Research

The Victoria Transport Policy Institute web site introduces the concept of Complete Streets. This term refers to roads designed to accommodate diverse modes, users and activities including walking, cycling, public transit, automobile, nearby businesses and residents. Such street design helps create more multi-modal transport systems and more livable communities. This report discusses reasons to implement complete streets and how it relates to other planning innovations.

According to the BC Injury Research and Prevention Unit "motor vehicle collisions are the leading cause of unintentional injury death across all ages in BC. The majority of motor vehicle collisions involve injury to occupants, yet many motor vehicle-related injuries can occur among pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists.

A new Road Safety Monitor (RSM) poll by the Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF) shows that a majority of young Canadian drivers are aware that they cannot drive safely after drinking alcohol. The public opinion poll conducted in September 2010 investigated a variety of drinking and driving behaviours and attitudes among youth including riding with a drinking driver.

This study released by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety is based on a small group of teen drivers using a vehicle equipped with an event data recorder called Drivecam. The Drivecam system records video and data based on abnormal triggering events such as sudden steering or braking. Recorded events were compared and contrasted for beginner (supervised) and novice (unsupervised) drivers.

Human error is responsible for between 75% and 90% of crashes, but this report from Australia suggests that the system that a driver makes the error within needs to be more carefully examined. The system either contributes to the error or shapes the driver's behaviour that produces the error.

Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program (CTBSSP) Synthesis 18: Older Commercial Drivers: Do They Pose a Safety Risk? explores age-related changes in the basic functional abilities needed to drive safely. The report is designed to help assist industry and labor practitioners in promoting safer commercial operations.

This report produced by the US Transportation Research Board's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) explores human factors principles and findings for consideration by highway designers and traffic engineers. The report is designed to help the non-expert in human factors to consider more effectively the roadway user’s capabilities and limitations in the design and operation of highway facilities.

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 641: Guidance for the Design and Application of Shoulder and Centerline Rumble Strips explores the design and application of shoulder and center line rumble strips as a crash reduction measure.

Driver fatigue is an important causal factor in many highway crashes—and is of particular concern in the trucking industry where many operators undertake long haul drives with limited amounts of sleep. Previous studies suggest that fatigue can affect steering performance and speed control.

Lloyd's TSB Insurance commissioned a study that suggests driving with a cold or the flu can impair a driver by up to 11%, comparable to having consumed a double of hard liquor. A single sneeze lasts about 2 seconds, during which the driver's eyes are closed. At a speed of 80 km/h this will mean a travel distance of almost 45 meters.