Category Archives: Uncategorized

January 8, 2020 · 2:08 pm

Austin installs LPI safety technology at intersections

January 8, 2020 – The Austin Transportation Department recently installed technology at downtown intersections designed to make crossing safer for pedestrians.

The technology, called leading pedestrian intervals (LPIs), gives pedestrians five to seven seconds to cross an intersection before drivers receive a green light.  “Giving pedestrians a head start makes them more visible to drivers and reinforces a pedestrian’s right of way,” Austin Transportation Department Director Robert Spillar said. “LPIs provide enhanced safety for our most vulnerable neighbors who may be slower in crossing an intersection.”

Downtown represents less than 1 percent of Austin’s roads, yet represents more than 10 percent of accidents involving pedestrians and vehicles, according to Jen Duthie, Arterial Management Division manager.  Installing LPIs reduce the number of pedestrians hit by vehicles by up to 60 percent, according to a Transportation Research Board study.  Austin’s LPIs were installed within the area bordered by 15th Street, North Lamar Boulevard, West Cesar Chavez Street and Interstate 35. The technology is part of the city’s Vision Zero goal.

Vision Zero aims to reduce the city’s traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries to zero.  The LPIs also are part of a plan to reach half of Austin residents commuting by a transportation mode other than driving alone.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

January 6, 2020 · 2:14 pm

What Will It Take for Dallas’ Vision Zero Plan to Work?

January 6, 2020 – DMagaine.com – Vision Zero Plans haven’t worked as well as many have hoped. That’s because safe streets are about more than urban design. If things proceed as normal, around 70 pedestrians will be killed this year by motor vehicles in Dallas. That’s about how many pedestrians have been struck and killed by cars in this city each year since 2015. As of the end of July 2019, 53 pedestrians had been killed in Dallas, so it’s possible the trend is ticking up. Across the nation, traffic-related deaths of pedestrians and bicyclists are on the rise, and Dallas has the fifth highest rate of traffic-related fatalities of any large city in the nation.

Many cities have responded to these grisly numbers by unveiling so-called Vision Zero initiatives. The name refers to stated goal of reducing the number of people killed in traffic accidents to zero. After all, as we’ve discussed before, it is a somewhat perverse quirk of American culture that we have normalized the deadliness of automobiles. But that may be changing. Last October, the city of Dallas joined with its peers around the nation and revealed its own intention to work toward a Vision Zero Action Plan. The city hopes to unveil that plan by December 2021, or after an estimated 140 more pedestrians are killed by motor vehicles in Dallas.

There are problems with Vision Zero, however, and one of the big ones is that many cities’ plans aren’t seeing results.

Last year, CityLab looked at five big cities that were early Vision Zero adapters. Three of five cities with Vision Zero plans showed modest reductions in fatalities, while two—Los Angeles and San Francisco—saw increases. Overall, none of the cities were reducing fatalities at a rate that could realistically hit zero deaths for decades.

Does that mean that Vision Zero plans are wasted efforts? I’m not so sure. Vision Zero Plans seem to illustrate just how deep the problem of traffic safety runs. As Laura Bliss, director of the Vision Zero Network, told CityLab, Vision Zero Plans require a “transformative shift in how you’re doing business on the issue of mobility.” Transformational shifts, however, are difficult to realize, particularly in a country that has long baked the car’s priorities into the many laws and cultural assumptions governing urban forms.

However, Vision Zero can work. In fact, there is a city that has already achieved it, though unsurprisingly, it is not an American city. In 2019, in Oslo, Norway, there were exactly zero road deaths for pedestrians and cyclists. There was one traffic-related death—a driver died when crashing his car into a fence. This reduction to zero came after a prolonged effort by local officials to implement a variety of new street improvements and measures designed to make streets safer. And despite some strong push-back against the effort, Oslo has managed to hit that elusive dream of zero traffic related deaths for cyclists and pedestrians.

