October 2017 Summaries of timely road safety news, events, and alerts

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Message from NETS' Executive Director, Joe McKillips

We’ve had an exciting few weeks at NETS! Earlier this month, on October 11–12th, nearly 200 road safety professionals came together for our annual NETS’ STRENGTH in NUMBERS® Benchmark Conference in Charlottesville, Virginia. I am also pleased to mention this year’s event represented our best-attended conference on record.   As many of you know, the conference is an opportunity to meet with like-minded road safety professionals, learn about the latest road safety research and gain insights into new and emerging technology. New this year, special emphasis and thought-provoking presentations surrounding leadership engagement were also included throughout the conference proceedings. As with years past, results of NETS’ annual STRENGTH in NUMBERS® Fleet Safety Benchmark Report were also shared.  On day-two of the conference, attendees were treated to a field trip to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) Vehicle Research Center (VRC) to witness a “live” car-to-car crash test and participate in numerous hands-on vehicle safety demonstrations. The conference was yet another example of how NETS continues to promote dialogue and collaboration between professionals across fleet safety and fleet procurement arenas which at the end of the day, helps reduce risk and save lives. To those who were able to attend this year’s event, a sincere thank you for your time and participation!  In the days to come additional details and conference highlights, including photos from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) Vehicle Research Center (VRC) tour will be posted to the NETS web-site .

LATEST ROAD SAFETY NEWS

USDOT Releases 2016 Fatal Traffic Crash Data The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released fatal traffic crash data for calendar year 2016. According to NHTSA data 37,461 lives were lost on U.S. roads in 2016, an increase of 5.6 percent... Read more www.nhtsa.gov

What Happens When We Give Up Control of Our Cars? The first automobiles, in the early 1900s, were a headache. The tool kit of the 1907 Pierce Arrow included, ominously, an extra set of intake and exhaust valves. Cars needed weekly oil changes. Read more www.caranddriver.com

Nation's Worst Congestion Hotspot It won't come as much surprise to drivers used to slowly navigating the worst U.S. highway congestion areas, but a new study by the INRIX travel data firm said they are losing hundreds of billions of dollars in extra travel time, fuel and carbon... Read more news.transportation.org

Collisions More Common in Urban Areas, Rural Deaths Higher Car crash death rates get increasingly high as population density drops, fueled in part by lower seat belt use in the remotest rural areas, a U.S. study suggests. "We already knew that death rates were higher and seat belt use was lower in rural... Read more www.autoblog.com

Ford Urged to Recall 1.3M Explorers There is a new push Tuesday morning for the Ford Motor Company to recall its Explorer SUVs over carbon monoxide poisoning concerns. The Center for Auto Safety is urging Ford to pull more than 1.3 million Explorers off the road. Ford announced it... Read more www.cbsnews.com

WORKPLACE/ HOME ROAD SAFETY

UPS's Safest Driver Ever Goes 55 Years Without an Accident UPS driver Tom Camp is probably lucky he never had to deal with Atlanta's traffic. UPS honored the 77-year-old this week for being the company's safest driver ever -- spending 55 years behind the wheel of a brown delivery truck without an accident. Read more www.bizjournals.com

CDC Motor Vehicle Safety at Work: Young Drivers at Work Young workers are developing their driving skills and gaining experience. Due to inexperience they may be less likely than older drivers to recognize and respond to traffic risks. Employers and parents/guardians can play an important role in... Read more www.cdc.gov CDC Motor Vehicle Safety at Work: Older Drivers at Work Older workers bring extensive skills, knowledge, and experience built over the course of a lifespan. However, age-related physical and mental changes may affect older workers’ driving. Employers and workers share the responsibility for keeping old... Read more www.cdc.gov

Ohio Leads Country With Portable Driving Simulators Ohio is leading the country as the first state to begin piloting portable driver simulator systems (PDSS) as safety screeners and skill diagnostics prior to road tests. Read more www.publicsafety.ohio.gov Driving Dynamics: Top 20 Health & Safety Training Company Training Industry continuously monitors the training marketplace looking for the best providers of services/technologies in support of corporate learning and development. This first annual list is designed to help organizations in their in their... Read more www.trainingindustry.com

Real Costs of Fatigue in the Workplace How much is fatigue costing the workplace? The National Safety Council has teamed with Brigham and Women's Hospital to develop an easy-to-use tool providing specific information about fatigue in the workplace. Read more forms.nsc.org

TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION

The Cure to Uber's Woes is a Merger With Tesla Partnership could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship - and a mutually beneficial one. The ride-sharing company has launched a new UberONE option in its smartphone app that will let users order a ride in a Tesla Model S... Read more www.thenational.ae

Vehicle Infotainment Systems Create Increased Distraction AAA Foundation study reveals in-vehicle technology takes one step forward, two steps back. New vehicle infotainment systems take drivers' eyes and attention off the road and hands off the wheel for potentially dangerous periods of time. Read more newsroom.aaa.com

