In her "Trafic Safety 101 in 101 seconds", UC Berkeley SafeTREC director Julia Griswold shares the troubling fact that among wealthy nations, the United States has the highest rate of road traffic fatalities.

And over the past decade, traffic crashes have become particularly fatal for pedestrians. As Griswold points out, even drivers are pedestrians some of the time, leaving them far more likely to suffer serious injury or death in an auto crash.

“We’re looking at identifying locations that may need safety countermeasures; we’re looking at how we can help departments of transportation adopt Vision Zero, also called the Safe System approach” offers Griswold.

There’s much to be done. SafeTREC compiles research and data to make it easier for communities and DOTs across the state to make roads safer. But you don’t have to be a traffic engineer or an urban planner, there are basic things we can all do while out commuting or running around, which Griswold lays out in the video below.

The first thing is just to slow down when driving: “Reducing speeds can do a huge amount to save lives.”

Watch the video below or click here to learn more
about what UC Berkeley is doing to make roads safer