U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood delivered some good news last Thursday, and part of it was that federal officials are improving their methods to collect data related to distracted driving.
The first good news was that updated 2010 fatality and injury data show that highway deaths fell to 32,885 for the year, the lowest level since 1949, LaHood announced. And he pointed out that this record-breaking decline in traffic fatalities occurred even as American drivers traveled nearly 46 billion more miles during the year, an increase of 1.6 percent over the 2009 level.
http://www.nhtsa.gov/About+NHTSA/Press+Releases/2011/U.S.+Transportation+Secretary+LaHood+Announces+Lowest+Level+Of+Annual+Traffic+Fatalities+In+More+Than+Six+Decades
“While we have more work to do to continue to protect American motorists, these numbers show we’re making historic progress when it comes to improving safety on our nation’s roadways,” LaHood said in a prepared statement. “Thanks to the tireless work of our safety agencies and partner organizations over the past few decades, to save lives and reduce injuries, we’re saving lives, reducing injuries, and building the foundation for what we hope will be even greater success in the future.”
The updated information released by the Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) also showed that 2010 also saw the lowest fatality rate ever recorded, with 1.10 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 2010, down from 1.15 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 2009.
Some of the other key statistics include:
* Fatalities declined in most categories in 2010, including for occupants of passenger cars and light trucks (including SUVs, minivans and pickups).
* Deaths in crashes involving drunk drivers dropped 4.9 percent in 2010, taking 10,228 lives compared to 10,759 in 2009.
* Fatalities rose among pedestrians, motorcycle riders and large truck occupants.
In some particularly interesting news, the NHTSA also unveiled a new measure of fatalities related to distracted driving, which it calls ”distraction-affected crashes.”
Introduced for 2010 as part of a broader effort by the agency to refine its data collection to get better information about the role of distraction in crashes, the new measure is designed to focus more narrowly on crashes in which a driver was most likely to have been distracted.
While NHTSA’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) previously recorded a broad range of potential distractions, such as careless driving and cell phone present in the vehicle, the new measure focuses on distractions that are most likely to affect crash involvement, such as distraction by dialing a cellular phone or texting and distraction by an outside person/event.
New data released today by NHTSA using its refined methodology show an estimated 3,092 fatalities in distraction-affected crashes in 2010.
The NHTSA effort to refine distraction data is similar to a step taken with alcohol information in FARS data for 2006. Prior to 2006, FARS reported “alcohol-related crashes,” which was defined as crashes in which a driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist had a blood alcohol level of .01 or higher.
In an effort to focus on crashes in which alcohol was most likely to be a causative factor, NHTSA introduced the new measure, “alcohol-impaired driving crashes,” with a more narrow definition including only those crashes in which a driver or motorcycle rider had a blood alcohol level of .08 or above, the legal limit in every state.
“Even as we celebrate the incredible gains we’re making in reducing traffic fatalities, we recognize our responsibility to improve our understanding of the dangers that continue to threaten drivers and passengers,” NHTSA Administrator David Strickland said in a prepared statement. “That’s why, under the leadership of Secretary LaHood, NHTSA is working to refine the way we collect data on distracted driving and laying the groundwork for additional research to capture real-world information on this risky behavior.”
While the explicit change in methodology means the new measure cannot be compared to the 5,474 “distraction-related” fatalities reported in 2009, other NHTSA data offer some indication that driver distraction continues to be a significant problem.
The agency’s nationwide observational survey of drivers in traffic remains unchanged between 2009 and 2010, with 5 percent of drivers seen talking on handheld phones. In addition, given ongoing challenges in capturing the scope of the problem — including individuals’ reluctance to admit behavior, lack of witnesses, and in some cases the death of the driver — NHTSA believes the actual number of crashes that involve distracted driving could be higher.
A new national NHTSA survey offers additional insights into how drivers behave when it comes to texting and cellphone use while behind the wheel and their perceptions of the safety risks of distracted driving. Survey respondents indicated they answer calls on most trips; they acknowledge few driving situations when they would not use the phone or text; and yet they feel unsafe when riding in vehicles in which the driver is texting and they support bans on texting and cellphone use.
We’ll be writing a separate blog on that phone survey.
These findings, according to the NHTSA, provide further evidence that distracted driving is a complex problem that is both hard to measure and difficult to address given conflicting public attitudes and behaviors.
“The findings from our new attitude survey help us understand why some people continue to make bad decisions about driving distracted — but what’s clear from all of the information we have is that driver distraction continues to be a major problem,” Strickland said. “We need to maintain our focus on this issue through education, laws, enforcement, and vehicle design to help keep drivers’ attention on the road.”
Among the findings, more than three-quarters of drivers report that they are willing to answer calls on all, most, or some trips.
Drivers also report that they rarely consider traffic situations when deciding when to use their phone.
While most drivers said they are willing to answer a call and many will send a text while driving, almost all of these same drivers reported that they would feel very unsafe as a passenger if their driver was sending or receiving text messages. Over one-third report that they would feel very unsafe if their driver was using a handheld phone.
NHTSA’s adoption of the new “distraction-affected crash” measure for the 2010 FARS data is one step in a continuing effort to focus in on driver distraction and separate it from other issues. As part of its commitment to reduce the problem of distracted driving, The NHTSA said that it will continue to look for improved data sources.
While police reports of serious crashes are an important source, they are limited by the evidence available to the officer, according to the NHTSA. As a result, the agency is working to optimize information from crash reports by improving reporting forms and officer training.
In addition, NHTSA will analyze new data on driver distraction from a new naturalistic study in which about 2,000 cars will be fitted with cameras and other equipment that will record driver behavior over a period of two years. Researchers will be able to use these data to associate driver behaviors with crash involvement.
Data from this study will be available in 2014.
Attorney Gordon JohnsonPast Chair Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, American Association of Justice
g@gordonjohnson.com :: 800-992-9447 :: Attorney Gordon S. Johnson, Jr.
