Driver Distraction Key to Accidents

A landmark report released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) on April 20 shows that driver inattention is the leading cause of most vehicle crashes and near-crashes.  The report states that nearly 80 percent of crashes and 65 percent of near crashes involved some form of driver inattention in the three seconds before the accident.  The primary causes of driver inattention are drowsiness and distractions, such as cellphone use.  The data was based o n a 100-Car Naturalistic Driving Study, which for over a year tracked the behavior of drivers of 100 vehicles that were equipped with video and sensor devices as the vehicles were driven nearly 2 million miles.  Cellphone use was the most common distrcting behavior, whether dialing a phone number of talking and listening on the phones.  For background and study results see link.

MKS