Current and future issues regarding highway safety

Abstract

Over the past decade, the State of Michigan has enjoyed continuous increases in traffic safety, including decreased numbers of property-damage-only, fatal and injury crashes, had-been-drinking fatal and injury crashes, and drinking drivers, overall and for teen/young adult and older drivers. These declining trends, combined with other positive developments, such as increasing rates of restraint use, have occurred at the same time that the number of registered vehicles and the VMT steadily increased. In order to assist in the maintenance of these positive traffic safety trends, the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Prevention (OHSP) contracted with the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) to conduct a review of the literature to identify current and future issues that have implications for traffic safety in Michigan. The review covers newly arising issues, as well as issues that are the focus of ongoing efforts to enhance motor vehicle safety. The review encompasses current, as well as historical data from both the state and national levels, and is organized into sections by topic area. The topics are: Sleepiness and fatigue; teen drivers; impaired driving; occupant protection; distracted drivers; aggressive driving; older drivers; construction zones; roadway congestion; homeland security; and large trucks. The information for the report was compiled in three primary steps. First, an internet search of news and safety websites identified topic areas relevant to traffic safety. Second, a comprehensive literature search, using a variety of databases and information sources, identified current trends in traffic safety and technological advances that had implications for traffic safety. Finally, the information gained from the literature was organized into an annotated bibliography and used to prepare the review narrative with assistance from UMTRI researchers and staff, as well as by OHSP staff members.