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.

A common state-level approach to mitigating older adult crash risk is the implementation of driver license renewal policies which vary largely between states and data on their effectiveness in preventing crashes and injuries are limited. An article authored by several TRIPS Lab team members was published in Injury Epidemiology examining the association between state driver license renewal policies and older driver crash and injury rates.

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.

By: Cara Hamann in Journal of Urban Affairs

Researchers in the fields of injury and violence prevention from Romania, Moldova, Georgia, and Armenia recently visited the University of Iowa. As part of mulit-year NIH-funded project, partners on the iCREATE project discussed strategies to advance their work and build upon a strong history of collaboration. The group toured various centers, labs, and institutes and spoke with faculty, staff, and students across several colleges.

Motor vehilce crashes continue to be the leading cause of death among adolescents in the U.S. In a JAMA Network Commentay, Dr. Cara Hamann and Dr. Jingzhen Yang discuss how electronic communications devices pose problems, but also potential solutions, in the arena of teen driving safety.

By: Libbie Randall of KCRG