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    <copyright>Copyright © 2026. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.</copyright>
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    <managingEditor>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</managingEditor>
    <webMaster>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</webMaster>
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      <title>Assessing the Impact of Driver Programs and Crash Risk Factors for Drivers</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2485379</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) and other government agencies regulate multiple driver-training programs aimed at improving safety on Arizona’s roadways. Evaluating the impact of these programs could help Arizona reduce rising rates of fatal and serious-injury crashes by focusing these programs on high-risk drivers and dangerous behavior. Existing programs, such as interlock monitoring, traffic survival school, professional driver schools, defensive driving school, and even license suspensions and revocations, are all intended to improve safety, but ADOT does not have sufficient information to quantitatively assess the effectiveness of these programs or determine whether the right pool of drivers is being directed to the most effective driver-improvement program. 
To help Arizona prioritize program modifications, this study will assess how well current programs serve drivers at high risk of involvement in the most common types of fatal or serious-injury crashes on the state highway system and quantify the differences in crash rates between drivers who have participated in ADOT-regulated training or education programs and drivers who have not. ]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 03 Jan 2025 16:18:40 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2485379</guid>
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      <title>Identifying and Intervening with High-Risk Drivers</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1878003</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Research suggests that many dangerous drivers are simply not aware of: (1) the fact that they are driving unsafely; (2) the risk associated with their dangerous driving; and (3) how far out of the norm their dangerous driving is. Automated notifications have also been shown to increase desirable behavior and reduce undesirable behavior across many contexts, including driving. For example, in a study of teenage drivers, alerting both the teenagers and the parents of teenage drivers of risky behavior occurring in their cars can reduce risky driving. The District does something similar, by using Automated Traffic Enforcement (ATE) systems to enforce traffic safety and regulations for red light and speeding violations. ATE systems do this by automatically taking photographs of the rear of the vehicle and its license plate if the driver violates regulations, then sends a citation and fine to the registered vehicle owner’s address. However, these are reactive measures towards reducing risky driving behavior. Our study proposes to build upon this system further by targeting proactive measures to risky drivers to reduce crashes. 

District of Columbia Department of Transportation (DDOT) and The Lab will collaborate to design the modeling and intervention for this project. There are two key components to the intervention: (1) analysis of data from the District’s ATE systems and MPD crash data, to predict a driver’s likelihood of being involved in a crash; and (2) proactive intervention(s) to reduce risky behavior for drivers likely to be involved in a crash.
]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 13 Sep 2021 12:42:41 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1878003</guid>
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      <title>Developing Driver Skills Examination and Scoring Guidance for Evaluating and Predicting High Safety Risk Drivers



</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1716996</link>
      <description><![CDATA[BTSCRP Research Report 16: Predicting High-Risk Drivers: Skills Examination and Scoring Guidelines provides guidance and methods for driving skills examination and scoring that identify high safety risk drivers. The report is based on a comprehensive review of domestic and international, specifically European, driver examination policies and input from an expert panel that provided insights into best practices for driver testing and skill assessment. An experimental trial was conducted with 1,512 teenage learner drivers in which all participants completed baseline surveys, a pre-intervention hazard perception assessment, an immediate post-intervention hazard perception assessment, and a 3-month post-intervention hazard perception assessment. Participants used a smartphone app to measure driving behavior, including distraction, speeding, and hard braking. This report will be of interest to state highway safety offices and other stakeholders concerned with young driver safety. 
 	
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among teenagers in the United States. Despite significant risks associated with young drivers, current driver’s licensing exams are not strong predictors of driving safety. The on-road driving skills examination represents a “gateway” from the learner phase to licensure and independent, unsupervised driving. All drivers must pass a skills examination before obtaining a driver’s license. Ideally, the skills examination should be designed to reliably and consistently identify drivers who pose a high safety risk and need more driving experience before being licensed.

Both NHTSA and the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators have called for evaluations of driving skills testing and scoring to help identify pre-licensure drivers who present a higher potential safety risk and to develop a risk profile that the novice driver and others (e.g., parents, driver instructors) can use to guide practice in both the pre- and post-licensure stages.

Under BTSCRP Project BTS-16, “Developing Driver Skills Examination and Scoring Guidance for Evaluating and Predicting High Safety Risk Drivers,” Johns Hopkins University was tasked with developing guidance and methods for driving skills examination and scoring that identify high safety risk drivers and are applicable in all U.S. jurisdictions.

