Dr. Ken Casavant led a six year effort, the "Eastern WA Intermodal Transportation Study", in order to identify statewide transportation infrastructure needs that would improve economic competitiveness in Washington State. The findings are available at http://ewits.wsu.edu/.
This past week I was able to attend the Eno Leadership Development Conference as an Eno Fellow, sponsored in part by TransNow -- it was amazing. The Eno Leadership Development Conference introduces young transportation professionals to transportation policy. First, and possibly most importantly, I spent the entire week with fellow students interested in transportation from all sorts of backgrounds and academic interest areas. The students were really energizing, and I am incredibly thankful for the opportunity to get to know them. I look forward to our paths crossing regularly in the future.
In addition to the time spent with the other Eno Fellows, every minute of our week was filled with an impressive array of panelists involved in transportation policy. We started with a few overviews of the legislative system, and then met with experts in different fields, lobbyists, and the staffers for the House and Senate committees in charge of the next transportation bill. That so many busy and important people would take time out of their days to meet with us was an incredible honor, and we were able to learn so much more by speaking with them.
Lastly, I was truly impressed with the level of organization the Eno Center for Transportation Leadership, and especially its Director -Lindsey Robertson, provided. The entire week ran seamlessly. On every level this experience was more than I had expected. It was enriching and challenging, it was run with military precision, and I've returned to UW with a wider network of colleagues interested in solving the challenging transportation policy issues of our time. Many thanks to TransNow and the Eno Foundation for enabling my trip!
Engineering Discovery Days was a great success this year! Our exhibit, Texting and Driving is ____? was a hit, featuring a state of the art driving simulator (Courtesy of State Farm Insurance) with goggles that simulated impaired/drunk driving and allowed drivers to see how much texting impairs their driving.
What did people think after the experiment? For a slide show of people's reactions, click on the picture.
A special thank you to our student volunteers, who did a tremendous job this year managing the exhibits and interacting with students, families and teachers: Tim Pham (pictures), Eric Knigge, Jaedi Stevens, and Jamie Belfiglio.
TransNow would also like to thank:
for donating their driving simulator, making this experiment possible.
Andrew McVicar, Public Affairs Specialist at State Farm Insurance for donating his time and operating the driving simulator.
Did You Know? While you might be aware of the risks involved when using a cell phone while driving, the statistics are compelling:
- 20 percent of injury crashes in 2009 involved reports of distracted driving. (NHTSA).
- Of those killed in distracted-driving-related crashed, 995 involved reports of a cell phone as a distraction (18% of fatalities in distraction-related crashes). (NHTSA)
- In 2009, 5,474 people were killed in U.S. roadways and an estimated additional 448,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes that were reported to have involved distracted driving. (FARS and GES)
- The age group with the greatest proportion of distracted drivers was the under-20 age group – 16 percent of all drivers younger than 20 involved in fatal crashes were reported to have been distracted while driving. (NHTSA)
- Drivers who use hand-held devices are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves. (Source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety)
- Using a cell phone use while driving, whether it’s hand-held or hands-free, delays a driver's reactions as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of .08 percent. (Source: University of Utah)
Courtesy of official USDOT website on Distracted Driving.