Report spotlights safety challenges in era of new technology

According to new report from the US Governors Highway Safety Association, as autonomous vehicles (AV) are merged into traditionally-driven traffic, the most pressing safety challenge for states will be preparing human drivers. This presents a myriad of safety challenges for states, which are responsible for educating the public, licensing drivers, and establishing and enforcing traffic laws. The report, Autonomous Vehicles Meet Human Drivers: Traffic Safety Issues for States, examines these issues and re
February 3, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
According to new report from the US 4948 Governors Highway Safety Association, as autonomous vehicles (AV) are merged into traditionally-driven traffic, the most pressing safety challenge for states will be preparing human drivers. This presents a myriad of safety challenges for states, which are responsible for educating the public, licensing drivers, and establishing and enforcing traffic laws.

The report, Autonomous Vehicles Meet Human Drivers: Traffic Safety Issues for States, examines these issues and recommends how states can prepare for AVs and put traffic safety at the forefront of all policy decisions.

The report provides an overview of the current autonomous vehicle landscape and outlines suggested priorities for state Departments of Motor Vehicles and State Highway Safety Offices as AVs become more widespread.

The report also provides a comprehensive list of resources for additional information and encourages national organisations to help states by developing model laws and public education materials, documenting likely traffic safety scenarios, and establishing a centralized AV clearing house for new information.

Report author, Dr James Hedlund, a former senior official with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, says, “The research and media attention given to autonomous vehicles often overlooks the safety implications that a mix of driver-operated and autonomous vehicles will bring. Unfortunately, ignoring the driver side of the equation may negate many of the expected safety benefits.”
Location Based Systems

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Public transport operators implement passenger safety systems
    December 4, 2012
    Operators of public transport systems are arming themselves with sophisticated systems of technology to ward off terrorism threats to passenger safety. David Crawford reports. City transportation authorities worldwide are looking more keenly than ever for mass transit solutions to overcome traffic congestion and manage commuter flows. As they do so, concerns over passenger security are driving development of new technologies for terrorist incident detection, response and emergency passenger evacuation. The
    Read More
  • Transport in the round
    October 13, 2015
    The ITF’s Mary Crass tells Colin Sowman why future transport demands will require governments to overcome the silo effect of individual single-modal authorities. The only global multimodal transport policy organisation,” is how Mary Crass describes the International Transport Forum (ITF), which is housed at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). As head of policy and summit preparation at the ITF she says: “All other organisations are either regional or have a modal focus, we cove
    Read More
  • WTS International: Attract, Connect, Sustain, Advance
    December 7, 2022
    WTS International exists to connect transportation professionals, and to help prepare the next generation of the mobility workforce. But it takes everyone to create change, says Lindsay Shelton-Gross
    Read More
  • Venkat Sumantran: ‘Smart cities are more hype than reality’
    November 23, 2018
    For all the talk of smart cities, investment in systems lags significantly behind organic expansion in most places. Andrew Stone talks to Venkat Sumantran, who has been looking at how to create a coherent framework which could help authorities answer multiple mobility questions Two megatrends are posing unprecedented challenges to those trying to keep people moving around the world’s urban areas now - and in the years and decades to come. The first is rapid urbanisation. One in six of us lived in urban a
    Read More

Highlighted Content