The study was sponsored by the Southwest Region University Transportation Center and conducted by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. SWUTC is a part of the University Transportation Centers Program, which is a federally-funded program administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration.

The study is the first of its kind, as it is based on the performance of 43 research participants driving an actual vehicle on a closed course. Other research efforts have evaluated manual versus voice-activated tasks using devices installed in a vehicle, but the TTI analysis is the first to compare voice-to-text and manual texting on a handheld device in an actual driving environment.

Drivers first navigated the course without any use of cell phones. Each driver then traveled the course three more times performing a series of texting exercises – once using each of two voice-to-text applications (Siri® for the iPhone and Vlingo® for Android), and once texting manually. Researchers then measured the time it took each driver to complete the tasks, and also noted how long it took for the drivers to respond to a light which came on at random intervals during the exercises.

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It happens every day. You get a text or a phone call and you feel the need to respond immediately, even when you’re driving. But what you may not know is a simple text or call can cost you your life or someone else’s.

“Distracted driving is unacceptable, and it’s something that is preventable,” said John Barton, TxDOT’s deputy executive director. “If you reply to or send a text while driving, you are putting your life or someone else’s life at risk.”

It’s a fact – distracted drivers are making Texas roads more dangerous. According to crash data collected by the Texas Department of Transportation, to date, there were 90,378 crashes in Texas in 2012 that involved distracted driving (distraction, driver inattention or cellphone use). That’s an 8-percent increase from 2011. Of these crashes, 18,468 resulted in serious injuries and 453 resulted i
deaths. From 2011 to 2012, there was a 9-percent increase in traffic fatalities caused by distracted driving on Texas roadways.

According to the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, almost half of all Texas drivers in 2012 admit to regularly or sometimes talking on the cell phone while driving. However, 84.9 percent of Texas drivers think driving while talking on a cell phone is a very serious or somewhat serious threat to their personal safety.

“In the last decade we have worked hard to change the way teens think about driving,” said TDS Director Russell Henk. “It is an honor to be recognized as a best practice by our biggest sponsor.”

Each year, the Texas Department of Transportation Safety (TxDOT) selects a handful of programs to highlight in the report. TxDOT’s best practices are defined as innovative or unique practices to achieve a goal and exceed required performance objectives.

What makes TDS a best practice? According to the report, “TDS is saving lives because young people are driving the program. Every element, every facet, and every refinement of TDS is influenced by young people. The program’s professional staff provides support and direction when appropriate, but the teens are responsible for making it work. With active program elements for junior high school students all the way through college, the breadth of youth reached by the program is also unprecedented and unmatched.”

Other programs highlighted are:

• Texas A&M AgriLife’s Brazos Valley Injury Prevention Coalition,
• Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service Passenger Safety,
• Region 6 Education Service Center School Bus Safety Training 101,
• Mothers Against Drunk Driving’s Take the Wheel Program, and
• Texas Municipal Police Association’s Reducing Impaired Driving Among Youth: A Statewide Approach.

So, law enforcement agencies have found that providing a high police presence in areas with both problems often lowers both crash and crime rates, sometimes dramatically.

This philosophy of fighting those problem areas is called Data-Driven Approaches to Crime and Traffic Safety, or DDACTS as it’s known among law enforcement agencies.

“This philosophy of policing is really catching on with excellent results,” says Associate Research Scientist Troy Walden. He is overseeing a three-year Center for Transportation Safety (CTS) traffic safety grant awarded by TxDOT with funds from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. “We’ve been conducting workshops for law enforcement agencies — teaching them how to find ‘hot spots,’ which are areas where crime and crashes are highest. The technique provides a high-profile police presence that is supported through high visibility traffic enforcement efforts.”

In the latest class, six south Texas police agencies attended the DDACTS workshop in February — Brownsville, Edinburg, Laredo, Mission, Harlingen and Pharr Police Departments.

For most agencies, DDACTS is a radically different approach to crime fighting. Criminal activity is usually the focus of most law enforcement agencies, however with DDACTS, traffic law enforcement is emphasized to address the hot spot locations.

“It’s not unusual for agencies to see a 30 to 40 percent drop in crime and crashes in any given community that utilizes this process,” Walden explains. “That’s a 30 to 40 percent reduction across the board, with some communities experiencing a 70 percent reduction.”

Walden says that cities often experience reductions in violent crimes, including homicide, aggravated assault, burglary and auto theft. At the same time, there are often fewer traffic fatalities and injury crashes, while the number of arrests increases.

“This is not ‘the flavor of the month’ kind of approach,” he says. “This is a long-term, data driven policing philosophy that departments continue to work on. Sometimes your high crime and crash areas will be migratory, so it’s important to reassess and evaluate crime and crash data to pinpoint those areas.”

