Latest news with #DavidHarkey
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Portland City Council to review Vision Zero effect
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — In 2016, the Portland City Council adopted Vision Zero, a plan to stop traffic deaths completely by 2030. Clearly, that's not working, as two more pedestrians were killed in crashes this past weekend in separate parts of the city. One of those crashes happened around , one of Portland's Last year in Portland, 69 people died in traffic crashes, up from 62 the year before. Pedestrian dies after late night Northwest Portland crash Highway safety experts are pushing for city leaders to go for a new plan instead of . The plan by 30% over the next 5 years. David Harkey the president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, said they 'still believe in the concept of Vision Zero, but we feel like we really need this interim target to help us move in the right direction.' Harkey, who spoke to , North Carolina, said he saw a sharp incline in traffic-related deaths in recent years. 'If we can get everybody on the same page and moving in the same direction, I think people will take notice and we will start to see changes in policy and practice that will make a difference,' Harkey said. On Wednesday, the Portland City Council will review the progress made with Vision Zero. KOIN 6 News will follow this story. Gina Hicks, who lives near SE 122nd and Ash, said she's not surprised at the fatalities in the area. Portland traffic deaths decline, but deadly trends persist, new report says 'We have a lot of people here with mental health problems right out in traffic, and the traffic doesn't always stop at this white line,' Hicks said. 'When the traffic's backed up, they will go through the intersection and nobody's expecting that. And so it's a danger to pedestrians.' She said she's nearly been hit at this intersection. 'Being in a wheelchair, unless they're looking, they can't see me.' 'We got the intersection behind me and that walk signal takes a long time to change. And so people tend to just walk out in and take their chances,' she said. 'The traffic is really heavy through here.' In the meantime, Gina Hicks said something needs to be done. 'They need to have, like, better marking through here, maybe more warning signs if there's a stop coming up here,' she said. 'It's a danger to pedestrians.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Forbes
31-07-2025
- Automotive
- Forbes
Many Countries – Including Canada –Top U.S. In Road Safety, Study Says
The United States is an outlier when it comes to keeping people safe on the roads. Among 29 high-income countries, it has the highest per person crash fatality rate — more than twice the average of the other 28. Canada, which ranks 14th among the 28 countries, has stronger road safety policies overall than the U.S., where deaths in traffic crashes have been generally inching up since 2011 after a long period of decline, while in Canada they have continued to fall. Those are the highlights of new research released on Thursday by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety(IIHS), a nonprofit financed by the insurance industry. 'The U.S. could learn a lot from our northern neighbor,' David Harkey, president of the Insurance Institute, said in a statement. 'Our countries are culturally very similar, so there is reason to believe that many policies that work there could help the U.S. get back on the right track when it comes to road safety.' Traffic deaths rose 33% between 2011 and 2021 nationwide, and in Canada, deaths declined 18% over a similar period. Stronger distracted driving and seat belt laws, as well as more widespread use of speed safety cameras are among the policies that have helped Canada save lives and reduce serious injuries. The study, 'A comparison of recent crash fatality trends in Canada and the United States: Why do they differ?,' conducted by the Insurance Institute and Canada's Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF), explored fatality trends and differences in policies between the two countries. Many other countries have been more proactive with their safety policies in recent decades, particularly when it comes to factors like speed and alcohol, including Canada, whose per person fatality rate is less than half that of the U.S. Embracing the Vision Zero or Safe System approach to road safety and design, according to the researchers, is considered a major factor for the progress. The initiative takes human error into account and was first put into effect in Sweden in the 1990s. The goal is to eliminate all road deaths and serious injuries by creating multiple layers of protection, so if one fails, the others will create a safety net to lessen the impact of a crash. Improvements are designed to result in: safer people, safer roads, safer vehicles, safer speeds and better post-crash care. Canada's advances occurred even though its population, number of licensed drivers and miles driven all increased at a greater pace than in the U.S. during this time period, according to the report. Interestingly, crash types that were linked with the biggest fatality increases in the U.S. were the same types that went down by large percentages in Canada. Both pedestrian and cyclist fatalities rose 64% in the U.S., but fell 17% in Canada, for example, and deaths involving large trucks increased 54% in the U.S. and decreased 24% in Canada. Crash deaths involving young drivers fell by slightly more than 50% in Canada, but increased by 17% in the U.S. And deaths involving alcohol impairment and speed rose in the U.S. and went down in Canada. Many U.S. states have strong laws on seat belts and distracted driving and laws allowing speed safety cameras, but in Canada, laws in those areas were more widespread, covering a larger share of the country's population than in the U.S. during the study period, researchers said. Differences in laws around impaired driving were among the factors not included in the analysis, but may have also contributed to the diverging trends. For example, in most U.S. states, there are no penalties for most drivers if they are stopped with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) between 0.05% and 0.08%. In contrast, the study noted, 'all Canadian provinces except Quebec impose administrative penalties at low-BACs. In addition, Canadian police can demand a roadside breath test from any driver without suspicion of impairment as is required in the U.S.' Refusing a test, the report noted, is a criminal offense in Canada. Harkey, the Insurance Institute's president, will host a live conversation about what the U.S. can learn from Canada on Thursday, July 31, at 11:30 a.m. ET. on YouTube. The full recording will be available afterward. For more information and to read the full report, click here and here.
