DoakTC's Traffic Safety Summit Notes, Day 1

It's Day One of the Michigan Traffic Safety Summit at the Kellogg Center in East Lansing. Here is a brief summary of my notes and observations from the first sessions.

- Michigan traffic fatalities dropped 11% in 2009 going from 980 in 2008 to 871 (http://www.michigan.gov/msp/0,1607,7-123-1593_3504-234135--,00.html). The trend is great, unless, of course, you are in one the 871 families that lost a member to a traffic crash last year. The Summit is aimed at the goal of zero families impacted some day. Seems like an absurd goal, but a figure of 871 seemed almost as absurd not that long ago.

- Distracted driving is increasing its status as a traffic safety enemy. The fact that research is starting to provide real numbers is aiding this concern and the ability to take it more seriously. It's not just anecdotal anymore. Within the next 10 - 20 years we will look back on this current transitional era the same way that we look at the era when drinking and driving still had a socially accepted (or tolerated) status.

- Some major employers not only have their own policies prohibiting employee cell phone use in vehicles, but also will only do business with vendors/contractors that have similar workplace policies.

- There will be an increased danger to bike riders as more people text while driving. The texting driver tends to drift off of the road and not notice what is there. Current estimates put yearly texting at 135 billion.

- Current estimates are that texting contributes to 200,000 yearly crashes nationally, and that cell phone use in general contributes to 1.4 million.

- Teens have the highest risk of crashing while texting. This is a hard sell, though. My interviews with teen drivers during the past year have demonstrated an almost complete confidence in their ability to text and drive. In their opinions they are experts in texting, it comes completely natural to them and so it is not a distraction.

- Hands Free cell phone laws will most likely not reduce cell phone related crashes because of the cognitive distraction. These laws may even prove to be counter productive.

- Today's Traffic Safety web sites include:

http://www.distraction.gov/

http://www.trafficsafetymarketing.gov/

http://www.nsc.org/safety_road/Pages/safety_on_the_road.aspx