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

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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.”