How did they do it? Admittedly, Oslo started as a smaller and much safer city than somewhere like Dallas. But the city, which is about the same size as Portland, once recorded as many as 41 traffic-related deaths, and a decade ago, there were about 10 traffic-related deaths per year. That was still too high for many Oslo residents. In 2015, city officials passed a plan that restricted cars in its city center and introduced new fees for parking in the city’s core. The city removed parking spaces, replaced them with bike lanes and pocket parks. They also reduced speed limits on city streets outside the center, expanded its overall bike network, and created zones that reduced the presence of cars around schools.

From an urban design perspective, the strategy was fairly straightforward: figure out how to separate cars and people as much as possible while expanding mobility for pedestrians and cyclists. And yet, even in a Scandinavian city like Oslo, realizing this was a challenge. Oslo’s business community fought hard against the car ban, but city officials persevered. Their efforts saved lives.

It is difficult to imagine such a scene playing out in Dallas. The streets here are larger, faster, and more dangerous; the political pressures are more intense; the culture around pedestrian, bicycles, and street life is less developed and entrenched. It would cost millions—if not billions—to redesign the streets to make them safer, and yet the city can hardly keep streets paved and free of potholes.

But Olso does offer Dallas a valuable lesson. Making streets safer isn’t simply about urban design—bike lanes and road diets and the rest. At its heart, it is a political challenge. Until American cities can stand up to entrenched political forces that perpetuate an urban model that favors vehicular movement over people’s lives then American Vision Zero plans will have limited success. In order to be effective, Dallas’ forthcoming Vision Zero Plan will have to be bold and politically risky. Anything less will be equivalent to saying that it is okay that 70 of our neighbors will die this year because of dangerous streets.

By Peter Simek Published in FrontBurner January 6, 2020 11:24 am

Leave a Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

December 29, 2019 · 10:41 pm

Austin traffic deaths increase for the first time since adopting Vision Zero

December 18, 2019 – CBSAustin News – This year 85 people have been killed on Austin roads and 2019 is not yet over. More friends and family members are dying despite city council having a goal to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.   In May of 2016 Austin City Council adopted the Vision Zero Action Plan. City leaders put in writing the goal to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.  Initially traffic deaths declined from 102 in 2015 to 79 lives lost in 2016, 76 deaths in 2017 and 74 people killed in 2018. However, so far in 2019 85 people have died– an increase of nearly 15 percent compared to last year.

“Do you feel like what we’re doing is working?” CBS Austin asked Austin Mayor Steve Adler. “I think it’s working because I think we’d have more people dying and more people injured today without the plan than we have with the plan,” Adler says.

“He was a gentleman. He was an outdoors guy and he was most of all a classical ballet dancer,” Anna Bauereis says of her son Alexei. He started dancing at age five and Ballet Austin was his second home. After overcoming middle school bullying, Anna says her son was a supporter, encourager and a wonderful friend.  “Don’t get me wrong. He was a 14-year-old boy though and he had all of the 14-year-old boy things,” she says with a laugh. “But as a person he was just phenomenal. He really cared about our community and the people in it,” Bauereis says.  In June of 2016, Alexei was walking a friend home when he was hit and killed in the crosswalk on Spicewood Springs Road at Rustic Rock Drive. Since her son’s death 281 more people have died on Austin streets.

“From a parent perspective who lost a child… there is not enough money spent on this and there is not enough attention given to this and there needs to be that priority,” she says.

In September 2019 Adler and the city council adopted a $4.2 billion budget which includes:

  • More than $60 Million to end homelessness
  • More than $40 Million for affordable housing
  • Nearly $13 Million for the parks and rec aquatics program
  • $2.5 Million for the Vision Zero plan to end traffic deaths

“Do you feel like we are allocating an adequate amount of time and money to the subject of traffic deaths?” CBS Austin asked. “You know, the answer to that is no. We’re not putting an adequate enough money against virtually any of the most serious challenges we have in this city,” says Adler. He points to other spending that isn’t specifically earmarked for Vision Zero in the budget but still works toward the goal of making streets safer– like the 2016 voter-approved Mobility Bond that includes safety improvements for dangerous intersections.

