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US Time Change Occasions Reminder About “Drowsy Driving” Risks

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The New York Thruway Authority issued a news release to remind drivers that “drowsy driving” is a particularly acute problem at this time of year because of the shift from daylight savings time to standard time. According to public health and safety experts, “Despite the additional hour gained in the time change, it can disrupt sleep patterns, causing people to feel drowsy.” Statistics cited by the Thruway show that driver fatigue, though an underreported crash factor, is still known to have significant safety implications, accounting for hundreds of deaths and tens of thousands of injuries every year.

The Thruway authority is a member of the New York State Partnership Against Drowsy Driving (NYPDD), an organization started in 2004 to educate the public and high-risk groups about the dangers of drowsy driving and to promote preventive strategies. Among other things, it distributes safety messages this time of year as its contribution to national campaigns aimed at raising awareness of the dangers of driving while fatigued. NYPDD “also cautions against relying upon common strategies to overcome fatigue and avoid drowsiness, such as opening a window, turning on air conditioning or playing loud music. In addition, the effects of caffeine can take a half hour to set in and only provide a short-term increase in driver alertness. The safest thing to do when drivers experience drowsiness is to pull over and find a safe place to sleep.”

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) maintains an online information resource about drowsy driving.

New York Thruway Worker Struck And Killed On Roadway

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WGRZ reports, yesterday morning, at approximately 8:00 AM, a 58-year-old New York Thruway Authority maintenance supervisor was struck and killed by a passenger vehicle. The incident occurred on I-90 near exit 58 in Chautauqua County.

According to police, the supervisor was standing in front of his work vehicle, which was stopped on the highway’s shoulder, when a sedan passed over hazard markings and headed toward him. Attempting to avoid an imminent collision, the supervisor ran into the adjoining lane, where he was struck by the car after the driver corrected his steering and moved back into the lane. The driver stopped and is cooperating in the police investigation.

An official of a Teamsters Union local that represents public workers told WGRZ, “Some accidents cannot be prevented, but we have to do everything in our power to try to minimize anything like this. . . .”  He added the union wants to see “more, maybe police presence on the job sites when the workers are out there, because that does have people slow down when you see law enforcement,” and “more bumper trucks to protect the workers. . . .”

Governor Kathy Hochul released  a statement urging motorists to drive cautiously and reminding them that Monday’s incident was the second fatal crash involving a Thruway maintenance worker this year.

Thruway Executive Director Frank Hoare issued a condolence statement that echoed the governor’s call on drivers to be alert and cautious in places where highway crew members are at work.

AASHTO’s New President, Connecticut DOT Chief Eucalitto, Will Direct Safety-Centered Agenda

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AASHTO Journal reports, the board of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) last week elected its slate of officers for 2024-2025. Garrett Eucalitto, commissioner of the Connecticut DOT, was elected president. He assumed that role in September when he began filling the unexpired term of former president Craig Thompson. The board selected Georgia DOT Commissioner Russell McMurry as its 2024-2025 vice president.

“Under Eucalitto’s direction, AASHTO will focus on ‘Centering Safety’ on every state DOT action, harnessing a ‘whole of AASHTO’ approach to address the safety crisis plaguing roadways in communities across the country. This approach will specifically emphasize:

  • Safer Communities: Understanding community values, engaging residents, and determining which safety improvements work in specific situations in each community. Centering Safety for communities means implementing Complete Streets policies and deploying proven safety countermeasures that will help create safer communities.
  • Safer Users: States continue to invest in efforts to combat and address unsafe driver behavior, yet the nation has seen an increase in speeding, impairment, distractions, and other reckless behaviors since 2020. Centering Safety means using infrastructure treatments, speed management, advanced technology, enhanced enforcement, better data collection and analysis, and more effective education to improve safety.
  • Safer Workers: State DOT employees, transportation workers, and emergency responders, are facing increased risks and disregard for ‘Slow Down, Move Over’ laws due to speed, recklessness, impairment, and distraction. Centering Safety for our nation’s transportation workers means providing more and better safety equipment, increased efforts to train response teams in traffic incident management, and more widely available mental health resources.

Eucalitto will also focus his presidential year on the reauthorization of a federal surface transportation bill to succeed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. To do this, states will be encouraged to tell the stories of transportation projects that are improving quality of life in communities across the country. These stories will highlight the need for continued investment.”

FHWA Grants Support State Highway Construction And Project Delivery Innovation

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On Friday, FHWA announced $7.6 million in FY 2023 Accelerated Innovation Deployment Demonstration Program grants to nine projects that promote technology innovation and provide resources to use new technology in construction and project delivery. “The grants fund innovations like innovative debris removal, enhanced work zone safety, integrating technology to support emergency responders, using drones to conduct infrastructure inspections, and improving bridge design and developing more sustainable materials.” The grants are summarized in the FHWA announcement. They were solicited on a rolling basis through a multi-year Notice of Funding Opportunity that closed in January 2024.

The grant program has funded more than $103.4 million for 136 grants since 2014. It is partially supported under FHWA’s Every Day Counts program, which helps states innovate to make their transportation systems more safe, adaptable, sustainable, and equitable.