April 2019 Summaries of timely road safety news, events, and alerts

Follow NETS on Twitter

Visit NETS Website

Message from NETS' Executive Director, Joe McKillips

As we look over the events of the past few weeks, April 2019 will be forever associated as an historic time for NETS, our valued members and sponsors.  Earlier this month we had the privilege of hosting our first-ever NETS road safety conference outside the United States . The conference was held April 2-3rd in San Jose, Costa Rica and was attended by a multitude of NETS members, road safety advocates, government officials and sponsors. Hosting the event outside the U.S. enabled NETS to focus on the unique road safety needs and challenges impacting the Latin America region with the agenda shaped by a stellar planning committee comprised of representatives from Abbott, Coca-Cola, Merck, and UPS. A central take-away from the conference was how sustainable road safety excellence and achievement is truly the byproduct of many -- the private sector, government agencies, road safety advocates, consultants and non-profit organizations. During the conference, there was also no shortage of professionalism, passion and respect for the tremendous road safety challenges which exist across Latin America as well as other regions of the world. Organizations facing multinational challenges can greatly benefit from this kind of information and best practice sharing. Watch for future conferences designed to build on this success and maximize your opportunity to network and focus on international initiatives! Just as the dust is settling on our Latin America Conference, I am pleased to also mention we are days away from launching registration for our NETS Strength IN Numbers ® annual conference October 9-10, 2019 in Washington, D.C. Once again we anticipate a number of dynamic speaker and sponsor partner presentations as we aim to host yet another record setting conference. Stay tuned for early-bird registration and additional information! Thanks again to everyone for your dedication to road safety and drive safely!

NETS ANNOUNCEMENTS

Save the Date! NETS Fleet Safety Conference: Oct 9-10, 2019 Whether you are a full-time road safety professional, manage a fleet of vehicles, or serve in a support role with your organization's road safety program, the NETS 2019 Annual Conference is certain to have something for everyone! Read more trafficsafety.org Registration COMING SOON! Reserve a Hotel Room

NETS is proud to partner with the following PLATINUM Fleet Safety Sponsor: www.edriving.com eDriving’s global FLEET division serves 1 million drivers, providing a complete continuum of award-winning risk management and training solutions with proven results and ROI. NETS Fleet Safety Sponsors

LATEST ROAD SAFETY NEWS

NHTSA Investigating 12 Million Cars for Non-Deploying Airbag Vehicles from Acura, Dodge, Fiat, Honda, Hyundai, Jeep, Kia, Mitsubishi, Ram, and Toyota are potentially affected. Read more www.caranddriver.com

Study Lists U.S. States That Issue Most Speeding Tickets Which states issue the most speeding tickets? An unlikely source - a Honda dealership in Yonkers, New York - compiled the data and shared it on their website. To complete their report, the dealership set out to obtain at least one year of... Read more www.motor1.com

Speed Limit Increases Are Killing Thousands Increased speed limits have killed nearly 37,000 people over the last 25 years, according to new research by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. While experts remain concerned about traffic crash deaths caused by alcohol, cellphone... Read more www.usatoday.com

Arizona Governor Vetoes Distracted-driving Bill Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey on Friday vetoed legislation that would have toughened the state's distracted driving law, just days after signing a new law banning handheld cellphone use. Read more www.kyma.com

WORKPLACE/ HOME ROAD SAFETY

How to Avoid a Rear-End Collision Follow these nine steps for avoiding rear-end collisions, which have become a costly source of fleet repair costs. Read more www.automotive-fleet.com

Distracted Driving Insurance Rates Rose Nearly 10,000% The penalties for texting and talking on a handheld phone while driving now include massive insurance premium increases, according to The Zebra. From 2011 to 2018, the average annual insurance premium adjustment for a distracted driving... Read more www.digitaltrends.com

Phone Addicts Are the New Drunk Drivers Every April, to commemorate Distracted Driving Awareness Month, Zendrive shares insights from the largest dataset about how people drive. For our third annual Distracted Driving Study, we analyzed over 160 billion miles of driver data to uncover... Read more blog.zendrive.com

Graduated Driver Licensing Requirements by State Driving carries extra risk for them. Teenage drivers have the highest crash risk per mile traveled, compared with drivers in other age groups. Young drivers tend to overestimate their driving abilities and underestimate the dangers on the road. Read more www.iihs.org

TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION

Vehicle-detecting Stop Signs to Improve Rural Road Safety Engineers from the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) are building and testing a new low-cost, self-powered thermal system that can detect vehicles, improve the visibility of stop signs and help to improve safety, particularly on rural roads. Read more www.traffictechnologytoday.com

Autobrake Is Good but Could Be Better When it comes to preventing typical front-to-rear crashes, automatic emergency braking is a proven winner. Extending its functionality to address less-common types of rear-end crashes involving turning, changing lanes or striking heavy trucks or... Read more www.iihs.org

