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Julia Kite-Laidlaw
As the summer winds down, it’s time for a new emphasis on distracted driving. With students returning to school, it is more important than ever to ensure your eyes, and focus, are on the road. Road to Zero was privileged to host a webinar earlier this week about one Minnesota community’s innovative experiment with camera enforcement of phone usage behind the wheel, and I gave advice for avoiding distraction in Everyday Health’s article about new research showing crashes spiking on the days of high-profile new music releases.
Labor Day marks the unofficial end of summer, and in the road safety world, it is always a time of concern. Analysis from Cambridge Mobile Telematics indicates distracted driving and speeding are higher on Labor Day compared to a typical Monday. NSC has found the proportion of road deaths involving an alcohol-impaired driver tends to increase over Labor Day weekend, so read on to find important resources from NHTSA about the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over high-visibility enforcement campaign that will be taking place over the holiday.
The team at National Safety Council is busy getting ready for our annual Safety Congress and Expo, coming to Indianapolis Sept. 11-17. We have a fantastic lineup of speakers, educators and NSC representatives ready to help you stay safe, from the workplace to anyplace. Stop by the NSC Central booth on the expo floor to test your skills at Safety Jeopardy, and say hello!
Wishing you safe travels this Labor Day weekend and beyond.
Julia Kite-Laidlaw
Senior Program Manager, Road to Zero
Among drivers between the ages of 18 and 34 who were killed in crashes over the Labor Day holiday in 2024, 40% of those drivers were drunk, with BACs of .08 or above. Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over is a national high-visibility enforcement campaign that focuses on the consequences of drunk driving and is supported by increased law enforcement. NHTSA has resources you can use here.
As we work toward our shared goal of zero traffic deaths, protecting the most vulnerable passengers remains one of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s top priorities. For Child Passenger Safety Week (Sept. 20–26), the NHTSA campaign covers topics every step of the way — from purchasing the correct car seat according to a child’s weight and height, to properly installing it, and when to move them to next type of seat.
Safety advocates and transportation professionals can support this national effort by sharing NHTSA's interactive digital seat-finder tool during the campaign week.
Additionally, NHTSA urges all safety partners to keep pediatric vehicular heatstroke prevention top-of-mind. Late-summer heat risks remain highly acute, so please continue sharing the lifesaving Stop. Look. Lock. message.
How Road to Zero Partners Can Take Action:
National Safety Council, manager of Road to Zero, also manages the National Child Passenger Safety Board and provides resources to technicians, instructors or anybody who works with children and their families. And because every hot car death is preventable, visit our heatstroke prevention page to learn about the risks and find out if there is a task force in your state.
New York City’s Vision Zero Task Force is now accepting submissions for presentations at the 2026 Research on the Road symposium. Use this form to submit research or analysis to be considered for a presentation. Research or analysis must address road safety and be applicable to New York City. The symposium will be held in November in New York. Submissions will be accepted through Aug. 31, 2026.
In early 2026, Johns Hopkins University, the FIA Foundation and the Institute of Transportation Engineers convened a consortium of safety stakeholders to make recommendations for accelerating adoption of the Safe System Approach across the U.S. You can now read their priorities for action: Breaking down institutional silos, providing tools for cross-sector collaboration and more. Get more information and download the report.
In this program from the National Center for Rural Road Safety, learn why growing positive traffic safety culture can significantly improve road safety in your community and nationwide. Participants will leave the training better understanding the elements that shape traffic safety culture, how those factors interact to affect human behaviors, strategies that can be implemented to improve traffic safety culture among various groups and ideas about how participants can use their role (and the role of others) in growing a positive traffic safety culture. Get more information about this training.
What does it look like to move from Safe System principles to real-world action? Join IIHS and Vision Zero Network at 3 p.m. (ET) Sept. 10 for a webinar where leaders from Santa Rosa, California, Arlington, Virginia, and the Minnesota Department of Transportation will discuss the newly released Safe System Success Stories case studies and how their agencies are putting Safe System principles into practice. From rethinking planning and design processes to scaling proven safety treatments and adopting systemwide safety policies, these examples show how agencies are taking a more proactive approach to preventing serious traffic injuries and fatalities. The discussion will highlight practical lessons and insights for others working to advance a Safe System approach. Register.
Together for Safer Roads is inviting fleets and partners to participate in Every Seat, Every Time, a new global initiative designed to increase seat belt usage rates among commercial fleets worldwide. Building on TSR’s Seat Belt Safety Standard Operating Procedures, the industry’s only comprehensive operational guide to commercial fleet seat belt safety, the initiative brings together Autoliv as its anchor partner and UPS as its first founding implementing member to help translate proven guidance into large-scale implementation.
Through practical resources, including the new TSR Seat Belt Safety Scorecard, Every Seat, Every Time will help fleets benchmark performance, identify opportunities for improvement and strengthen seat belt safety practices over time. The initiative aims to reach 500 fleets across 10 countries by 2030, making proven seat belt practices more accessible to fleets around the world.
Contact [email protected] to participate or learn more.
The University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center is conducting a brief survey on traffic safety and workplace policies, and invites businesses and government organizations to participate. The questionnaire will take less than 10 minutes to complete. Your input will directly inform the development of a practical handbook to help organizations design and implement effective workplace traffic safety programs. As a thank you, you can request a free copy of the completed handbook at the end of the survey. Complete the survey here.
IIHS research shows Waymo’s driverless cars crash less often than people do. Data from California, Arizona and Texas markets indicate Waymo’s driverless vehicles have crash rates that are 68% lower than human drivers. These vehicles were involved in 85% fewer single-vehicle crashes and 81% fewer injury crashes per miles traveled than human drivers. But as the technology is deployed more widely, a better system for tracking safety is needed. Read the full study.
Newer cars with advanced driver assistance systems can be expensive to repair after a collision, but their benefits in terms of crashes prevented more than outweigh their costs – and you don’t pay repair bills for collisions that didn’t happen. The sensors used for automatic emergency braking, blind spot detection and other crash avoidance systems are often cited as reasons for high repair costs, but there are many other causes. Read this explanation from IIHS Chief Insurance Operations Officer Matt Moore.
Sunday, Nov. 15, is World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, a global commemoration of lives lost and a call to action to prevent more of these tragedies. Whether you have hosted an event in the past or are interested in doing so for the first time, you can join nationwide organizing calls to learn how to advocate for real change in your community. Visit wdor-usa.org for more information.
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