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To: National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)

From: Erica DuPriest

Date: October 20, 2022

Subject: USF and Local Community Problems: Traffic Jams and Car Accidents

Background Information:

Cars are used as transportation to one location to another. You could find a car and

purchase one in any country in the world. However, with the increase in population, there has

been an increase with traffic accidents. Heidi Worley wrote a paper called Road Traffic

Accidents Increase Dramatically Worldwide, and states that, “an estimated 1.2 million people are

killed in road crashes each year, and as many as 50 million are injured ”. That is worldwide

results per year, but what if we just focus on the United States.

National Safety Council (NSC) did a comparison between the year of 1913 and 2020 on

the number of car deaths in the United States. In the article Historical Fatality Trends, they state

that, “the number of motor-vehicle deaths in the United States (which include all types of motor

vehicles, including passenger cars, trucks, buses, and motorcycles) increased 831%, from 4,200

deaths in 1913 to 42,338 in 2020”. That amount has been roughly multiplied ten times since the

amount in 1913.

Explanation of the Problem at USF/In the Local Community:

Now to go from worldwide and all United States, let’s focus on Florida and to be even

more specific, Tampa Bay. Whenever you go out to run some errands or on a trip in Tampa Bay,

most of the time you see a car on the side of the road that was in an accident or debris from an
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accident. When an accident happens, it leads to traffic jams and possible more car accidents with

the stopping and going of traffic.

Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV), shows data for the entire state

and specific counties. FLHSMV state that the total of all crashes in Florida is 401,496. To be

specific, they state that Hillsborough county has a total of 28,022 crashes in 2021. They include

data details on detailed types of crashes such as, the number of fatalities from all crashes and

injuries from all crashes.

Cause of the Problem:

Throughout the years, Tampa Bay has been growing and increasing the number of

residents. Just like at USF, the number of students who attend the university has increased over

the years. USF states that, “Our Tampa campus now boasts more than 1,500 acres and 240

buildings and, ever with an eye for the future, has been recognized as a top performer in campus

sustainability”. With that in mind, the increase of people means that there is an increase in

drivers. Also, USF states that, “A total of 6,919 students are enrolled, an increase from 6,324

last year (9.4% increase).” These are only first-year students and not including other year

students, faculty, and staff. Not all members who attend or work at the university live on campus

and must commute to and from the campus. With the increase in residents and students, the

amount of car accidents and traffic jams have increased a significant amount, which causes a

negative impact.

One more cause of this problem is that people have set times on being places. For

example, when you have classes at USF, some classes make attendance mandatory. Class starts

at a specific time, so students try to rush to make it to class on time, so their grade is not affected.

Another example would be workers have to be at work at a specific time. Unexpected events
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happen sometimes and could lead to people rushing to get to work on time. The key word in both

example is “rush”. When people are in a rush, mistakes happen or in other words accidents

occur. If we take the key word out and people do not feel like they must rush to get to a place,

this could reduce the number of accidents. Also, if the time wasn’t all the same time, like a

typical worker starts work at 9, it could reduce the congestion or traffic jams.

Impacted Population:

There are multiple groups of people that are impacted by the increase in car accidents and

traffic jams. All residents and students, faculties, and staff members at USF are impacted by this

situation. When looking at each group separately, you can see how much it affects everyone.

USF students who must commute to and from the school must sometimes leave hours

before their class, just to make sure that they are not caught in the middle of rush hour or traffic.

With a survey I created, with the questions like “How long does it take for you to get to USF?”

or “If class times were not around rush hour, do you think there would be less traffic?”. Out of

the 50 responses, it shows that 46% take over an hour to get to USF and 36% think that if class

times did not occur around rush hour that there will be less traffic. There were statements as well

like “When driving to USF, I see multiple car accidents.” And “When driving to USF, I have to

plan to leave early, so I don't have to deal with traffic. ” The highest results are 20 out of 50

(40%) people sat that they see accidents always and 23 out of 50 (46%) must plan to leave early.

Residents in Tampa bay who must commute to work agree that the trip or drive is a

nightmare. In a survey by the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transit Authority (TBARTA), two out

of their 35 questions ask people how they would rate Tampa Bay’s transportation system and

comparing to other regions across the United States, how they would rate Tampa Bay’s public

transit systems. Both answers highest average was either below average or well below average.
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Works Cited:

“Crash Dashboard.” Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, 9 Oct. 2019,

https://www.flhsmv.gov/traffic-crash-reports/crash-dashboard/.

DuPriest, Erica. “Transportation Survey.” 2022,

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/17vuF5YVx9AJNQInk1Yak6LhHMG-

zcjwmZDsM4R8Zhs8/edit#responses.

Florida, University of South. “Tampa Campus.” Tampa Campus | Locations | University of South

Florida, https://www.usf.edu/locations/tampa-campus.aspx.

Florida, University of South. “University of South Florida Welcomes the Largest and Highest-

Achieving First-Year Class in Its History.” University of South Florida Welcomes the

Largest and Highest-Achieving First-Year Class in Its History I USF News,

https://www.usf.edu/news/2022/university-of-south-florida-welcomes-the- largest-and-

highest-achieving-first-year-class- in- its- history.aspx.

“Historical Car Crash Deaths and Rates.” Injury Facts, 20 Apr. 2022,

https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/motor- vehicle/historical- fatality-trends/deaths-and-rates/.

“Road Traffic Accidents Increase Dramatically Worldwide.” PRB,

https://www.prb.org/resources/road-traffic-accidents- increase-dramatically-worldwide/.

“Tampa Car Accident Statistics.” Catania and Catania Injury Lawyers, 5 Apr. 2022,

https://www.cataniaandcatania.com/tampa-car-accident-lawyer/statistics/.
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“Transit & Telework Survey.” Tampa Bay Area Regional Transit Authority (TBARTA), 2022,

https://www.tbarta.com/en/about/transit-telework-survey/.

WFLA 8 On Your Side Staff. “Tampa Named One of the Most Traffic-Congested Cities in the

World.” WFLA, WFLA, 30 June 2019, https://www.wfla.com/news/tampa-named-one-of-

the-most-traffic-congested-cities- in-the-world/.