Death and injury among road-users is up to an alarming rate according to a recent study by NHTSA and local researchers. They found that 55.8% of people seriously injured or killed in road crashes tested positive for one or more drugs.

New data from a NHSTA study, in partnership with the University of Iowa, show 45.3% of seriously injured drivers reporting to the Emergency Department tested positive for at least one drug. The top two were alcohol and cannabinoids.

Our 2022 annual report is here! We have spent the past year researching automated vehicles, traffic safety, drugged driving, and much more. Plus, read about our upcoming name change to "Driving Safety Research Institute" on page 3.

FY22 resulted in a number of system upgrades and custom development for the miniSim team.

The theme this past year with much of our drugged-driving research has revolved around various methods of detecting driving impairment from cannabis use.

For more than two decades, the Iowa DOT has been encouraging Iowa communities to consider converting certain four-lane streets to three lanes (also known as a “road diet”) with the aim to improve safety and reduce crashes. 

Spearheaded by the Iowa DOT, the Iowa Advisory Council on Automated Transportation (ATC) is setting the course for the future of automated transportation in Iowa.

Three high school students spent this past summer making enhancements to a robot car.

The University of Iowa National Advanced Driving Simulator (NADS) has secured a contract with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for a project that will look at roadway interactions between human-driven and automated vehicles.

Thomas Burt is a graduate research assistant at the National Advanced Driving Simulator and an Industrial and Systems Engineering Ph.D. student at the University of Iowa who spent his summer as an intern for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).