NTSB’s 10 Most Wanted List – 2012

Kelly Messerschmidt
Technical Communications Manager
MSC

Each year the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) releases a list of 10 most-wanted safety improvements. The agency’s annual list is intended to increase awareness and support for the most critical changes necessary for reducing traffic accidents.

The following are a few of the advocacy priorities that appear on this year’s list:

Eliminate Distraction in Transportation
The NTSB suggests that states and regulators ban the nonessential use of portable electronic devices that don’t directly support a driving-related task. The agency suggests that manufacturers develop technology that disables portable electronic devices within reach of the driver. They also point out that young drivers are especially likely to use portable electronic devices (such as cell phones) when driving, and that antidistraction campaigns specifically directed at teens are important.

Mandate Motor Vehicle Collision Avoidance Technologies
Technologies such as electronic stability control, lane departure warning, and forward collision warning exist to help improve drivers’ reaction time and aid drivers when an unexpected driving condition occurs. Despite the availability of these and other technologies, some are not required or mandated. The NTSB purports that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) should establish standards and mandate certain technologies as standard equipment in cars and commercial motor vehicles.

Improve the Safety of Bus Operations
The NTSB puts forth that an important step in improving the safety of bus operations is ensuring that professional motorcoach drivers are qualified. Methods of helping ensure that a driver can be considered "qualified" include longer and more comprehensive reviews of their driving history, maintaining higher expectations and standards as far as drivers’ undergoing regular medical exams, and limiting drivers’ hours of service.

In addition to these most-wanted improvements, the NTSB lists safety improvements in areas including aviation, rail, and infrastructure.

Read more about NTSB’s most-wanted safety improvements at the agency's website. 

ATRI Releases Roll Stability System (RSS) Analysis

Kelly Messerschmidt
Technical Communications Manager
MSC

Last Friday, the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) released the industry’s first major comparative analysis of Roll Stability Systems (RSS) based on operational data from over 135,000 heavy trucks. The analysis considered factors such as crash rates and costs, as well as technology costs, of Roll Stability Control (RSC) and Electronic Stability Control (ESC), and it compared these data to vehicles that do not use RSS technology. This study is available at ATRI’s website.

The results of ATRI’s study indicated that in addition to RSC installation costs being much lower than ESC installation costs, installation of RSC technology in trucks might result in fewer rollover and jackknife crashes when compared to trucks using ESC.

The release of this analysis is relevant, as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently announced a proposed new federal motor vehicle safety standard that would require ESC on all new tractors and certain buses that have a gross vehicle rating of 26,000 or more pounds.

Alabama to Become 38th State to Ban Texting While Driving

William Messerschmidt
Principal Technical Analyst
MSC

Tomorrow, 01 August 2012, Alabama will become the 38th State to ban texting while driving. This new law was authored by Representative Jim McClendon of Springville. According to the Birmingham News and AL.com, Rep. McClendon (who is a doctor of optometry) worked on this bill for six years prior to seeing it passed.

The law states:

A person may not operate a motor vehicle on a public road, street, or highway in Alabama while using a wireless telecommunication device to write, send, or read a text-based communication. (Read the full text from the Legislature.)

The law offers four exceptional circumstances when it is permitted:

• Dialing a phone number to make a voice call is still permitted. 
• Texting, emailing, and using an Internet browser is permitted if you are parked on the shoulder of the roadway. 
• You may use text communications to obtain emergency services, such as police, fire, paramedics, or other emergency health services.
• You made read the screen of a GPS device while driving, but not program locations and coordinates. 

Violating the new law will be worth two points on a driver’s license, and fines will be $25, $50, and $75 dollars (for the first through third and subsequent offenses), and the law can be enforced by State Troopers, city police officers, and a county’s Sheriff’s office.

Although the author of this post is uncertain how emergency police, fire, or health services would be obtained by text messages and email, the law very likely has the ability to save lives and property. Furthermore, only five states in the US allow drivers to send text messages while driving (technically, there is no state law in Hawaii, but each county in Hawaii has an ordinance against it).

