NTSB’s 10 Most Wanted List – 2012

Kelly Messerschmidt
Technical Communications Manager
MSC

Each year the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) releases a list of 10 most-wanted safety improvements. The agency’s annual list is intended to increase awareness and support for the most critical changes necessary for reducing traffic accidents.

The following are a few of the advocacy priorities that appear on this year’s list:

Eliminate Distraction in Transportation
The NTSB suggests that states and regulators ban the nonessential use of portable electronic devices that don’t directly support a driving-related task. The agency suggests that manufacturers develop technology that disables portable electronic devices within reach of the driver. They also point out that young drivers are especially likely to use portable electronic devices (such as cell phones) when driving, and that antidistraction campaigns specifically directed at teens are important.

Mandate Motor Vehicle Collision Avoidance Technologies
Technologies such as electronic stability control, lane departure warning, and forward collision warning exist to help improve drivers’ reaction time and aid drivers when an unexpected driving condition occurs. Despite the availability of these and other technologies, some are not required or mandated. The NTSB purports that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) should establish standards and mandate certain technologies as standard equipment in cars and commercial motor vehicles.

Improve the Safety of Bus Operations
The NTSB puts forth that an important step in improving the safety of bus operations is ensuring that professional motorcoach drivers are qualified. Methods of helping ensure that a driver can be considered "qualified" include longer and more comprehensive reviews of their driving history, maintaining higher expectations and standards as far as drivers’ undergoing regular medical exams, and limiting drivers’ hours of service.

In addition to these most-wanted improvements, the NTSB lists safety improvements in areas including aviation, rail, and infrastructure.

Read more about NTSB’s most-wanted safety improvements at the agency's website. 

Alabama to Become 38th State to Ban Texting While Driving

William Messerschmidt
Principal Technical Analyst
MSC

Tomorrow, 01 August 2012, Alabama will become the 38th State to ban texting while driving. This new law was authored by Representative Jim McClendon of Springville. According to the Birmingham News and AL.com, Rep. McClendon (who is a doctor of optometry) worked on this bill for six years prior to seeing it passed.

The law states:

A person may not operate a motor vehicle on a public road, street, or highway in Alabama while using a wireless telecommunication device to write, send, or read a text-based communication. (Read the full text from the Legislature.)

The law offers four exceptional circumstances when it is permitted:

• Dialing a phone number to make a voice call is still permitted. 
• Texting, emailing, and using an Internet browser is permitted if you are parked on the shoulder of the roadway. 
• You may use text communications to obtain emergency services, such as police, fire, paramedics, or other emergency health services.
• You made read the screen of a GPS device while driving, but not program locations and coordinates. 

Violating the new law will be worth two points on a driver’s license, and fines will be $25, $50, and $75 dollars (for the first through third and subsequent offenses), and the law can be enforced by State Troopers, city police officers, and a county’s Sheriff’s office.

Although the author of this post is uncertain how emergency police, fire, or health services would be obtained by text messages and email, the law very likely has the ability to save lives and property. Furthermore, only five states in the US allow drivers to send text messages while driving (technically, there is no state law in Hawaii, but each county in Hawaii has an ordinance against it).

View a map created by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety of states that have banned texting and driving.

In-Vehicle Technologies to Detect Drivers' BAC

Cat Messerschmidt
Summer Intern
MSC

Vehicles are built with improved safety features year to year with the goal of preventing accidents and reducing injuries. However, despite our having safer vehicles, according to the Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS) website, since 1997, about a third of all drivers who are fatally injured in accidents had blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) at or in excess of the US legal limit of 0.08 g/dL.

In order to help prevent accidents, DADSS has been researching and developing non-intrusive methods for checking a driver’s BAC using in-vehicle technology. The systems they are researching and exploring to measure a driver’s BAC would utilize a touchpad in the steering wheel or gearshift that sends infrared light rays through the driver’s skin, as well as a breathing sensor that is located in the steering wheel. These technologies would prevent the car from being driven when the driver’s BAC exceeds the US legal limit.