Forbes
28-07-2025
- Health
- Forbes
Drunk Driving Jump Tied To Mental Health And Police Cuts, Report Shows
A new study analyzed fatal drunk-driving crashes that occurred from 2018 – 2022 and the factors that ... More may have contributed to them. A national mental health crisis that resulted in more alcohol use and reductions in policing may have fueled a rise in impaired driving deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, policies allowing delivery of alcohol were linked with more deaths, but allowing to-go drinks from bars and restaurants was associated with fewer deaths. Those are the highlights of new research on the pandemic impaired driving death spike released earlier this month by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a nonprofit financed by the insurance industry. The study was based on an analysis of fatal drunk driving crashes that occurred from 2018 – 2022 and the factors that may have contributed to them. 'These results reinforce the need for a Safe System approach that incorporates multiple measures to combat impaired driving,' David Harkey, the Insurance Institute's president, said in a statement. The Safe System or Vision Zero approach to road safety and design takes human error into account. It was first put into effect in Sweden in the 1990s. The goal is to eliminate all road deaths and serious injuries by creating multiple layers of protection, so if one fails, the others will provide a safety net to lessen the impact of a crash. Improvements are designed to result in: safer people, safer roads, safer vehicles, safer speeds and better post-crash care. 'Sobriety checks and other visible policing efforts can only happen if we have enough officers,' Harkey added. 'We should also boost programs that include treatment for substance abuse and mental health disorders.' The research paper, 'Factors associated with alcohol-impaired driver crash deaths in the United States, 2018-2022,' analyzed alcohol policies, mental health factors, and law enforcement employment reductions as potential explanations for the increase in alcohol-related deaths. In this country, the proportion of passenger vehicle drivers killed in crashes with blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) at or above 0.08% – the legal limit in most states - increased from 28% in 2019 (before the pandemic began) to 30% in 2020 and remained elevated at 31% in 2022. Poor mental health Self-reported depressive episodes and suicide plans were associated with an increase in impaired driver deaths during the period of examination. In surveys conducted in May 2020, 60% of U.S. adults reported they had been drinking more with the onset of the pandemic, and sales figures for alcohol also showed a higher volume sold from March 2020 to August 2021 than in the same months in 2017-19, according to the study. Mental health issues likely contributed to increased consumption during the pandemic, researchers said, as many Americans struggled with issues like isolation, stress related to the lack of child care and lost income, and worry about health risks. Cuts to police rosters Reductions in full-time law enforcement personnel was also associated with an increase in impaired-driver deaths, which may have reduced hesitation that drinkers had about getting behind the wheel. There was an average loss of five full-time law enforcement officers per 100,000 residents nationwide during the report's study period from 2018 to 2022. Concerns about contracting COVID prompted some departments to scale back on traffic stops and other routine work, according to the study, and some municipalities reduced police funding after the killing of George Floyd in May 2020. Mixed impact of alcohol sales policy changes The number of states that allowed bars and restaurants to make home deliveries of alcohol rose from 21 to 37 between January and December of 2020, and the number of those businesses permitted to sell alcoholic drinks to go increased from 21 states to 45. Home-delivery policies were associated with slightly more than 300 additional impaired driver deaths per year in the states that adopted them, but to-go policies were associated with some 450 fewer deaths per year in states with those rules in place, though the reasons are unknown. 'It's notable that the effect of the mental health crisis was more pronounced than the reduction in policing, as the mental health dimension of the impaired-driving problem receives comparatively little attention,' Angela Eichelberger, a senior research scientist at the Insurance Institute and the study's author, said in a statement. For more information and to read the full report, click here and here.