View a map created by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety of states that have banned texting and driving.

In-Vehicle Technologies to Detect Drivers' BAC

Cat Messerschmidt
Summer Intern
MSC

Vehicles are built with improved safety features year to year with the goal of preventing accidents and reducing injuries. However, despite our having safer vehicles, according to the Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS) website, since 1997, about a third of all drivers who are fatally injured in accidents had blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) at or in excess of the US legal limit of 0.08 g/dL.

In order to help prevent accidents, DADSS has been researching and developing non-intrusive methods for checking a driver’s BAC using in-vehicle technology. The systems they are researching and exploring to measure a driver’s BAC would utilize a touchpad in the steering wheel or gearshift that sends infrared light rays through the driver’s skin, as well as a breathing sensor that is located in the steering wheel. These technologies would prevent the car from being driven when the driver’s BAC exceeds the US legal limit.

According to DADSS, one of the program’s goals is to have a research vehicle available by 2013. However, they anticipate eight-to-ten years as being the earliest that one could expect to be able to see this technology in a consumer-grade vehicle.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD)’s Vice President JT Griffin has stated MADD’s views on the subject of in-vehicle alcohol detectors as follows: “Drunken driving costs the U.S. $132 billion each year, and we think that $5 million… is a good use of transportation dollars to potentially eliminate the problem.”

Read a USA Today article (29 June 2012) on this subject.

Adaptive Headlights Crash Avoidance Feature Shown to Yield Benefits

Kevin Jones
Technical Analyst
MSC

Crash avoidance technologies used by auto industry manufacturers appear to be showing some promise, according to insurance claims analyses performed by the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI). Over the past few years, some select manufacturers have been placing features in cars that were designed to help drivers avoid crashes. Some of these features include lane departure warnings, blind spot detection, and adaptive headlights.

Adaptive headlights, which are offered by manufacturers that include Acura, Mazda, Mercedes, and Volvo, were shown to be one of the most promising crash avoidance features when it comes to decreasing dollars spent on auto property damage and injury claims. While regular headlights are stationary, adaptive headlights are designed to respond to driver steering, speed, and other factors, and adjust according the vehicle’s travel direction. Based on data from the study, the HLDI’s expectations for this feature were met and exceeded.

On the other hand, the HLDI analysis showed that some of the crash avoidance features that were added did not yield the results that were expected. More analysis is still necessary to determine why the frequency of collision and property damage claims did not fall with other avoidance features.

To learn more about the study please read an HLDI news release, dated 03 July 2012.

AL Governor Bentley Signs Law to Prohibit Texting While Driving

Kevin Jones
Technical Analyst
MSC

On Tuesday, 08 May 2012, Alabama governor Robert Bentley signed a bill that outlaws texting while driving. The law goes into effect on 01 August 2012. The law doesn’t prohibit dialing a phone; however, it does ban texting, instant messaging, and sending emails while operating an automobile.

Alabama is the 38th state to make texting while driving illegal. Under the new law, if a person is ticketed for a texting-while-driving offense, he or she could be fined up to $75 and receive violations on his or her driving record. Gov. Bentley compared the new law to Alabama’s seatbelt law, which is also a measure to prevent fatalities in motor vehicle crashes.

Read a news article about Alabama’s new law banning texting while driving.

DOT Launches Creative Icon Contest for Teens: the "Distracted Driving Design Challenge"

Kelly Messerschmidt

Technical Communications Manager

MSC

This week, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released new findings indicating that teenagers are the least likely vehicle passengers to speak up when drivers are texting or talking on a cell phone. Read more about this recent research in NHTSA's April 2012 “Traffic Safety Facts: Research Note" document.

In order to encourage teens to tell distracted drivers that cell phone use behind the wheel is dangerous, the Department of Transportation (DOT) has launched a new social media icon contest, called the "Distracted Driving Design Challenge." The contest is open to US teens, ages 13-18. The winning graphic will be incorporated into DOT’s official campaign to end distracted driving and will appear in numerous social media outlets.