“It is a priority. There are a lot of priorities. I wish we could do more against them all,” Adler says.  The city’s transportation department stopped short of saying eliminating traffic deaths in the next five years can’t be done.

“The goals far outweigh what the investment’s been so far,” says transportation safety officer Lewis Leff.  Next year the Austin Transportation Department plans to spend $1.1M to reimburse police for additional safety programs like increased DWI enforcement and for the first time Vision Zero will have three full-time staff members.

“Reaching a goal of zero is ambitious, but it’s the only morally acceptable goal that we have for our program. That’s always going to be our goal and whether or not we reach it this year, in five years or in 10 years we need to work towards that,” explains Leff. In five or ten years hundreds more Austinites will die in traffic crashes. A total of 416 people have died in Austin crashes in the last four years.

“Vision Zero needs to be in place. More money needs to be put there. I understand that they’re doing the best they think they can, but unfortunately what may happen is one of their family members dies and something will get done,” Bauereis says.

In the three years since Alexei’s death Bauereis has turned anguish into advocacy — pushing for safer street design and technological investments to combat drunk and distracted driving. It’s a plan she’s taking to Washington D.C. next year as a Texas representative for Families for Safe Streets.

“Do you ever wonder what your son would think about everything you’re doing?” we asked Bauereis. “I don’t think he would be surprised,” she says. After all, she’s serving her community and leaving a mark– just like Alexei did during the short time he was with her.   “We’re just proud parents and he would definitely not be surprised,” Bauereis says.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

October 7, 2019 · 11:52 pm

Vision Zero Goals for No Traffic Fatalities Not On the Horizon – City Auditor finds goal unlikely

Vision Zero Goals for No Traffic Fatalities Not On the HorizonOct. 4, 2019 – Austin Chronicle – By Sarah Marloff  — Despite serious efforts made by the city to reduce traffic fatalities, a new report from the city auditor says Austin’s Vision Zero goals are “unlikely” to be achieved. After more than 100 people died in local traffic crashes in 2015, the city embarked on its Vision Zero plan to reach zero fatal and serious injury crashes within city limits by 2025. Released Sept. 25, the audit report applauds the city’s work with Capital Metro and the Texas Department of Transportation to achieve its goal, but found that “factors outside the city’s control make it unlikely” to achieve the goal within six years.

While the Austin Transportation Department has been working to improve safety at intersections, the data used to identify which intersections to update – nine have been completed with another eight to go – did not come from the Vision Zero plan. Though a new list identifies at least 150 more that need updates, ATD can only improve three to four per year. The report concludes: “Addressing all intersections with a severe crash is not possible” due to the number that have been sites of severe crashes (over 750 between 2012 and 2016) and the occurrence rates (75% of them only had one severe crash during that time period). Another challenge is a lack of historical data on where and how to make streets safer. The report also notes that despite work to educate the public on traffic safety, “these efforts could be better targeted to address the dangerous behaviors that frequently result in serious crashes.”

It’s not all in the city’s hands. Many of Austin’s traffic deaths take place on roads outside local control, such as I-35. State laws limit Austin’s ability to reduce speed limits and prohibits red-light cameras. Nearly all pedestrian deaths in the first half of 2019 involved people experiencing homelessness. Moving forward, the report provides four recommendations to ATD:

• Consider the severity of crashes at all stages of analysis in future safety improvement decisions;

• Work with Austin police and other relevant parties to improve data collection and consistency;

• Ensure decisions related to all roadway improvements and methodology are appropriately documented; and

• Expand traffic safety education efforts to specifically target dangerous behaviors.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

August 29, 2019 · 10:19 am

Austin considers speed changes for safer streets

Aug. 28, 2019 – CommunityImpact – The city of Austin is proposing new speed management solutions, such as speed cushions and speed limit changes, for more roadways throughout Austin. (Amy Denney/Community Impact Newspaper)

In an effort to reduce the number of traffic fatalities and make streets safer, the city of Austin is taking what was once a neighborhood-focused approach and applying it citywide.

