Motorized Vehicle Safety

Street Story Pilot

June 22, 2018
Submitted by Frances Fu

Crash data is readily available and accessible for public use through government information databases. Crash data typically entails vehicle-related injuries and fatalities that were reported to police authorities. But what about unreported incidents--incidents that only require exchange of contact and insurance information, incidents that may not involve an injury or injuries that might not have been reported? As a way to understand perceptions and experiences of safety in communities, UC Berkeley SafeTREC is developing an online data tool that allows people to self-report...

Course Announcement: Fall 2018 Injury Prevention and Control

July 17, 2018
SafeTREC

Fall 2018 Injury Prevention and Control Flyer

Observational Study of Cell Phone and Texting Use Among California Drivers 2012 and Comparison to 2011 Data

Cooper, Jill F.
Ragland, David R.
Ewald, Katrin
Wasserman, Lisa
Murphy, Christopher J.
2013

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 conducted in 2012. 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...

New Campaign from Traffic Safety and Law Enforcement Launches: DUI Doesn't Mean Just Booze

December 29, 2017
SUBMITTED BY LISA PETERSON

Drug impaired driving is a problem on California highways. This includes drivers under the influence of prescribed medications, illicit drugs, over-the-counter medications or marijuana. And just like drunk driving, driving under the influence of drugs is illegal.

It is also dangerous and poses a threat to the driver, vehicle passengers, and other users on the road. Nearly one in four weekend...

National Teen Driver Safety Week October 15 - 21

October 16, 2017

Did you know that car crashes are the leading cause of death for teenagers, ahead of all other types of injury, disease, or violence? To shed light on this epidemic and reduce the number of lives lost, National Teen Driver Safety Week will be held this week from October 15 - 21.

NHTSA Teen Driver Safety GraphicThe National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that nationwide in...

Drinking and driving and perceptions of arrest risk among California drivers: Relationships with DUI arrests in their city of residence

MacLeod, Kara E.
Karriker-Jaffe, Katherine J.
Satariano, William A.
Kelley-Baker, Tara
Lacey, John H.
Ragland, David R.
2017

Objective: Addressing drinking and driving remains a challenge in the United States. The present study aims to provide feedback on driving under the influence (DUI) in California by assessing whether drinking and driving behavior is associated with the DUI arrest rates in the city in which the driver lives; whether this is due to perceptions that one can get arrested for this behavior; and whether this differed by those drivers who would be most affected by deterrence efforts (those most likely to drink outside the home).

Methods: This study consisted of a 2012 roadside survey of 1,...

Course Announcement: Fall 2017 Injury Prevention and Control

July 25, 2017
SafeTREC

The Inclusion of Adult Vehicle Occupants in Matched Cohort Studies of Child Restraint Effectiveness: A Study of Potential Bias

Rice, Thomas M.
Anderson, Craig L.
2010

Objective: To determine whether either the inclusion of adults in matched cohort studies of passenger vehicle occupants or modification of age effects by collision severity biases child restraint risk ratios biases estimate of child restraint effectiveness.

Methods: Monte Carlo data simulations were conducted to represent 10,000 collision-involved vehicles carrying a mix of children and adults. The effects of age category, adult seat belt use, child seat belt use, and child safety seat use were set to known values. Age was a modifier of the adult and child seat belt risk ratios and...

Alcohol Consumption and Incidence of Workers' Compensation Claims: A 5-Year Prospective Study of Urban Transit Operators

Ragland, David R.
Krause, Niklas
Greiner, Birgit A.
Holman, Barbara L.
Fisher, June M.
Cunradi, Carol B.
2002

Numerous studies have linked alcohol impairment on the job to occupational injury. Few studies have looked at the association of nonwork drinking and occupational injury. This study examines first workers' compensation claims after a baseline assessment of alcohol consumption and other occupational variables in 1836 transit operators participating in a medical examination for driver's license renewal. A proportional hazard model was used for the analysis.

Individuals with higher alcohol consumption were more likely to be male, have more years of driving, and have a higher job-...

Traffic Volume and Collisions Involving Transit and Nontransit Vehicles

Ragland, David R.
Hundenski, Ronald J.
Holman, Barbara L.
Fisher, June M.
1991

This study reports an analysis of collisions occurring between public transit vehicles operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway System (Muni), the public transit agency for the City of San Francisco, and nontransit vehicles. The analysis, focusing on weekday collisions during 1987, demonstrated a strong association between hourly transit collisions rates and hourly traffic volume. The collision rate varied from 0.01 per 1,000 Muni vehicle-hours of operation during the interval 5 a.m. to 6 a.m., a time of very low traffic...