The DOT invites teens to submit an original, creative icon, measuring 180 x 180 pixels, in either JPG, TIF, PNG, or GIF image format that sends the clear message that cell phones and driving don’t mix.  Learn more about the contest; then submit an entry between the dates of April 16 – July 31, 2012. The winner will be announced on September 4, 2012.

Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for American teens. Because texting requires a driver’s visual, manual, and cognitive attention, it is a particularly dangerous distraction.

FMCSA Releases Research on Benefits of Speed Limiters in Large Trucks

Benjamin Smith
Principal Technical Analyst
MSC MS

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) released research this week on the benefits of using speed limiters (SLs), also known as speed governors, in large trucks. For more information, view the FMCSA's document, titled "Speed-Limiters."

SLs are a technology that allows trucking fleets or truck owners to program a preset maximum speed of travel. Many trucking fleets use SLs not only to increase safety by reducing their trucks’ top speed, but also to reduce tire wear, extend the life of the brakes and engine, improve fuel economy, and so on.

In January 2011, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) proposed limiting the speed of all heavy trucks to 68mph. NHTSA stated its intent to initiate the rulemaking process on this issue in 2012. Read NHTSA's notice in the Jan. 3, 2011 Federal Register.

Viewpoints differ on the issue of mandating the use of SLs in heavy trucks. Agencies and groups such as the American Trucking Associations (ATA), Road Safe America, and the Truckload Carriers Association, have stated their support for SLs in large trucks for reasons including reduced severity of crashes and various economic benefits. However, critics of government-mandated SLs, such as the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), have stated their opposition for reasons such as the potential for speed-governed trucks to become “rolling roadblocks” when operating in faster flows of traffic.

Research published in the American Journal of Public Health in March 2009, titled “The Effect of State Regulations on Truck-Crash Fatalities,” examines the effects of certain traffic safety policies and restrictions on fatality rates in truck-involved crashes.

AAA Survey: Parents Responding Postively to Car Seat Compliance

Kevin Jones
Technical Analyst
MSC

According to a new survey by AAA, outreach efforts to educate parents of children under age 13 regarding child safety seat use have yielded positive results. Nearly a year ago, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) updated its recommendations regarding the use of rearward-facing seats for children over the age of one, recommending that children remain in rearward-facing car seats until age two—or until the child exceeds the height and weight limits of the child seat. Read our earlier blog post, "New Child Seat Recommendations from the AAP and NHTSA" to learn more.

AAA found that over 90% of the parents with children under age 13 heard of the new guidelines by the AAP. Several parents heard of these guidelines from their child’s pediatrician. AAA also found that one in three of the parents surveyed changed how they allowed their child to travel in the vehicles.

Seventy-seven percent of parents with children younger than age two who did not make any changes based on the AAP’s recommendations reported that they were already meeting or exceeding these guidelines. However, there were other parents who were allowing their children to graduate to bigger seats or seatbelt use prematurely for reasons such as discomfort.

AAA’s article, "AAA Survey Reveals 'Boost' in Car Seat Compliance," reinforces the need for parents to follow the guidelines set forth by the AAP in order to help reduce serious injuries and death among children in automobile crashes. The article can be found in AAA's "Newsroom."

National Sleep Foundation 2012 Poll: Transportation Professionals' Sleep Habits, Work Performance

Kelly Messerschmidt
Technical Communications Manager
MSC

National Sleep Awareness Week is currently being observed in the US (March 5-11, 2012). According to the National Sleep Foundation 2012 poll--the first to ask transportation professionals about their sleep habits and work performance--11% of pilots, train operators, and bus/taxi/limo drivers, and 8% of truck drivers are "sleepy." Read the press release.

The poll also found that 14% of truck drivers, and 12% of bus/taxi/limo drivers polled reported having had a "near miss" due to sleepiness. Although individuals' sleep needs vary, most research assumes that normal adults sleep for 7-8 hours per night.