Yahoo
25-07-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Blind spots in popular vehicles have grown in recent years: IIHS
This story was originally published on Automotive Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Automotive Dive newsletter. The forward blind spots of six popular vehicles grew in size during the same period that U.S. pedestrian and cyclist deaths rose, according to new research using a measurement technique developed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Switch Auto Insurance and Save Today! Affordable Auto Insurance, Customized for You The Insurance Savings You Expect Great Rates and Award-Winning Service A new study by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Volpe Center found that between 1997 and 2023, forward visibility for three popular SUVs (Chevrolet Suburban, Honda CR-V and Jeep Grand Cherokee) declined as much as 58%, while the forward visibility of a Ford F-150 passenger truck fell 17%. The forward visibility of two popular cars (Honda Accord and Toyota Camry) also fell by about 8%. During the same 25-year period studied, the number of pedestrians and cyclists killed on U.S. roads increased by 37% and 42%, respectively. 'The across-the-board decrease in visibility for this small group of models is concerning.' IIHS President David Harkey said in a statement. 'We need to investigate whether this is a broader trend that may have contributed to the recent spike in pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities,' he said. Refining research parameters The Volpe Center's research was made possible by a new technique IIHS developed to measure vehicle blind spots. Previously, IIHS said that researchers needed engineering drawings from automakers, or else position vehicles around grid lines and vehicle cones they had to arrange themselves. As such, researchers faced obstacles pursuing extensive studies on vehicle visibility. IIHS's new technique uses computational software and a 360-degree rotating camera that can be positioned at various heights in a vehicle's driver seat, to represent the sizes of different drivers. According to a different IIHS study, the blind spot maps produced with this new technique are 'nearly identical' to the traditional methods researchers once had to use. This means the technique 'promises to facilitate a raft of new research into driver visibility,' IIHS said. The Volpe Center study on blind spots required creating blind spot maps of 17 different vehicles representing different model years of six vehicles, to study and compare changes in their vehicle design over time. Visibility diminishes with taller vehicle fronts The most dramatic decline in visibility came from the SUVs studied. For example, researchers found that the 1997 Honda CR-V allows drivers to see 68% of the area 10 meters in front of the vehicle, while drivers of the 2022 model year can only see 28% of the same area. Compared to the 1997 model, the 2022 Honda CR-V has a higher hood and larger side mirrors, which limits their visibility, IIHS said. Meanwhile, visibility for drivers of the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry declined within the margin of error, and visibility for the Ford F-150 passenger truck was already low. Drivers in a 1997 Ford F-150 can see 43% of the area 10 meters in front of them, but that visibility only dropped to 36% for the 2015 model. According to previous IIHS research, higher and more blunt vehicle fronts contribute to greater fatality risk. 'If further research confirms that [declining visibility] changes reflect a general change, that would suggest that declining visibility in SUVs has compounded the effects of taller, blunt-nosed vehicles that IIHS has already documented,' said Becky Mueller, co-author of the Volpe Center study and IIHS senior research engineer who led the development of the new measurement technique. Recommended Reading Enforcement, education could reduce traffic deaths from distracted driving: report Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
The Star
15-07-2025
- Automotive
- The Star
Drivers are finding it harder to see out of newer cars, survey finds
The forward blind zones of six top-selling passenger vehicles in the US grew over the past 25 years as pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities soared, researchers say. — Photo: Sebastian Gollnow/dpa If you have the feeling it's become harder to get a clear view of the road from the driver's seat of a car these days, you are probably right. At least that's the conclusion of a new US survey. Researchers from the US non-profit Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) said that tech-powered features such as blind-spot monitoring seem to encourage designers to further shrink the amount of glass on a vehicle. They also pay less attention to the problem of higher bonnets and tailgates, which can obstruct the driver's outward view. The forward blind zones of six top-selling passenger vehicles grew over the past 25 years as pedestrian and cyclist fatalities soared, said the IIHS. "The across-the-board decrease in visibility for this small group of models is concerning. We need to investigate whether this is a broader trend that may have contributed to the recent spike in pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities," said IIHS President David Harkey. Vulnerable road user deaths in the US have increased to their highest level in more than 40 years, the IIHS says. "At the same time, increasing vehicle size and taller front ends may contribute to larger forward blind zones, but little is known about the role that visual occlusion may play in this trend." To quantify the blind zones, researchers from the Department of Transport (DOT) used the IIHS method to calculate the occluded and visible areas at ground level in a forward 180-degree arc around the driver at ranges of 10 metres and 20 metres. In the 10-metre forward radius nearest the vehicle, outward visibility declined in all six vehicle models measured over time. The SUV models showed up to a 58% reduction in visibility within a 10-metre radius. Other vehicles exhibited smaller (7-19%) reductions. At longer distances (10 to 20 metres), vehicles demonstrated both increases and decreases in visibility. The results show that, for the selected vehicles (Chevrolet Suburban, Ford F-150, Honda Accord and CR-V, Jeep Grand Cherokee and Toyota Camry), the outward visibility has decreased. The study noted that the biggest difference in visibility from the cockpit was observed with the Honda CR-V. In a 1997 model, the researchers measured 68% visibility, while the 2022 edition came in at just 28%. — dpa
