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Dr. David Harkey, president, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the Highway Loss Data Institute (IIHS-HLDI), is the recipient of the Thomas B. Deen Distinguished Lectureship at the 2026 Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting.
Harkey has dedicated his career to improving road safety. His work has spanned locations from rural Alabama to urban Australia and addressed issues affecting passenger vehicles, large trucks, pedestrians and bicyclists. In all those areas, his applied research has influenced public policy and been used by road safety professionals to guide their decision-making.
The Deen Lectureship recognizes the career contributions and achievements of an individual in one of the areas covered by TRB’s Technical Activities Division. Originally known as the Transportation Research Board Distinguished Lectureship, the award was renamed in 2002 in honor of the eighth TRB executive director, Thomas B. Deen, who served with distinction from 1980 to 1994. Honorees are invited to present overviews of their technical area of expertise, including evolution, present status, and prospects for the future. Harkey will deliver his lecture, “Moving Road Safety Forward, Brought to You by the Letter C,” on Jan. 12, 2026, as part of the TRB Annual Meeting.
During his 40-year career, Harkey has led over 40 major research projects aimed at improving road safety for all users. His work spans safety analysis, information systems, roadway design, traffic operations and road user behaviors. He has worked extensively with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and other federal, state and nonprofit agencies, and he has produced more than 80 peer-reviewed publications, reports and guidance documents.
Over that period, Harkey has led multiple influential research centers and initiatives. Since taking the helm at IIHS-HLDI in 2018, he has acted as a bridge between insurers, researchers, safety advocates, the automotive industry and policymakers, helping to speed the adoption of new technologies, better infrastructure and more effective laws. For the 11 years prior, he led the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center (HSRC), where impactful national programs such as Click It or Ticket, Walk to School Day, and graduated driver licensing originated. During his HSRC tenure, he directed the Highway Safety Information System, a national program that provides high-quality crash, roadway and traffic data to researchers. He also directed the Collaborative Sciences Center for Road Safety where he promoted the safe system approach to road safety and guided efforts to address ongoing safety challenges like impaired driving and speeding.
A long-time TRB volunteer, Harkey has chaired the Safety and Systems Users Group and the Committee on Safety Data, Analysis and Evaluation as well as served on numerous National Cooperative Highway Research Program panels and National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine consensus study committees. He currently serves as a member of TRB’s Research and Technology Coordinating Committee, which provides strategic, research-policy level advice on highway research, development, and deployment efforts of FHWA.
Harkey received the North Carolina Old North State Award for over 20 years of exemplary service. He and his co-authors received the 2019 Ron Pfefer Outstanding Paper Award and he has published 18 papers in Transportation Research Record. In April and June of 2025, he testified before the U.S. Senate on the safety effects of daylight saving time and before the U.S. House of Representatives on the state of NHTSA and motor vehicle safety.
Harkey holds a doctorate in civil engineering from North Carolina State University and bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.