road safety News

Safety Board Recommends Blood Alcohol Technology in All New Cars

The National Transportation Safety Board is recommending that all new vehicles in the U.S. be required to have blood alcohol monitoring systems that can stop an intoxicated person from driving. The recommendation, if enacted by the National Highway Traffic Safety …

Pedestrian Fatalities Rise to 16% of Traffic Deaths

A new report projects that 6,227 pedestrian fatalities occurred in 2018, the highest number in nearly three decades. Pedestrians will account for 16 percent of all traffic deaths in 2018, compared to 12 percent in 2008. While advancements in motor …

40 Nations, Excluding U.S. and China, Agree to Require Automatic Braking

Forty countries led by Japan and the European Union – but not the U.S. or China – have agreed to require new cars and light commercial vehicles to be equipped with automated braking systems starting as soon as next year, …

Traffic Deaths Top 40,000 Again

Traffic fatalities on U.S. roads reached an estimated 40,000 in 2018, the third year in a row in which at least that many people died in vehicle crashes, according to new figures from the National Safety Council. The 2018 total …

Virginia Senate Panel Kills Stricter Seatbelt Law

Virginia will continue to have one of the weakest seatbelt laws in the country after a Senate committee killed a bill to require rear-seat passengers in a motor vehicle to wear safety belts and to make violating the state’s seatbelt …

Nevada Road Fatalities Hit 10-Year High in 2018

Fatalities on Nevada roads hit a 10-year high last year. Preliminary data from the Department of Public Safety show 331 people died in crashes in 2018, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. They died in 301 crashes and three-quarters of them …

DOT, Ohio County Work to Make Roads Safer for Amish

Work to widen roads and make other safety improvements is planned in an area of Ohio’s Amish country plagued by crashes resulting in injuries, according to federal and state officials. The U.S. Department of Transportation and the Ohio Department of …

Opinion: More People Means More Cars, and More Deaths

More than 1.3 million people died in road traffic accidents in 2016, an all-time high, according to the World Health Organization. A world with more people and more cars means more death on the world’s roads. Those deaths, though, are …

Michigan Plans to Install 1,300 Roadside Reflectors Along M-22

The Michigan Department of Transportation plans to place hundreds of bright white reflectors along a popular road in the Traverse City region in an effort to prevent crashes caused by drivers veering out of their lane. The $300,000 project includes …

State Chart Reveals New Laws Have Little Impact on Reducing Distracted Driving

If you’re driving right now, it’s far more likely you are reading this on your phone than you would have been a year ago. Despite a harrowing surge in traffic fatalities, American drivers appear to be getting worse at avoiding …