OHS, Emerging Vehicle Safety Devices

Abstract OHS, Emerging Vehicle Safety Devices NHTSA states that newer vehicles are safer vehicles (https://www.nhtsa.gov/newer-cars-are-safer- cars). They attribute the use of equipment such as electronic stability control, backup cameras, blind spot detection, and driver assistance to safer vehicle occupant protection. The vehicle database currently has fields for airbag and seatbelt safety features, leaving a gap in completeness when considering newer available vehicle safety features. A review of safety features should be done to understand types of emerging safety features and their impacts on crashes. These impacts could better be studied if links between crash and vehicle data can be explored, provided the vehicle data has characteristics available. Criteria should be outlined for inclusion of impactful safety features in vehicle data. Consideration may be given to features resulting in reductions in crash volumes or injury severity. Vehicle safety ratings might be considered for this as well. To examine data available on modern vehicle safety and how to link it to Kentucky Vehicle Data to increase Completeness.