In NHTSA's "Drowsy Driving and Automobile Crashes" report, shift-workers whose sleep is disrupted by working at night, or working long or irregular hours, are categorized as being one of the three population groups at highest risk for "drowsy-driving" crashes. According to the National Sleep Foundation 2012 poll, a significant number of the transportation workers said their schedules do not allow enough time for sleep.

NHTSA Proposes Guidelines Against “Excessively Distracting Devices”

William Messerschmidt
Principal Technical Analyst
MSC

On 02/24/12, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) proposed new guidelines for auto manufacturers that cover original-equipment, in-vehicle devices that augment or facilitate “secondary tasks” in which visual information is received and a physical action is performed in response to that information.

By “secondary tasks,” NHTSA means actions that we perform while we operate or control the vehicle, which are not part of the primary task (driving), such as entertainment and communication. For example, the timely prompt from your GPS device to “in a half mile, make a right turn,” is considered part of the primary task (driving), but texting a friend your arrival time is a secondary task.

Almost all drivers engage in secondary tasks while driving (such as adjusting climate control, changing radio stations), and often there is very little decrease in their safety. However, as technological advances make more and more options accessible to the driver, the potential exists to build in dangerous devices. For example: your in-dash GPS display isn’t a distraction under most circumstances, but imagine if that same display showed your Facebook News Feed! [Please note that absolutely no manufacturer has ever proposed this extreme example.]

In order to differentiate between the less extreme (and more realistic) examples of safe versus unsafe technology, researchers considered variables such as the type of information displayed, the manner in which it is displayed, and the type of manual response elicited by the information.

The NHTSA guideline describes five types of displays or devices that are always unsafe. They are:

• Photographic or video images not immediately related to driving (images such as blindspot cameras, GPS navigation, and weather information are considered directly related to the driving task);
• Photographic or graphical static visual images that are unrelated to driving (such as album art and personal photos);
  
• Automatically scrolling text;
• Manual text entry of more than six key presses;
• Reading more than 30 characters (not including spaces and punctuation).

You can read a short summary of the new NHTSA Guidelines at Occupational Safety Online, or view the document in its entirety in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, Issue 37.

NHTSA to Use New "10 Year Old Child" Crash Test Dummy

An adult crash test dummy (photo by Ben Smith)

Benjamin Smith
Principal Technical Analyst
MSC of MS

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced last week that they will be using a newly developed "10 year old child" crash test dummy. According to NHTSA, this new crash test dummy was created so that boosters and child safety seats designed for children over 65 pounds could be tested in the most effective manner possible. Read the full press release dated 02/21/12.

The new dummy will allow NHTSA to assess the risk of injuries using head and knee excursions and chest acceleration. The expanded testing capabilities will also allow for the evaluation and certification of higher weight booster seats (designed for children weighing 65-80 pounds), in compliance with recent rule changes issued by NHTSA.

Currently NHTSA recommends that children be seated in a car seat with a harness (up to the specifications of the seat) until they are large enough to fit properly in a seat belt, which they say is generally when the child is between 8-12 years and about 4'9" tall. Read more about properly fitting seat belts for children ages 8-12 years.

NHTSA Evolves Alongside Automobile Technology

Kevin Jones
Technical Analyst
MSC

Today’s vehicles are being equipped with Global Positioning Systems (GPS), lane-departure warning systems, blind spot detection, voice/data communications, airbags, entertainment systems, electronic data recorders (EDRs), and an array of other devices for passengers’ entertainment, information, navigation, convenience, comfort, and vehicle emission controls.

Obviously we are way past those days when people could understand vehicles by simply opening the doors, popping the hood, and kicking the tires. Because automobiles have evolved quickly and in many ways, research organizations and institutions are driven to stay current with how these different electronics affect vehicle and roadway safety.

The Transportation Research Board (TRB) recently issued a report in response to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) requesting that the National Academy of Sciences’ (NAS) National Research Council (NRC) study how NHTSA’s various departments are ensuring that vehicle electronics are benefiting – and not compromising – the safety of vehicles.

