Top 5 Things Safety Planners and Highway Safety Offices Need to Know About Self-Driving Vehicles

Self-DrivingVehicles

The

TOPTOP5ThingsSafety Planners and

Highway Safety OfficesNeed to Know about

When did textingbecome available

on cell phones?It was 1992(yes, really).

We’ll get to the Top 5 Things. But first, a few questions

to ponder…

HUMANS = DISTRACTED DRIVING

Drinking

Speeding

Texting

Singing 80sHAIR METAL

music...

90%of crashes!

I’ll need to call you back.

HUMAN ERROR is a contributing factor of over

90%What if there’s a

NEW TECHNOLOGYwith huge potential to

IMPROVE ROADWAY SAFETY?

Have you heard theaboutSELF-DRIVINGVEHICLES?

Well get used to hearing aboutAUTONOMOUS VEHICLES and

CONNECTED VEHICLES (AV/CVs).

Are AV/CVs thepanacea forELIMINATINGTRAFFICCRASHES?

Probably not.

I could beout of a job!

SAFETYPLAN�ER

#

But INFRASTRUCTURE and BEHAVIORAL SAFETY SPECIALISTS will need to

PLAN DIFFERENTLYin the future

to mitigatetraffic crashes.

When will we have enough self-driving vehicles on our

roadways to see REAL REDUCTIONSIN TRAFFIC CRASHES?

IT DEPENDS…on how we structure and implement safety policies and programs, and how soon we do it.

When should we identify howAV/CVs will IMPACT ROADWAY SAFETY?

When should we DEVELOP POLICIESAND PROGRAMS to address them?

???MORE questions to address:

Who will teach drivers to understand and use AV/CV technology? How?

Should we plan and build roadways to maximize user safety? How?

How will we update behavioral programs to address the impact of AV/CVs?

How will our crash reporting and safety data change?

What are the policy implications of AV/CVs to the safety community?

With so many questions, what do we focus on first?

?The

TOPTOP5ThingsYou Need to Know...

#1 #

The way drivers INTERACTwith vehicles will change.

HEL�O MICHAEL.

Hi car!

The MINDSET forinteracting with

self-drivingvehicles willCHANGE

Young Old In-Between

Drivers training won’t go away; we’ll have to BROADEN who we educate, how we do

it, and who provides it.

STATES must be ready to address safety policy implications… there’s no avoiding it.

?STATES must be ready to address safety policy implications… there’s no avoiding it.

UNDERSTANDINGand PLANNINGfor safety and training implications will allow for the SAFE INTEGRATION of AV/CV vehicles among all drivers on your roadways.

The AC/CV safety benefits DON’TCOME AUTOMATICALLY.

If we don’t GUIDE roadway users, we can turn those benefits on their head.

#

SAFETY BENEFITS

? ? ?

2#

We know that walkers, bikers, and drivers

deserve the SAFEST SYSTEM POSSIBLE.

In fact, engineers and planners focus on this all the time.

But the times, they

are A-CHANGIN’!

TECHNOLOGY NOW HELPS:Staying in lanes.Staying on the roadway.Avoiding collision.“Seeing” what’s in blind spots.

Consider a NEW NETWORK FOOTPRINT, with a typical vehicle that is unlikely to leave the roadway.

EMBRACE TECHNOLOGY to improve communication across modes and design SMART STREETS that lower conflict by increasing traveler information.

PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE CAN:

20 YEARS from now our vehicles, communications, and technology will be different...

HOW CAN YOUR INFRASTRUCTURE AND SAFETY INVESTMENTCHANGE ALONG THE WAY?

3##

HumanssometimesmakePOORDECISIONS.

Poor decisions on the road can cause INJURY OR DEATH.

POORDECISIONS

In many states,

1 3of roadway fatalities involve IMPAIRED DRIVERS.

But even people with a HISTORY of impaired driving need to be MOBILE MEMBERS OF SOCIETY.

With AV/CV TECHNOLOGY, safety and criminal justice officials can KEEP

HIGH-RISK DRIVERS MOBILE.

For example: requiring rental of a vehicle that senses impaired driving. Getting alerts from the vehicle that the

driver is on the roadway.

Safety planners who UNDERSTAND THE CAPABILITIES OF AV/CV AND V2I technology can begin planning now to IMPROVE HIGHWAY SAFETY IN THE FUTURE.

#

4#

Today’s crash reports tell us a

lot about WHERE AND WHEN the

crash occurred.

Data in the world of AV/CVs will tell us WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE THE CRASH:

Driver behavior.Road conditions.

Vehicles Interactionwith Roadway.

Other vehiclebehaviors.

3AV/CVS CAN PROVIDE…A revolutionary REAL-TIME DATA SOURCE to safety planners analysis of the crash.

Accurate, real-time information to FIRST RESPONDERS, so the most appropriate care responds to the crash.

A shift to focusing on what occurred before and during the crash, to develop NEW COUNTERMEASURES.

A continuous SAFETY FEEDBACK LOOP to help address and correct poor driving habits.

PARENTAL MONITORING of teen driving habits.

Real-time NOTIFICATION TO CARS AND DRIVERS of hazardous road conditions.

But none of this will happen unless the INFRASTRUCTURE

AND PLANNING ARE IN PLACE.

For example: requiring rental of a vehicle that senses impaired driving. Getting alerts from the vehicle that the

driver is on the roadway.

We must know WHAT DATA ARE CAPTURED by AV/CV and V2I and understand how to INCORPORATE THEM INTO SAFETY PLANNING on our roadways.

5#

WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR!?

Here are a fewconversation starters...

What are the POLICY IMPLICATIONS of AV/CVs to the safety community?

RULES?

We’ve talked abouta few already –

NEW TRAINING requirements for all drivers,

CHANGING ROADWAY DESIGN standards and policies, and NEW DRIVING

SANCTIONS for impaired drivers.

CHANGESnext exit

What we haven’t’ talked about is how law enforcement is going to report these crashes which involve AV/CVs. Do the crash causation factors change?

WHO IS AT FAULT – THE VEHICLE OR

THE FRONT SEAT PASSENGER?

He did it.

What does the safety planning community want to see CHANGE on the CRASH REPORT FORM?

Will crashes in an AV/CV go into the DRIVERS HISTORY file if the

VEHICLE IS AT FAULT and the driver wasn’t driving?

Driver’s Record

Car’s Record

Could this new technology OPEN UP DRIVING TO INDIVIDUALS WHO

CAN’T DRIVE NOW? What would that mean for driver licensing?

STARE THIS DOWN!RISE TO THE CHALLENGE!Because there’s no question of whether we’ll see these vehicles on our roadways. It’s only a

matter of WHEN.

SAFETY COMMUNITY:

Ready to continuethe conversation?

Contact RYAN KLITZSCH at:[email protected]

or317.260.7811