From 2014-19, the Austin Transportation Department has been installing speed cushions and other devices in an effort to control speed on neighborhood and small collector streets. In Northwest Austin on Mesa Drive south of Spicewood Springs Road where the speed limit is 30 mph, speed cushions installed in 2017 have helped reduce the number of vehicles traveling over 35 mph from almost 2,600 to about 200, according to city data.

No need for speedHowever, new analysis of traffic collisions shows focusing speed-management efforts, such as reducing speed limits, on major roadways could have a greater impact on reducing the number of traffic fatalities and serious injuries resulting from traffic collisions.

“It’s important to change [street]design, but just lowering speed limits systemwide does actually cause people to drive safer,” said Jay Blazek Crossley, executive director of Farm & City, an Austin-based think tank focused on urban planning and transportation.

The city’s goal under its Vision Zero program is to have zero traffic fatalities by 2025. From 2012-18, the number of annual traffic fatalities has averaged 78, with a peak at 102 deaths in 2015, according to city data. About 68% of these fatalities occurred on 8% of the city’s streets, ATD Transportation Safety Officer Lewis Leff said. Targeting all streets under the speed management program could result in fewer traffic fatalities, he said.

“We need to do more—there’s fair criticism out there—and this [program]is one approach to a systemic change that we’d like to see help that goal,” Leff said.

Under the Local Area Traffic Management program, the city has spent $4.78 million since 2014 installing speed cushions, pedestrian islands, radar speed signs and other mitigation devices. The program was citizen-led in that residents submitted requests to the city for speed management devices, and the city conducted a speed study. Work remains on about a dozen projects that will be completed by January, including adding speed signs on Mesa.

City data shows most traffic fatalities happen on larger roadways, such as Parmer Lane and Anderson Mill Road, so staffers created a high-injury network based on five years’ worth of data.

This map will help inform staffers where to spend an anticipated $500,000 on speed management in fiscal year 2019-20, said Eric Bollich, managing engineer for ATD’s Transportation Engineering Division. City Council is expected to adopt the budget in mid-September, and ATD is hoping to secure $141,147 to hire a program manager.

“We can focus on the high-injury network to really hone in on those hotspots,” he said.  The transportation department also has an agreement with the Austin Police Department to target enforcement of speed limits on these high-injury roadways.  “We’re seeing a lot of citations and warnings, and [the police are]getting out there to try to educate drivers at the same time about how important it is along those particular areas to pay attention to their speeds, reduce distracted driving, and yield to pedestrians and bicyclists and other vulnerable road users,” Leff said.

Crossley said he hopes the city continues to focus on neighborhood streets and not just high-injury roadways.  “The safe neighborhood streets are very important, and every kid in Austin and corner of the region deserves the freedom to walk around in [their own]neighborhood,” he said.

In the Canyon Creek neighborhood of Northwest Austin, resident Katherine Cristobal has seen numerous collisions along Boulder Lane, the main roadway that connects to RM 620 and runs through the neighborhood.  Speeding is a major concern, she said, adding a driver even ran through an iron fence near the day care center where her two children attend.  “It’s very disturbing,” she said.

In the past year, the city added radar speed signs to tell drivers how fast they are going. But Cristobal said she wants to see lower speed limits on Boulder and even on RM 620.

“If they would lower the speed limit it might help because part of the reason people run so many red lights is they just don’t want to stop,” she said.

Lowering the speed limit on city- and state-owned roadways is another tool ATD is considering under its new speed-management program.

Leff said state code allows the city to conduct speed studies on a roadway to see if it would qualify for speed limit change. City Council could then change the speed limit by ordinance and determine the current speed to be unreasonable or unsafe.  “We’re continuing to explore what that looks like,” Leff said.

