Highway Death Toll Warning Signs May Cause More Crashes, Not Less

By Robert Preidt HealthDay Reporter
HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, April 22, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Showing freeway loss of life tolls on roadside message boards in a bid to curb crashes may very well trigger extra accidents, a brand new research suggests.

That’s as a result of they distract drivers, the researchers mentioned.

At least 27 states have used such messages. The new report targeted on Texas, the place officers determined to show freeway loss of life tolls one week of each month.

“People have restricted consideration,” mentioned research co-author Joshua Madsen, an assistant professor within the School of Management on the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. “When a driver’s cognitive load is already maxed out, including on an attention-grabbing, sobering reminder of freeway deaths [can] change into a harmful distraction.”

For the research, Madsen and his staff in contrast Texas crash information from January 2010 to July 2012, earlier than the marketing campaign, to August 2012 to December 2017 when it was underway. They additionally checked out weekly variations every month through the marketing campaign.

The investigators discovered that there have been 4.5% extra crashes alongside the ten kilometers (6.21 miles) of freeway the place loss of life numbers have been displayed throughout weeks after they have been proven than in message-free weeks.

The enhance is corresponding to elevating the pace restrict 3 to five miles per hour or decreasing freeway troopers by 6% to 14%, earlier analysis exhibits.

The findings, revealed April 21 within the journal Science , recommend that every yr highway fatality messages precipitated an added 2,600 crashes and 16 deaths in Texas.

That’s as a result of this “in-your-face” messaging about highway deaths quickly impacts drivers’ potential to answer modifications in visitors circumstances, the research authors mentioned in a college information launch.

The researchers additionally discovered that the extra crashes related to the messages elevated because the loss of life toll rose. The highest quantity occurred in January, when messages displayed the earlier yr’s complete variety of deaths.

The research additionally confirmed that crashes elevated in areas the place drivers required larger focus, equivalent to heavy visitors or driving previous a number of message boards.

According to review co-author Jonathan Hall, “The messages additionally elevated the variety of multivehicle crashes, however not single-vehicle crashes.” Hall is an assistant professor within the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy on the University of Toronto in Canada.

“This is in step with drivers with elevated cognitive hundreds making smaller errors as a consequence of distraction, like drifting out of a lane, reasonably than driving off the highway,” Hall added.

The researchers did discover a discount in crashes when the displayed loss of life tolls have been low and when messages have been proven in areas the place highways have been much less complicated.

Overall, the findings recommend that states ought to think about different methods of elevating consciousness about highway security, in response to Madsen.

“Distracted driving is harmful driving,” he mentioned. “Perhaps these campaigns may be reimagined to succeed in drivers in a safer approach, equivalent to when they’re stopped at an intersection, in order that their consideration whereas driving stays targeted on the roads.”

More info

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has sensible tricks to preserve you secure.

SOURCE: University of Minnesota, information launch, April 21, 2022