HSRC Timeline: Improving Safety for Generations

HSRC is awarded a five-year cooperative agreement to continue its work managing the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Clearinghouse.

HSRC is selected to run the Collaborative Sciences Center for Road Safety, a new National University Transportation Center funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

HSRC researchers deliver Road Safety 101, a training course designed to equip professionals who are relatively new to the field with the knowledge to understand the elements of successful road safety programs.

The first-ever National Bike to School Day is created and launched by HSRC to encourage children to safely bicycle (or walk) to school.

HSRC partners with FedEx to launch Walk Friendly Communities, a national recognition program to encourage towns and cities across the U.S. to establish or recommit to supporting safer walking environments.

HSRC works with FHWA to launch the CMF Clearinghouse, which helps transportation safety professionals identify the most appropriate countermeasure to address a safety issue.

HSRC launches an annual scholarship program to foster the education and development of future transportation safety professionals.

Federal legislation creates the National Safe Routes to School program, which is housed at HSRC, to encourage families to walk or bike to school and to improve safety.

The Center for the Study of Young Drivers is established within HSRC with a focus on better understanding the factors that contribute to the high crash rate among young drivers.

Center Researchers conduct some of the first studies to use in-vehicle technology to collect naturalistic data, observing supervised driving and distraction among drivers.

“Click It or Ticket” is adopted nationally as the model for increasing seat belt use.

HSRC evaluates the initial effects of Graduated Driver Licensing, finding a substantial decline in 16-year-old driver crashes.

The Center conducts the first survey to directly measure college student drinking using portable breath-testers.

North Carolina General Assembly enacts the Graduated Driver Licensing system developed by HSRC to address the extraordinarily high crash rate of young novice drivers.

HSRC helps spearhead “Click It or Ticket,” the high visibility enforcement program for increasing seat belt use in North Carolina.

HSRC develops the concept for FHWA’s Highway Safety Information System, which provides crash, roadway and traffic data to researchers.

The Center’s research demonstrates the benefits of child restraints and safety belts in crashes. N.C. lawmakers rely heavily on HSRC data while formulating the child passenger safety law (passed in 1981) and the seat belt law (passed in 1985).

HSRC develops the Accident Research Manual, a compilation of sound research techniques to help engineers and analysts conduct crash-based evaluations.

An HSRC study shows increased crash rates among younger school bus drivers. As a result of HSRC research, N.C. school districts increase the minimum legal bus driver age to 16-and-a-half.

Center researchers formulate the conception of graduated driver licensing, a three-stage system designed to improve novice driver learning through practical experience.

HSRC conducts the first-ever scientifically based brand comparison of automobiles showing the variation in injury to unbelted drivers in crashes.

HSRC begins operations at UNC-CH. Under the direction of Dr. B.J. Campbell, HSRC focuses on providing useful highway safety information based on sound research.

At the recommendation of Gov. Dan K. Moore, the North Carolina General Assembly establishes a highway safety research center.