National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Dearth of Data Masks Scale of Distracted Driving Fatalities
Bloomberg links the uptick in traffic fatalities throughout the United States to rising smartphone use while driving.
Car Crash Reporting Guidelines Prepare for Self-Driving Vehicles
The Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria's latest edition has new instructions for reporting the emerging sector of autonomous vehicles.
DUIDs Surpass DUIs as Cause of Fatal Vehicle Crashes
2015 was the first year that driving under the influence of drugs (DUID) surpassed those killed while driving under the influence of alcohol. Increased legal access to marijuana is correlated with the surge. Amphetamine use is also a factor.
Legal Loophole Will Allow Rollback of Fuel Efficiency Standards
On Tuesday, the Trump administration anticipates unraveling two signature Obama environmental regulations: fuel efficiency standards for model year 2022-2025 light-duty vehicles and beginning the undoing of the Clean Power Plan.
EPA Rejects Automakers' Bid to Reduce Fuel Economy Standards in Midterm Review
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ruled that existing technology allows for increased efficiency in model years 2022 to 2025. The 2011 rule to achieve 54.5 mpg by 2025 required a 'midterm evaluation' to see if the final target was achievable.
Battle of Technologies Shaping-Up for Connected Vehicles
The U.S. Department of Transportation proposed a new rule on Dec. 13 for automakers to require vehicle-to-vehicle technology to save lives, but critics charge the radio-based technology will be obsolete when the rule takes effect in about seven years
Expect Passenger Vehicles to Talk to Each Other in the Near Future
The U.S. Department of Transportation wants light-duty vehicles to communicate with each other via advanced technology, known as connected vehicle technology, to prevent crashes. The vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) rule would be phased in over five years.
The Critical Importance of Bicycle Infrastructure to Public Health
The lead editorial in the December issue of American Journal of Public Health provides the introduction for two research papers on the relationship between bicycling safety and infrastructure expansion in Boston and Vision Zero in U.S. and Sweden.
A 'Call to Action' to Find Reasons for Increase in Traffic Fatalities
The U.S. Department of Transportation wants to hear from the public to help explain the 35,092 traffic deaths last year, an increase of 2,348 people from 2014. It has issued a 'call to action' to help interpret the data.
New Rules to Make Heavy Trucks Cleaner and More Fuel Efficient
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Transportation jointly issued final standards on Aug. 16 to reduce emissions and improve fuel economy for heavy duty trucks which currently average about six miles per gallon.
Will First Fatality Affect the Development of Self-Driving Cars?
A May 7 crash of a Model S Tesla in Florida may have outsized implications for the future of driverless technology. The details of the single-fatality crash were made public in a June 30 blog by Tesla though they were reported immediately to NHTSA.
2015 Road Toll: 35,200 Fatalities
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released preliminary fatality estimates for 2015. Deaths jumped by 2,525, an increase of 7.7 percent over 2014. Pedestrians and bicyclists saw the biggest increases.
Drinking Behind New Mexico's High Pedestrian Fatality Rate
New Mexico had the nation's highest pedestrian fatality rate in 2014. Alcohol was a factor in over half the pedestrian fatalities in New Mexico, while nationally it's a third. According to the Albuquerque PD, drunk pedestrians are primarily to blame.
Why the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Doesn't Use 'Accidents'
Call them crashes, collisions, even incidents, just don't call them 'accidents,' emphatically states Mark R. Rosekind, Ph.D., Administrator for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the nation's premier traffic safety agency.
National Safety Council Reports Huge Jump in 2015 Traffic Fatalities
According to preliminary estimates from the National Safety Council, 38,300 people were killed on U.S. roads in 2015, an 8 percent jump from 2014. In fact, the annual increase is the most in half a century. Note that the figure differs from NHTSA's.
Traffic Fatalities Rising Again—As Does the Blame Game
Traffic fatalities are on pace to reach 35,000 in the United States this year. Some advocates are saying it's time for traffic engineers to stop blaming the victims.
Meet the World's First Self-Driving Big Rig
The world now includes a technology that raises the stakes of the collective interest in self-driving cars to a whole new weight class: a self-driving big rig.
The Numbers Behind the Country’s Decreasing Traffic Fatalities
Susannah Locke examines some of the data behind the United State’s steady decrease in auto fatalities since a peak in 1969, when 55,043 people died while driving.
Feds Clear the Road for Self-Driving Cars
This week, the NHTSA issued the federal government's first directive on the benefits and hurdles related to the introduction of self-driving cars. The guidelines should make it easier for companies to develop autonomous technologies.
Traffic Deaths at Historic Lows; Ped and Bike Fatalities Increasing
New data released this week shows that automobile fatalities dropped last year to the lowest level in 62 years. At the same time, deaths of bicyclists, pedestrians, motorcycle riders and big-rig truck drivers increased, reports Ashley Halsey III.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Caltrans
Smith Gee Studio
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
Salt Lake City
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
