Nearly 80 percent of crashes and 65 percent of near-crashes involved some form of driver inattention within three seconds before the event. Primary causes of driver inattention are distracting activities, such as cell phone use, and drowsiness.
"This important research illustrates the potentially dire consequences that can occur while driving distracted or drowsy. It's crucial that drivers always be alert when on the road," said Jacqueline Glassman, acting administrator of NHTSA. Her remarks were made during a news conference today at VTTI in Blacksburg, Va.
The 100-Car Naturalistic Driving Study tracked the behavior of the drivers of 100 vehicles equipped with video and sensor devices for more than one year. During that time, the vehicles were driven nearly 2,000,000 miles, yielding 42,300 hours of data. The 241 drivers of the vehicles were involved in 82 crashes, 761 near crashes, and 8,295 critical incidents.
"The huge database developed through this breakthrough study is enormously valuable in helping us to understand--and prevent--motor vehicle crashes," said Tom Dingus, director of VTTI.
In addition, a follow-on analysis to the 100-Car Study has also been released. Focused on the types of driver inattention and their associated risk, key findings include:
The 100-Car Study and its follow-on analysis were co-sponsored by NHTSA, the Virginia Transportation Research Council (the research division of the Virginia Department of Transportation) and Virginia Tech.
The background and results of both studies are available on NHTSA's website under Research and Development.
The 100-Car Naturalistic Driving Study Phase II – Results of the 100-Car Field Experiment
NHTSA Crash Avoidance Research Technical Publications
http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/departments/nrd-12/pubs_rev.html
The Impact of Driver Inattention on Near-Crash/Crash Risk: An Analysis of 100-Car Naturalistic Driving Study Data (This report will be posted at two locations)
NHTSA Crash Avoidance Research Technical Publications
http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/departments/nrd-12/pubs_rev.html and
Safety Implications of Driver Distraction When Using In-Vehicle Technologies
http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/departments/nrd-13/DriverDistraction.html
100-Car Naturalistic Driving Study Fact Sheet
Setting up the Study
Study Sponsors:
Study Parameters:
100-Car Study Features:
Data Collection Instrumentation Included:
The Database:
Top Level Database Statistics
Types of Driving Behavior Recorded:
Discoveries
Rear-End-Striking Crashes:
Age-Related:
Hand-Held Wireless Devices:
Driver Drowsiness:
Driver Inattention Analysis Fact Sheet
Inattention Analysis Purpose
Two Calculations
Method
Driver Inattention:
Discoveries
Risks
Relative Risk Findings:
Population Attributable Risk Percentage Findings: