Author: Maggie Palmer

  • June 5th, 2020

New advanced technologies are being integrated into vehicles at an accelerating pace, offering new safety and convenience features to drivers. However, in addition to being complex systems in and of themselves, these technologies stand to change the fundamental nature of the driving task, especially as the systems take on more of the driving responsibilities. Driver […]

  • June 5th, 2020

GHSA announced that a new pedestrian report predicts a 30-year high in the number of pedestrian deaths. “On Feb. 27, GHSA released a new spotlight report, “Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities by State: 2019 Preliminary Data.” While overall traffic deaths are going down, pedestrian deaths are rising sharply. The report estimates that the nationwide number of pedestrians […]

  • June 5th, 2020

In their recent newsletter, GHSA stated that the number of reckless driving accidents has skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic. “As people have been sheltering in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, traffic on U.S. roadways has dropped to unprecedented levels. That’s generated some unexpected benefits for motorists — lower gas prices, rebates on auto insurance premiums […]

  • June 5th, 2020

The June 2020 issue of the GHSA newsletter highlights reckless driving during the COVID-19 pandemic, a new GHSA report on pedestrian fatalities, distracted teen drivers, a new grant opportunity to promote recalls, and much more. Join GHSA today to receive future newsletters. Read the newsletter here.

  • June 2nd, 2020

This July is National Child Heatstroke Prevention Month. 851 children have died due to vehicular heatstroke since 1998, but all of these deaths could have been prevented. These are the statistics as of May 28, 2020: Child heatstroke fatalities in 2020: 2 Child heatstroke fatalities in 2019: 52 Child heatstroke fatalities in 2018: 53 Child […]

  • June 2nd, 2020

Alcohol-impaired fatalities accounted for 29 percent of all U.S. motor vehicle deaths in 2018, the lowest percentage since 1982 when the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) began reporting alcohol data. This was sparked by a 3.6 percent decrease in alcohol-impaired driving fatalities from 2017 to 2018 (National Center for Statistics & Analysis [NCSA], 2019). […]

  • June 2nd, 2020

Bad assumptions make data from Weeks 1-14 insufficient. Please see accurate data from Week 15 forward.  It is Week 12 of the coronavirus pandemic, and total crash data is still showing a decline in Alabama. Overall, crashes have declined to less than 40% of their pre-COVID-19 levels, INCLUDING speed-involved and fatal crashes, but are now […]

  • June 2nd, 2020

Troopers with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) investigated 375 traffic crashes with five fatalities, as well as 10 boat crashes and four non-boating fatalities (drownings) during this year’s official Memorial Day holiday travel period, which was from 12:01 a.m. Friday, May 22, to midnight Monday, May 25. Read the full article here.