Transportation Safety: Focus on Vehicles and Operators

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Transportation SafetyFocus on Vehicles and
Operators

• CRP 445/545
• September 2007

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Transportation Is An Inherently Unsafe Activity

• 2000 pounds of steel going 65 miles an hour or a
  20,000 ton train traveling down the tracks at 80
  miles per hour, or a large aircraft flying tens
  of thousands of feet through the air at 500 miles
  per hour are inherently dangerous things
• It would be impossible to remove all risk from
  such activities
• Can you think of any human activities that are
  not risky?
• But it can be made substantially safer

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Crashes By Severity

• Property damage only about two-thirds of all
  highway crashes
• Mainly crashes below 35-40 mph, typically on
  local roads and streets and urban collectors and
  arterials
• Injury about one-third of the total
• Mainly crashes at speeds over 35-40 mph on urban
  and rural arterials, expressways, and freeways
• Fatal a very small portion of the total 1 or
  less in most states

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Fatal Crashes Are Relatively Rare Events
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What Causes Highway Crashes?

• About 1/3 of crashes involve
• more than one primary
• cause
• Driver error or impairment is by far the greatest
  cause of
• crashes
• Driver/roadway/environment
• interactions are very significant
• in generating crashes
• Vehicle problems
• are the least common cause of crashes

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Same Type of Facilities, Very Different
Results.Why?
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How Hard Is It To Make Safety Improvements?

• Guideways
• The easiest place to make improvements since all
  decisions are public asset lives are long which
  makes progress very slow there are about 1
  trillion in highway and bridge assets in place in
  the US today
• Vehicles
• More difficult than guideways due to the sheer
  number of vehicles and the large expense
  involved there is something like 5 trillion in
  vehicle fleet assets out on the road today
  shorter asset lives than guideways, so a
  relatively fast way to gain improvements

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How Hard Is It To Make Safety Improvements?

• Operators
• The most difficult area to make any improvements
  since fallible operators are involved
• This might be called the final frontier of
  transportation safety
• This problem is a lot like a public health or
  disease issue. It is much easier to work on the
  agent (e.g. vaccinations) or the environment
  (e.g. sanitation) than it is to change host
  behavior.

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Public Health/Transportation Vector Comparison

• Host behavior Driver behavior
• Agent (vaccinations, pharma) Vehicle
• Environmental Infrastructure

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How Vehicle Design Impacts Safety

• Vehicle problems (such as mechanical failure or
  tire failure) directly cause few crashes
• However, vehicle features are very important in
  determining the outcomes of crashes once they
  occur
• Some effort is being made to add features that
  allow drivers to better avoid crashes
• Vehicles could be made much safer in terms of
  what happens to the occupants during and
  immediately after the crashthis is where much
  vehicle safety research and development activity
  is concentrated

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The Three Collisions

• The first collision
• The vehicle strikes another vehicle or some fixed
  object on or at the side of the road
• The second collision
• The vehicle occupant (still in motion) strikes a
  portion of the vehicle, is ejected, or is hit by
  portions of other vehicles or other objects that
  enter the vehicle
• The third collision
• The occupant stops moving, but internal organs
  strike other body parts (concussions and other
  internal injuries occur)
• In an airline, high speed rail, or other high
  speed crashes, all of these collisions are
  magnified due to the higher forces involved
• Most crashes actually occur at speeds of 35-40
  miles per hour or less, which is why fatal
  crashes are only about 1 percent of the total

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History Many Vehicle Safety Improvements
Occurred Pre-1930

• 1903 enclosed cars and windshields
• 1904 steering wheels (replaced tillers)
• 1906 front bumpers
• 1908 asbestos brake linings (replaced cotton)
• 1911 four wheel braking systems
• 1912 electric starters (replaced hand crank on
  front of vehicle crank starters caused many
  injuries)
• 1920 pneumatic tires (replaced hard, solid
  rubber tireallowed a larger contact patch with
  the pavement)
• 1920 hydraulic braking (replaced coaster
  brakes)
• 1920s wider, lower air pressure tires
• 1927 early version of safety glass

