NEW YORK-The National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration made several specific recommendations for future actions regarding highway safety in its recent report.
Today, only the states of Minnesota and Oklahoma “include a specific data element relating to cellular phone use in their police accident reports,” the agency said. As a first step to remedy this inadequate information collection situation, NHTSA and the National Highway Administration “are working on a minimum standard crash data set.”
Its purpose is to help crash investigators uniformly report and better identify contributing factors related to driver inattention and distraction in general-and cellular telephone use in particular. Once the agencies’ reporting model is completed and reviewed by outside evaluators from a variety of disciplines, the agencies will provide it as a model for state and local government jurisdictions to adopt.
As an adjunct to this, the Traffic Safety Administration recommended that law enforcement officers note cell phone use in citations they issue for inattentive driving.
Second, the NHTSA recommended “a study to supplement normal crash reporting with data collection focused on selected jurisdictions.
“The effort would be designed to provide in-depth information on the possible role of cellular telephone technologies in precipitating crashes. It would teach police and investigators to inspect carefully and probe for phone use during interviews with drivers and witnesses.”
If these investigations reveal the possibility that a wireless phone was in use at the time of the crash, “cooperation with cellular and PCS carriers would be sought for verification.”
The NHTSA said that many states attempt to obtain telephone records when criminal charges are filed as a result of the accident. No states sought wireless phone records in these cases prior to 1996, the federal agency said.
Third, NHTSA recommended the insurance industry cooperate with it in information sharing about the role of cellular telephones in automobile crashes. Preliminary discussions with members of the insurance industry indicate it has begun to provide this information to the Traffic Safety Administration.
Fourth, NHTSA recommended improved consumer education about driving safety and cellular phone use that would include greater efforts at cellular phone sales outlets as well as incorporation into curriculum for drivers’ education courses and the requirements for licensing of drivers.
Finally, the safety administration recommended “human factor” studies to better assess risk, and also better research and development into improving the user-friendliness of handsets and other wireless devices for on-road use.
“Something like the Parkes’ intelligent answerphone concept that diverts, records and interprets messages appropriately based on sensed driving conditions … development of such a system goes beyond anything the cellular telephone industry has marketed or reported to date. It’s a laudable goal and compatible with the Intelligent Transportation System initiative.”
