The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, a division of the Department of Labor, will run a national media campaign in an effort to inform drivers about “the dangers of illegally passing stopped school buses.” According to a news release by the agency, the campaign will run through the end of October. As the news release […]
Motor Vehicle Accidents
Will Congress Take Action on “Frontover” Crashes?
A recent report by NBC News examines the tragic and growing toll of “frontover” and “backover” crashes, in which a vehicle—usually a large vehicle like an SUV or pickup truck—drive over young children in their blind zones. As the report explains, data suggests that as many as 744 children were killed in such crashes between […]
FHWA Announces $19 Million for Railroad Safety in New York
Last week the Federal Highway Administration, a division of the US Department of Transportation, announced the allocation of $59 billion in grant funding to improve infrastructure at railway crossings in four states: California, Florida, New York, and Pennsylvania. According to a FHWA press release, the funding is intended “to help save lives with safer crossings.” […]
NHTSA: US Still in Roadway Death “Crisis”
The United States is still in a traffic violence crisis, according to recently released traffic fatalities data by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a division of the US Department of Transportation. The agency’s preliminary estimates for the first half of 2021 show that approximately “20,175 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes, an increase […]
After Deadly Crash, NTSB Calls for Impaired Driving Detection Tech
The National Transportation Safety Board has released a call for automotive regulators to require the inclusion alcohol impairment detection systems in all newly manufactured vehicles. According to a press release by the agency, the call resulted from an NTSB investigation into a January 2021 crash in Avenal, California, in which the driver was impaired and […]
Transportation Officials: Are Self-Driving Cars Too Dangerous for City Streets?
The National Association of City Transportation Officials has written a letter to automotive regulators voicing its opposition to requests by Ford and GM temporary exemptions from federal safety standards governing self-driving cars. If granted, the exemptions would allow the manufacturers “to deploy a limited number of self-driving vehicles without human controls or functions on US […]
Report: Heavy Electric Cars Do More Damage in Crashes
Recent tests by Swiss insurance company AXA Switzerland highlight the dangers of electric vehicles. As an analysis by Streetsblog explains, the company’s research found that electric cars “cause more damage in collisions than conventional cars” and that their larger size increases the risks they pose, both to pedestrians and to occupants in lighter vehicles. “[D]rivers […]
Report: Truck Hits, Kills Cyclist in East New York Crash
A 43-year-old cyclist lost his life after being hit by the 52-year-old driver of a tractor-trailer truck in the Brooklyn neighborhood of East New York last week. According to ABC News, the cyclist was riding on Pennsylvania Avenue when the tractor-trailer driver turned onto Linden Boulevard, hitting him. The driver was not arrested at the […]
Reports: Queens Hit-and-Run Places Spotlight on Inequitable Streets
A five-year-old boy lost his life after the driver of a Dodge pickup trust struck him in a hit-and-run in Queens last week. According to a report by ABC News, authorities are searching for the driver of pickup truck who was turning at the intersection of 100th Street and McIntosh Street, where the boy, his […]
Research Suggests Broader Cell Phone Bans Prevent More Crashes
New research released by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety suggests that “broader” bans on cell phone usage while driving may prevent car crashes more effectively than narrower bans on texting while driving. As a news release by the nonprofit organization explains, its researchers looked at crash rates in three US states with those broader […]
Research Suggests Automatic Braking Tech Less Reliable at Night
Tests performed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that automatic emergency braking systems, designed to prevent cars from hitting pedestrians, perform less effectively in the dark. According to a news release by the organization, more than half of the 23 midsize cars it tested earned “a basic score or no credit” in nighttime […]
Large Vehicles Are Especially Dangerous to Children, Study Finds
A new study by researchers at the University of Illinois at Springfield found that large vehicles like SUVs are dramatically more dangerous than passenger cars to young pedestrians. Using crash and hospital records to examine “the relationship between striking vehicle type and medical outcomes of pedestrian and pedalcyclist cases,” the study ultimately found evidence that […]
New York Lawmakers Propose New Drunk Driving Penalties
Newly proposed legislation in both New York’s Assembly and Legislature would require people convicted of drunk driving incidents that resulted in the death of a custodial parent to make child support payments until the victim’s child (or their children) reach 18 years old. According to a recent report by Streetsblog, New York State Senator Andrew […]
Reports: NHTSA Investigating Deadly Tesla Crash in Florida
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a division of the US Department of Transportation, is probing a fatal car crash involving a 2015 Tesla near Gainesville, Florida. According to a report by the New York Post, the crash involved a Tesla that collided with the rear of a semi-trailer truck at an Interstate 75 rest […]
Report: Brooklyn Residents Call For Safer McGuinness Boulevard Redesign
The New York City Department of Transportation’s preliminary redesign plan for McGuinness Boulevard in Greenpoint, has received criticism from local residents and elected officials. The large, busy Brooklyn road has seen 1,548 reported car crashes in the last nine years, resulting in injuries to 40 cyclists, 59 pedestrians, and 236 drivers, according to a recent […]
Analysis: What Can the US Learn About Traffic Safety from Canada?