In addition to BTSCRP Research Report 16, the following deliverables can be found on the National Academies Press website (nap.nationalacademies.org) by searching for BTSCRP Research Report 16: Predicting High-Risk Drivers: Skills Examination and Scoring Guidelines: (1) a technical memorandum on guidance and methods for driving skills examination and scoring that identify high safety risk drivers; (2) a technical memorandum on recommendations for additional research; and (3) a PowerPoint presentation of BTSCRP Project BTS-16.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 30 Jun 2020 11:33:30 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1716996</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>Promoting Safe Transportation Among Older Drivers: Risk Assessment via Driving Simulator</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1354965</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The primary objective is to validate driving simulator scenarios to assess older driver safety in a clinical-setting. Older drivers' performance in the driving simulator will be validated as compared to in-clinic assessments, on-road driving performance, and state recorded driving citations and crash involvement. Metrics of driving simulator performance indicative of older driver risk will be determined. There is a pressing need for developing and implementing safe and valid methods of assessing older drivers' risk, which will be met by the proposed study.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sat, 23 May 2015 01:00:23 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1354965</guid>
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      <title>Older Driver Acceptance of New Driving Safety Technology</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1257010</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The objectives of this project are to identify, rate and rank current and future technologies that affect the safety of older drivers and to then determine their acceptance of those technologies.  New vehicle-based safety systems have emerged in the US vehicle fleet in recent years.  This project will identify and evaluate those in-vehicle systems that affect the safety of older drivers.  Using the National Automotive Driving Simulator's (NADS) extensive experience with vehicle safety systems and older drivers, a safety system ranking will be established by taking the composite safety rating of each in-vehicle technology and comparing it to the crash risk and the potential safety benefits of other available technologies.  Older drivers' acceptance of these technologies will be assessed using a focus group setting and surveys and will factor into an overall safety score.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 24 Jul 2013 01:02:10 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1257010</guid>
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      <title>Guide for Effective Tribal Crash Reporting</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1234713</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Safety is a major concern for roadway practitioners across the United States. In many states, the Native American population is disproportionately represented in fatalities and crash statistics. For example, a study in South Dakota revealed that 737 crashes were documented in some fashion by tribal and Bureau of Indian Affairs law enforcement agencies in 2005, but only 52 were reported in enough detail to be included in the state accident reporting system. As a result, South Dakota tribes did not receive proportionate attention from state and federal programs that identify and target transportation safety issues. The issue is similar for tribes in most states. Native Americans' risk of motor-vehicle related death is about 4 times that of the general population. The risk is even higher for the population between 4 and 44 years old. Improved crash reporting by tribal law enforcement agencies would enable tribes to apply more successfully for state and federal funds for safety improvements.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 03 Jan 2013 15:18:08 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1234713</guid>
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      <title>Factors Affecting Fatal Crash Involvement of Older Drivers</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1230433</link>
      <description><![CDATA[It is a well known fact that the percentage of elderly among the United States (US) population is increasing. The majority of elderly are dependent on automobiles for their transportation needs either because of lack of public transportation or by choice. However, as a result of the natural aging process, they experience decreased mental and physical capabilities compared to younger drivers. This situation combined with imperfect highway infrastructure is making older drivers one of the most critical special population groups in terms of highway safety. Mobility and transportation needs of elderly in rural areas could be even more challenging due to the nature of the problems in those areas. On per mile driven basis older drivers experience the highest crash involvement of any driver age group. In addition, elderly are more likely to be killed or severely injured when involved in motor vehicle crashes. Understanding the causes and situations under which older drivers are more likely to get involved in crashes and to be fatally or more severely injured will help towards improving the overall highway safety situation of older drivers. With that kind of knowledge, potentially more specific countermeasures could be suggested for improving highway safety of the aging population in Kansas. Even though some national level studies are available on older drivers, preliminary investigation has indicated that older drivers in Kansas experience different sets of challenges than the average US older driver, mainly because of the disproportionate amount of rural highway mileage. Currently Kansas State University is working on a research project funded by the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) to look into the general highway safety issues of older drivers. That study utilizes the electronic crash database maintained by KDOT to gather data related to older driver related crashes in Kansas. Even though this is a reasonable approach to study the broader aspects of the problem, some very detailed information are lost when they are transformed into the electronic format. Examples of such details include the description on how the crash might have happened and the sketch provided in the actual police accident report. In order to get a deeper understanding of the contributing causes of crashes involving older drivers, it is necessary to pay closer attention to each and every crash which resulted in high levels of injury severity.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 03 Jan 2013 14:00:16 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1230433</guid>
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      <title>Attachment Style as Means to Identify Drivers at Risk of Inattention</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1228383</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The number of road accidents due to driver's inattention has been growing rapidly from 11% in 1999 to 30% in 2006. The present project is designed to develop diagnostic tools that will help identify in advance drivers at risk of inattention. Our diagnostic tools will focus on the psychological mechanisms that evolve throughout the individual's life and are likely to affect attention. Following recent findings showing that inattention can be predicted by a person's attachment style - a personality dimension representing people's levels of sensitivity to their environment, and the ability to control their thoughts and emotions - the project will examine whether attachment style, combined with cognitive tasks, can serve as diagnostic tools and predict in advance proneness to driving-related inattention. Such early-detection have the potential to reduce negative effects of inattention through accident-prevention programs that will focus on the underlying attachment insecurities leading to inattention.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 03 Jan 2013 13:20:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1228383</guid>
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