Category: Safety Topics

  • October 18th, 2023

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: alcohol, inconsistent or no seat belt use, distracted and drowsy driving, speeding, and number of […]

  • October 13th, 2023

This study examines the prevalence and frequency of use of in-vehicle technologies as well as the relationships between technology-use frequency and associated factors among a subset of AAA Longitudinal Research on Aging Drivers (AAA LongROAD) participants. Previous research using data from the AAA LongROAD study has shown that many older drivers use available in-vehicle technologies […]

  • October 12th, 2023

Every October, NHTSA celebrates National Pedestrian Safety Month. States, local leaders, traffic safety professionals, transportation planners and engineers, other stakeholders and concerned residents are invited to join us in helping to create a transportation system for all people to easily and safely walk. NHTSA is strengthening its efforts to improve safety for pedestrians and other […]

  • October 10th, 2023

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration today released its early estimates of traffic fatalities for the first half of 2023, estimating that traffic fatalities declined for the fifth straight quarter. An estimated 19,515 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes, representing a decrease of about 3.3% as compared to 20,190 fatalities in the first half of […]

  • October 9th, 2023

Automated vehicles have the potential to improve safety and mobility. At lower levels of automation (Level 2), drivers are required to supervise the automation and be prepared to intervene as needed to maintain safety. The consequences of these technologies on driver behavior are not yet fully understood, especially as real-world testing has been less common […]

  • October 4th, 2023

In 2021, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) awarded the Rock Island County Metropolitan Mass Transit District (MetroLINK) a grant to develop a cybersecurity assessment tool to assess its cyber posture as part of FTA’s Public Transportation COVID-19 Research Demonstration Grant Program. The Cybersecurity Assessment Tool for Transit (CATT) and supporting documents were developed to assist […]

  • October 4th, 2023

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), within the Department of Transportation, maintains complaint data submitted against large commercial truck, moving, and bus companies—which are types of motor carriers. GAO found that FMCSA makes some but not all of this complaint data available to the public, which is not consistent with Department of Transportation policy. […]

  • September 29th, 2023

Wrong-way driving (WWD) crashes cause hundreds of fatalities and thousands of injuries annually in the United States. Although WWD crashes have been a concern since the advent of access-controlled divided roadways, the problem persists despite efforts to address it over time. NCHRP Research Report 1050: Wrong-Way Driving Solutions Handbook, from TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research […]

  • September 28th, 2023

In response to the rising concerns about intersection safety across the United States, traffic administrators have developed various techniques to create more effective and targeted improvement projects. Among them, Knowledge-Based Expert Systems (KBESs) demonstrate the unique advantage of having low requirements for users’ experience and efficient decision-making. This study proposes an enhanced KBES to assist […]

  • September 27th, 2023

Previous studies have shown that the optimal speed trajectories for vehicles with different engine types (e.g., gasoline versus electric vehicles) are very different under certain conditions. This study aims to solve this issue by developing a general speed control algorithm that calculates a compromised solution across different vehicle engine types while optimizing the entire mixed […]