Presentation topics include distracted driving, alcohol and drug use, young driver safety, pedestrian and bicycle safety, occupant protection, child safety seats, and work zone safety.

The theme of the 2013 conference is “Different Paths. One Destination.”

Exhibiting opportunities are available. For more information, please visit our exhibitor webpage.

For more information about the Traffic Safety Conference, visit our conference website

Learn more at Looklearnlive.org.

These findings and others come from a recent survey, conducted by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI), that measured traffic safety awareness in Texas.

When the 2012 results were compared to the 2011 results, researchers found:

• In 2012, more people had read, seen or heard something about seat belt enforcement in the last 60 days.
• A higher number reported drinking and driving more than 10 times within two hours of drinking.
• There was a significant increase in the percentage of people who have read, seen or heard something about speed enforcement by police.
• Drivers who admitted to exceeding the speed limit by more than 5 mph on 70 mph roadways increased.
• A larger percentage (about 7 percent more) of Texans are aware of the ban on cell phone use in school zones.
• More people are aware that seat belt requirements pertain to every occupant.
• There was an increase in the number of people who knew that the blood alcohol content limit in Texas is .08.

Other findings include:

• Most Texas drivers believe it is very likely that impaired drivers will be arrested.
• Fifty-five percent of Texans are in favor of sobriety checkpoints.
• Impaired drivers rely on those who have not been drinking for transportation home – more so than public transportation and other means.
• Almost 7 percent of drivers reported regularly texting and driving in the past 30 days.
• Impaired driving is the behavior viewed as the most serious threat to personal safety.

“This survey is a way to track performance measures for the state, to see what progress is being made, and to measure how well messages are being seen and heard,” said TTI Senior Research Scientist Katie Womack. “Also, it helps us see how driving behaviors are changing over time.”

To read the full study, go to http://tti.tamu.edu/group/cts/groups/behavioral-research/.

TTI is responsible for one of the nation’s most extensive texting-while-driving studies – one that demonstrated how texting behind the wheel doubles a driver’s reaction time.

The United Services Automobile Association (USAA) has contracted with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) to conduct an extensive study on the use of cell phones by Texas drivers, and distracted driving in general. The effort is the first involving TTI and USAA, one of the nation’s most respected insurance companies offering insurance protection and financial services to the U.S. military and their families for more than 90 years.

A survey of roughly 3,000 people will be conducted in driver’s license stations operated by the Texas Department of Public Safety in several regions around the state. The sample size will allow researchers to examine which demographic groups are most affected by the distracted driving issue and what their attitudes and self-reported behaviors are, according to TTI Senior Research Scientist Katie Womack, who will lead the study.

“Focus groups will also be conducted to explain in greater detail the thought processes and behavior motivations underlying texting, cell phone use, and other distractions while driving,” Womack says. “The two approaches combined will lead to recommendations for consideration of the most appropriate intervention and/or education strategies.”

USAA visited TTI in 2012 for a discussion that focused on USAA’s interests in current and emerging roadway safety issues, along with a review of TTI’s capabilities and current research activities. TTI is responsible for one of the nation’s most extensive texting-while-driving studies – one that demonstrated how texting behind the wheel doubles a driver’s reaction time.

USAA, a longtime advocate for safe driving, hosted Distracted Driving Summits last year in Texas and Florida, in conjunction with each state’s Department of Transportation, Shriners Hospitals and the Distraction Advocate Network. The objective was to raise awareness of the dangers of distracted driving and compel people to personally change their driving behaviors; you can watch highlights on YouTube (keyword: Florida Distracted Driving Summit, presented by USAA).

“USAA is clearly focused on some of the most pressing roadway safety problems that our society now faces, and TTI is focused on pursuing solutions to those problems,” says TTI Director Dennis Christiansen. “We’re confident that together we’re going to make a very strong and effective team.”

“We are committed to promoting vehicle and driver safety for the protection of our military members and their families,” says USAA Executive Director Joel Camarano. “USAA is excited to form this relationship with TTI, a leader in roadway safety research for over 60 years.”

An 18-wheeler crashes into a concrete barrier at TTI’s Proving Grounds. For the first time, the test was streamed live via the Internet for clients across the country.

On Sept. 26, 2012, at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s (TTI’s) Riverside Campus crash facility, a fully loaded 18-wheeler traveling at 50 mph slammed into a concrete barrier placed on top of a retaining wall. The data from the unique crash test will prove vital for increasing safety and decreasing construction costs for this type of barrier application. The test was broadcast across the country via the Internet as a first-ever streaming event.

The mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) wall — where a truck barrier sits atop a retaining wall — is being used more often by state departments of transportation. TTIResearch Engineer Roger Bligh and his team of researchers, including renowned geotechnical expert Jean-Louis Briaud, measured the impact of the collision on the barrier system and MSE wall as a key task on NCHRP 22-20(02): Design Guidelines for TL-3 through TL-5 Roadside Barrier Systems Placed on MSE Retaining Walls. Bligh, manager of TTI’s Roadside Safety Program, and Briaud are co-principal investigators on the project.

Findings from this first-of-its-kind crash test will have major implications. “There is no information available that tells industry how to design the barrier foundation system and the retaining wall to accommodate an impact from a large commercial truck,” Bligh notes.

According to Briaud, manager of TTI’s Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Program, retaining walls have become more popular due to space limitations in and around urban areas. “Those walls, and the concrete barriers on top of them, are necessary when there is no room for earthen slopes. But until now, researchers and construction companies could only guess the force that’s applied to the wall from a fully loaded 18-wheeler.” Briaud conducted computer simulations of crashes for months on the project.

Without guidelines to help determine the appropriate size and type of wall and barrier, road designers and construction firms were often overly conservative in their choices. Bligh says the data from the test will help take the guesswork out of the equation.

Peter Anderson, vice president for technical development of the Reinforced Earth Company (RECo), a design and supply firm considered a market leader in the MSE retaining wall industry, assisted with the project. Bligh says RECo’s involvement in the test dramatically lowered project costs thanks to the donation of materials needed for the test installation.

Attending the crash test was Mark S. Bush, NCHRP senior program officer overseeing the research project. Bush says numerous steps have to be taken before new guidelines for this application will be adopted.

“Now that this critical crash test has been conducted, TTI will complete the analyses and finish a detailed final report to be reviewed by an expert NCHRP panel for publication and committees from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials for adoption,” Bush say. “This was a crucial test for refining barrier design procedures and standards to ensure the safety of the traveling public.”

A recent study by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) suggests that states that require vehicles to have two license plates save valuable time and resources in the areas of enforcement, tolling, parking and homeland security. The study also found that the use of two license plates for vehicle identification purposes increases the efficiency and accuracy when evaluated by an individual or using automatic license plate reader (ALPR) technology.

“As a cost-cutting measure, a lot of our enforcement — be it tolling, parking, homeland security or law enforcement — has become an automated process,” said Melissa Walden, Center for Transportation Safety Senior Research Scientist and Project Manager. “The license plate is a key factor in vehicle identification for that automation, and without proper identification, states are losing a large amount of revenue.”

In the United States, 31 states require two plates (front and rear), while the remaining 19 states only require one rear plate. Researchers examined multiple states — two states that require one license plate (Pennsylvania and Arizona) and two states that require two license plates (Maryland and Texas) — through interviews with enforcement and tolling agencies as well as vehicle observation. Additionally, ALPR data were examined in both types of states.

“The interesting thing about this project is that it has allowed us to see how something as seemingly small as a license plate can have a tremendous impact on enforcement and operations,” said Walden.

With the integration of more ALPR technology into enforcement, two plates increase the opportunities to identify vehicles (speed detection, stolen vehicles, red‐light running, etc.).

The study found:

• Front plates were easier to read in the daytime environment because of the effects of sun glare.
• The lack of front plates has a significant impact on photographic evidence related to fining toll violators. In Virginia, 23 percent of toll violations could not be pursued because the rear plates were unreadable.
• Without front license plates, the E‐470 corridor in Colorado would lose at least 34.5 percent ($23.1 million) of their toll revenue annually.
• U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reports that the number of plates not read on vehicles, because of the lack of two plates, made a significant impact in their border processing; 6 percent of plates at the northern border and 3.4 percent of plates at the southern border were unreadable. With the volume of vehicles processed every day, along with homeland security concerns, the front plate allows CBP to operate more effectively.
• Law enforcement in Pennsylvania, a one-plate state, would like to see two plates to improve their ability to read plates (especially large commercial trucks) using ALPR technology. Sixteen percent of the plates that pass through the tolling facilities are unreadable, which impacts the state’s ability to pursue toll violators.
• Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport reports that 10,000 parking transactions per year (an average of $30 per transaction) rely on ALPR plate reads to determine accurate charging. Fifteen percent of those transactions had to be processed manually because of sun glare on the rear plates.
• Field studies showed a 97 percent read rate for parked vehicles in two-plate states and 76 percent in one-plate states. For moving vehicles, the read rate in Maryland and Texas was 89 percent, in Pennsylvania and Arizona it was 22 percent and 58 percent, respectively, on the roadways connecting Maryland and Pennsylvania. These read rates are based on the opportunity to read a front plate.
• For states with more than 100 miles of toll roads, one-plate states account for 55 percent of the total tollway miles. As fiscal pressures mount, efficiency in the collection of tolls and the pursuit of violators become critical. Front plates increase the likelihood of collecting that revenue.