SangHyouk Oum
2022

This chapter describes the results of a short-term analysis of highway crashes in California during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has had an unexpected and abrupt influence on the demand for mobility. The effect of this was a drastic reduction in the level of activity on the roads. This level of activity defines the exposure of road users to crash risk and represents a focal variable in the sciences of traffic safety. The rapid rate of change in traffic that occurred during the pandemic, triggered a need to monitor highway safety at a higher frequency than what was...

SHSP Crash Data Dashboard Now Includes Tribal Data

August 4, 2022
California's Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) Crash Data Dashboard now provides access to tribal crash data

UC Berkeley SafeTREC's geocoding team recently worked in collaboration with the Native American Advisory Committee (NAAC) and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to provide access to tribal crash data on the Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) Crash Data Dashboard. The tabs of the SHSP Crash Data Dashboard now allow all data to be filtered by whether a fatal or serious injury crash was within 5 miles of a tribal boundary.

About the SHSP Crash Data...