According to DADSS, one of the program’s goals is to have a research vehicle available by 2013. However, they anticipate eight-to-ten years as being the earliest that one could expect to be able to see this technology in a consumer-grade vehicle.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD)’s Vice President JT Griffin has stated MADD’s views on the subject of in-vehicle alcohol detectors as follows: “Drunken driving costs the U.S. $132 billion each year, and we think that $5 million… is a good use of transportation dollars to potentially eliminate the problem.”

Read a USA Today article (29 June 2012) on this subject.

Adaptive Headlights Crash Avoidance Feature Shown to Yield Benefits

Kevin Jones
Technical Analyst
MSC

Crash avoidance technologies used by auto industry manufacturers appear to be showing some promise, according to insurance claims analyses performed by the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI). Over the past few years, some select manufacturers have been placing features in cars that were designed to help drivers avoid crashes. Some of these features include lane departure warnings, blind spot detection, and adaptive headlights.

Adaptive headlights, which are offered by manufacturers that include Acura, Mazda, Mercedes, and Volvo, were shown to be one of the most promising crash avoidance features when it comes to decreasing dollars spent on auto property damage and injury claims. While regular headlights are stationary, adaptive headlights are designed to respond to driver steering, speed, and other factors, and adjust according the vehicle’s travel direction. Based on data from the study, the HLDI’s expectations for this feature were met and exceeded.

On the other hand, the HLDI analysis showed that some of the crash avoidance features that were added did not yield the results that were expected. More analysis is still necessary to determine why the frequency of collision and property damage claims did not fall with other avoidance features.

To learn more about the study please read an HLDI news release, dated 03 July 2012.

National Sleep Foundation 2012 Poll: Transportation Professionals' Sleep Habits, Work Performance

Kelly Messerschmidt
Technical Communications Manager
MSC

National Sleep Awareness Week is currently being observed in the US (March 5-11, 2012). According to the National Sleep Foundation 2012 poll--the first to ask transportation professionals about their sleep habits and work performance--11% of pilots, train operators, and bus/taxi/limo drivers, and 8% of truck drivers are "sleepy." Read the press release.

The poll also found that 14% of truck drivers, and 12% of bus/taxi/limo drivers polled reported having had a "near miss" due to sleepiness. Although individuals' sleep needs vary, most research assumes that normal adults sleep for 7-8 hours per night.

In NHTSA's "Drowsy Driving and Automobile Crashes" report, shift-workers whose sleep is disrupted by working at night, or working long or irregular hours, are categorized as being one of the three population groups at highest risk for "drowsy-driving" crashes. According to the National Sleep Foundation 2012 poll, a significant number of the transportation workers said their schedules do not allow enough time for sleep.

Bendix Identifies Possible Defect in Certain Bendix ATR-6 Valves

Kelly Messerschmidt
Technical Communications Manager
MSC

According to a statement released by Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems on February 2, 2012, Bendix notified NHTSA of a potential defect in the Bendix ATR-6 valves that were manufactured between December 02, 2010 and January 18, 2012. Bendix states that the potential defect could occur when vehicles are being operated in extremely cold conditions (at or below 0 degrees Fahrenheit). According to Bendix, approximately 50,000 to 60,000 vehicles are affected.

Bendix is offering a temporary remedy kit free of charge, which is for use until they make the permanent remedy kit available. Visit the “Product Action Center” page on the Bendix website for information and updates about this issue. Questions or comments about this matter can be directed to Bendix representatives at the Bendix ATR-6 Action Line, at 1.800.478.1793, seven days a week, between the hours of 7am-8pm Eastern Time.

Due to the potentially defective valve, Paccar Inc. has recalled those Kenworth and Peterbilt trucks built between January 2011 and January 18, 2012. To learn more about the Paccar recall, read this news article at Truckinginfo.

NHTSA Administrator Strickland Discusses Rewarding Extra Credit for Vehicle Safety Technology

Kelly Messerschmidt

Technical Communications Manager

MSC

Last week in Detroit, Michigan, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Administrator David Strickland spoke to the Society of Automotive Analysts about NHTSA’s considering changes to their 5-star crash rating system, which would give “extra credit” to vehicles that include safety system technologies. Read more about what Administrator Strickland said about this in a news piece by David E. Zoia of WardsAuto (01/09/12).

Strickland did not identify specifically which vehicle safety technologies would increase vehicles’ add-on safety credits; however, he said that NHTSA is currently evaluating technologies worthy of highlighting, and that decisions may be made soon.

Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication is a particularly interesting example of an emerging vehicle safety technology. According to the US DOT Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), V2V is the “dynamic wireless exchange of data between nearby vehicles that offers the opportunity for significant safety improvements.” Read RITA’s V2V “Research Overview.”

V2V uses anonymous vehicle-based data exchange to allow vehicles to “talk” in real time about subjects that include (but are not limited to) speed, location, and position - in order to calculate risk, take proactive steps to reduce risk and mitigate vehicle crashes, provide warnings or advisories to drivers, and more.

Learn more about the US DOT's Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Strategic Research Plan 2010-2014.

View RITA’s overview of applications addressed by the Federal ITS program.

FMCSA Issues New Hours-of-Service (HOS) Rules

William Messerschmidt
Principal Technical Analyst
MSC

Before leaving on Christmas holiday, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued a long awaited change to the Hours-of-Service (HOS) rules for commercial truck drivers. The new rules go into effect mid-year.

The updated regs keep the 11-hour driving time limit in place, rather than dropping it to 10 hours, and allow truck drivers to work a total of 14 hours per day.

One major change is that drivers will have a mandatory 30-minute rest break after eight consecutive hours on-duty (counting both driving and non-driving work time).

Another very significant change is that the 34-hour restart period must now include at least two nighttime periods of 1am to 5am and can only be used once every seven days. The 34-hour restart is the rest period after which a driver can begin his or her normal workweek. Under the new rules, this 34-hour rest period must include 1am to 5am on two consecutive nights.

The final change proposed by the FMCSA is a limit on the total number of hours a driver can work during a seven-day period. Under the previous rules, a driver could work 82 hours in a seven-day period. The new rules limit work time to 70 hours in seven days.

The new rules seem to have raised the ire of parties on all sides of the debate. Some safety advocates claim that the rules don’t go far enough to prevent fatigued driving. Independent trucker groups claim the new rules will place an unfair burden on owner-operators. Large trucking associations are predicting that the new regs will increase traffic during peak hours, and economists seem to disagree on whether the reduced hours will stimulate the economy by creating more jobs, or harm the economy by driving up the cost of goods.

The new rules go into effect on 30 June 2013. Learn more about the new HOS rules and see how they compare to the former rules.

See how various groups are responding to the changes to the HOS rules:
Owner Operators and Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA)
American Trucking Association (ATA)
Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Press Release
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)
The Washington Post

Gov. Robert Bentley Awards $914,700 in Grants for Traffic Safety

Kelly Messerschmidt
Technical Communications Manager
Messerschmidt Safety Consultants

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley has awarded grants totaling $914,700 to help increase roadway safety through educational and awareness campaigns focused on the importance of using safety belts and properly restraining children riding in motor vehicles, as well as on the dangers of drunk driving. Read the press release issued by the State of Alabama on 30 August 2011.

The following briefly describes how the grant funds will be put to use:

• A $200,000 grant to the Alabama Department of Public Health is funding the production of educational materials on seat belts and child restraint usage; funds are also being used for observational surveys that will measure compliance with safety restraint laws.
  
  
• A $214,700 grant to the North Alabama Highway Safety office, located at Northwest Shoals Community College, will fund the training of child passenger safety technicians in the state's nine Community Traffic Safety Program regions. Technicians are trained to teach parents and caregivers how to protect children in vehicles through the proper use of child restraint systems and safety belts.
  
  
• A $500,000 grant to the Alabama Development Office is funding a multimedia campaign against drunk driving. This campaign is occurring at the same time as the national Over the Limit, Under Arrest law enforcement campaign, which runs through Labor Day weekend.

The funding was made available by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the state Traffic Safety Trust Fund and is being administered by the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs.

"Green" Drivers: Proceed with Caution

Kelly Messerschmidt
Technical Communications Manager
Messerschmidt Safety Consultants

Every year, close to 11,000 "green" drivers - teen and young adults ages 15-24 - die in motor vehicle accidents. This is the equivalent of an airplane-full of young people dying each week.

