The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released its 2016 “Most Wanted” list of transportation safety improvements, advocating for more widespread use of accident avoidance technology, improved occupant safety, and programs that would increase awareness of fatigued and impaired driving.
The NTSB’s annual list covers all facets of U.S. transportation. This year, automobile traffic safety improvements accounted for four of the ten wish list items.
Collision avoidance technology
This category bridges the gap between operator safety and in-vehicle technology, with a focus on the role of driver inattention in fatal crashes.
NTSB wants more widespread adoption of driver-assisting safety features–adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning/lane keeping assist, automated braking, etc.–especially in commercial vehicles such as trucks and buses.
Occupant protection
While preventing accidents is the first priority, NTSB is also targeting improvements in seat belts, child restraints and the vehicle cab or unibody.
In automobiles, proper use (or use, period) of restraint systems is the primary weak spot. NTSB says reductions in fatalities and injuries could be seen if additional states made failure to use a seatbelt a primary offense, and/or made seat belt use mandatory in all seating positions.
Driver fatigue and substance impairment
These are separate wish list items for NTSB, but they both target drivers who are’t in top form behind the wheel.
The issues of driver fatigue and substance impairment are already the subject of significant regulation across all forms of commercial transportation, but the general driving public doesn’t take them nearly as seriously. The use of legally prescribed medications with impairing side effects is a problem in both arenas, and NTSB says the primary means of resolving both issues in all arenas is increased education and training.
Photo courtesy of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.
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