CA Proposes Rules for Testing Self-driving Delivery Vehicles Right now, there are a number of companies developing and testing autonomous vehicles on public roads in California, but the way the laws are written, groups are not allowed to test light-duty delivery vehicles. Thanks to a new proposal, that... Read more www.cnet.com

GOVERNMENT AND NON-PROFIT AGENCY NEWS

#50by30: A New Target for a Decade of Action for Road Safety Every day 3,700 people are killed in road crashes and many more suffer serious injuries. Shockingly traffic injuries are now the leading cause of death for children and young adults aged 5-29 years. The current United Nations Decade of Action for ... Read more www.towardszerofoundation.org

Better Restraints Needed in Back Seat A new IIHS study of frontal crashes in which belted rear-seat passengers were killed or seriously injured suggests that more sophisticated restraint systems are needed in the back. Front-seat occupants have benefited greatly from advancements in... Read more www.iihs.org

Drivers More Distracted Around Emergency Vehicles According to a survey released today by the National Safety Council and the Emergency Responder Safety Institute, 71% of U.S. drivers take photos or videos when they see an emergency vehicle on the side of the road responding to a fire or ... Read more www.nsc.org

INTERNATIONAL ROAD SAFETY

Fifth UN Global Road Safety Week 2019: 6-12 May 2019 The UN Road Safety Collaboration is pleased to announce the theme of the 5th UN Global Road Safety Week: “leadership for road safety.” Enlightened leaders are able to provide a vision of what the future might look like and to mobilize action... Read more www.who.int

European Parliament Backs New Vehicle Safety Standards The European Parliament has given the green light to new minimum EU vehicle safety requirements that will come into force from 2022. The vote by the full parliament, at its last session of... Read more etsc.eu

Time for a U.K. Ban on "Hands Free" Phone Use? Dr. Graham Hole (University of Sussex) & Dr. Gemma Briggs (Open University) set out their reasons why "hands free" driving is NOT "safe" driving and why they want an outright ban on drivers using mobile phones. It is 16 years since law was... Read more www.brake.org.uk

Revive Project Maps EMS Practices in Europe Around 135.000 people suffered a life-changing, serious injury on Europe's roads in 2014, according to European Commission data. Improvements in emergency response can help prevent deaths and life-changing injuries in road collisions. However,... Read more etsc.eu

UPCOMING TRANSPORTATION SAFETY EVENTS AND CAMPAIGNS

Registration now open! Spaces are limited. June 25-26, 2019 National Safety Council–Itasca, IL Cannabis can have a major impact on the safety of your workers and cannabis legalization is creating new challenges. Learn how cannabis can affect your employees’ ability to work, drive and function. Join the National Safety Council for the symposium, “Cannabis: It’s Complicated”, where you will find out policies you should have in your workplace and get the information and resources you need to address marijuana use and cannabis-related products. For more information, go to: NSC Cannabis Symposium

Amigos Don't Let Amigos Drive Drunk: Cinco De Mayo Cinco de Mayo has become a night of fun and celebration in the United States - and a night of danger. Drunk driving on Cinco de Mayo threatens not just those enjoying the festivities, but others on the road as well. Read more www.trafficsafetymarketing.gov

May is Motorcycle Awareness Month Get Up to Speed on Motorcycles. Motorcyclists and motorists can work together to save lives.To help reduce motorcycle collisions and injuries and to help save lives, NHTSA has launched the new Get Up to... Read more www.trafficsafetymarketing.gov

Global Fleet Conference June 4-6, 2019 Where the Global Fleet Community Connects: Hilton Miami Downtown, Miami, FL. Now in its seventh year, Global Fleet Conference, brought to you by the publishers of Automotive Fleet, Work Truck, Fleet Europe and Global Fleet, is a... Read more www.globalfleetconference.com

2019 NSC Congress & Expo: San Diego, CA September 7-13, 2019 The NSC Congress & Expo is the world's largest annual "must attend" event for safety, health and environmental professionals. For more than 100 years, professionals have turned to this safety conference for industry-leading technology, education... Read more congress.nsc.org

Do you have a particularly successful road safety example to share? NETS Members are encouraged to share best practices, ask questions or contribute their expertise to the NETS Road Safety Leaders Forum, an online discussion forum exclusively for NETS Members and Sponsors. Not yet a member? Check out the benefits at  www.trafficsafety.org/Membership .

Note from the editor: All links to stories have been tested and are active 24 hours prior to distribution; however, links may become inactive over time at the discretion of the publication source.

About NETSWork® NETSWork is published electronically each month by the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety, Susan Gillies, editor, and Joe McKillips, Executive Director.

Network of Employers for Traffic Safety 344 Maple Ave. West #357 Vienna, VA 22180 703-755-5350 www.trafficsafety.org nets@trafficsafety.org

© 2019 Network of Employers for Traffic Safety  NETS is registered by the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(C)3 non-profit organization