2022 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Fact Sheet: Drug-Involved Driving

The use of cannabis, prescription drugs, and other drugs are increasingly prominent on roadways in the United States,where 25.3 percent of the nation’s 38,824 fatalities in 2020 were related to drug-involved driving. Driving can beimpaired by a variety of legal and illegal drugs, substances, and medications. The effect of specific drugs on behaviorand driving skills vary considerably depending on how they act in the brain and are metabolized. They can slow reactiontime, decrease coordination, increase aggressive and reckless driving, impair cognitive function, or cause drowsiness.All of these effects can contribute to crash risk.Studies suggest that poly-drug use or combining alcohol and drugs can inflate the level of driver impairment and crashrisk. There is variation across jurisdictions in the frequency of testing suspected impaired drivers for drugs, consistencyin laboratory drug testing practices, and capacity of law enforcement personnel. Despite challenges in identifyingcausality and impairment, there is general consensus that many drugs impair driving. Preliminary data from an ongoingNHTSA study of alcohol and drug prevalence during the COVID-19 emergency found some significant increases in theprevalence of drugs detected in blood among fatally and seriously injured drivers, motorcyclists, and pedestrians whencomparing the last quarter of 2019 and the first quarter of 2020 to the second, third, or fourth quarters of 2020. As ofFebruary 2022, nearly three-quarters of states, including California, have legalized medical-use of cannabis productsand over one-third allow recreational cannabis, increasing concerns about traffic safety. According to the NationalInstitute on Drug Abuse, aside from alcohol, cannabis is the most frequently detected drug in drivers who are in crashes.Analyses from FARS presented in the drug-impaired program area include fatalities in crashes that involved a driverwho tested positive for a drug that could cause impairment. Analyses from SWITRS presented in this program area referto drug-involvement and include fatal and serious injuries where law enforcement reported the driver to be under theinfluence of drugs. Crashes in the program area are defined as where one or more drivers tested positive for a drug thatcould cause impairment or was reported as driving under the influence of drugs, depending on which data set is used

2019 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Drug-Impaired Driving

Driving under the influence of drugs is a significant threat to public safety. Various substances can impair cognition, attention, coordination, and other brain functions critical to driving safety. Unlike alcohol, the mechanism for absorption, distribution, and elimination of drugs from the body, as well as cognitive and behavioral effects differ greatly. The use of cannabis, prescription drugs, and other drugs are increasingly prominent on our roadways, where 22.2 percent of the nation’s 37,133 fatalities in 2017 were related to drug-involved driving.&nbsp

2022 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Fact Sheet: Emergency Medical Services

There are many contributing factors in motor vehicle crashes. Emergency Medical Services (EMS) play a critical role post-crash to reduce fatalities and serious injuries. Recent studies show that an effective emergency trauma care system can improve survival from serious injuries by as much as 25 percent and county-level coordinated systems of trauma care can reduce crash fatalities rates as much as 50 percent. The United States Department of Transportation uses the Safe System Approach to bring traffic deaths and serious injuries to zero. The Safe System Approach recognizes human mistakes and vulnerabilities, and designs a system with many redundancies in place to protect everyone. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) names “Post-Crash Care” as a key element of a Safe System. Specifically, post-crash care refers to emergency first response and transport to medical facilities, as well as forensic analysis of the crash site and traffic incident management.&nbsp

2020 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Drug-Involved Driving

Driving can be impaired by a variety of legal and illegal drugs, substances, and medications. These various substances can impair cognition, attention, coordination, and other brain functions critical to driving safety. Unlike alcohol, the mechanism for absorption, distribution, and elimination of drugs from the body, as well as cognitive and behavioral effects differ greatly.Analyses from SWITRS presented in this program area refer to drug-involvement and include fatal and serious injuries where law enforcement reported the driver to be under the influence of drugs. Crashes in the program area are defined as where one or more drivers tested positive for a drug that could cause impairment or was reported as driving under the influence of drugs, depending on which data set is used