As part of their study, the NSC appointed a 16-member panel that was asked to review NHTSA’s response to faulty electronics claims and unintentional acceleration. The findings are contained in TRB Special Report 308: The Safety Challenge and Promise of Automotive Electronics: Insights from Unintended Acceleration. Visit The National Academies Press website to download the report.

View NHTSA’s statement in response to the report.

NHTSA Administrator Strickland Discusses Rewarding Extra Credit for Vehicle Safety Technology

Kelly Messerschmidt

Technical Communications Manager

MSC

Last week in Detroit, Michigan, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Administrator David Strickland spoke to the Society of Automotive Analysts about NHTSA’s considering changes to their 5-star crash rating system, which would give “extra credit” to vehicles that include safety system technologies. Read more about what Administrator Strickland said about this in a news piece by David E. Zoia of WardsAuto (01/09/12).

Strickland did not identify specifically which vehicle safety technologies would increase vehicles’ add-on safety credits; however, he said that NHTSA is currently evaluating technologies worthy of highlighting, and that decisions may be made soon.

Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication is a particularly interesting example of an emerging vehicle safety technology. According to the US DOT Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), V2V is the “dynamic wireless exchange of data between nearby vehicles that offers the opportunity for significant safety improvements.” Read RITA’s V2V “Research Overview.”

V2V uses anonymous vehicle-based data exchange to allow vehicles to “talk” in real time about subjects that include (but are not limited to) speed, location, and position - in order to calculate risk, take proactive steps to reduce risk and mitigate vehicle crashes, provide warnings or advisories to drivers, and more.

Learn more about the US DOT's Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Strategic Research Plan 2010-2014.

View RITA’s overview of applications addressed by the Federal ITS program.

FMCSA Issues New Hours-of-Service (HOS) Rules

William Messerschmidt
Principal Technical Analyst
MSC

Before leaving on Christmas holiday, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued a long awaited change to the Hours-of-Service (HOS) rules for commercial truck drivers. The new rules go into effect mid-year.

The updated regs keep the 11-hour driving time limit in place, rather than dropping it to 10 hours, and allow truck drivers to work a total of 14 hours per day.

One major change is that drivers will have a mandatory 30-minute rest break after eight consecutive hours on-duty (counting both driving and non-driving work time).

Another very significant change is that the 34-hour restart period must now include at least two nighttime periods of 1am to 5am and can only be used once every seven days. The 34-hour restart is the rest period after which a driver can begin his or her normal workweek. Under the new rules, this 34-hour rest period must include 1am to 5am on two consecutive nights.

The final change proposed by the FMCSA is a limit on the total number of hours a driver can work during a seven-day period. Under the previous rules, a driver could work 82 hours in a seven-day period. The new rules limit work time to 70 hours in seven days.

The new rules seem to have raised the ire of parties on all sides of the debate. Some safety advocates claim that the rules don’t go far enough to prevent fatigued driving. Independent trucker groups claim the new rules will place an unfair burden on owner-operators. Large trucking associations are predicting that the new regs will increase traffic during peak hours, and economists seem to disagree on whether the reduced hours will stimulate the economy by creating more jobs, or harm the economy by driving up the cost of goods.

The new rules go into effect on 30 June 2013. Learn more about the new HOS rules and see how they compare to the former rules.

See how various groups are responding to the changes to the HOS rules:
Owner Operators and Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA)
American Trucking Association (ATA)
Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Press Release
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)
The Washington Post

NHTSA Releases Updated Information on Motor Vehicle Crashes Occurring in 2010

Benjamin Smith
Principal Technical Analyst

MSC of MS

On December 8, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released updated fatality and injury data concerning motor vehicle crashes that occurred during 2010 (DOT HS 811 552). The most noteworthy finding was that the number of traffic fatalities fell to the lowest level since 1949. And with respect to NHTSA's findings from the previous year, the number of fatalities in 2010 dropped 2.9%. However, NHTSA found that fatalities in motor vehicle crashes involving large trucks during 2010 actually increased by 8.7% when compared to the prior year.

