Watch as traffic safety research is explained in 101 seconds
The U.S. has the highest rate of road traffic fatalities among any wealthy nation. Here's how UC Berkeley experts are working to make our roads safer.
April 24, 2025
There’s a statistic that sticks in the minds of many who work on traffic safety issues: The U.S., among wealthy nations, has the highest rate of road traffic fatalities. People in the U.S. are nearly three times more likely to die in a car crash than people in Australia, and six times more likely than in Sweden.
For Julia Griswold, this troubling fact should be front of mind for everyone, whether they are drivers, cyclists, pedestrians or transportation planners. Griswold runs UC Berkeley’s Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC), which studies transportation systems and makes recommendations for improving mobility and safety for all road users.
Over the past decade, traffic crashes have become particularly fatal for pedestrians. As Griswold points out in this 101 in 101 video, which challenges Berkeley’s experts to condense their field of study into 101 seconds, even drivers are pedestrians some of the time. That leaves them far more likely to suffer serious injury or even death in an auto crash.
“We’re looking at identifying locations that may need safety countermeasures; we’re looking at how we can help departments of transportation adopt Vision Zero, also called the Safe System approach,” said Griswold. Those recommendations and systems recognize that such losses of life are preventable and are designed to reduce traffic fatalities to zero.
But there’s much to be done. SafeTREC, as Griswold notes, compiles research and data to make it easier for communities and departments of transportation across the state to make roads safer. But you don’t have to be a traffic engineer or an urban planner to make the roads safer — there are basic things all of us can do while we’re out commuting or running around. Griswold lays them out in the video above.
The first is just to slow down when driving. “Reducing speeds can do a huge amount to save lives,” Griswold said.
Watch the whole video to learn more about what Berkeley is doing to make roads safer, and what you can do, too.
Watch more 101 in 101 videos featuring UC Berkeley faculty and experts here.