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

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Message from NETS' Executive Director, Joe McKillips 2019 Year in Review

As we count down the days remaining in 2019, I am hopeful the past year has been one of success and prosperity for you and your organization’s road safety program. I want to also thank our many NETS members, Sponsors and road safety partners for their amazing support and contributions during what has been yet another tremendously successful year for NETS. The year began with our first-ever international NETS satellite conference held April 2-3rd in San Jose, Costa Rica . With several NETS members carrying a multi-national workforce, road safety challenges outside the U.S. present a formidable challenge for many. This inaugural conference enabled us to join forces with NETS members and sponsors alike as we devoted our time and focus on a myriad of road safety challenges for employers located across Latin America. The conference was a tremendous success with plans to continue similar globally-focused conferences in the future. NETS cornerstone Drive Safely Work Week® (DSWW) campaign efforts also continued with the redesign of our comprehensive seat belt campaign titled 2Seconds2Click created to aid employers in developing or enhancing their current seat belt program, policy and enforcement efforts. Final development was also completed for NETS' first-ever Road Safety Wellness initiative designed to help Employers encourage their employees to adopt safe driving behaviors through starting and maintaining the habits of good health. The campaign will be launched in January which will be a great way to engage employees in this unique and high-impact topic as we begin the New Year. We finished the fall season with our 2019 Strength IN Numbers ® Annual benchmark Conference which turned out a record number of attendees and sponsors alike. An exciting addition to conference proceedings was the opportunity to showcase a dedicated and concurrent Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) road safety educational track enabling members who carry HGVs to expand their learning and engagement with like-minded members on this challenging area of road safety. Expanded “sector” meetings involving Healthcare, Utility, Insurance, and Agriculture members was also a key feature of the conference giving members within these industries the opportunity to deepen their engagement leading to an eventful week of learning and best practice exchange. Lastly, and not to be overlooked, the past year also saw the continued partnership with the National Safety Council (NSC) for the second year running with regards to the NETS Road Safety Benchmark report. Collaboration with the NSC and members of the NETS Benchmark statistical team once again led to a number of insightful findings and road safety program correlations providing NETS members with direct insights and viable working solutions to some of their organization’s most pressing road safety challenges. Thanks again for all you do to help support the NETS mission of reducing risk and saving lives. 2020 promises to be yet another exciting year for NETS as we look forward to continuing our momentum into the New Year. Wishing everyone a safe and relaxing holiday season!

NETS ANNOUNCEMENTS

New NETS Employer Wellness Campaign Coming for the New Year! Through a cooperative agreement with NHTSA, NETS is currently developing an employer wellness campaign. The upcoming campaign, aimed at both employers and employees, will include the topics of driver physical health, work-life balance, improved diet, maintaining a “healthy vehicle,” and developing a wellness plan. Materials will be available through a dedicated NETS website. Look for the materials to be launched soon!

Learn About NETS Fleet Safety Sponsors

NETS is proud to partner with the following PLATINUM Fleet Safety Sponsor: eDriving is the driver risk management partner of choice for many of the world’s largest organizations, supporting over 1,000,000 drivers in 96 countries. Over the past 23 years, eDriving’s research-validated programs have been recognized with 70+ client awards around the world. www.edriving.com

LATEST ROAD SAFETY NEWS

Which States Have The Most Drunk Driving Problems? Although drunk driving fatalities in the United States have been reduced by nearly 50% since the early 1980s, thanks to harsher penalties for DUI's and the work of awareness groups like , alcohol-impaired driving remains a serious problem on... Read more backgroundchecks.org

Reminder for Public to Pass Snowplows Safely Each winter, snowplows in Saskatchewan are involved in collisions with drivers. However, the majority of these collisions can be avoided by being aware and passing with care. "Our snowplow operators are out working, often in poor weather, to... Read more www.yorktonthisweek.com

WORKPLACE/ HOME ROAD SAFETY

Distracted driving: Cell Phone Laws by State Using a cellphone while driving increases crash risk. Researchers have consistently linked texting or otherwise manipulating a cellphone to increased risk. Some studies, but not all, have found that talking on a cellphone also increases crash... Read more www.iihs.org

FMCSA Our Roads Our Safety Campaign Road safety is everyone's responsibility - passenger vehicle drivers, truck drivers, bus drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians. That's why the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) developed Our Roads, Our Safety, a national safety... Read more www.fmcsa.dot.gov

Men Driving Trucks, SUVs Are Safety Hazard in NYC Macho men in pickup trucks are an American type - and they're also responsible for more than their share of deadly crashes on New York streets, say city officials who are targeting them in a new Vision Zero ad campaign. Read more www.nydailynews.com

