The Governors Highway Safety Association (“GHSA”) has released a white paper discussing strategies for delivering safety messages to the public and preparing the criminal justice community to mitigate the ongoing risk of operator behavior as automated vehicles (“AVs”) take the road. The white paper summarized the outcomes of a May 8 GHSA/State Farm interdisciplinary meeting.
“Automated vehicles hold tremendous promise, but both driver-operated and highly automated vehicles will be sharing the roadways for a long time – maybe forever,” said the GHSA’s executive director, Jonathan Adkins. The panel agreed the highway safety community needs to continue to focus on operator behavior, attitudes, and culture, which will likely continue to play a leading role in highway safety.
“Surveys show that many drivers do not understand or trust AVs, or appreciate their own operator responsibilities, likely due to the many mixed, confusing, or inaccurate messages about these features,” noted Mr. Adkins. “We need to win the public’s trust and prepare them for safe use so that the lifesaving potential of this technology is not delayed.”
The report recommended that state highway safety offices, AV developers, law enforcement, and other stakeholders collaborate on a number of steps, including:
- Develop and deploy consistent, honest safety messages to the public about all forms of automation, from driver assistance features to full self-driving capabilities;
- Maintain a focus on today’s ongoing traffic safety challenges, such as impaired driving, speeding, failure to buckle up, distracted driving, and sharing the road with non-motorized users; and
- Develop and deploy uniform policy and training for police, first responders, and court officials about responding to and investigating AV crashes.
“While AVs will change our lives in many ways, they raise important highway safety issues,” said Ryan Gammelgard, counsel at State Farm. “This report is a key piece to helping make sure we all work together to ensure the technology works as advertised.”
Learn more: www.ghsa.org.
Steven A. Meyerowitz
Steven A. Meyerowitz, a Harvard Law School graduate, is the founder and president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc., a law firm marketing communications consulting company. He may be contacted at [email protected].