Although the city has not yet named which streets it will consider for speed limit changes, Bollich said staffers analyzed the major corridors receiving funds from the 2016 Mobility Bond, which include Burnet Road and North Lamar Boulevard, as well as streets in the high-injury network.

Austin is one of three Texas cities that has adopted a Vision Zero goal and action plan aimed at eliminating traffic fatalities, Crossley said.  The city’s Vision Zero plan revealed top intersections where traffic collisions occur, and the city improved five of the most dangerous intersections, which included Parmer and North Lamar as well as Rundberg Lane and Lamar. Safety improvements at those sites were completed in 2017.  The new speed management program would aim to capitalize on these efforts and use other tools available to the city, such as adding rumble strips and installing speed signs.

Anderson Mill neighborhood resident Susan Reed said her neighborhood began a traffic initiative to reduce speeding near schools in Anderson Mill. Residents are working with Round Rock ISD, the PTAs, ATD, APD and Williamson County to create recommendations to reduce speeding and distracted driving near schools. She would also like to see more enforcement of speed limits in Anderson Mill.  “A cooperative effort to solve a big problem like this is the only thing that works,” Reed said.

The Texas Department of Transportation is also focusing more on roadway safety. The state leads the nation in the number of traffic fatalities, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In 2018, TxDOT reported 3,640 people died on Texas roads, a decrease from 3,727 deaths in 2017.

“Texas spends more money than any other state on roads. It’s not a question of spending more money, but use data and analysis to better spend money and fix things,” Crossley said.

The Texas Transportation Commission—TxDOT’s governing board—adopted in May a goal to cut in half the number of traffic fatalities by 2035 and reduce it to zero by 2050. At the July commission meeting, TxDOT announced a spending plan of $600 million over the next two years to put toward safety. The commission was scheduled to approve the amount at its Aug. 29 meeting.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

August 3, 2019 · 3:20 pm

Distracted driving poses grave danger

by Todd Radford – Lakeway chief of police.

June 2019 — AAS – As school has ended for this year, I see more and more new drivers on our roadways. Mixed in with them are those that still treat driving as a routine event giving scant attention to the seriousness our behavior plays behind the wheel. Take a moment to consider what would happen if a person were walking into a crowded store waving a loaded gun. Would this action alarm anyone? Would people be fearful? Would someone call the police? Operating a 3,000-pound vehicle at speed while distracted is similar to the action of waving a loaded gun in a crowded place. It seems that distracted driving is so common we have failed to see it as abnormal. Unfortunately, it also seems that once a distracted driver has personally affected someone, then it becomes an issue.

During an interview, I was asked about traffic enforcement and the attitudes people have against police officers when stopped for an infraction. I said my hope is to have a day when everyone follows the law and no officer is killed or injured making a traffic stop. I am not sure why people get so upset with officers who stop them for infractions they chose to make. So why do people still violate the law and then become upset when stopped by a police officer? I guess this a real conversation is really about personal responsibility and choices. Do we not care about ourselves or others? Have we forgotten the simple act of making choices, which would dictate that we act in a way that will not harm others?

So let’s be clear, distracted driving is any activity that diverts attention from driving, including talking or texting on your phone, eating and drinking, talking to people in your vehicle, fiddling with the stereo, entertainment or navigation system—anything that takes your attention away from the task of safe driving. Texting is the most alarming distraction. Sending or reading a text takes your eyes off the road for at least 5 seconds. At 55 mph, that is like driving the length of an entire football field with your eyes closed. You cannot drive safely unless the task of driving has your full attention. Any non-driving activity you engage in is a potential distraction and increases your risk of crashing. At any given time, 7% of drivers on the road are on their phones. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 660,000 drivers are on their phones or other electronic devices at any given moment. Can you believe that? Cell phone use while operating vehicle is a major problem and is leading to thousands of deaths and injuries per year. According to a major phone company survey, almost 100% of teens agree that texting and driving is dangerous, but half admitted to doing it anyway. Although cell phone use while driving is a major factor in vehicle incidents, it is far from the only activity that pulls motorists’ attention off the road. State educational materials remind drivers that eating, drinking and grooming while behind the wheel all raise the risk of accidents as well. Additionally, playing loud music or wearing earplugs, although enjoyable to you could keep you from hearing an emergency vehicle or a horn alerting you to danger.

