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Read the latest news and announcements from traffic safety interest groups and about traffic safety topics here.
For decades, public safety has been a priority for state departments of transportation (DOTs) as they strive to reduce traffic crashes. To support these efforts, the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Office of Safety developed a list of proven safety countermeasures that include brief descriptions, information sheets, and additional references. These measures have been field-tested and […]
The U.S. maritime industry operates more than 10,500 vessels that transport essential energy, food, and goods across inland and ocean routes. Yet the sector faces a shrinking skilled workforce, declining academy enrollment, and a series of high-profile misconduct incidents that have exposed systemic issues of culture, supervision, and accountability. Strengthening Alcohol Policies and Supporting Safety […]
The United States faces a road safety crisis: the fatal crash rate per mile traveled has been climbing for the past decade, and crashes involving vulnerable road users—pedestrians, bicyclists, and others who share the roads with motor vehicles—have grown the fastest. Furthermore, motor vehicle death rates in the United States are three to four times […]
Public Transportation in Rural Areas and Tribal Communities
Proper use of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS)—rapidly being introduced into the U.S. vehicle fleet—offers the promise of reducing motor vehicle crashes and fatalities. ADAS features, however, can be confusing to drivers; include a wide variance of terminology; and have many differences in design and functionality. ADAS technology differs from previous vehicle safety enhancements for […]
This Research Brief provides highlights from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety’s 2024 American Driving Survey, which quantifies the daily driving of the U.S. population in 2024 and compares results to 2023 and 2022. Similar to 2023, this Research Brief analyzes the age of vehicles driven by the American public and explores differences by population […]
Road debris is a traffic safety concern for all road users. While there is no singular definition of road debris, it generally refers to any object on a roadway that does not belong in the driving environment. Common examples include unsecured cargo that fell from a vehicle or parts that separated from a vehicle. Road […]
An event data recorder (EDR) is defined in 49 CFR Part 563 to mean a device or function in a vehicle that records the vehicle’s dynamic time-series data during the time period just prior to a crash event (e.g., vehicle speed vs. time) or during a crash event (e.g., delta-V vs. time), intended for retrieval […]
The availability of large-scale, high-resolution, and consistently collected road data will improve the safety of all road users. The use of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and big data is key in providing the information needed to power data-driven, public, and proprietary safety analysis tools, as well as predictive and other systemic safety tools. […]
This annual report provides a glimpse of the work we have accomplished in 2025, including recognizing organizations we have collaborated with in recent times on research projects and our partner for the 2025 Safe Mobility Conference, the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Additionally, our newly established research groups are featured in this annual report, along with four […]