2007–2016 FATAL TRAFFIC CRASHES IN ALASKA, HAWAII, IDAHO, AND WASHINGTON AND CHARACTERISTICS OF TRAFFIC FATALITIES INVOLVING HAWAIIANS AND CSET MINORITIES

Data for this comparative study were collected from the Fatality Analysis and Reporting System (FARS) for the years 2007 to 2016 for the states of Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, and Washington. The rates of roadway fatalities, especially those of American Indians (which include Aleuts and Eskimos), Guamanians, Samoans, and Native Hawaiians (which include part-Hawaiians) were the focus of the study; they are referred to as “CSET Minorities” in this report; all other races are referred to as “All Others.” Three main contributing factors for fatal crashes—alcohol use, speeding, and non-usage of restraint—were analyzed for each population group. CSET states are lagging behind many countries in terms of traffic safety. Significant differences in the involvement of alcohol, speeding, and non-usage of restraint were indicated between CSET Minority fatalities and All Others. For all types of crashes examined, CSET Minorities exhibited statistically significant differences, nearly all of them being higher or worse than All Others, except for motorcycle crashes. In Hawaii, the proportion of Hawaiians in the population is steady at approximately 21%, but their proportion in FARS database is at 28% and rising. Aggregate data analysis of traffic fatalities focused on three rural, indigenous, tribal, and isolated (RITI) communities in Hawaii, the entire Big Island of Hawaii, and the rural communities of Waianae and Waimanalo on the island of Oahu. All three locations are known for their relatively large number of Hawaiians and part-Hawaiians. The percentage of Hawaiians in traffic fatalities was 32% on the Big Island, 50% in Waianae, and 78% in Waimanalo

Effects of Reading Text While Driving: A Driving Simulator Study

Although 47 US states make the use of a mobile phone while driving illegal, many people use their phone for texting and other tasks while driving. This research project summarized the large literature on distracted driving and compared major outcomes with those of our study. We focused on distraction due to reading text because this activity is most common. For this research project, we collected simulator observations of 203 professional taxi drivers (175 male, and 28 female) working at the same Honolulu taxi company, using the mid-range driving simulator VS500M by Virage. After a familiarization period, drivers were asked to read realistic text content relating to passenger pick up displayed on a 7-inch tablet affixed to the dashboard. The experimental scenario was simulated on a two-lane rural highway having a speed limit of 60 mph and medium traffic. Drivers needed to follow the lead vehicle under regular and text-reading conditions. The large sample size of this study provided a strong statistical base for driving distraction investigation on a driving simulator. The comparison between regular and text-reading conditions revealed that the drivers significantly increased their headway (20.7%), lane deviations (354%), total time of driving blind (352%), maximum duration of driving blind (87.6% per glance), driving blind incidents (170%), driving blind distance (337%) and significantly decreased lane change frequency (35.1%). There was no significant effect on braking aggressiveness while reading text. The outcomes indicate that driving performance degrades significantly by reading text while driving. Additional analysis revealed that important predictors for maximum driving blind time changes are sociodemographic characteristics, such as age and race, and past behavior attributes

Predicting the impact of text-reading using decision trees

Various road safety analyses prove that cell phone usage cause driver distraction which, in turn, has become a leading cause for crashes. Various studies have focused on different cell phone operations such as hand-held or hand-free conversation, number dialing and text writing and reading and examined how they affect driving performance. Research efforts have been also placed on investigating the effects of sociodemographic characteristics on distraction and related them to the reaction of the drivers under distraction and the resulting speed, lane changes, lateral placement, deceleration, incidents and many other variables. The primary aim of this paper is to implement a decision trees approach in predicting the degree of influence of text reading on driving performance and associate it with self-reported behavioral and sociodemographic attributes. Data were based on a sample of 203 taxi drivers in Honolulu, who drove on a realistic driving simulator. Driving performance measures were collected under non-distraction and text-reading conditions. Among them, line encroachment incident and maximum driving blind time changes were used in combination with sociodemographic characteristics (gender, age, experience, educational level, race) and behavioral constructs (past behavior, behavior, behavioral beliefs, control beliefs, risk appreciation and descriptive norms) and decision trees were built. The analysis revealed that important predictors for maximum driving blind time changes are sociodemographic and past behavior attributes. The accuracy of the prediction increases in the case of line encroachment incident changes, with the addition of behavioral beliefs, control beliefs, risk appreciation, descriptive norms and past behavior. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019