Olivia Dawson – Safe Home Alabama

January 18th, 2023

As you may have been informed in August 2022, an interdisciplinary faculty team consisting of 11 faculty and staff won a $10 million (20% cost share) Federal Transit Award grant for electrifying the Crimson Ride Transit bus fleet: https://news.ua.edu/2022/08/federal-award-to-help-ua-electrify-crimson-ride/#:~:text=TUSCALOOSA%2C%20Ala.,for%20the%20electric%20vehicle%20ecosystem. The award will enable the purchase of eight electric buses, medium and high power charging stations and […]

National Teen Driver Safety Week October 16-22, 2022

October 3rd, 2022

This week, and every week, parents should have conversations with their teens about the important rules they need to follow to stay safe behind the wheel of a motor vehicle. These rules address the greatest dangers for teen drivers: distracted driving (texting while driving) impaired driving (alcohol and drugs) inconsistent or no seat belt use […]

October 3rd, 2022

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Barbara Rooney, Governor’s Representative (GR) and Director of the California Office of Traffic Safety (CA OTS), was elected to serve as Chair of the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) Executive Board at the organization’s 2022 Annual Meeting last week in Louisville, Ky. Rooney will serve a one-year term for GHSA, the national nonprofit […]

October 3rd, 2022

Drowsy driving is a significant threat to traffic safety and public health. Although underreported in government statistics, previous research by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has estimated that 6% to 11% of all police-reported motor-vehicle crashes and 16% to 21% of fatal crashes likely involve drowsy driving. Thus, there is a need to identify […]

September 19th, 2022

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration today released its early estimates of traffic fatalities for the first half of 2022. An estimated 20,175 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes, an increase of about 0.5% as compared to 20,070 fatalities NHTSA projected for the first half of 2021. However, NHTSA projects that the second quarter of […]

August 29th, 2022

Distracted driving is a major contributor to crashes. In 2020, there were 3,142 lives lost to crashes involving distracted driving (Stewart, 2022). Countermeasures that aim to reduce distracted driving exist, such as laws, enforcement campaigns, outreach, and programs for adult and teen drivers (Venkatraman et al., 2021). However, these typically target the drivers themselves; few […]

August 29th, 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic, mitigation efforts such as stay-at-home orders, and ensuing trends such as the rise in working from home, have had substantial impacts on traffic. In March, NHTSA reported that vehicle miles traveled (VMT) decreased 11% from 2019 to 2020, while police-reported crashes decreased 22%. However, fatalities per 100 million VMT increased 21% from […]

August 24th, 2022

Nearly every day, millions of children across the United States line up to ride the bus to school. The school bus is one of the safest modes of transportation, but illegal school bus passing poses a significant threat to children and their caretakers. During National School Bus Safety Week [which is October 17-21, 2022] help […]

August 24th, 2022

School buses are the safest way for children to get to school. Their design was meant to be safer than any passenger vehicle in avoiding crashes and preventing injuries. Teaching children to follow safety rules on the bus is just as important as informing drivers about the laws regarding school buses. Read more here.

August 17th, 2022

The deployment of autonomous vehicle (AV) technologies may hold health and safety benefits for drivers across the driving lifespan (>18 years of age). However, up until now, the perceptions of such drivers about AVs have not been examined with a combined approach of using surveys and pre- and post-exposure to the actual technology. Lived experiences […]

Author: Olivia Dawson

Proterra Electric Bus Test Ride

National Teen Driver Safety Week October 16-22, 2022

California’s Barbara Rooney Elected Chair of GHSA

Countermeasures to Reduce Drowsy Driving: Results of a Literature Review and Discussions with Experts

NHTSA Early Estimates Show Overall Increase in Roadway Deaths in First Half of 2022, Second Quarter 2022 Projects First Decline Since 2020

Reducing Distracted Driving Among Adults: Child-to-Adult Interventions

Estimated Contribution of Peak-Hours Non-Commercial Vehicle Traffic to Fatality Rates

School Bus Passing

School Bus Safety

UF & UAB’s Phase II Demonstration Study: Developing a Model to Support Transportation System Decisions Considering the Experiences of Drivers of All Age Groups with Autonomous Vehicle Technology