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Post-1940 Developments Slower Innovation Until
The Late 1950s

• 1930s and 1940s Great Depression and World War
  II restrict production and use of private cars
  innovations slow
• Late 1940s
• power brakes
• hydraulic and telescoping shock absorbers
• greatly improved glass (improved visibility)
• tubeless tires
• 1950s disk brakes, radial tires (expensive at
  the time and only used on high performance cars)
• 1955 popular actor James Dean killed in a car
  crash this draws public and government attention
  to highway safety as an issue the invention of
  the padded dashboard and the air bag can be
  traced to this one crash two point seat belts
  offered as optional equipment
• 1959 Congressional report calls automakers
  criminally negligent on vehicle safety for not
  marketing features and systems they have
  invented crumple zones introduced on some
  vehicles

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1960s Profound Innovations Begin

• 1960s seat belts (three point belt patented by
  Volvo in 1959 and given to the industry),
  collapsible steering columns, and improved safety
  glass
• 1964 Ralph Nader publishes Unsafe at Any Speed
  about the unusually designed Chevrolet Corvair
  Air Force conducts rocket sled tests that led to
  greatly improved seat belts and shoulder
  harnesses for their aircraft and later for
  commercial transportation vehicles
• 1967 NHTSA established by President Johnson
• 1974 air bags offered as an option by GM first
  person saved by an air bag (GM indicates first
  concerns about child safety and airbags)

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1960s Profound Innovations Begin

• 1984 US DOT mandates air bags on 1990 model cars
  after losing a lawsuit brought by State Farm
  Insurance
• 1986 air bags standard on Mercedes and Volvo
  cars (Chrysler adopts them as standard in 1989)
• 1990 first recorded instance of child killed by
  a first generation air bag
• 1994 BMW offers smarter airbags that protect
  children now in common use
• Late 1990s additional occupant protection
  systems developedside impact, head protection,
  rollover protection
• Early 2000s beginning to see advanced airbags on
  some low end cars, e.g. Saturns

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Eras in Vehicle Safety Innovation

• Pre-1960s transportation safety is largely a
  private sector matter effort is concentrated on
  safety features that can be marketed by vehicle
  manufacturers
• 1960s Government role (especially Federal
  government) is greatly expanded with creation of
  organizations with pure safety missions, e.g.
  NHTSA and NTSB
• Some antagonism between manufacturers and Federal
  government
• Lately Antagonistic relationship between vehicle
  makers and government is replaced by more of a
  partnershipsome vehicle makers (e.g. Volvo, BMW,
  Mercedes, Saturn) use occupant safety as a
  corporate marketing strategy

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Where Are We Today?

• Automobile fatalities seem to be stuck now at
  about 42,000 to 43,000 per year fatality rates
  are relatively stable and are declining more
  slowly than in the past
• Possibly will start going up due to static rate
  and rising exposure
• Passive safety devices (seat belts, child
  restraints, and airbags) are widely used
• Some are not being used correctly, especially
  child safety seats
• Seat belts (which have been in common use for 40
  years save about 11,000 lives per year)
• Seat belts are mandated in 49 states (New
  Hampshire is the only exception) about 20 states
  have Primary Seat Belt Laws
• What is a Primary Seat Belt Law?

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Where Are We Today?

• Seat belt use is at around 80 percent, an
  all-time high (it was only 15 percent in 1970)
• Air bags (a recent development) are estimated to
  save about 1200 persons per year
• Ironically, 72 percent of those saved by air bags
  were not using a seat belt (air bags would only
  save about 300 additional lives a year if
  everyone used seat belts)
• Motorcycle helmet laws exist in 21 states and are
  estimated to save 550 lives per year in those
  states
• Iowa has no mandatory helmet law

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Seat Belt Use, 1994-2006
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Seat Belt Use Varies By Region
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Primary Seat Belt Laws
Primary seat belt laws appear to be worth 10-15
additional compliance
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Where Are We Today?

