Highway Safety News

Radar Data Analysis Pinpoints Precipitation Risk for Vehicle Fatalities

A stormy nation is expected to become even stormier, bringing rain and snow that is known to increase the number of vehicle accidents. The exact degree of increased risk has been the subject of numerous studies, but most of them …

Massachusetts Drivers Could See Ban on Handheld Mobile Devices

Welcome to Massachusetts signs can mean more to drivers than just crossing a state line. For some, they also signal that it’s OK to pick up their cellphones, punch in a phone number and make a call. That’s because all …

Virginia Legislators Consider Raising Reckless Driving Limit to 85MPH

Drivers who get caught going 11 miles an hour over the speed limit on Virginia’s interstate highways may no longer be facing criminal charges if a proposed bill passes. A House of Delegates panel approved legislation 14-5 Tuesday that would …

Oklahoma Ban on Texting While Driving Gets Renewed Support

Supporters of a ban on texting while driving in Oklahoma are renewing their push for more restrictions ahead of the legislative session, and several bills already have been filed to make it illegal. Highway safety officials, insurance companies and grass-roots …

Highway Official Stood By Guardrail System Even as Doubt Mounted

U.S. highway safety officials defended a widely used guardrail system’s crashworthiness even as they worried whether its design had been altered in a potentially deadly way, according to internal e-mails. Starting in 2012, a Federal Highway Administration engineer fielded e-mails …

Failing Bridges a Concern for Mississippi Legislators

Mention highway safety and people have all sorts of ideas of what that means. To the Highway Patrol, it suggests expanding the ranks of state troopers. For the Mississippi Department of Transportation, it’s a well-maintained road system. For Mothers Against …

10 Traffic Deaths in Virginia During Labor Day Weekend

Virginia State Police say 10 people died in traffic accidents over the four-day Labor Day weekend. That’s up from the nine fatalities recorded during the same holiday period in 2013. State police said Tuesday that four of the victims weren’t …

Deaths Prompt Effort to Fix Less-Traveled Missouri Rural Roads

In 2009, Randy Frump and Shannon Follwell each lost a child on a rural highway in St. Charles County. Frump’s son Bryan, 26, died in a crash on Highway D near Defiance on New Year’s Day. Follwell’s daughter, Brianna Carron, …

Rhode Island Gets $1.5M for Highway Safety

Rhode Island congressmen say the state is receiving almost $1.5 million in federal grants to improve highway safety. Reps. Jim Langevin and David Cicilline say the grant money has been awarded through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The grants …

Indiana Works With Truck Stop to Improve Intersection

State highway officials are working with the managers of an eastern Indiana truck stop to improve the safety of a stretch of highway near the truck stop’s exit. The second fatal accident at the location in 2 1/2 years prompted …