Viewing the updated NHTSA data from a regional perspective, and comparing data from 2010 to data from 2009, Mississippi saw an 8.4% decrease in motor vehicle crash fatalities in 2010. In Mississippi, 641 people were killed in traffic accidents in 2010, whereas 700 people were killed in traffic accidents during 2009. Louisiana saw an impressive decrease in motor vehicle traffic crash fatalities, with a 14% drop in 2010. However, Alabama saw a 1.7% increase in traffic crash fatalities, going from 848 fatalities in 2009, up to 862 fatalities in 2010.

To learn more, visit the NHTSA website.

Gov. Robert Bentley Awards $914,700 in Grants for Traffic Safety

Kelly Messerschmidt
Technical Communications Manager
Messerschmidt Safety Consultants

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley has awarded grants totaling $914,700 to help increase roadway safety through educational and awareness campaigns focused on the importance of using safety belts and properly restraining children riding in motor vehicles, as well as on the dangers of drunk driving. Read the press release issued by the State of Alabama on 30 August 2011.

The following briefly describes how the grant funds will be put to use:

• A $200,000 grant to the Alabama Department of Public Health is funding the production of educational materials on seat belts and child restraint usage; funds are also being used for observational surveys that will measure compliance with safety restraint laws.
  
  
• A $214,700 grant to the North Alabama Highway Safety office, located at Northwest Shoals Community College, will fund the training of child passenger safety technicians in the state's nine Community Traffic Safety Program regions. Technicians are trained to teach parents and caregivers how to protect children in vehicles through the proper use of child restraint systems and safety belts.
  
  
• A $500,000 grant to the Alabama Development Office is funding a multimedia campaign against drunk driving. This campaign is occurring at the same time as the national Over the Limit, Under Arrest law enforcement campaign, which runs through Labor Day weekend.

The funding was made available by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the state Traffic Safety Trust Fund and is being administered by the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs.

Volunteer Drivers Needed for World's Largest Field Study of Driver Behavior

Kelly Messerschmidt
Technical Communications Manager
Messerschmidt Safety Consultants

The Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) is currently seeking volunteer drivers to participate in the SHRP 2 naturalistic driving study (NDS), the world's largest field study of driver behavior. Participants' vehicles will be outfitted with small video cameras and sensors that record the driver's face, forward and rear views, and a view of the driver's interaction with the dashboard and other systems. Participants' identifying data is protected and kept confidential, as described in the study's Informed Consent. To check if you may be eligible to participate, visit the SHRP 2 NDS website.

The objective of the SHRP 2 NDS is to collect real-world driving behavior data in order "to develop an understanding of how the driver interacts with and adapts to the vehicle, traffic environment, roadway characteristics, traffic control devices, and the environment."

The data resulting from the study will support activities aimed at reducing traffic-related fatalities, and it will aid public policy, rule-making, and more. It is anticipated that the data from the SHRP 2 NDS will be relevant to transportation safety researchers and others beyond the next 20 years.

Learn more about the SHRP 2 NDS.

"Green" Drivers: Proceed with Caution

Kelly Messerschmidt
Technical Communications Manager
Messerschmidt Safety Consultants

Every year, close to 11,000 "green" drivers - teen and young adults ages 15-24 - die in motor vehicle accidents. This is the equivalent of an airplane-full of young people dying each week.

At the "Alive at 25" defensive driving class, put on by the National Safety Council (NSC) and State Farm Insurance, in Birmingham, Alabama, June 14-16, 2011, instructor Janice Leverette told an audience of teen drivers that "the person right next to you is 'the other person.'" And that YOU are the "other person" to everyone else. She explained that you cannot make assumptions about what other people on the road are going to do.... You don't know what they are thinking, or what challenges they are facing behind their own steering wheel. However, while you can't control other drivers, it is your number one responsibility to control yourself and your vehicle. In order to arrive at your destination alive, you need to stay alert, attentive, and understand the hazards and consequences of what you do. Because no one plans to get into an accident.

