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January 2022
Driving at night is three times as risky as driving during the day, so it’s important to have headlights that do a good job of lighting up the road but without creating glare for other drivers. Turning on your low-beam headlights during the daytime in the winter months can help make your vehicle more visible to other drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians.
If you’re in the market for a new vehicle, check out the headlights rating program developed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Nighttime crash rates per mile are nearly 20 percent lower for vehicles with headlights that earn a good rating in the IIHS evaluation, compared with those with poor-rated headlights. For vehicles with acceptable or marginal headlights, crash rates are 15 percent and 10 percent lower than for those with poor ratings.
Follow these safety tips for driving in low visibility conditions:
- Slow down. Disengage your cruise control. Most crashes occur because drivers are going too fast for weather conditions.
- Clean your headlights to ensure they are not dirty or fogged up.
- Use your low beams. High beams will disperse in thick fog or snow, making visibility worse for you and other drivers.
- If you suddenly encounter a severe loss of visibility, pull off the pavement as far as possible. Stop, turn off your lights, set the emergency brake, and take your foot off the brake to be sure the taillights are not illuminated. Turn on your emergency flashers. Never stop in the travel lanes.
- If you can't pull off the roadway, slow down, turn on your low beam headlights, and sound the horn occasionally. Use the white fog line or roadside reflectors if necessary to help guide you.
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 TripCheck
TripCheck is a one-stop shop for information on traveling in Oregon, with the latest conditions via road cameras, continuous winter travel updates, year-round highway construction details, and other valuable tips to get you to and from your favorite places in Oregon!
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 Coming to a DMV Office Near You!
After a recent surge in traffic fatalities, ODOT is expanding traffic safety messaging through a pilot project in 21 DMV offices statewide. You may notice various rotating driver safety messages on six-foot-tall banners next time you stop in to renew your driver license.
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Urging Proper Seatbelt Use, Sober Driver this New Year's
The National Safety Council (NSC) estimates 798 people may be killed on the roadways during the Christmas and New Year’s holiday driving periods this year – an increase from more than 15 years of progress in preventing deaths on U.S. roads. NSC estimates many of these lives may be saved if we all do our part by buckling up, driving sober, slowing down, avoiding distractions, and looking out for one another.
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Behavioral Aspect to Reaching Zero Traffic Deaths
NHTSA announced its early estimate of motor vehicle fatalities for the first half of 2021, projecting an estimated 20,160 Americans killed on our roads. That’s an 18.4% increase over the same period in 2020 and the largest six-month increase ever recorded in the 46-year history of federal traffic safety record-keeping. In response to this troubling trend, the U.S. DOT announced the development of a National Roadway Safety Strategy, which will be released in early 2022. The strategy is expected to be multi-modal, intergovernmental, and organized around the Safe System approach.
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Roseburg Students Walk & Roll Safely
Carnes Road is the only access road to Roseburg’s Green Elementary for school buses and vehicles. High traffic volumes, fast speeds, undefined intersection crossings, and continuous driveway access – made worse by a lack of facilities for bicyclists and pedestrians – have long been safety concerns for students walking and biking to and from school. As of mid-September, those worries are gone. Read more about Douglas County's efforts to create – and celebrate – safe routes to school.
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Safe Routes to School Upcoming Webinars
This coming spring and summer, ODOT will solicit proposals for the next round of Safe Routes to School construction funding, education funding, and planning assistance. In workshops and webinars, staff will present a program overview and answer questions about this new opportunity.
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Modest Speed Increases Can Have Deadly Consequences
Small speed increases can have huge effects on crash outcomes, as shown in new crash tests by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and Humanetics. The safety organizations conducted crashes at three different impact speeds (40, 50 and 56 mph). They found the slightly higher speeds were enough to increase the driver's risk of severe injury or death.
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Program Helps Small Cities Make Improvements
Streets in Mt. Angel will soon be getting some much-needed updates, thanks to Public Utility Lead Allen Dahlberg and the Oregon Department of Transportation’s Small City Allotment program.
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Resources
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