On July 13th, the National Safety Council – NSC presented a panel titled Transportation in the Time of COVID: One Year Later.
The panel relied on five panelists, and they were dedicated to share data and analyze the impact of COVID on the roads, not to mention actions that are helping mitigate the issues from now on.
In comparison with prior years, the Pandemic reach less traffic on the roads, but on the other hand, more fatalities. In 2020, 42,000 people lost their lives on the roadway. It was the worst number since 2007, despite many businesses being shut down. Definitely, a red flag that grabs all attention.
Based on the NHTSA’s 2020 early estimates, fatalities on the roads increased 7,2% while vehicle miles were less than 13% compared to 2019. The early estimates showed the fatality rate increase of 1.37 per 100 million, which occurred mainly in the third and fourth quarters. The driving behaviors remain a challenge because of the result.
Among the negative factors are higher speeds, impaired driving, presence of alcohol and other drugs on drivers, driving without using the seatbelt, and others.
Dr. Stephen Cliff, the Acting Administrator of National Highway Traffic – NHTSA, recognized the importance of the relationship with partners and the collaborative work.
During the course, the President and CEO of NSC, Lorraine M. Martin, shared even more data and she said that “none of these numbers are good.”
According to a study presented by Nanda Srinivasan, Associate Administrator of NHTSA, it says “many people chose to stay at home”. However, those who kept using the road increase the number of fatalities.
Drivers mistakenly took the emptiness of the roads to drive over the speed limit.
Impaired driving was another negative factor for safer roads. It is defined as driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol and/or legal prescription and over-the-counter and/or illegal drugs.
The message from Dr. Cliff pointed out the importance of what is called “the safe system approach” meaning a system dedicated to people, by emphasizing “the infrastructure serves the needs of its users, not the other way around.”
Based on statistics of fatalities, making a safer road for color communities and people with disabilities continues as a priority.
The alignment of visions of transportation designs and road users is crucial. Users included drivers, passengers, pedestrians, cyclists, children, people with disabilities, and older Americans.
Regarding education, NHTSA continues focusing on educating responsibilities for users on the road, not to mention the collaborative work with law enforcement. People should know their role and assume better behavior.
Just one example, it was invested $4 Million for a radio media campaign for an education campaign.
Jennifer Homendy, who was recently nominated by President Joe Biden, pending the US Senate approval, to be Chair of the National Transportation Safety Board – NTSB.
Homendy pointed out two important statements, one was, the traffic situation is related to “a public health crisis” and the other was, “a fundamental paradigm shift in the way road safety is viewed.”
The safe community is pushing to Zero Fatalities and more actions should be implemented to reach the goals.
In general, data is still under analysis and until now, it is possible to work with insights from the surveys across the country.
Improving the power to see the whole picture, it is important to combine Police reports and hospital records to read the right data and implement the actions up against the correct recognition on what is going on.
For example, people who were injured stayed out of the data, which is important to be part of the preventive actions.
Working with data demands a certain level of sophistication because it should be accurate, rely on a rapid process to analyze it, and implement actions right the way.
Whether it is possible to say a positive impact can be attributed to the Pandemic, which is a quickly spreading of lessons learned in benefit of the better understanding of the situation.
Definitely, the holistic approach should count on technologies as one of its factors to help mitigate unsafe roads.
Fiscal Tech America provides accurate data through its systems, speed control, red-light running, pedestrian and bicycle safety, among others.
The quality of data is crucial, and it has been part of our core business.
Author: Degoncir Goncalves.