At the "Alive at 25" defensive driving class, put on by the National Safety Council (NSC) and State Farm Insurance, in Birmingham, Alabama, June 14-16, 2011, instructor Janice Leverette told an audience of teen drivers that "the person right next to you is 'the other person.'" And that YOU are the "other person" to everyone else. She explained that you cannot make assumptions about what other people on the road are going to do.... You don't know what they are thinking, or what challenges they are facing behind their own steering wheel. However, while you can't control other drivers, it is your number one responsibility to control yourself and your vehicle. In order to arrive at your destination alive, you need to stay alert, attentive, and understand the hazards and consequences of what you do. Because no one plans to get into an accident.

During the class, the teens shared some of the challenges they've experienced and observed as new drivers. Distractions, lack of experience, "other people" on the road, inattention, arrogance, and feeling like certain rules of the road are "optional" were just some of the challenges this group has witnessed.

"Alive at 25" is an important and valuable class. As an adult sitting in on the class, it was a real eye-opener - and it served as a huge reminder to me that defensive driving is imperative. Something that surprised me (and also took me back down memory lane to my own teen years), was listening to the teens report having seen a number of seriously risky driving behaviors.

Bearing in mind that the oldest teens in today's class were 17, here are some of the things these young adults reported having SEEN other drivers doing: using drugs and/or alcohol, texting and using iPods while driving, dancing in the car, driving "crazy" for "fun," and taking risks for the thrill of it. As Ms. Leverette pointed out to the group, "you are your number one risk on the road." However, you should make the choices that will allow you to survive to grow old.

Strategies that were discussed in the class to help drivers be safer included:

• Keeping a following distance of at least three seconds;
• Slowing down in road construction zones;
• Paying attention while on the road and especially during poor weather conditions;
• Being very careful of pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcycles, and also slow-moving vehicles;
• Not participating in distracting activities;
• Watching out for hazards and having a plan;
• Not speeding;
• Taking responsibility for your decisions;
• Buckling up every time you get in a vehicle.

The class participants were very engaged in the class, and they participated actively with each other. I believe the class was very successful in presenting powerful material to teens in a way that was both candid and meaningful.

It's not too late to register for one of tomorrow's sessions of Alive at 25; tomorrow's sessions are geared to new drivers and attendance is free. The sessions will take place at 2125 Data Office Drive, Suite 102, in Hoover, Alabama. There is a session tomorrow at 8am and another one at 1pm. The class is three hours long. Refreshments are provided, and each participant receives a t-shirt and a red thumb ring to serve as a reminder to not text and drive. Call 1-800-457-7233 to sign up or to learn more.

If you can't make it for these new-driver sessions of "Alive at 25," there will be more offered this October during Teen Driver Week. However, the class is also offered to experienced drivers, as well as to people who have received moving violations. To view contact information for signing up or learning more, please visit the National Safety Council’s Alabama Chapter online.

Technology Aside, Driver Safety is Top Priority for NHTSA

Kevin Jones
Technical Analyst
Messerschmidt Safety Consultants

With so many telematics and smart phone technologies built into today’s automobile, what’s possible seems limitless. More and more, it looks like we’re closing the gap between what Hanna-Barbera’s The Jetsons envisioned in the 1960s and where we are now.

Nevertheless, all of this technology is not as openly welcomed as you might think. While there is a lot of excitement about new technologies and their being incorporated into automobiles, some safety advocates would like to see more restraint.

On June 9, 2011, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Administrator, David L. Strickland, spoke at the 2011 Detroit Diesel conference in Novi, Michigan. Mr. Strickland praised the use of vehicle technology that supports such functions as vehicle maintenance and also the use of navigation systems to help first-responders in the event of vehicle crashes. However, he made it clear that he does not support technologies that are distracting to drivers. In Mr. Strickland’s presentation, titled "USDOT Sheds Lights on Driver Distraction Issues (Crucial Session)," he expresses that while drivers’ connecting to all the new technologies in their vehicle is not necessary, some vehicle owners still very much embrace the technologies being added to vehicles.

In May 2011, at the Association for Safer International Road Travel Annual Gala Fundraiser, in Washington, D.C., Mr. Strickland spoke about the need for crash avoidance technologies. In his remarks, Mr. Strickland says, “Crash avoidance technologies provide an opportunity to save lives and reduce injuries by supporting the driver and preventing crashes from occurring in the first place.” He also puts forth that vehicle to-vehicle communication and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication are two possible ways to help reduce the number of automobile crashes.

