Is There a Missing Element in Fatality-Reduction Strategies?

By Fred Fakkema, Vice President of Safety and Compliance, Zonar; Former Cpt. with Washington State Patrol

Every 16 minutes, someone in the U.S. dies in a traffic crash.

Reducing traffic-related deaths is an urgent priority for fleets and all roadway users. The more public and private organizations that partner together, the more lives we can save together.

In 2021, fatal crashes in the U.S. reached a 16year high. The latest data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) shows rates have decreased marginally, about 0.2% for the first nine months of 2022 compared to 2021. Still, the nation’s roadways are in a state of crisis.

The National Roadway Safety Strategy (NRSS) outlines new regulatory measures, safety initiatives and funding to reduce fatal crashes. At the strategy’s core is the U.S. Department of Transportation’s adoption of the Safe System Approach, which focuses on five objectives: safer people, safer roads, safer vehicles, safer speeds and post-crash care.

When I was a young recruit going through the state patrol academy, we were taught that the three Es were the key to reducing collisions: engineering, education and enforcement. These common-sense principles may be simple but can be impactful when put into action.

Engineering Safety into Roads and Technology

Road conditions and braking capabilities are common factors in fatal collisions. However, most of the crashes in the U.S. are a direct result of human error, according to the organization Toward Zero Deaths.

How can we anticipate errors and design their solutions into our roads, vehicles and technology? We start by learning what the hazards are and where they frequently occur.

In 2020, 55% of fatal crashes involving large trucks occurred in rural areas, while only 27% occurred on interstate highways, according to data from NHTSA. Roadway infrastructure in these high-collision areas must be reworked, but we don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Rumble strips, guardrails and crash cushions are proven effective in increasing road safety. Let’s fund more of this infrastructure.

This design concept extends to vehicles and technology. In-vehicle technology must be designed for proactive safety, while preventing inherently distracting activities. For commercial drivers, one low-hanging solution is streamlining the number of digital tools and devices required for the job. Provide one interface for all the resources, monitoring and information drivers need – navigation, weather alerts, tire pressure monitoring, messaging and workflows – and include intelligent locking to prevent distracted driving. Fleet management platforms that integrate with driver apps and in-cab tablets give back-office managers the assurance that each driver has what is needed to do the job efficiently and safely.

On a more sophisticated level, machine learning technology within in-cab coaching devices can intelligently track, detect and proactively alert drivers in real time so they adjust to avoid lane departures, drifting, collisions and more. This technology also detects behavior that typically results in collisions: speed limit violations, stop sign violations, hard braking, excessive acceleration and excessive cornering.

Educating Our Way to Smarter, Safer Users

We all have a shared duty – safety and compliance officers, government organizations, researchers, advocacy groups, law enforcement, corporations, tech providers and the general public – to make our roads safer.

The National Safety Council’s Road to Zero Plan identified several initiatives to reduce roadway fatalities. One initiative prioritizes safety by creating a positive safety culture. This invites constructive thought on our individual and collective choices.

Commercial fleets have long instilled that safety culture. Fleets don’t just talk about the culture, it shows up in how drivers prepare for all types of weather events, obey construction zones, keep safe distances from other vehicles and operate safely around other vehicles.

It’s also a culture that embraces a willingness to learn. When we know what works, we can double down on proven strategies. We know humans make mistakes, and those mistakes can lead to crashes. So, we design systems and processes to account for it. For example, one pencil-whipped miss in a trip inspection can result in a collision. That’s why fleets are increasingly adopting verifiable, digital pre- and post-trip inspections to comply with regulations and help put drivers in a safety mindset. It’s also proven to reduce safety risks by getting ahead of any necessary maintenance needs before they become a significant issue.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has been studying fleet inspection data and is proposing changes to better identify carriers with a high crash risk. The new methodology splits vehicle maintenance by carrier (maintenance violations commonly identified by a mechanic) and driver (maintenance violations observed by inspectors as part of a Level II roadside inspection). This proposal puts more emphasis on pre- and post-trip inspections for safety scores, making inspections fairer, more accurate and more transparent to improve road safety.

Changing Driver Behavior through Enforcement

Aggressive driving, seatbelt usage, speeding, and distracted or impaired driving are among the most common injury-causing behaviors on the road. Speeding alone has been a factor in nearly a third of all motor vehicle fatalities, according to NHTSA.

All the preventative safety measures in the world – thoughtfully designed infrastructure, educational initiatives, best practice analysis and in-vehicle technology – are inadequate on their own. This is where enforcement comes into play.

Targeted enforcement can reduce collisions by using technology and data to focus on problem areas. In the past, it helped curb two major collision-causing behaviors: seat belt usage and alcohol consumption. An emerging collision-causing behavior is cell phone use. The behavior is outlawed at the federal level for commercial drivers. The next step is to close the gap and extend the prohibition to passenger vehicle drivers. The National Safety Council is already calling for action from employers, legislators, drivers, and vehicle and smartphone manufacturers.

The issue of law enforcement sparks passionate debates. Although the NRSS mentions enforcement, it isn’t named as an explicit priority. In my opinion, that’s a miss. Together, enforcement, engineering and education create a holistic approach to make roads safer.

What Is at Stake

Road safety is where public-private partnerships can make a life-or-death difference.

I was a state trooper for 25 years and captain of the commercial vehicle division for the state of Washington before joining the private sector. It’s great to see a national initiative as comprehensive and coordinated as the National Roadway Safety Strategy. It’s going to take all of us to bring the annual number of roadway deaths down to zero.

The challenges have changed since I was a young cadet eager to make a difference, but the goalpost remains the same: one death is too many. How will you step up to help?