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. 

ATRI Releases Roll Stability System (RSS) Analysis

Kelly Messerschmidt
Technical Communications Manager
MSC

Last Friday, the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) released the industry’s first major comparative analysis of Roll Stability Systems (RSS) based on operational data from over 135,000 heavy trucks. The analysis considered factors such as crash rates and costs, as well as technology costs, of Roll Stability Control (RSC) and Electronic Stability Control (ESC), and it compared these data to vehicles that do not use RSS technology. This study is available at ATRI’s website.

The results of ATRI’s study indicated that in addition to RSC installation costs being much lower than ESC installation costs, installation of RSC technology in trucks might result in fewer rollover and jackknife crashes when compared to trucks using ESC.

The release of this analysis is relevant, as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently announced a proposed new federal motor vehicle safety standard that would require ESC on all new tractors and certain buses that have a gross vehicle rating of 26,000 or more pounds.

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.

AL Governor Bentley Signs Law to Prohibit Texting While Driving

Kevin Jones
Technical Analyst
MSC

On Tuesday, 08 May 2012, Alabama governor Robert Bentley signed a bill that outlaws texting while driving. The law goes into effect on 01 August 2012. The law doesn’t prohibit dialing a phone; however, it does ban texting, instant messaging, and sending emails while operating an automobile.

Alabama is the 38th state to make texting while driving illegal. Under the new law, if a person is ticketed for a texting-while-driving offense, he or she could be fined up to $75 and receive violations on his or her driving record. Gov. Bentley compared the new law to Alabama’s seatbelt law, which is also a measure to prevent fatalities in motor vehicle crashes.

Read a news article about Alabama’s new law banning texting while driving.

FMCSA Releases Research on Benefits of Speed Limiters in Large Trucks

Benjamin Smith
Principal Technical Analyst
MSC MS

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) released research this week on the benefits of using speed limiters (SLs), also known as speed governors, in large trucks. For more information, view the FMCSA's document, titled "Speed-Limiters."

SLs are a technology that allows trucking fleets or truck owners to program a preset maximum speed of travel. Many trucking fleets use SLs not only to increase safety by reducing their trucks’ top speed, but also to reduce tire wear, extend the life of the brakes and engine, improve fuel economy, and so on.

In January 2011, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) proposed limiting the speed of all heavy trucks to 68mph. NHTSA stated its intent to initiate the rulemaking process on this issue in 2012. Read NHTSA's notice in the Jan. 3, 2011 Federal Register.

Viewpoints differ on the issue of mandating the use of SLs in heavy trucks. Agencies and groups such as the American Trucking Associations (ATA), Road Safe America, and the Truckload Carriers Association, have stated their support for SLs in large trucks for reasons including reduced severity of crashes and various economic benefits. However, critics of government-mandated SLs, such as the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), have stated their opposition for reasons such as the potential for speed-governed trucks to become “rolling roadblocks” when operating in faster flows of traffic.

Research published in the American Journal of Public Health in March 2009, titled “The Effect of State Regulations on Truck-Crash Fatalities,” examines the effects of certain traffic safety policies and restrictions on fatality rates in truck-involved crashes.

AAA Survey: Parents Responding Postively to Car Seat Compliance

Kevin Jones
Technical Analyst
MSC

According to a new survey by AAA, outreach efforts to educate parents of children under age 13 regarding child safety seat use have yielded positive results. Nearly a year ago, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) updated its recommendations regarding the use of rearward-facing seats for children over the age of one, recommending that children remain in rearward-facing car seats until age two—or until the child exceeds the height and weight limits of the child seat. Read our earlier blog post, "New Child Seat Recommendations from the AAP and NHTSA" to learn more.

AAA found that over 90% of the parents with children under age 13 heard of the new guidelines by the AAP. Several parents heard of these guidelines from their child’s pediatrician. AAA also found that one in three of the parents surveyed changed how they allowed their child to travel in the vehicles.

