A New Year’s Resolution We All Can Make: Prioritize Safety

By Nicholas Worrell, Chief, NTSB Safety Advocacy Division

As 2021 ends, it’s time to reflect on the past 12 months and begin to set goals for the year ahead. After all, as Zig Ziglar once said, “if you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.” So, let us all aim to improve the safety of our transportation system in 2022.

The NTSB recognizes the need for improvements in all modes of transportation–on the roads, rails, waterways, pipelines, and in the sky. Our 2021–2022 NTSB Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements (MWL), released in April this year, highlights the transportation safety improvements we believe are needed now to prevent accidents and crashes, reduce injuries, and save lives. We use the list to focus our advocacy efforts and to serve as an important call to action. We ask lawmakers, industry, advocacy, community organizations, and the traveling public to act and champion safety.

As a fellow safety advocate, I ask you to join me in a New Year’s resolution: I pledge to do my part to make transportation safer for all.

To help you take steps to accomplish this resolution, our MWL outlines actions you can take to make transportation safer:

1. Require and Verify the Effectiveness of Safety Management Systems in all Revenue Passenger-Carrying Aviation Operations

2. Install Crash-Resistant Recorders and Establish Flight Data Monitoring Programs

3. Implement a Comprehensive Strategy to Eliminate Speeding-Related Crashes

4. ​Protect Vulnerable Road Users through a Safe System Approach 

5. Prevent Alcohol- and Other Drug-Impaired Driving

6. Require Collision-Avoidance and Connected-Vehicle Technologies on all Vehicles

7. Eliminate Distracted Driving

8. Improve Passenger and Fishing Vessel Safety

9. Improve Pipeline Leak Detection and Mitigation

10. Improve Rail Worker Safety

Achieving these improvements is possible; otherwise, they wouldn’t be on our list. The NTSB MWL includes tangible changes and solutions that will, undoubtedly, save lives. But it’s only words on a list if no action is taken. Unlike Times Square on New Year’s Eve, we cannot drop the ball on improvements to transportation safety. The clock is ticking, and the countdown has begun—we can’t afford to waste any more time. Make the resolution to do your part to make transportation safer for all!

In closing, I’d like to thank the transportation safety stakeholders, industry, lawmakers, and advocates we have worked with in 2021 and we look forward to working together in 2022 and beyond.

Drive Sober and Save Lives the Holiday Season

By Member Tom Chapman

Unlike last year when many holiday gatherings were cancelled due to the pandemic, many of us will return to visiting family and attending holiday parties this year. Some may see this as an opportunity for a 2020 do-over and may overindulge on merriment.

The holiday season is a time of increased impaired-driving crashes due to these celebrations and gatherings. The President has designated December as National Impaired Driving Prevention Month, and it serves as a reminder that traffic fatalities and injuries attributed to impaired driving are 100 percent preventable.

In 2019, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 10,142 people were killed in traffic crashes in which at least one driver had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) level of 0.08 g/dL or higher. That number comprises 28 percent of the 36,096 traffic fatalities that year.  Also of concern, NHTSA estimated a 9 percent increase in police-reported alcohol involved crashes between 2019 and 2020.  These deaths are not abstract statistics. These were mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, children, friends, and other loved ones. They are people who will be deeply missed at this year’s holiday gatherings.

In addition to alcohol, there are other impairing substances, such as marijuana, other illegal drugs, and prescribed and over-the-counter medications. These can all be as dangerous as alcohol for a driver. As we continue to understand more about the extent to which drugged driving contributes to fatalities and injuries, we are certain that the prevalence of this, as well as multiple or “poly-drug” use while driving, is on the rise.

In June, NHTSA published an update on research looking at drug and alcohol prevalence in seriously and fatally injured road users before and during the COVID-19 public health emergency. The overall picture is very troubling. In general, drug and alcohol prevalence among drivers seriously injured or killed in crashes increased during the pandemic. Significant increases were reported for drivers testing positive for cannabinoids and multiple substances. These are not the trends that we want to see.

