Motorized Vehicle Safety

Prehospital Response Time and Traumatic Injury—A Review

Doggett, Sarah
Ragland, David R.
Felschundneff, Grace
2018

A significant proportion of fatalities from motor vehicle collisions (MVC) could be prevented through better emergency medical service (EMS) care. Despite a lack of conclusive research, there is a consensus that prehospital time (the time between the MVC and the patient’s arrival at the hospital) must be reduced as much as possible. Many studies use response time (the time between EMS dispatch and arrival at the scene) as an indicator of overall prehospital time and a metric of EMS performance. However, there are other components of prehospital time that may be equally important, including...

SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Speeding-Related Collisions

Chen, Katherine L.
Tsai, Bor-Wen
Fortin, Garrett
Cooper, Jill F.
2018

A speeding-related collision is defined as one in which a driver is racing, driving too fast for the conditions, or driving in excess of the posted speed limit. In the United States, speeding has been involved in nearly one-third of all fatal crashes for more than twenty years and is a leading contributing factor in traffic collisions. Speeding reduces a driver’s ability to steer safely around curves or objects, reduces the amount of time a driver has to react to a dangerous situation, and extends safe stopping distances. Nationwide there were 10,111 people killed in speeding-related...

SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Drug-Involved Driving

Chen, Katherine L.
Tsai, Bor-Wen
Fortin, Garrett
Cooper, Jill F.
2018

The use of cannabis and prescription and other drugs are increasingly prominent on our roadways, where 16.2 percent of the nation’s 37,461 fatalities in 2016 were related to drug-involved driving. In the United States, several states have legalized the use of medical and/or recreational cannabis, increasing concerns about traffic safety. Aside from alcohol, cannabis is the most frequently detected drug in drivers who are involved in collisions. The impact of drugs on the brain and behavior varies considerably depending on the type of drug and how it is metabolized. There are also large...

SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Motorcycle Safety

Chen, Katherine L.
Tsai, Bor-Wen
Fortin, Garrett
Cooper, Jill F.
2018

In 2016, there were 5,286 motorcycle riders killed on public roadways in the United States, a 5.1 percent increase from 2015. Motorcyclists are at greater risk of injury during collisions—in 2016, motorcyclists were 28 times more likely than passenger car occupants to be fatally injured in a traffic collision, per vehicle miles traveled. In 2016 only 65.3 percent of U.S. motorcyclists wore helmets. In states with universal helmet laws requiring all riders to wear helmets, the known helmet use rate among fatally injured motorcyclists ranged from 66 percent to 100 percent in 2016, while in...

SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Seat Belt Use

Chen, Katherine L.
Tsai, Bor-Wen
Fortin, Garrett
Cooper, Jill F.
2018

Restraint devices such as seat belts are a key element of motor vehicle occupant protection systems. According to the National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS), in 2016 there was a 90.1 percent front seat belt use rate for the nation as a whole, a 1.8 percent increase over the 88.5 percent reported in 2015. Front seat belt use was slightly higher among women (92.5 percent) compared with men (88.2 percent). Front passengers were more likely to use seat belts (90.1 percent) than rear seat occupants (80.6 percent). One strong determinant of seat belt use is the presence of a seat belt...

Save the Date for the CSCRS Safe Systems Summit, Sept. 13-14

April 9, 2018
SUBMITTED BY LISA PETERSON
Save the date for the Safe Systems Summit on September 13-14, 2018!

Interested in learning more about what the Safe Systems approach is to road safety? Mark your calendars for the Safe Systems Summit: Redefining Transportation Safety, which will be held in Durham, North Carolina, from September 13-14, 2018. This event is presented by the Collaborative Sciences Center...

CSCRS Article on Safe Systems Approach in USDOT October 2017 Newsletter

October 13, 2017

What is a safe systems approach to road safety? SafeTREC, a consortium member of the Collaborative Sciences Center for Road Safety (CSCRS), the new University Transportation Center (UTC) at The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC), is part of the effort to answer this question and define the concept of a safe systems approach for introduction in the U.S.

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SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Seat Belt Use

September 18, 2018
SUBMITTED BY LISA PETERSON

Welcome back to the SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts blog series! Each day this week we will feature recent data on some of California's most pressing traffic safety issues. Today, we will be highlighting the facts on seat belt use.

In case you missed them, check out the fact sheets on:

Alcohol-Impaired Driving Aging Road Users...

SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Drug-Involved Driving

September 19, 2018
SUBMITTED BY LISA PETERSON

Welcome back to the SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts blog series! Each day this week we will feature recent data on some of California's most pressing traffic safety issues. Today, we will be highlighting the facts on drug-involved driving.

In case you missed them, check out the fact sheets on:

Alcohol-Impaired Driving Aging Road Users...

SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Emergency Medical Services

September 20, 2018
SUBMITTED BY LISA PETERSON

Welcome back to the SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts blog series! This summer, we have featured recent data on some of California's most pressing traffic safety issues. Today, we will wrap up the Series - for now! - and highlight the facts on emergency medical services.

We hope you have enjoyed exploring our traffic safety findings! Stay tuned for more posts in the series. And in case you missed any of the prior posts, check out the fact sheets on:

Alcohol-Impaired...