10 Night Driving Tips An estimated 90% of all driver decisions are based on what the driver can see. Yet at night, one's vision is compromised, which may account for the fact that approximately 40% of all fatal motor vehicle accidents occur at night. Read more www.automotive-fleet.com

TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION

Tesla May Replace Windshield Wipers with Lasers Tesla CEO Elon Musk is famous for saying, among many other things, that people need to use "first principles" thinking or "reasoning from the ground up" in order to solve a problem in the most effective and fundamental way. Read more nerdist.com

Shell Looks at the Future of Fuel At a recent conference at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, Shell presented an array of speakers who sized up the state of alternative fuel technologies in trucking and a likely timeline for real-world adoption of these new means of moving... Read more www.truckinginfo.com

GM's Electric Pickup Truck to go on Sale Fall 2021 General Motors' first electric pickup truck model will go on sale in the fall of 2021, the company's top executive said on Thursday, around the same time as electric carmaker Tesla's own model is expected to debut. "General Motors understands... Read more www.cnbc.com

GOVERNMENT AND NON-PROFIT AGENCY NEWS

Comments welcome! NIOSH Center for Motor Vehicle Safety strategic plan  The Center for Motor Vehicle Safety (CMVS) in the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) coordinates NIOSH research, communication, and policy activities in work-related motor vehicle safety. To guide research to prevent work-related motor vehicle crashes and resulting injuries, the CMVS developed a 10-year strategic plan that is available for public comment until February 14, 2020. You can view the request for comments, and submit comments to the NIOSH docket. We encourage individuals and organizations to take this opportunity to let us know whether the plan identifies the research topics that are most important for advancing work-related motor vehicle safety.

NIOSH Behind the Wheel at Work Behind the Wheel at Work is a quarterly eNewsletter bringing you the latest news from the NIOSH Center for Motor Vehicle Safety: leadership updates, new products, and resolutions. Read more www.cdc.gov

Four Automakers Meet AEB Commitments Ahead of 2020 Target Audi and Volvo have joined Mercedes-Benz and Tesla in equipping all their light passenger vehicles with front automatic emergency braking. Four carmakers equipped virtually all the light vehicles they produced for the U.S.... Read more www.iihs.org

High-Risk Impaired Drivers: Combating a Critical Threat GHSA's report, "High-Risk Impaired Drivers: Combating a Critical Threat," focuses on the challenges and opportunities associated with the high-risk impaired driver - a person who lacks the restraint or self-control to resist driving impaired. Read more www.ghsa.org

INTERNATIONAL ROAD SAFETY

Prince Michael 2019 award winners Since 1987 our Awards have given public recognition to those who have improved road safety throughout Britain. Now the Prince Michael International Road Safety Awards recognise outstanding achievement and innovation world-wide. Each year the most... Read more www.roadsafetyawards.com

Progress in Reducing Alcohol-related Road Deaths in Europe This report looks at country progress in reducing road deaths attributed to drink driving over the past decade. The report highlights specific legislation and enforcement measures from across Europe. A range of recommendations concerning further... Read more etsc.eu

Safer Cars in the EU As of mid-2022, all new cars put on the EU market will have to be equipped with advanced safety systems. Following an agreement with the European Parliament last March, the Council today adopted a regulation on the general safety of motor... Read more www.consilium.europa.eu

Smartphones Used for Driving Tests in India Instructor-free driving tests conducted by a smartphone attached to the car's windshield are being carried out in India as part of a Microsoft Research Project called HAMS. HAMS, which stands for Harnessing AutoMobiles for Safety, was originally... Read more www.edriving.com

UPCOMING TRANSPORTATION SAFETY EVENTS AND CAMPAIGNS

Save the Date: 2020 National Safety Council Congress & Expo October 5-7, 2020. 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... Read more congress.nsc.org

Third Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety The Third Global Ministerial Conference (Ministerial Conference), held in the final year of the Decade of Action, aims to reach high-level consensus for continued global road safety targets and collaboration up to 2030. The Decade of Action... Read more www.roadsafetyngos.org

Save the Date: Global Fleet Champions Summit COMING SOON* Bringing together leaders of the fleet industry, the Global Fleet Champions Summit 2020 is a dynamic new event taking place in October 2020 at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester (UK). The Summit enables those working within the industry... Read more globalfleetchampions.org

Holiday Season: Buzzed Driving Is Drunk Driving The holidays are known for being merry and bright, but they're also known for being the deadliest season when it comes to drunk driving. Every holiday season, lives are lost due to drunk drivers.Use these social... Read more www.trafficsafetymarketing.gov

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

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