However, at the same time that these safety applications are making a positive difference in reducing crashes, and while their use is being encouraged, NHTSA is simultaneously “taking a hard look at these systems” and challenging both the auto industry and cell phone industry to work hand-in-hand with federal transportation officials “to keep the driver on their required task: driving.”

SAE EDR Symposium: Day 2, Session 4

Bill Messerschmidt
Manager
Messerschmidt Safety Consultants

Wrapping up the SAE 2011 Highway Vehicle EDR Symposium are two sessions on "Unique Applications." The first of these is on Video Data Recorders. The speakers are from two video providers (DriveCam and SmartDrive) and two universities - Virginia Tech and the University of Iowa.

The first speaker is Robert Bartels from DriveCam. One of DriveCam's goals is to provide video that can be used as a training tool to improve performance and teach drivers better behavior and skills. DriveCam works on the following progression: capture risky behavior, upload triggered events, review and analyze, provide to company, coach driver, driver returns with better skills or understanding. DriveCam boasts cost savings for collisions up to 80% for clients, and fuel and maintenance savings of up to 12%.

The second speaker is Matthew Camden from the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI). Mr. Camden is discussing the combination of Onboard Safety Monitoring systems (OBSMs) with behavior-based safety methods. VTTI studied the implementation of DriveCam in commercial vehicles for two fleets in the US (50 drivers per fleet). Based on their study, the combination of monitoring and coaching produced statistically significant safety benefits (fewer crashes and near misses).

The third speaker is Dr. Daniel McGehee from the University of Iowa. He is speaking by way of video feed. Dr. McGehee is describing the integration of Video Data Recorders (VDR) (like DriveCam and SmartDrive) into the Automatic Crash Notification system. VDR systems have several advantages over other systems, largely because they are capable of providing more information on the context surrounding the crash.

The video feed itself was the one disappointment - otherwise the Symposium has been carried out flawlessly. The problem appears to be that the internet connection speed isn't good enough to support voice + video, and only about every third word of Dr. McGehee's has been audible. The disappointment really is that I've read quite a bit of Dr. McGehee's work, and I was greatly looking forward to his presentation. However, the session organizer, Ms. Freund, announced that Dr. McGehee will be recording an audio file to supplement his PowerPoint.

The final speaker is Jason Palmer from SmartDrive. SmartDrive has a database of 38 million safety critical events, which they use to evaluate driver behavior. Like the other presenters in this area, Mr. Palmer is speaking to the benefits of video monitoring with driver coaching. One of the biggest value-added attributes of these systems (both DriveCam and SmartDrive) is that these companies have gone to great lengths to make the data very easy for the safety manager (coach) to understand and then communicate with drivers.

Visit SAE's page to learn more about the speakers. View the Event Guide for the SAE 2011 Highway Vehicle EDR Symposium (pdf).

SAE EDR Symposium: Day 2, Session 1

Bill Messerschmidt
Manager

Messerschmidt Safety Consultants

The second day of the SAE 2011 Highway Vehicle Event Data Recorder (EDR) Symposium kicks off with a morning session on international perspectives on EDRs. Speakers from Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, and Japan will be up this morning.

The session begins with Ralph-Roland Schmidt-Cotta from Continental GmbH in Germany. Herr Schmidt-Cotta is covering the historical background of EDRs. This history goes back to 1971, when mechanical tachographs were mandated in the European Economic Community. In 1973, the German Traffic Court Conference called for an Accident Data Recorder. Currently, the EU is attending to vulnerable road users (cyclists and motorcycle users) because fatalities among these road users are increasing relative to the number of overall fatalities. EDR technology may assist in these incidents. The European Parliament will be considering several bills that may require EDR technology in Europe for accident research, but the use of EDR data in civil and criminal proceedings will likely be left to the national level.