During the class, the teens shared some of the challenges they've experienced and observed as new drivers. Distractions, lack of experience, "other people" on the road, inattention, arrogance, and feeling like certain rules of the road are "optional" were just some of the challenges this group has witnessed.

"Alive at 25" is an important and valuable class. As an adult sitting in on the class, it was a real eye-opener - and it served as a huge reminder to me that defensive driving is imperative. Something that surprised me (and also took me back down memory lane to my own teen years), was listening to the teens report having seen a number of seriously risky driving behaviors.

Bearing in mind that the oldest teens in today's class were 17, here are some of the things these young adults reported having SEEN other drivers doing: using drugs and/or alcohol, texting and using iPods while driving, dancing in the car, driving "crazy" for "fun," and taking risks for the thrill of it. As Ms. Leverette pointed out to the group, "you are your number one risk on the road." However, you should make the choices that will allow you to survive to grow old.

Strategies that were discussed in the class to help drivers be safer included:

• Keeping a following distance of at least three seconds;
• Slowing down in road construction zones;
• Paying attention while on the road and especially during poor weather conditions;
• Being very careful of pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcycles, and also slow-moving vehicles;
• Not participating in distracting activities;
• Watching out for hazards and having a plan;
• Not speeding;
• Taking responsibility for your decisions;
• Buckling up every time you get in a vehicle.

The class participants were very engaged in the class, and they participated actively with each other. I believe the class was very successful in presenting powerful material to teens in a way that was both candid and meaningful.

It's not too late to register for one of tomorrow's sessions of Alive at 25; tomorrow's sessions are geared to new drivers and attendance is free. The sessions will take place at 2125 Data Office Drive, Suite 102, in Hoover, Alabama. There is a session tomorrow at 8am and another one at 1pm. The class is three hours long. Refreshments are provided, and each participant receives a t-shirt and a red thumb ring to serve as a reminder to not text and drive. Call 1-800-457-7233 to sign up or to learn more.

If you can't make it for these new-driver sessions of "Alive at 25," there will be more offered this October during Teen Driver Week. However, the class is also offered to experienced drivers, as well as to people who have received moving violations. To view contact information for signing up or learning more, please visit the National Safety Council’s Alabama Chapter online.

Technology Aside, Driver Safety is Top Priority for NHTSA

Kevin Jones
Technical Analyst
Messerschmidt Safety Consultants

With so many telematics and smart phone technologies built into today’s automobile, what’s possible seems limitless. More and more, it looks like we’re closing the gap between what Hanna-Barbera’s The Jetsons envisioned in the 1960s and where we are now.

Nevertheless, all of this technology is not as openly welcomed as you might think. While there is a lot of excitement about new technologies and their being incorporated into automobiles, some safety advocates would like to see more restraint.

On June 9, 2011, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Administrator, David L. Strickland, spoke at the 2011 Detroit Diesel conference in Novi, Michigan. Mr. Strickland praised the use of vehicle technology that supports such functions as vehicle maintenance and also the use of navigation systems to help first-responders in the event of vehicle crashes. However, he made it clear that he does not support technologies that are distracting to drivers. In Mr. Strickland’s presentation, titled "USDOT Sheds Lights on Driver Distraction Issues (Crucial Session)," he expresses that while drivers’ connecting to all the new technologies in their vehicle is not necessary, some vehicle owners still very much embrace the technologies being added to vehicles.

In May 2011, at the Association for Safer International Road Travel Annual Gala Fundraiser, in Washington, D.C., Mr. Strickland spoke about the need for crash avoidance technologies. In his remarks, Mr. Strickland says, “Crash avoidance technologies provide an opportunity to save lives and reduce injuries by supporting the driver and preventing crashes from occurring in the first place.” He also puts forth that vehicle to-vehicle communication and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication are two possible ways to help reduce the number of automobile crashes.

However, at the same time that these safety applications are making a positive difference in reducing crashes, and while their use is being encouraged, NHTSA is simultaneously “taking a hard look at these systems” and challenging both the auto industry and cell phone industry to work hand-in-hand with federal transportation officials “to keep the driver on their required task: driving.”