Saving Lives: Crash Notification, 911 & Emergency Response Event Opening Remarks

AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY

Good morning, and thank you, Jane. It’s great to see so many of you in this room today – thank you all for making the trip to D.C. for this very important FICEMS event. I know it’s cold and the weather’s not great across much of the country, but I’m sure you’ll find the next two days worth the journey.   

One of my priorities as Administrator is to renew our relationships with all of our stakeholders and not just a select few. I understand that some relationships may have been neglected in recent years, and we’re working to strengthen, and in some instances, rebuild these connections. Instead of the traditional one-way flow of information from us to you (or from you to us), we want to develop open, meaningful relationships where we’re all sharing what we’re learning and seeing. We want to know what’s keeping you up at night.  

This event is one example of how we’re bringing together a diverse range of stakeholders to advance our shared safety priorities. We have leaders in 911, EMS, trauma care, fire departments and law enforcement here today, as well as representatives from the automakers, associations, and telematics services. We’re also joined by highway safety organizations and academics, and we’ll all benefit from the wide-ranging expertise you bring to this event.  

NHTSA’s mission is to save lives on our nation’s roads. With 6 million crashes, hundreds of thousands of injuries, and tens of thousands of fatalities on our roads each year, I am redoubling our efforts to continuously looking for new ways to prevent crashes, reduce injuries, and increase survivability.   

Post-crash care is an absolutely vital and altogether underappreciated part of our mission, as it’s our last, best chance to save a life after a crash happens. Nationally, 43 percent of people killed in crashes between 2019 and 2023 were alive when first responders arrived on the scene. There’s exciting potential here to innovate and develop new ways to improve survivability rates. 

One of the most promising innovations in post-crash care is prehospital blood transfusion, which research shows decreases mortality among trauma patients with severe bleeding by 37%. Our behavioral safety group is looking at research and demonstration projects to explore and support how to make prehospital blood transfusion available to crash victims. Included in the Safe Streets and Roads for All grants package released just before Christmas was $50 million for transfusion programs across the country to be administered by NHTSA. This comes on top of $30 million last year to support 25 transfusion demonstration projects under a partnership with the Department of War.   

We think this is one of the most exciting innovations in post-crash care in recent years, and we’re all in. We look forward to sharing the results of these demonstration projects with you in the coming years. But minutes matter in a crash—and prehospital blood transfusions are only useful if delivered in time. So, the sooner EMS learns of someone in need, the sooner they can arrive and deliver lifesaving care.  

New vehicles are more technologically advanced than ever, and connectivity offers intriguing possibilities for improving post-crash care. Which brings us to the topic of our event for the next two days: crash notification and telematics. 

NHTSA’s Office of Emergency Medical Services and National 911 Program are leading efforts to improve how telematics systems can notify 911 centers and first responders of a crash.   

Since 2008, NHTSA has researched the benefits, technical considerations and testing of automatic crash notification and advanced automatic crash notification systems. Post-crash notification technologies have made significant advances in recent years, and optional offerings are widespread among the current U.S. vehicle fleet.   

In a 2017 study, NHTSA estimated that between 360 and 721 lives could be saved each year with advanced automatic crash notification systems. The potential is there to make a real, meaningful difference in the field.   

In addition to speeding up response times, some versions of this technology could also help predict severe injury, helping 911 and EMS determine whether a patient needs to be transported to a trauma center. It could also tell first responders whether prehospital blood should be sent to the scene of a crash.  

But voluntarily reported manufacturer information indicates that these options are not taken in the majority of new car sales. Some manufacturers offer free temporary trials at vehicle purchase, though the proportion of individuals who continue the service after the free trial lapses is currently unknown. We don’t think consumers quite understand the value of these services—that they can truly save their lives or the lives of their loved ones.  

I also want to share one other way we’re looking at using telematics to improve road safety. We conduct a lot of research into fatal crashes, and our National Center for Statistics and Analysis sets the gold standard in data quality. By its nature, however, our data necessarily represent lagging indicators of safety risks: crashes, fatalities, and injuries. 

One way we could supplement that data is through telematics, such as those on drivers’ phones, that can show what’s happening on our roads. Telematics could also provide a new source of data on behaviors that are difficult to accurately capture through conventional mechanisms, such as distraction—after a crash, drivers are unlikely to volunteer to law enforcement that they were sending an email or filming a social media video.   

In some areas, for example, the data may show that drivers are swerving or hard braking in specific areas in a way that stand out—providing evidence of needed infrastructure changes, or where a stop sign might be obscured by foliage. Data showing concentrations of excessive speed can highlight areas for targeted law enforcement activity.   

Such data might allow NHTSA and our state highway safety offices and law enforcement partners, as well as the Federal Highway Administration, to act quickly. We could use traffic enforcement, education, road construction and design, and other steps to address problem areas before major crashes occur.   

We are very excited about the potential that telematics and crash notification systems offer, and I know you are as well. When this event ends, I have a request for you – please don’t let the conversation end here. Keep sharing with us. We want to hear your comments, suggestions and ideas. I hope you’ll also make valuable connections with each other and find new partners and collaborators.  

Together, we all have a role to play to help save lives.  

Thank you very much, and I’ll turn it over to Gam to get us started for the day.