2020 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Pedestrian Safety

Everyone is a pedestrian, whether or not walking is one’s primary mode of travel. As a commute mode, walking is gaining in numbers. In its 2020 report, “Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities by State, 2019 Preliminary Data” the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) reports that pedestrian fatalities in the nation have increased disproportionately to other traffic deaths. Pedestrian fatalities as a proportion of total motor vehicle deaths increased from 12 percent in 2009 to 17 percent in 2018. Moreover, pedestrian fatalities increased 53 percent from 2009 to 2018 while other traffic deaths increased by 2 percent. Further, GHSA estimates 6,590 pedestrians were fatally injured in 2019, a 5 percent increase from 2018, continuing an increasing trend and the largest number of pedestrian fatalities nationwide since 1988. This report found that in 2018 the highest proportion of pedestrian fatalities (59 percent) occurred on non-freeway arterials, which often have higher speeds and few safe crossing areas

2019 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Alcohol-Involved Driving

While alcohol-involved driving fatalities have fallen significantly in the last three decades, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that alcohol-involved driving still comprises a large percentage of traffic injuries and fatalities. On average in 2017, one person died from an alcohol-involved driving collision every 48 minutes. There was a decrease in the numbers of alcohol-involved driving fatalities in the United States between 2016 and 2017. The figures refer to drivers, passengers, bicyclists, and pedestrians fatally killed or seriously injured in an alcohol-involved collision in California in 2017

2021 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Fact Sheet: Aging Road Users

The older adult population in the United States aged 65 and older is expected to almost double between 2016 and 2060, from 49 million to 95 million. In 2019, there were 7,214 people aged 65 and older killed in traffic crashes in the United States; this accounted for 20.0 percent of all traffic fatalities. To provide context, the overall population aged 65 and older accounted for 16.5 percent of people in the United States and 20.2 percent of all licensed drivers in 2019. California has the largest number of licensed drivers aged 65 and older in the nation with 4,516,813, or 16.6 percent of all licensed drivers in the state. However, as drivers age, physical and mental changes including reduced visual acuity, increased fragility, restricted movement, and cognitive impairment can directly and indirectly result in age-related driving impairments.Historically, road safety efforts focused on changing human behaviors to prevent crashes. The Safe System approach reframes efforts to save lives by expecting crashes to happen and focusing attention on reducing the severity of injuries when a crash occurs. By understanding the nuances of aging road user crashes, transportation professionals can better address every aspect of crash risks and implement multiple layers of protection to ensure that everyone traveling on California roadways will go safely. Analyses presented in this section include fatal and serious injuries to drivers, passengers, bicyclists, pedestrians, and other non-motor vehicle occupants aged 65 and older

2021 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Fact Sheet: Pedestrian Safety

Everyone is a pedestrian, whether or not walking is one’s primary mode of travel. As a commute mode, walking is gaining in numbers. Based on the first six months of 2020, the GHSA projects that pedestrian fatalities in the nation will be on pace with 2019 despite large reductions in motor vehicle travel associated with COVID-19. Pedestrian fatalities as a proportion of total motor vehicle deaths increased from 13.0 percent in 2010 to 17.3 percent in 2019. Moreover, pedestrian fatalities increased 46.5 percent from 2010 to 2019 while other traffic deaths increased by 4.9 percent. Increases in pedestrian fatalities are largely occurring at night - from 2010 to 2019, the number of pedestrian fatalities that occurred in the dark increased 53.8 percent compared to a 16.2 percent increase in daytime pedestrian fatalities. Yet, GHSA estimates a pedestrian fatality rate of 1.9 per 100,000 population in 2020, a slight reduction from the 2019 rate of 2.0 per 100,000 population

SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Bicycle Safety

Bicycling is becoming more popular across the country, for commuting, exercise, and leisure. However, in the event of a traffic collision between a motor vehicle and a bicyclist, the bicyclist is the more vulnerable party and is more likely to be injured or killed than motor vehicle passengers. Bicycling fatalities increased 14.4 percent from 734 in 2012 to 840 in 2016 nationwide. Bicyclist fatalities represented 2.2 percent of the total number of traffic fatalities in 2016. Bicycle collisions are defined as crashes where one or more victims is a bicyclist, other cyclist, or bicycling passenger.&nbsp