The second speaker, from the Japan Automotive Research Institute (JARI), is Nobuyki Uchida. His presentation is Human Error Analysis in Pedestrian Incidents. In Japan, pedestrian accidents account for approximately 35% of fatalities. In response to this, JARI conducted a naturalistic driving study using video recorders. Five video cameras were linked to vehicle onboard data, such as speed pulse and brake activations. Based on their research, attentional allocation and temporal obstructions were causal factors in drivers making the incorrect decision that it was safe to turn. JARI will be working to develop pedestrian sensors that can assist drivers in avoiding these crashes.

The third speaker is Tobias Aberle, from AXA Winterthur in Switzerland. AXA implemented a crash data recorder for its customers and offered a 15% discount on insurance premiums. These crash recorders are specifically designed for capturing data after an incident, and they provide overwrite protection, backup power, and record at higher resolution during the crash than during the seconds leading up to and after it. This is quite nice, since it was designed for accident investigations. I am a bit surprised that the crash recorder is a robust accelerometer and doesn't include driver inputs such as throttle position or brake pedal position.

The final speaker of the first session today is Dr. Anders Ydenius from Folksam Research in Sweden. Dr. Ydenius has analyzed crashes with EDR-equipped vehicles between 1992 and 2008, with a specific focus on road design and its interaction with driver and occupant injuries. Crashes were analyzed by speed limit, crash type, friction conditions, and fixed object (for single vehicle crashes). One of the (several) interesting conclusions was that wire guardrails and W guardrails offer significant potential for injury mitigation over concrete barriers.

This is one of the coolest aspects of this seminar: having renowned international speakers from Europe and Asia offers excellent perspective.

Visit SAE's page to learn more about the speakers. View the Event Guide for the SAE 2011 Highway Vehicle EDR Symposium (pdf).

SAE EDR SYMPOSIUM: DAY 1, SESSION 3

Bill Messerschmidt
Manager
Messerschmidt Safety Consultants

Session Three of the SAE 2011 Highway Vehicle EDR Symposium has five speakers who are trucking safety professionals discussing their and their companies' experience with Electronic On-Board Recorders (EOBRs) and various Event Data Recorder (EDR) systems.

The first speaker after lunch was Jerry Waddell from Cargo Transporters. Mr. Waddell discussed their positive experience with Critical Event Reporting, especially in notifying management of hard brake events.

The second speaker is Brett Graves from Maverick Transportation. Maverick Transportation is using predictive modeling to enhance the safety of their fleet. Their predictive models have greatly reduced their reportable and preventable rates per million miles.

The third speaker is Michael Baker from Usher Transport. Usher Transport has had only five rollovers in the 27 years that Mr. Baker has been there in safety. WOW!!! Some statistics from his presentation: 1/5 rollovers have two contributing factors: inattention and drowsiness. 1/5 rollovers results from excessive cornering speed. Lowering a trailer three inches increases stability by 10%. More stats: freeway off-ramps account for 7% of rollovers; interstate highways account for about 31%. State highways account for the remaining 68%. Forty-seven percent of rollovers result from lane departures. Only 9% result from cornering too fast.

The fourth speaker is James Burg of James Burg Trucking Company (JBTC). JBTC uses Drivecam Video Event Recorders and hauls normal and oversized loads. JBTC uses Drivecam as a training tool and also in incident and crash investigations. It has helped with company policy compliance, driving safety, and driver training. JBTC really works to make their drivers better drivers.

The fifth speaker is Sam Faucette from Old Dominion Freight Line. Old Dominion is the largest LTL carrier using EOBRs. They use a list of several variables that are monitored in order to evaluate safe, efficient operations. Like the other companies, they are turning "data" into useful information.

All five companies represented have one thing in common. They view safety as a human issue and rely on the EDR systems as tools to help the safety manager make good decisions and improve driver performance. Although they each use different techniques and different tools, they are all focused on developing high quality, well-trained, professional drivers.

Visit SAE's page about this event to learn more about the speakers. View the Event Guide for the SAE 2011 Highway Vehicle EDR Symposium (pdf).

US DOT Conducts Over 3000 Surprise Passenger Carrier Safety Inspections

Benjamin Smith
Principal Technical Analyst
Messerschmidt Safety Consultants of Mississippi

The US Department of Transportation (US DOT) announced on May 27 that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and its local and state law enforcement agencies conducted over 3000 surprise passenger bus inspections during a two-week period in May. These inspections resulted in 442 out-of-service citations for 127 drivers and 315 passenger transport vehicles. Additionally, the FMCSA and state safety inspectors launched 38 full safety compliance reviews of commercial passenger bus companies.