Seventy-seven percent of parents with children younger than age two who did not make any changes based on the AAP’s recommendations reported that they were already meeting or exceeding these guidelines. However, there were other parents who were allowing their children to graduate to bigger seats or seatbelt use prematurely for reasons such as discomfort.

AAA’s article, "AAA Survey Reveals 'Boost' in Car Seat Compliance," reinforces the need for parents to follow the guidelines set forth by the AAP in order to help reduce serious injuries and death among children in automobile crashes. The article can be found in AAA's "Newsroom."

NHTSA Proposes Guidelines Against “Excessively Distracting Devices”

William Messerschmidt
Principal Technical Analyst
MSC

On 02/24/12, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) proposed new guidelines for auto manufacturers that cover original-equipment, in-vehicle devices that augment or facilitate “secondary tasks” in which visual information is received and a physical action is performed in response to that information.

By “secondary tasks,” NHTSA means actions that we perform while we operate or control the vehicle, which are not part of the primary task (driving), such as entertainment and communication. For example, the timely prompt from your GPS device to “in a half mile, make a right turn,” is considered part of the primary task (driving), but texting a friend your arrival time is a secondary task.

Almost all drivers engage in secondary tasks while driving (such as adjusting climate control, changing radio stations), and often there is very little decrease in their safety. However, as technological advances make more and more options accessible to the driver, the potential exists to build in dangerous devices. For example: your in-dash GPS display isn’t a distraction under most circumstances, but imagine if that same display showed your Facebook News Feed! [Please note that absolutely no manufacturer has ever proposed this extreme example.]

In order to differentiate between the less extreme (and more realistic) examples of safe versus unsafe technology, researchers considered variables such as the type of information displayed, the manner in which it is displayed, and the type of manual response elicited by the information.

The NHTSA guideline describes five types of displays or devices that are always unsafe. They are:

• Photographic or video images not immediately related to driving (images such as blindspot cameras, GPS navigation, and weather information are considered directly related to the driving task);
• Photographic or graphical static visual images that are unrelated to driving (such as album art and personal photos);
  
• Automatically scrolling text;
• Manual text entry of more than six key presses;
• Reading more than 30 characters (not including spaces and punctuation).

You can read a short summary of the new NHTSA Guidelines at Occupational Safety Online, or view the document in its entirety in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, Issue 37.

Telematics in the Insurance Industry: A Growing Trend

Kevin Jones
Technical Analyst
MSC

Auto insurance rates are calculated using information that helps determine a driver's risk. These risk factors have been based on--but not limited to--age, driving records, past claims, type of vehicle, and so on. However, it is anticipated that this method of determining risk is going to decrease as insurance companies invest in telematics systems, which will provide information on how an individual car is performing on the roadway. In ABI Research's press release on February 10, 2012, ABI Research estimated that global telematics use will rise from 1.85 million in 2010 to 89 million by 2017.

ABI Research reports that these systems have been in existence since 2002, but recently there has been renewed interest in them. The current telematics systems, or usage-based insurance (UBI) systems, are installed using the vehicle's on-board diagnostic (OBD) port. However, ABI predicts that installation of these systems will increase by way of factory or aftermarket wireless connections to the OBD bus via Bluetooth.

NHTSA Evolves Alongside Automobile Technology

Kevin Jones
Technical Analyst
MSC

Today’s vehicles are being equipped with Global Positioning Systems (GPS), lane-departure warning systems, blind spot detection, voice/data communications, airbags, entertainment systems, electronic data recorders (EDRs), and an array of other devices for passengers’ entertainment, information, navigation, convenience, comfort, and vehicle emission controls.

Obviously we are way past those days when people could understand vehicles by simply opening the doors, popping the hood, and kicking the tires. Because automobiles have evolved quickly and in many ways, research organizations and institutions are driven to stay current with how these different electronics affect vehicle and roadway safety.

The Transportation Research Board (TRB) recently issued a report in response to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) requesting that the National Academy of Sciences’ (NAS) National Research Council (NRC) study how NHTSA’s various departments are ensuring that vehicle electronics are benefiting – and not compromising – the safety of vehicles.

