driver safety study puget

Seattle Study to Examine Driver Safety

By Hardwick & Pendergast, P.S. on November 16, 2011

A Seattle research firm will soon be collecting data on the safety habits of motor vehicle drivers in the Puget Sound area. The company, Battelle, will work in conjunction with the federal government to contribute to a bigger study that will include traffic safety data from other areas across the country, including New York, North Carolina, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Florida. The study’s focus will be on driving safety.

The national endeavor is being hailed by some as the most in-depth study on driver behavior ever done, according to reporting by The Herald. In Seattle and the Puget area, Battelle is looking for 3,100 drivers (ages 16 to 76) to participate (each will be paid $500), which entails allowing the data firm to install four different electronic devices that monitor and record a person’s driving behavior over the course of a year. The four devices in the study will measure a car’s proximity to other vehicles, record visuals from the driver’s perspective from several directions, and monitor certain types of vehicle activity via the onboard computer system. A representative told The Herald that the research will not only target what causes accidents but also what prevents them on both macro and micro levels. The research will be the second in history conducted under the Strategic Highway Research Program; the first was completed in the 1960s. Read the rest »