• FARS data show that over 65 of persons fatally
  injured in traffic accidents were not properly
  restrained with a seat belt or a child safety
  seat.
• Getting 100 percent compliance with seat belt
  laws and child safety seat laws would do more
  than any other single thing to reduce fatalities
  and serious injuries
• However, this appears almost impossible some
  people either resist or regularly forget to use
  their belts
• These are as much human factors issues as vehicle
  design issues

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Vehicle Safety Efforts Generally Yield Results
During the Crash

• Such features are called passive safety
  features or passive safety devices
• Seat belts and air bags
• Padded surfaces (e.g. dashboards)
• Safety glass
• Energy absorbing devices (e.g. steering columns)
• Crumple zones at the front and rear of vehicles
• Roll cages
• These are designed to reduce the force with which
  the occupants of the vehicle collide with the
  interior of the vehicle (the second collision)
• A car from the 1920s or 1930s would essentially
  disintegrate on impact todays vehicles crush
  and absorb energy from the crash

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Areas of Vehicle Design Thought To Be Most
Promising for Reducing Severity in the Event of a
Crash

• Advanced air bags, including side impact and
  rollover protection
• Lower interior front impact protection
• Roof crush protection
• Improved seating systems, head restraints, and
  child safety restraints
• Improved door locks (avoid ejection)
• Improved glazing (for visibility and impact)
• Fuel system integrity
• Automatic crash notificationmayday devices

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Avoiding the First Collision

• Some common active vehicle safety measures are
  aimed at avoiding crashes by increasing the level
  of operator control in adverse situations
• Improved tires
• Anti-lock braking systems (ABS)
• Traction control systems
• Some effort is being put into sensors (e.g. lane
  departure warning, infrared and radar) that will
  help drivers avoid the first collisionsome
  vehicles have these sensors now
• In the far future, research is proceeding on
  automated or driverless highways

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Lane Departure Warning

• http//www.citroen.com/CWW/en-US/TECHNOLOGIES/SECU
  RITY/AFIL/

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Human Factors Are The Key to Avoiding Most
Transportation Crashes

• About 1/3 of crashes involve
• more than one primary
• cause
• Driver error or impairment is by far the greatest
  cause of
• crashes
• Driver/roadway/environment
• interactions are very significant
• in generating crashes
• Vehicle problems
• are the least common cause of crashes

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Most of Todays Most Pressing Highway Safety
Issues Involve Human Factors

• Teenaged driver safety
• Elderly driver safety
• Drunk or drug impaired drivers
• Excessive speed
• Red light running
• Distracted drivers

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Teenaged And Elderly Drivers Are The High Risk
Driver Groups
Risk adjusted for exposure e.g. miles driven.
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Driving Experience Is VERY Valuable
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Percentage of Fatal Crashes By Victim Age and
Crash Type
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FARS Crash Patterns Indicate Why Young Persons
and Elderly Persons Represent Special Safety
Challenges

• Children are the most common victims of fatal
  biking crashes
• Teenaged drivers are mainly involved in fatal
  crashes that involve either excessive speed for
  roadway or weather conditions, loss of control
  (perhaps due to distraction), intoxication, or
  failure to obey traffic controls such as stop
  signs and red lights
• Elderly drivers are mainly involved in fatal
  crashes that involve lack of perception of
  hazards (e.g. failure to see or yield to other
  vehicles at intersections) or speed variance
  (driving slower than most traffic)
• Elderly persons are the most common victims of
  car/pedestrian crashes when traveling on foot

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FARS Crash Patterns Suggest Strategies That May
Be Successful By Age Group

• Children bicycle safety programs and
  improvements such as dedicated bike trails/lanes
• Teenaged drivers graduated drivers licensing
  (very limited licenses at first) limits on hours
  of driving and occupants in a vehicle efforts to
  reduce distractions for new drivers
• Elderly drivers stricter and more frequent
  testing for drivers license renewal providing
  alternative transportation pedestrian safety
  improvements safety improvements in vehicles to
  lessen impact with the vehicle improved signage

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Different Age Groups May Come Into Conflict

• Play airbag video

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Drunk Driving Is A Key Contributing Factor In
Many Highway Crashes

• Highly intoxicated drivers (0.10 and over BAC)
  account for
• 28 of motorcycle fatalities
• 20 of light truck fatalities
• 17 of passenger car fatalities
• 1 of large truck fatalities
• Other estimates that adopt a stricter impairment
  standard than 0.10 say that up to 40 of all
  traffic fatalities are caused by intoxicated
  drivers
• There was a concerted effort to drop the limit to
  0.08
• Some nations in Europe have zero tolerance laws
• These fatalities have declined by almost 40
  since 1982, when attention began to be paid to
  this problem
• Stricter DUI laws, increase in drinking age to
  21, prevention campaigns

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Speeding Is Another Key Problem

• Speeding or driving too fast for conditions is a
  contributing factor in about 30 percent of all
  highway fatalities
• The second-highest contributing factor behind
  alcohol
• Half of all speeding deaths occur on high-speed
  highways (55 mph and over) the rest are on
  low-speed facilities (the speeder was likely
  operating a vehicle far beyond the posted speed
  limit)
• About 30 of teenage traffic deaths involve
  speeding (36 of teenage male deaths)
• A related issue is aggressive driving/road rage

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Why Speeding Kills

• At higher speeds a driver has less time to
  perceive danger and react
• A loss of a second in reaction time could mean
  the difference between a safe stop and a fatal
  crash
• A vehicle going 65 miles per hour hits an object
  with twice the force of one going 55 mph--only
  ten miles per hour slower
• Raising the national speed limit from 55 to 65 in
  1995 probably led to 350 to 500 more deaths per
  year on Interstate highways, which are the safest
  type of highway per vehicle-mile traveled

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Red Light Running

• Red light running is a very disturbing type of
  traffic offense
• Most red light running incidents do not result in
  a crash and are not caught, so only video studies
  can provide data
• Iowa study indicates a great deal of spatial
  variation, but perhaps 1 violation per hour per
  intersection or 2 violations per 1000 entering
  vehicles as an order of magnitude
• This is the fastest growing type of highway crash
  in the United States today
• About 40 percent of all crashes occur in or near
  intersections
• There are something like 200,000 crashes a year
  caused in the US by red light running about 800
  of them are fatal (15 or 20 in an average state
  or two percent of total fatalities)

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Red Light Running Crash
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Red Light Running Crashes Mapped
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Red Light Running Enforcement

• Automated enforcement with cameras appears to be
  an effective means of enforcement in that rates
  of red light running do decrease when this
  strategy is used
• A 42 percent reduction in Oxnard, CA even though
  only 11 intersections were monitored
• A 57 percent reduction in Howard County, MD
• Political and Legal Issues
• The owner is liable, not the driver (this is not
  a problem if red light running is a civil
  infraction rather than a criminal infraction)
• Privacy and intrusion (should not be a very valid
  issue since if the rear of vehicle/license plate
  is photographed)
• Due process (the right to confront your accuser
  and appeal convictions)
• Many states lack enabling legislation

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Driven to Distraction

• Cellular phone use, even when hands-free
  devices are used, is an ever-increasing
  distraction
• In-vehicle displays, e.g. GPS navigation and
  digital audio are becoming much more common
• This is the tip of the iceberg for the
  Telematics Revolution
• More routine distractions, such as conversations,
  small children, pets, eating and drinking,
  grooming, and even reading are also important
• Recent research suggests that the average driver
  has very limited ability to cope with any
  activities besides driving (people are poor
  multi-taskers)
• Should potentially distracting equipment be
  regulated?

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Rest of Today and Next Time

• Elderly Driver Issues Role Playing Exercise
• Discussion of Your Short Issue Papers for
  SafetyWhos Working On What?
• Next Time Guideways and safety
• These are safety improvements that are the
  easiest to analyze, understand, and fix