The NTSB has issued specific recommendations that, if implemented, would help prevent these deaths and injuries. They include required all-offender ignition interlocks, .05 (or lower) BAC limits, and a national drug testing standard. Our 2021-2022 Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements includes the safety item “Prevent Alcohol- and other Drug-impaired Driving,” with these and several additional safety recommendations remaining open.

Congress recently passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which advances some of NTSB’s most important safety recommendations. For example, the new law requires the Secretary of Transportation to issue a final rule requiring all new passenger motor vehicles to be equipped with advanced drunk driving prevention technology within three years. I am encouraged and hopeful we’ll see this technology incorporated soon, as it could be a game-changer for alcohol-impaired driving.

By exercising personal responsibility, you can do your part to prevent impaired driving crashes during the holiday season. It’s simple. Choose drinking or driving, but not both. Have a designated driver. Call a taxi or ride-share service. These basic steps will save lives. Let’s ensure there will be many more enjoyable holiday seasons to come.

Three Key Strategies to Prevent Teen Distracted-Driving Crashes

By Bryan Delaney, NTSB Safety Advocate

Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death for teens and, for today’s teens, distraction is a major factor in crash risk. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), dialing a phone number while operating a vehicle increases a teen’s risk of crash by 6 times, and texting while driving increases crash risk by 23 times.

The NTSB recognizes the importance of teen driver safety, and we’ve made numerous recommendations to prevent distracted driving and promote safe driving behaviors for these vulnerable road users. The following strategies can improve teen driver safety and reduce the risk of teen distracted-driving crashes.

Educate Teens on the Risk of Distracted Driving

Education is key to changing driving behaviors among teens. Parents should model safe driving behaviors, laying out expectations and enforcing consequences if rules are broken. Adults must remember that the driving habits they teach teens through formal education and informal instruction is only half the battle—they must also “walk the walk” by avoiding risky behaviors and teaching by example.

Teens must also set a positive example for their peers by buckling up; obeying the speed limit; avoiding distracted, drowsy, and impaired driving; and making sure their emergency information is up to date and accessible in case of a crash. Peer-to-peer education and accountability can foster a driving environment where distracted driving is unacceptable.

Ban Portable Electronic Devices While Driving

States have a role in preventing teen distracted driving. For a decade, the NTSB has recommended that states prohibit the nonemergency use of all portable electronic devices, except those designed to aid the driving task, while driving. We need a cultural shift to put human life at the center of our transportation system over perceived productivity or social engagement. Driving distracted must become as unacceptable as driving impaired by alcohol or other drugs—for both adult and teen drivers.

Establish a Comprehensive Graduated Driver License Law

All states have some form of a graduated driver license (GDL) program, but no state has a comprehensive program with all provisions to minimize driving risks for teens. As outlined below, the NTSB recommends that all states establish a comprehensive, three-phase GDL law for teen drivers to gain driving experience before obtaining a full license. The following GDL provisions can help states improve overall teen driving and reduce crashes resulting from inexperience.

• Phase 1: Learner’s permit
  • 6-month minimum holding period (without an at-fault driver or traffic violation)
  • Supervised driver requirement with supervising driver age 21 or older
  • Seat belts used by all occupants in all seating positions
  • Driving with a measurable blood alcohol level prohibited
  • Cell phone use prohibited while driving

• Phase 2: Intermediate (provisional) license
  • 6-month minimum holding period (without an at-fault crash or traffic violation)
  • Nighttime driving restriction
  • Teen passenger restriction (up to 1 passenger)
  • Seat belts used by all occupants in all seating positions
  • Driving with a measurable blood alcohol level prohibited
  • Cell phone use prohibited while driving

• Phase 3: Full licensure
  • Seat belts used by all occupants in all seating positions
  • Driving with a measurable blood alcohol level by all drivers under age 21 prohibited

Distraction is impairing. Even cognitive distraction slows your reaction time, and visual and manual distraction might make it impossible to see or avoid a hazard. All drivers—but especially teens, among whom distraction is pervasive—should keep their eyes on the road, their hands on the wheel, and their phones in the glovebox.

No text, email, or notification is worth a life.