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Traffic Accidents

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Essay
How to End U.S. Roadway Deaths by 2050
Tens of thousands of people die on American roads every year. Bringing that number down to zero by 2050 is possible. We would have to change how we think about road safety, stop accepting car crashes as accidents, and make smart investments in technology.
Jun 24, 2019
Report
When Can Automated Vehicles Be Considered Safe Enough?
Establishing whether automated vehicles are acceptably safe is not straightforward, and continual technology development adds complication. Agreeing on the approaches to assess AV safety and improving communication about safety are important for building and sustaining public trust.
Oct 29, 2020

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Journal Article
The Kids Aren't Alright: The Effects of Medical Marijuana Market Size on Adolescents
Combining a novel measure of market size with two shocks to U.S. federal enforcement policy, researchers find that legal medical market growth increases youth cannabis use and alcohol-involved car accidents, suggesting complementarities for youths. It’s unclear whether these results apply to cannabis legalization for nonmedical purposes.
Dec 9, 2022
Journal Article
Does It Matter Who Pays for Auto Injuries?
In many states, auto insurers rather than health insurers pay for a substantial fraction of the medical care following auto crashes.
Dec 11, 2020
News Release
No Silver Bullet for Determining Safety of Automated Vehicles; Public Trust in AV Technology Rides on Multiple ...
No single method is sufficient to determine whether an automated vehicle is safe enough for the road, and ultimately consumers are most likely to trust the government about AV safety.
Oct 29, 2020
Dissertation
Public Health and Safety Consequences of Liberalizing Drug Laws: Insights from Cannabis Legalization
Evaluates past policy changes surrounding national legalization of cannabis and identifies feasible policy responses for contemporary or anticipated issues.
Jun 15, 2020
Report
Countering Drug-Impaired Driving: Addressing the Complexities of Gathering and Presenting Evidence in Drug-Impaired Driving Cases
Driving under the influence of drugs is a serious and growing threat to public safety. Addressing these cases involves identifying impairment and presenting complex evidence in court. A panel of experts identified ways to address this challenge.
May 7, 2020
Commentary
How to Make Roads Safer for Autonomous Vehicles
No matter how much developers test autonomous vehicles, the world will still present unforeseen circumstances for vehicles to navigate. Roadways and vehicle design could be modified to better accommodate both human error and the shortcomings of autonomous vehicle systems.
Feb 6, 2019
Report
How AV Safety Can Be Defined, Tested, and Measured
The race to introduce automated vehicles to consumers and communities is based on the promise that they will be safer than conventional vehicles. A new framework for measuring AV safety provides the public, automotive industry, and policymakers with clearer ways to discuss AV technology issues.
Oct 11, 2018
Report
Rethinking Insurance and Liability in the Transformative Age of Autonomous Vehicles
What are the challenges and opportunities for the automobile insurance industry as autonomous vehicle technology becomes widely deployed? This workshop brought together industry stakeholders, regulators, and consumer representatives to focus on the implications of AV technology for insurance and liability regimes.
Jun 8, 2018
Report
Could U.S. Road Deaths Reach Zero by 2050?
Motor vehicle crashes kill more than 100 Americans every day and are the leading cause of death for people age 15 to 24. A strategy that includes changes in policy, technology, and social norms could substantially improve road safety and lead to zero roadway deaths by 2050.
Apr 19, 2018
Report
The Road to Zero: Executive Summary: A Vision for Achieving Zero Roadway Deaths by 2050
Imagine that, in 2050, not a single person in the United States dies in a traffic crash. This executive summary to The Road to Zero: A Vision for Achieving Zero Roadway Deaths by 2050 describes how that might be possible.
Apr 19, 2018
Commentary
Teens Are Driving Drowsy Every Day, and That's Dangerous
About 1 in 10 car crashes are caused by drowsy driving, and young drivers between the ages of 16 and 24 account for more than half of them. Many parents unwittingly allow their teens to drive while tired on a daily basis.
Mar 12, 2018
Tool
Costs and Effectiveness of Interventions to Reduce Motor Vehicle–Related Injuries and Deaths: Supplement to Tool Documentation
This report documents the update of an online tool to help assess costs and effectiveness of implementing up to 14 interventions and select those most effective in reducing death and injury from motor vehicle crashes for a given budget.
Feb 2, 2018
Tool
Motor Vehicle Prioritizing Interventions and Cost Calculator for States (MV PICCS)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's updated interactive Motor Vehicle Prioritizing Interventions and Cost Calculator for States can help state decisionmakers prioritize motor vehicle injury-prevention interventions.
Feb 2, 2018
Article
Why Waiting for Perfect Autonomous Vehicles May Cost Lives
Some people think autonomous vehicles must be flawless before humans take their hands off the wheel. But putting AVs on the road before they're perfect improves the technology more quickly—and could save hundreds of thousands of lives over time.
Nov 7, 2017
Tool
Autonomous Vehicle Safety Scenario Explorer
How safe should autonomous vehicles be before they are allowed on the road for consumer use? To help explore answers to that question, the Safety Scenario Explorer compares future scenarios and estimates the resulting fatalities against a future without autonomous vehicles.
Nov 7, 2017
Report
Deploying Autonomous Vehicles Before They're Perfect Will Save More Lives
Autonomous vehicles should only have to be moderately better than human drivers before being widely used in the United States. This approach could save thousands of lives annually even before the technology is perfected.
Nov 7, 2017
Report
Model of Automated Vehicle Safety (MAVS)
The safety of autonomous vehicles is a principal concern for the transportation industry, policymakers, and the public. Comparing the impact on road fatalities under many different scenarios can help understand the circumstances in which autonomous vehicles can provide the greatest safety benefit.
Nov 7, 2017
Multimedia
How Safe Should Autonomous Vehicles Be Before They're Introduced to Market?
RAND researchers Nidhi Kalra and David G. Groves developed a model to compare 500 different scenarios of autonomous vehicle introduction, adoption, and improvement. The research shows that putting autonomous vehicles on the road sooner, allowing them to improve quicker, could save hundreds of thousands of lives over time.
Nov 6, 2017

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RAND Topic:
Traffic Accidents

Research conducted by

RAND Social and Economic Well-Being