Welcome to AnimatedTrafficLaw.org.
The Animated Traffic Law Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing traffic-related injury and death by challenging driver assumptions of traffic law.
Why Traffic Law? It’s the road user’s guide to survival.
There are two approaches to reducing harm resulting from traffic crashes:
1) Crashworthiness. Crashworthiness seeks to prevent death and minimize harm suffered in a motor vehicle crash primarily through safer/smarter motor vehicles. 2) Crash prevention. Crash prevention seeks to avoid the crash altogether. Traffic law education is a crash preventative. Because the majority of crashes are the result of human error it follows that if we can prevent the error, we can prevent or reduce the risk of a crash. This is why ATLC is building a feedback loop in which road users can find needed answers to real-world traffic law scenarios. We hope our efforts help clear up your confusion about traffic law. We welcome your visit and feedback.
Safe Routes to School
Crosswalk Critters! A Card Matching Game (Coloring & Activity book too!) For K-2 and available in any language. Minimum order required. See the SRTS page for pricing.
 Monica Monkey wondering... |
 Petey Peackock is ready to go! |
 Walking with friends |
Animated Narratives
ATLC is actively developing animated narratives for traffic safety education. Examples include pedestrian cross walk laws and animation for educational efforts around Safe Routes to Schools.
Below is our video work commissioned by the Portland Bureau of Transportation. This covers three pieces of Oregon pedestrian crosswalk law: Unmarked crosswalks, signalized crosswalk where driver and pedestrian get the signal at the same time and mid-block crossings in marked crosswalks.
This is intended to reach speakers of all languages, so there is intentionally no text or voice over. Our guidelines were to design it as a silent movie for display on a kiosk at the offices of the DMV, but it lends itself easily to educational presentations where an instructor can pause, further explain or answer questions on the topics covered. An original soundtrack was composed for this piece by Jim Casella.
Recent PSA videos ready to customize for your message:
Yellow Light
It is illegal for a driver to enter an intersection on a solid yellow light in the
following five states: Iowa, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oregon.
If a driver cannot stop in safety, the driver may drive cautiously
through the intersection.
Leaf Monster
Fall brings all kinds of excitement to the world of transportation.
Challenging Assumptions
Each year there are reportedly 6 million motor vehicle crashes in the United States. The result is over 40,000 deaths and 1.75 million non-fatal injuries. The accompanying human sorrow is unquantifiable.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 90 percent of all crashes are the result of human error – driving behaviors that can be controlled. Ironically, 98 percent of Americans polled believe they drive safe and 85 percent claim their skills are above average.
What the typical American driver believes about him or herself is very different than what statistics say. The reality? Drivers drive dangerously. Dangerously because they believe things about themselves that aren’t true.
Most of us believe that our skills as drivers are greater than they are; our driving habits are safe when they are not; our knowledge of the law is accurate when it isn’t. It is to these untruths that we are dedicated.
Animated Traffic Law Center is committed to helping motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians better understand the traffic laws of their state and the assumptions that govern their daily commute.
Compare the law across states
States permitting a right turn on red arrow shown in green.
The Animated Traffic Law Center allows you to see how the law varies from state to state. We are also building a database of knowledge of the law by region to help audit traffic safety and education efforts.
We are providing tools to educate as well as statistics to validate. With your help and support we can provide maps of knowledge of traffic law down to the zip code.