Category: Safety Topics

  • April 8th, 2016

When seat belt use is examined for the Nation, not limited to fatal crash data, the use rate was 87 percent in 2014. In 2005 the national seat belt use rate was 82 percent. This information comes from the National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS) which is the only survey that provides nationwide probability-based observed […]

  • April 7th, 2016

Yesterday, six platoons of self-driving trucks converged in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, part of the 2016 European Truck Platooning Challenge and marking the first time that trucks equipped with the technology had crossed international borders. Platooning is when a group of automated or semi-automated trucks (a.k.a. a road train) is connected via wi-fi on the road. The […]

  • April 1st, 2016

This primer provides an overview of current practices in this emerging field and looks toward the future in the evolution and development of smartphone applications for the transportation sector. The primer provides an introduction and overview smartphone applications (known as “apps”); discusses the background, evolution, and development of smartphone apps; reviews the types of smartphone […]

  • March 2nd, 2016

Since 2006, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has been sponsoring research to better understand traffic safety culture. The Foundation’s long-term term vision is to create a “social climate in which traffic safety is highly valued and rigorously pursued.” In 2008, the AAA Foundation conducted the first Traffic Safety Culture Index, a nationally-representative survey, to […]

  • March 1st, 2016

Older drivers at work bring extensive skills, knowledge, and experience built over the course of a lifespan. Research shows that older drivers are more likely than their younger counterparts to adopt safe behaviors such as wearing a seat belt and complying with speed limits. However, those age 55 and older have twice the risk of […]

  • February 8th, 2016

Seat belt use in 2015 reached 88.5 percent,* up from 86.7 percent in 2014; this was not a statistically significant difference. This result is from the National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS), which is the only survey that provides nationwide probability-based observed data on seat belt use in the United States. The NOPUS is conducted […]

  • February 5th, 2016

Parents and caregivers struggle to comply with child passenger safety (CPS) recommendations, and frequently make mistakes when choosing and installing restraints. The objective of this project was to develop and test various methods of framing CPS recommendations, and to determine how to best communicate CPS information to parents/caregivers.