US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said, “During this heavy summer travel season, we will remain alert and remove from our roads any passenger bus or driver that places motorists at risk.” According to the US DOT, over the last five years, the number of unannounced commercial passenger bus roadside safety inspections and carrier compliance reviews has doubled. To learn more about this, read the US DOT news release.

In an effort to reduce all commercial motor vehicle crashes, the FMCSA has developed a new safety program called Compliance Safety Accountability (CSA). CSA includes a Safety Measurement System (SMS), which uses crash data and inspection results to identify unsafe motor carrier companies, including passenger carriers. The SMS system evaluates seven different safety performance categories, or BASICs (Behavior Analysis Safety Improvement Categories). These are: Unsafe Driving, Fatigued Driving (Hours-of-Service), Driver Fitness, Controlled Substances/Alcohol, Vehicle Maintenance, Cargo-Related, and Crash Indicator.

The US DOT estimates that passenger carriers or buses transport 750 million people each year in the US. The most recent statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) show that there were 221 bus-involved fatality crashes in 2009. The number of bus-involved fatality crashes has dropped steadily since 2006, when there were 305 fatality crashes.

Photo Enforcement Helping Bring Red Light Runners to a Stop

Kelly Messerschmidt

Technical Communications Manager

Messerschmidt Safety Consultants

Because police can’t be everywhere at once, red light cameras are being used more and more to enforce motorists’ coming to a stop at red lights. In fact, studies by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and others have found a 40-96% reduction in the number of people running red lights at intersections using this type of photo enforcement. Watch a YouTube video about red light cameras.

The IIHS reports that, in 2009, crashes caused by red light runners resulted in 676 deaths and an estimated 130,000 injuries. Obviously, enforcing drivers’ stopping at red lights has great ramifications for public safety.

You might be surprised at just how common red light runners are. In a AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety telephone survey conducted in 2010, one-third of the drivers reported having run a red light in the past 30 days—even though 93% of them said they thought doing so was unacceptable if stopping safely was an option. Other studies cited by the IIHS report that about three drivers per hour run red lights at intersections lacking the red light cameras. See how your state’s automatic enforcement laws measure up.

Contrary to what some think, red light cameras do not actually take a photo of every car driving through a particular intersection. Instead, the camera automatically photographs any car whose driver runs the red light. Red light cameras have been used for decades and have proven to be extremely accurate and reliable.

What constitutes one’s running a red light? It’s pretty simple. Running a red light is defined as the driver entering the intersection after the light has turned red. However, those who inadvertently find themselves in an intersection when the light changes to red are not considered red light runners. Who are the most likely to run a red light? An IIHS study conducted in 2009 found that red light runners were more likely to be younger (under 30), male, and have poor driving records with incidents of prior crashes, alcohol-related driving convictions, and speeding and other moving violations.

Read Q&As from IIHS about red light cameras.

Tuscaloosa and Montgomery, AL DPS Field-testing eWeight, Aiding Efficiency of Weight Crews

Kelly Messerschmidt
Technical Communications Manager

Messerschmidt Safety Consultants

Placing limits on how heavy a load a trucker can legally carry is a frequently debated issue. Facing pressure to move larger loads, some trucking operations view fines for weight limit violations as part of the price of doing business, and they haul heavier loads than they are permitted to.

Illegal overloads create serious problems for truck stopping distances, overall highway safety and the integrity of road pavements, and they also maximize demands on truck weight enforcement units. Without enforcement, law-abiding trucking companies face a competitive disadvantage when they comply with the law and others don't.

According to the Alabama Department of Public Safety (DPS), Motor Carrier Safety Unit weight crews in Tuscaloosa and Montgomery are currently field-testing eWeight, an electronic/paperless system for filing weight reports. EWeight will improve the efficiency of the DPS Motor Carrier Safety Unit by eliminating the many hours needed to manually input data from the 4000-6000 paper forms processed each month. In addition, the electronic system will help truckers by decreasing the amount of time spent at weigh stations and giving them more on-duty hours available to move freight.

