Big Brother is My Co-Pilot: Impacts of and Attitudes Towards Driver Behavior Regulations

October 9, 2014

About the Presentation

While highway and roadway travel has become safer over the years, a large number of crashes and fatalities continue to occur each year. While many laws attempting to reduce these numbers—such as speed limits, traffic lights, and other safety measures—appear to be widely accepted, recent attempts to enhance these tools to further improve safety have generated much greater controversy.

This presentation discussed the continued government interest and justification for these relatively new regulations, such as mandatory seat belt laws and automated enforcement. Data regarding the safety impacts of these innovations was presented along with the nature of the political controversies surrounding them, with a particular focus on the impacts and attitudes in Minnesota. The presentation closed with a discussion of public support, or lack of support, for various automated enforcement scenarios, and opportunities for possibly resolving the existing tensions were suggested.

Webcast

About the Speakers

Frank Douma is a research fellow and associate director of the State and Local Policy Program at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs and a research scholar at the Center for Transportation Studies, both located at the University of Minnesota. He manages research projects related to several areas of transportation policy, including impacts of developments in information and communications technologies and urban corridor development.

Nichole Morris is a research associate at the HumanFIRST Laboratory at the University of Minnesota. Her work focuses on human-computer interactions with technology related to various aspects of transportation. Her research interests include multi-sensory perception, aging, judgment and decision making, usability, and human factors