Here are some statistics from 2018:

• Distracted driving accounts for approximately 25% of all motor vehicle crash fatalities.

• At the time of fatal crashes, teens have been the largest age group that reported being distracted while driving. Driver distraction is reported to be responsible for more than 58% of teen crashes.

• In 2015, 391,000 injuries were caused in distracted driving related accidents. In that same year, distracted driving was cited as a major factor in 3,477 traffic deaths.

• Distracted driving claimed 3,166 lives in 2017.

• Nine people in the U.S. are killed each day because of crashes involving a distracted driver, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles.

• Since there is no way to test for distracted driving after an accident occurs, it’s widely believed that the number of crashes, injuries and fatalities caused by distracted driving are vastly under reported.

• Car crashes are the number one killer of teens in the U.S., and 16- to 19-year-olds are three times more likely to be involved in a fatal car crash than any other age group.

• Distracted driving is commonly referred to as the “new drunk driving.” Driving distracted is compared to drunk driving since it follows the same psychological pattern: When drivers get away with driving distracted, they then continue to practice this bad habit until a crash occurs or until they are caught and suffer consequences.

• Over 80% of drivers admit to blatantly hazardous behavior while driving, such as changing clothes, steering with a foot, painting nails or even shaving.

The Texas law regarding distracted driving is found in the Texas Transportation Code. Essentially a person can use a phone via wireless device to speak on the phone. You can manipulate it to play music, navigation or to summon help. You can text only when the vehicle is stopped.

When you decide to get behind the wheel of any vehicle, be sober, be calm, pay attention, choose to follow the rules of the road and stay off your phone. It is safer for you and everyone around you. I would like to thank Lt. David Law for his contributions to this column.

We can make a choice to drive safer and together we can work to keep our community safer. If you are traveling this summer, please let our police department know so we can check on your home for you. While on your trip, have fun, and travel safely. We look forward to your return to our beautiful and safe community.

 

Leave a Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

December 28, 2018 · 3:41 pm

Austin police issued 30% fewer traffic citations this year

Dec. 27, 2018 — Statesman.com — Traffic citations issued by Austin police took a notable dip this year compared with 2017, a drop that seems to fit a downward trend in the past few years, police data show.

The exact reasons for the decrease are unclear, but police believe several factors could have contributed, including changes in a law enforcement grant that required officers to issue citations, the temporary removal of hundreds of police vehicles from patrol for repairs and a lower rate of crashes in the city.   Police wrote about 68,300 citations from January through November, 30 percent fewer than in the same period in 2017, according to data from the Austin Municipal Court.

The number of citations decreased steadily through the past four years, though not as sharply as in the past 12 months. Citations dropped 13.1 percent from 2015 to 2016 and 10.9 percent from 2016 to 2017.  Several things happened in the past two years that might have caused the latest dip, but “you can’t put your finger on just one thing,” said Austin police Cmdr. Eric Miesse, who oversees highway enforcement.

The state’s Selective Traffic Enforcement Program grant, which previously required Austin police officers working certain overtime shifts to stop and cite someone once every 20 minutes, eliminated the citation requirement last year and now only asks officers to stop someone once every 20 minutes, Miesse said.  As a result, he said, traffic warnings went up while citations went down.  

Another possible reason for the decrease, Miesse said, was that Austin police took a third of their vehicles off the streets in the summer of 2017 when carbon monoxide leaks in some Ford Interceptor SUVs sent some officers to the hospital. Instead of each officer having his or her own vehicle, as they usually do, traffic enforcement officers were traveling in pairs while the defective vehicles were inspected and repaired.  All cars were fixed and back on the road earlier this year, police said.