EWeight automatically calculates axle weight, and the statistical information it generates will improve the efficiency of weight crews. The eWeight system follows other electronic systems such as eCite and eCrash, which were developed for the Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center (ACJIC)’s Alabama Dashboards for Visualization, Analysis and Coordinated Enforcement (ADVANCE) program, by The University of Alabama’s Center for Advanced Public Safety (CAPS). Learn more about ADVANCE. Read an article about the Alabama initiative in the May 5, 2011 edition of The Blue Light.

"Novice Mistakes" and Distracted Driving Among Teen Drivers

Garrick Infanger

Armstrong Forensic Engineers

MSC would like to thank our friends at Armstrong Forensic Engineers for this guest post.

Distracted driving is now a hot topic among both legislators and the press. Should car accidents resulting from texting be treated as a crime? Are anti-texting laws and service announcements effective?

Georgia's July 1, 2010 ban of texting while driving makes it one of 30 states with similar laws. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that there is some debate as to whether texting laws actually increase the rate of accidents as people attempt to text out of sight from police, actually furthering their attention from the roadway.

Utah recently passed a new law that penalizes drivers who text to the same degree as drivers who drink and drive. The New York Times reports, "In effect, a crash caused by such a multitasking motorist is no longer considered an 'accident' like one caused by a driver who, say, runs into another car because he nodded off at the wheel. Instead, such a crash would now be considered inherently reckless."

Even Oprah has gotten in on the debate with a campaign titled the "No Phone Zone." What else leads teen drivers into accidents? Should we be looking at other "novice driving" mistakes?

Tara Parker-Pope looks at teen drivers at her blog "Well":

Teenagers are notoriously bad drivers, accounting for 10 times as many crashes as middled-aged ones. But short of keeping them off the road entirely, is there a way to make their driving safer - for them and for the rest of us?

New research suggests that there is. A nationally representative sample of more than 800 crashes involving teenage drivers shows that almost two-thirds were due not to reckless behavior like speeding or joyriding but to three novice driving mistakes: failing to scan the road, misjudging driving conditions and becoming distracted.

Focusing on these three common mistakes could go a long way in improving teenage driving and reducing fatalities, said an author of the report, Dr. Dennis Durbin, co-director of the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

With the encouraging news that truck-related fatalities continue to decrease, we can hope the state of teen drivers also improves with time.

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Garrick Infanger writes for the Forensic Engineering Hub, an engineering-focused blog sponsored by Armstrong Forensic Engineers.

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Photo Credit: Stuart Bradford

National Work Zone Awareness Week: April 4-8, 2011

Bill Messerschmidt

Manager

Messerschmidt Safety Consultants

This week, April 4-8, is National Work Zone Awareness Week. This event is sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) each year for the purpose of increasing drivers' awareness of the dangers associated with highway work zones.

The theme of this year's event, "Whose Life is on the Line?" references the fact that almost 80% of the individuals killed in work zone crashes are motorists - not highway workers.

In 2009, there were 667 people killed in highway work zones and maintenance zones. This is a substantial decline since 2000, when 1,026 people were killed. To help keep these numbers on the decline, the National Work Zone Information Clearinghouse has created a comprehensive website with links to training, safety equipment, statistics, and regulations. The site is a valuable resource for contractors, workers, supervisors, and traffic planners.

The FHWA's website contains a great deal of useful information on work zone safety, including tools for work zone management, process review, and performance metrics.

Good News: Traffic Fatalities in 2010 Fell to Lowest Levels in Reported History

Kelly Messerschmidt

Technical Communications Manager

Messerschmidt Safety Consultants

US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced Friday that despite the fact that American drivers drove significantly more miles during 2010, the number and rate of traffic fatalities in 2010 fell to their lowest levels in recorded history.

Factors that may have contributed to the reductions include:

• Department of Transportation (DOT) safety programs and public safety campaigns, including their website, distraction.gov, and national summits on distracted driving,
• The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) push for swift, voluntary reporting of safety defects by automakers,
• NHTSA's encouraging the development and use of crash prevention technologies, such as electronic stability control and lane-departure warning systems,
• The DOT's Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) encouraging the use of Safety Edge technology and promoting the use of cable median barriers and rumble strips to reduce the number of crossover head-on collisions.