As part of their study, the NSC appointed a 16-member panel that was asked to review NHTSA’s response to faulty electronics claims and unintentional acceleration. The findings are contained in TRB Special Report 308: The Safety Challenge and Promise of Automotive Electronics: Insights from Unintended Acceleration. Visit The National Academies Press website to download the report.

View NHTSA’s statement in response to the report.

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

NHTSA Releases Updated Information on Motor Vehicle Crashes Occurring in 2010

Benjamin Smith
Principal Technical Analyst

MSC of MS

On December 8, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released updated fatality and injury data concerning motor vehicle crashes that occurred during 2010 (DOT HS 811 552). The most noteworthy finding was that the number of traffic fatalities fell to the lowest level since 1949. And with respect to NHTSA's findings from the previous year, the number of fatalities in 2010 dropped 2.9%. However, NHTSA found that fatalities in motor vehicle crashes involving large trucks during 2010 actually increased by 8.7% when compared to the prior year.

Viewing the updated NHTSA data from a regional perspective, and comparing data from 2010 to data from 2009, Mississippi saw an 8.4% decrease in motor vehicle crash fatalities in 2010. In Mississippi, 641 people were killed in traffic accidents in 2010, whereas 700 people were killed in traffic accidents during 2009. Louisiana saw an impressive decrease in motor vehicle traffic crash fatalities, with a 14% drop in 2010. However, Alabama saw a 1.7% increase in traffic crash fatalities, going from 848 fatalities in 2009, up to 862 fatalities in 2010.

To learn more, visit the NHTSA website.

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.

Volunteer Drivers Needed for World's Largest Field Study of Driver Behavior

Kelly Messerschmidt
Technical Communications Manager
Messerschmidt Safety Consultants

The Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) is currently seeking volunteer drivers to participate in the SHRP 2 naturalistic driving study (NDS), the world's largest field study of driver behavior. Participants' vehicles will be outfitted with small video cameras and sensors that record the driver's face, forward and rear views, and a view of the driver's interaction with the dashboard and other systems. Participants' identifying data is protected and kept confidential, as described in the study's Informed Consent. To check if you may be eligible to participate, visit the SHRP 2 NDS website.

The objective of the SHRP 2 NDS is to collect real-world driving behavior data in order "to develop an understanding of how the driver interacts with and adapts to the vehicle, traffic environment, roadway characteristics, traffic control devices, and the environment."

The data resulting from the study will support activities aimed at reducing traffic-related fatalities, and it will aid public policy, rule-making, and more. It is anticipated that the data from the SHRP 2 NDS will be relevant to transportation safety researchers and others beyond the next 20 years.

Learn more about the SHRP 2 NDS.

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.

New Child Seat Study by the Pediatric Academic Societies

Kevin Jones

Technical Analyst

Messerschmidt Safety Consultants

Results from new research by the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) highlights potential safety hazards when it comes to children staying properly restrained in child seats. The study was led by Lilia B. Reyes, MD, clinical fellow in the Department of Pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine. PAS surveyed 378 parents with children ages six years and younger. Parents were asked when their children began to self-unbuckle themselves while in vehicle restraint systems.

The results from the study are as follows:

• 51% of the parents reported that their children unbuckled their child safety seats while in vehicles;
• 43% of the children that unbuckled themselves did so while the vehicles were in motion;
• 75% of the children unbuckling their child seats were three years of age or younger, with the youngest reported age being 12 months;
• More boys than girls unbuckled themselves (59% were boys; 42% were girls).

The study performed by PAS was a pilot study and does not address the issue of whether the child restraints were installed properly. Read more about the study, "Little fingers, big trouble," which was released on May 1, 2011.

Kevin Jones is a certified Child Passenger Safety Technician. He volunteers for Children's Hospital in Birmingham, where he installs child safety seats for the public. Email Kevin Jones.

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.