In addition, so-called reportable crashes — those in which police report more than $100,000 worth of damage, someone is in pain or the car has to be towed — were down 4 percent this year, Miesse said.

Traffic deaths are also down in Austin in 2018. They reached a peak in 2015 with 102 deaths — or 11.3 deaths per 100,000 people — slightly surpassing the national rate. That number dropped to about 8 per 100,000 people in both 2016 and 2017. This year, 71 people have died on Austin’s roads, making the year-to-date rate 7.3 deaths per 100,000.

In 2016, the city launched a program to address the record level of traffic fatalities. The Vision Zero Action Plan pushed for more no-refusal periods, during which Austin police officers can more easily obtain intoxication test results from anyone they suspect to be driving under the influence. It also has tried to promote better driver behavior by increasing marketing campaigns on TV, radio and highway signs, officials have said.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

June 21, 2018 · 8:08 pm

Upcoming Alive at 25 Training Sessions in July in Austin

Alive at 25® is a pilot training program that addresses risky driving behaviors and the cost of crashes incurred by young and inexperienced drivers. Whether they occur on or off the job, employer’s absorb the brunt of crash costs involving employees and their family members.

Alive at 25® is an interactive program designed to teach young adults how to make safe, respectful and legal driving decisions.

Click on links to register for upcoming training sessions and find directions to each of the locations:

Leave a Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

June 2, 2018 · 1:25 am

More Drivers Killed Under the Influence of Drugs Than Alcohol

May 31, 2018 – U.S, News – A new report found fatally injured drivers are increasingly under the influence of one or more drugs.  Some 22.3 percent of fatally injured motorists who were tested for drugs tested positive for marijuana in 2016, a figure that researchers say has “increased substantially” in recent years as states have legalized the drug for recreational or medicinal use, according to a new report.

The finding, in a study released Thursday by the Governors Highway Safety Association, was one of several regarding the growing prevalence of drugs in vehicle fatalities. The report also found that 44 percent of drivers killed in automobile accidents in 2016 who were tested for drugs tested positive for one or more substances – a number that was up 28 percent from 10 years prior. That figure eclipsed the 37.9 percent who were known to have been tested for alcohol and tested positive – a figure that actually fell in the last decade, from 41 percent in 2006.

The report was intended to draw attention to the need to incorporate a drug message into programs that encourage motorists not to drive while impaired. It noted that marijuana was the most commonly found drug. Jim Hedlund, author of the study, says “marijuana use has become more normalized” as states across the country decriminalize the drug. “If use is up, use by drivers is up,” Hedlund says.

Hedlund attributes the decline in alcohol-related deaths to the “broad societal consensus” that drunk driving is wrong. There’s a “strong societal consensus. It’s [drunk driving] is bad,” he says. “Everyone knows it’s bad.” However, this way of thinking hasn’t caught up to drug-impaired driving yet. That’s where education comes in. “That’s the next step. Precisely to provide that education,” Hedlund says.

The report suggests that some of the strategies used to decrease drunk driving can be applied to prevent people from driving while on drugs. However, several challenges come with that. A driver can consume a vast number of drugs that would be difficult to test for. Additionally, no nationally accepted method exists for testing drug-impaired drivers, and different drugs have different effects on different people.

Among recommendations to reduce drug-impaired driving, the study points to the need to develop impairment-assessment tools, such as oral-fluid devices and marijuana breath-test instruments, to support the drug-impaired-driving prosecution process by increasing law enforcement training, authorizing electronic search warrants for drug tests, and to educate prosecutors and judges on drug-impaired driving.

Hedlund outlined additional recommendations, including raising public awareness about the impairments certain drugs have on the body, and working with pharmacists to improve communication between drugmakers and consumers.

By Alexa Lardieri, Staff Writer May 31, 2018, at 12:01 a.m.

Read Full Story Here

Leave a Comment

Filed under News, Uncategorized