A recent analysis by Bloomberg examined why traffic fatalities have declined in Canada as they’ve risen dramatically in the United States. The differences between the two nations, which are “comparably young and similarly configured,” are dramatic: in 2020, 118 Americans for every million died in car crashes, while only 46 for every million died in […]
Uber Safety Report Tracks Rising Car Crash Deaths
Rideshare platform Uber released its second US Safety Report last week, covering the years 2019 and 2020. According to the report, there were 3,824 sexual assaults reported on the platform in those years, including 141 rapes. These figures reflected a decline in sexual assaults since its previous annual report, though it reportedly saw an increase […]
Survey: Construction Zone Car Crashes on the Rise
A new survey by HCSS Software Solutions and Associated General Contractors found that vehicle crashes continue to pose a threat to highway construction workers, as work zones likewise pose a threat to vehicle drivers and passengers. The survey found specifically that a whopping 64% of highway contractors “report that motor vehicles had crashed into their […]
Data: Vehicle-into-Building Crashes May Injure 16,000 Annually
As many as 100 vehicles crash into buildings every day in America, according to an audit by risk management company CHC Global of data gathered by the Storefront Safety Council. That number reflects an upward revision of the Council’s previous estimate that vehicles crash into buildings 60 times per day; it also reflects a total […]
NYC Expands School Zone Speed Camera Operation
School zone speed cameras will now operate 24 hours/day, seven days/week in New York City, thanks to new legislation signed last week by New York Governor Kathy Hochul. The approximately 2,000 speed cameras in the city’s 750 school zones were previously only able to operate from 6am to 10pm on school days. As a report […]
NHTSA Updates Child Safety Test Requirements for T-Bone Crashes
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a division of the Department of Transportation, issued a final rule last week that “updates testing requirements for child safety seats to improve the protection of children during side-impact crashes,” according to a press release. The rule is designed to keep young children from sustaining serious injuries in motor […]
Research Uncovers Racial Disparities in Car Crash Deaths
A new study by researchers at Boston University and Harvard University, reported on by Streetsblog, found that Black and Hispanic Americans experience “systematically” higher fatality rates per 100 million miles traveled on US roads. Drawing on data provided by the 2017 National Household Travel Survey and the U.S. Fatality Analysis Reporting System, the study looked at miles traveled […]
NHTSA Report Details Hundreds of Automated Vehicle Crashes
A new standing general order published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a division of the Department of Transportation, released data on hundreds of car crashes involving automated driving technology. As Fox News reported, the report assembled ten months of car crash data gathered in conjunction with the agency’s investigation into the safety of automated vehicles. The NHTSA […]
NYC Lawmakers Pledge to Make School Zone Streets Safer
Responding to a recent Streetsblog report on the deadly streets surrounding New York City’s school zones, Mayor Eric Adams recently said that his administration will “do more” to reduce the traffic violence in those areas, found to be dramatically higher than averages elsewhere in the city, particularly in the morning and afternoon hours when students come to […]
NHTSA Offers Motorcycle Safety Tips
A total of 5,579 motorcycle drivers lost their lives in traffic crashes in 2020, according to data provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a division of the Department of Transportation. In a resource providing safety tips to motorcyclists, who in 2020 were “28 times more likely than passenger vehicle occupants to die in a motor […]
