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Strategic Plan

Introduction

Traffic crashes impose a tremendous burden. Injury from motor vehicle collisions is a the leading cause of death in the United States among all age groups. In fact, it is the leading cause of death for people aged 1-34. In California alone, motor vehicle crashes kill nearly 4,000 people, injure approximately 280,000, and cost an estimated $15 billion annually. Behind these staggering figures are the personal costs associated with loss, pain, and emtional suffering experienced by the victims and their families. Traffic injuries account for the majority of cases of paraplegia and quadriplegia and are the single leading cause of severe brain injury, severe facial lacerations, and fractures, often resulting in years of disability and rehabilitation. To a family, a severe traffic crash resulting in serious injury or death is devastating both financially and psychologically.

While much progress has been made in reducing traffic crashes and subsequent injury and death, the number of deaths stays steady at about 40,000 per year. Further reductions will require diverse approaches, including planning and interventions to improve intersections, traffic management, pedestrian safety, land use planning and urban design, vehicle design, child safety seats, traffic calming, and more. Each of these approaches will require coordinated efforts of professionals from many disciplines. The university, which includes many disciplines with possible relevance to traffic safety, aims to play a key role in this effort.

Collaborative efforts between the university community of researchers and academics and state and local organizations can lead to new definitions of traffic safety problems, new solutions, and valuable ways to evaluate traffic safety projects.

To address the above needs, Traffic Safety Center at UC Berkeley aims to bring together groups that have an interest in multi-disciplinary solutions to traffic safety problems, provide formal graduate and undergraduate education in subjects related to traffic safetyas well as training and distance learning opportunities to individuals already in the field, conducting research that addresses traffic safety issues, and establishing outreach, informational, and consulting to governmental, academic, and community-based organizations.

research

As the TSC aims to pursue multi-disciplinary projects, we will provide research and information to strengthen existing collaborations already working on diverse traffic safety issues, e.g., pedestrian safety, red light running, and intersection safety, physical activity, injury prevention, aging, alcohol, licensing, congestion, public policy, and environmental concerns. We will work with organizations across varied disciplines, both on and off campus, that have an interest in conducting traffic safety research and strive to ensure that research is grounded in the needs of the state and of communities.

Technical Assistance

To provide public and private organizations with technical assistance in the areas of data collection and analysis; program development, implementation, and evaluation; grant development; and other project activities. The TSC is in a unique position to provide technical assistance in the form of data collection and analysis, evaluation, and program or project development to communities and agencies throughout California. Because budgets are often limited and resources necessarily focused on program development and implementation, many organizations are in need of technical assistance in the above areas.

Public Information

The TSC will make extensive use of the Web, email newsletters and other forums, including seminars, conferences and workshops, to communicate its findings as well as information from other reliable sources.