The Injury Prevention Research Center and TRIPS Lab partnered to publish a policy brief on distracted driving and hands-free driving laws in Iowa and across the United States. Current Iowa law allows the use of handheld phones for making calls and navigation (using GPS) but bans texting while driving. 30 states and D.C. have hands-free laws.

Iowa’s laws on child passenger restraint in motor vehicles does not meet current best practices developed by safety experts with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). The Injury Prevention Research Center and TRIPS Lab recently published a policy brief describing child passenger restraint trends over the years in Iowa and the risks asscoiated with improper restraint.

By: Abigail Kurten of KCRG

The University of Iowa hosted the 2025 Rural Health Summit on Friday, February 28th. Students, faculty, staff, and practicioners gathered to celebrate rural health research, resources, and partnerships. TRIPS Lab member, Gilsu Pae presented a poster on related research titled "Exploring varied definitions of rurality and their impacts on motor vehicle collision studies."

By: Madison Schuler of The Daily Iowan

PhD student and TRIPS Lab member, Amir Ghabari, studies crashes involving vulnerable road users, such as bicyclists and pedestrians, with the goal of identifying risk factors and developing strategies to reduce these incidents. In a little over three years at UI, Amir has already left his mark on the field of traffic safety.

By: Linh Ta of Axios Des Moines

Motor vehicle crashes are the second leading cause of injury death among adults aged 65 and older in the U.S. A common state-level approach to mitigating older adult crash risk is the implementation of driver license renewal policies. These policies vary by state and their effectiveness is not well documented. TRIPS Lab members examine this topic further in an article published in Injury Epidemiology.

The 140th Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting included a presentation and a poster from TRIPS Lab team members Dr. Cara Hamann and PhD student Amir Ghanbari. Hamann spoke on her work related to older driver safety and Amir presented on his work related to e-bike safety.

Alcohol impairment is a major contributor to road traffic crashes and has increased across the United States in recent years; however, little is known about conviction outcomes related to alcohol-involved crashes. A recent paper published in the Journal of Safety Research explores the charges and conviction outcomes of such crashes in Iowa between 2016-2019.