Self-driving Cars Could Ease Traffic, but Increase Sprawl A new study inspired by Boston's early experiments with self-driving cars finds that the technology could ease congestion, but also lead to more cars on the road and further encourage urban sprawl. The report is a mostly optimistic take on how... Read more www.denverpost.com

Alphabet Training Law Enforcement How to Handle Crashes What happens when self-driving cars gets into an accident? Alphabet's self driving car division Waymo has been testing its fleet of robot cars in four states across the country - Washington, California, Arizona, and Texas - and it has started to... Read more www.recode.net

$80 Billion Has Been Invested in the Self-driving Car Race A billion dollars for a self-driving tech company? It's not unheard of anymore. But a new report from the Brookings Institute sheds light on just how much loot has been spent on the race to bring fully-autonomous cars to the public. The total, so ... Read more jalopnik.com

Toyota Targets 620-Mile Range With Concept Fuel-Cell Vehicle Toyota Motor Corp. is set to unveil a fuel-cell concept car that aims to offer 50 percent more driving range than its current hydrogen-powered sedan in a technology push that defies a rising wave of battery-driven vehicles. Read more www.bloomberg.com

GOVERNMENT AND NON-PROFIT AGENCY NEWS

Join the Road to Zero Coalition You are invited to join Road to Zero Coalition, which includes hundreds of organizations working to develop a coordinated safe systems approach to highway safety. We welcome you to join the Road to Zero Coalition as a partner offering innovative... Read more docs.google.com

IIHS and HLDI Announce New President The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the Highway Loss Data Institute are pleased to announce that Dr. David L. Harkey will become the next president of the two traffic safety research organizations in January 2018.... Read more www.iihs.org

#ButNotWhileDriving: We Save Lives Movement Car crashes caused by distracted drivers kill nine people every day. Help save lives and prevent distracted driving by voicing your pledge to never call, text, or email while driving. Read more wesavelives.org NHTSA Study: Interlock Data Utilization The objectives of this study were to determine how ignition interlock data is used for DWI offender monitoring and offender-related programs; and if the interlock data can be used effectively to reduce alcohol-impaired driving recidivism. Read more www.nhtsa.gov

Pedestrian Detection Tech Has Potential to Prevent Crashes With pedestrian fatalities on the rise, the U.S. Department of Transportation's Volpe Center, with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's support, is evaluating pedestrian detection technology to help prevent crashes and injuries. Read more www.transportation.gov

Walk This Way In 1999, Safe Kids Worldwide and FedEx created Walk This Way to bring national and local attention to pedestrian safety issues. What started as a pilot program in three U.S. cities has now grown to 11 countries around the world - Brazil, Canada,... Read more www.safekids.org

INTERNATIONAL ROAD SAFETY

Walking the Talk Launched by the Global Alliance for NGOs The Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety has launched a publication, Walking the Talk, which describes the response of the Alliance and its member NGOs to the call for action represented by the Sustainable Development Goals (“By 2020, halve...) Read more www.roadsafe.com

Road Safety Annual Report 2017 Now Available The IRTAD Road Safety Annual Report 2017 provides an overview of road safety performance for 2015 in 40 countries, with preliminary data for 2016, and detailed reports for each country. Read more www.oecd-ilibrary.org

Korea to Mandate Emergency Braking System on all Vehicles South Korea's transport ministry said Thursday it will require all vehicles and large trucks to have an advanced emergency braking system and lane departure warning system to improve safety on the road. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and... Read more www.koreaherald.com

UPCOMING TRANSPORTATION SAFETY EVENTS AND CAMPAIGNS

Goal Zero: Just One Day 11/2/17 GOAL ZERO is a Permian Basin of West Texas community road safety campaign that is focused on making a difference even if it is just for one day. One day with no vehicle accidents in the Permian Basin. Read more www.permianroadsafety.org

Halloween Buzzed Driving Campaign For awareness materials from NHTSA’s Traffic Safety Marketing, go to: https://www.trafficsafetymarketing.gov/get-materials/drunk-driving/buzzed-driving-drunk-driving/halloween-buzzed-driving Thanksgiving Weekend Buckle Up Campaign: 6:00 p.m. Wednesday, November 25 to 5:59 a.m. Monday, November 30 For awareness materials from NHTSA’s Traffic Safety Marketing, go to: https://www.trafficsafetymarketing.gov/get-materials/seat-belts/buckle/thanksgiving-weekend

Save the Date: Lifesavers National Conference on Highway Safety Priorities San Antonio, TX April 22-24, 2018 For more information, go to: https://lifesaversconference.org/

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About NETSWork® NETSWork is published electronically once a month by the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety, Susan Gillies, editor, and Joe McKillips, Executive Director.

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