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Auto Blog
a day ago
- Automotive
- Auto Blog
IIHS Wants 3 Canadian Driving Laws to Increase U.S. Road Safety
By signing up I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy . You may unsubscribe from email communication at anytime. The IIHS roadmap for stronger U.S. traffic safety The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has highlighted multiple Canadian driving laws that it believes would decrease U.S. traffic fatality rates. The IIHS is advocating that the U.S. mirror Canada by expanding its use of traffic enforcement cameras while increasing the stringency of laws related to distracted driving, seatbelt use, blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels, and how police can request a breathalyzer test. Speed, work zone, school zone, and red-light cameras are among the U.S.'s most common types of traffic enforcement cameras. As of 2025, 22 states permit the use of speed cameras, according to the World Population Review. However, among these states, Arkansas and Indiana don't allow red-light cameras. There are also some states that don't permit speed cameras, but approve red-light cameras, including California, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Missouri, and North Carolina. By providing your email address, you agree that it may be used pursuant to Arena Group's Privacy Policy. We may receive compensation. The Canadian and General Motors flags outside General Motors Canada's Oshawa Assembly Complex in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada — Source: Cole Burston/Bloomberg via Getty Images Regarding distracted driving in Canada, fines for the offense now start at $600, JRJ Law reports. In contrast, U.S. states like Alabama fine first-time texting and driving offenders as little as $25. While New Hampshire is the only U.S. state without an adult seat belt law, 24 states categorize the legislation under secondary enforcement, meaning police can only write a citation after pulling a driver over for a different offense. Seat belt fines in the U.S. also start at amounts as little as $30 in states like Kansas, whereas in Canada, penalties typically begin at $200. According to Business in Vancouver, a survey showed that 69% of Canadians get upset not seeing a driver wearing a seatbelt, compared to 57% in America. The IIHS is also advocating for lower BAC limits and giving police the ability to force any driver to submit a breathalyzer test, regardless of whether they're suspected of being intoxicated, The Truth About Cars reports. While the U.S.'s most common BAC limit for drivers matches Canada's federal regulation of 0.08%, many Canadian provinces impose administrative sanctions at 0.05% or lower, creating a layered approach. Considerations when comparing driving in Canada to the U.S. The IIHS studied traffic fatalities between the U.S. and Canada from 2007 to 2021 and found that U.S. fatalities began increasing after 2011, but Canada maintained a declining trend. However, there are some notable differences between the two countries. The U.S. has a population of about 347,275,807, whereas Canada's is around 40,126,723, according to Worldometer. Canadians also have a slightly shorter average commuting distance than Americans, The Truth About Cars reports. Autoblog Newsletter Autoblog brings you car news; expert reviews and exciting pictures and video. Research and compare vehicles, too. Sign up or sign in with Google Facebook Microsoft Apple By signing up I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy . You may unsubscribe from email communication at anytime. A car hauler crossing the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor, Canada and Detroit, Michigan — Source: Getty Final thoughts While factors like population in the U.S. versus Canada impact statistical differences between the two countries in areas such as traffic fatalities, the IIHS' finding that Canada maintained a declining trend in driving deaths after 2011, while rates in America increased, warrants attention. One of the most apparent differences between the U.S. and Canada is the fine amounts in areas like distracted driving and seatbelt use. U.S. States increasing the minimum fine amounts for these offenses could cause drivers to think twice about breaking the law. Legislators could also likely benefit from mirroring Canada's layered protections that leverage law, technology, and enforcement instead of patchwork regulations. About the Author Cody Carlson View Profile
Yahoo
06-08-2025
- 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.
Forbes
28-06-2025
- Automotive
- Forbes
Blind Zones Block Drivers' Vision In Newer Vehicles, Study Shows
In some newer vehicles, blind zones are getting bigger and blocking drivers' vision. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety The blind zones of six popular passenger vehicles – Chevrolet Suburban, Ford F-150, Honda Accord, Honda CR-V, Jeep Grand Cherokee and Toyota Camry – grew substantially over the past 25 years and resulted in a decrease in forward visibility. Those are the main take-a-ways of a new study that evaluated the role newer vehicle design plays in driver visibility, released on Thursday by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) , a nonprofit financed by the insurance industry. The research found that in some newer vehicles, blind zones are getting bigger and blocking drivers' vision. '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,' David Harkey, the Insurance Institute's president, said in a statement. The study to assess how newer vehicle designs can block drivers' vision was conducted by the United States Department of Transportation's Volpe Center using a new technique of measuring a driver's direct area of vision around a vehicle that was developed by the Insurance Institute. The new method uses computational software and a portable camera rig to create a blind zone map and is more efficient than traditional blind zone mapping, the Institute said. Researchers examined and compared how the designs of the six top-selling vehicles changed over model years 1997 to 2023. Visibility reductions were most pronounced for the SUVs. Forward visibility within a 10-meter radius fell as much as 58% for three popular SUVs, according to the study. The most dramatic reduction came for the Honda CR-V, as the vehicle's hood, mirrors and A-pillars all obstructed a greater portion of the driver's view over time. Drivers of the 1997 model were able to see 68% of the area 10 meters in front of the vehicle, while drivers of the 2022 model can see only 28%. For the Honda CR-V (and the 2000 Suburban) the biggest changes in the blind zone were due to a higher hood that blocked more of the frontal plane and larger side mirrors that obscured the views at their front corners. In contrast, the early models of the two cars provided relatively good visibility that fell less than 8% in later generations, researchers said. The visibility reductions for the two cars were less severe. The smallest decrease came for the Accord, which permitted the driver to see 65% of the area 10 meters in front of the vehicle in 2003 and 60% in 2023. For the Camry, visibility decreased from 61% in 2007 to 57% in 2023. 'These results are notable because we already know that the portion of SUVs in the U.S. fleet grew substantially over these years as well,' Becky Mueller, senior research engineer at the Insurance Institute, said in a statement. She led the development of the new mapping technique and is a co-author of the Volpe Center study. 'If further research confirms that these 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,' Mueller added. The results of the study point to a troubling trend during the 25-year period assessed, according to the report, a time when pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities on U.S roads soared. Insurance Institute researchers noted that little is known about what role driver visibility has played in the increase, but they are in the process of conducting additional research to understand how blind zones affect pedestrian crash rates and insurance claims. For more information about the research, click here .
