The "Alive at 25 Parent Program" is an engaging, science-based course that educates parents about the risks teen drivers face.
Click Here to register, and use the code NSM
05 June 2009
Free Training for Parents!
With this weeks' focus on Teen Driving Safety, the National Safety Council is offering the online version of its course: Alive at 25 FREE to anyone who registers by 7 June 09. This is a really excellent class that's worth the small fee even if you're reading this after 7 June 09. NSC's description of the class:
02 June 2009
Teen Driving Safety
This week, the National Safety Council's Safety Month Awareness Campaign focuses on teen driving. Here are some facts from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Safety Council (NSC).- 15-24-year-olds comprise only 14% of the US population, but they account for approximately 30% of motor vehicle accident costs.
- Teens account for approximately 10% of the US population, but they account for 12% of those fatally injured in car crashes.
- 4,544 teens died in car crashes in 2005. Over 400,000 were injured badly enough to visit a hospital emergency room.
- Each day TEN 15-20-year-olds are killed in car crashes.
The NSC provides training materials and other information to assist responsible parties (parents, driving trainers, administrators, employers, and so on) with issues on teen driving. Visit the NSC's teen driver page.
Download the NSC's Family Guide to Teen Driving.
Learn about Graduated Driver's Licenses at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's Q&A page.
Here are some ways you can help:
- Support Graduated Driver Licensing and the politicians who support or advocate it.
- Be an involved parent. Several studies have shown that parental involvement has a bigger effect on teen driving safety than expensive training programs.
- Set a good example on the road. Young people tend to repeat behaviors they see in adults.
30 May 2009
Testing with the Wisconsin State Patrol
The photo above shows some of our test equipment on a MCI Motorcoach. The bus was outfitted with two VC-4000 tri-axial accelerometers. The bus's motion was also measured by a Stalker RADAR and high-speed video. This bus was equipped with air disc brakes, an automatic transmission, and a DDC Series 60 engine with DDEC IV ECM. We had several goals when conducting this test, including examining the effects of specific driver inputs on the Last Stop Record. Like the rest of the tests we conducted at Fox Valley, the goal was to replicate real-world post-crash scenarios to see how the Event Data Recorder interpreted what happened.
The photo above shows us creating a Hard Brake record with an International tractor and DDC motor. If you look closely at the left-hand side of the photo, you can see the smoke boiling from the drive axle. This was a really, really fun day!
The results of all of this testing (as much as we can fit, anyway) will be presented at the Midwest Association of Technical Accident Investigator's Annual Conference, during the second week in June.
29 May 2009
More About the DD-15
The DD-15 is such a cool engine that we couldn't help posting one more picture of it, this one from the passenger side of the tractor. Some of the things we learned on the forensics side were that there is much more calibration data in this ECM (which makes sense since its a more sophisticated motor); the proclivity of the clock-time to "drift" still exists (an endearing little tick!); and the DDEC Reports data are pretty much identical.The links below have some info on the DD-15:
DD-15 Brochure
A comparison of DDC's engines
The DD-15 homepage
Downloading Event Data from Detroit Diesel's new DD-15
Yesterday, Ron DeMonia and I had the privilege of doing some testing with Detroit Diesel's new DD-15 engine (pictured above). DD-15 is the replacement for the Series 60 engine, a workhorse that's been around for 21 years. From a performance standpoint, DD-15 is awesome: 14.8L of displacement and up to 560hp and 1850ft-lbs of torque. On the forensics side, DD-15 is a little difficult: it's a 2-module ECU, comprised of a Motor Control Module and a Common Powertrain Controler, and it somewhat resembles an MBE or VMAC IV. The issue we were looking at yesterday was how the calibration files should be accessed and downloaded. If you do forensic downloads and haven't seen the DDDL 7.x, take a look: it is completely different from any of the ECM /EDR software out there.
22 May 2009
June is National Safety Month, an event sponsored by the National Safety Council to raise awareness about specific safety issues and injury mechanisms. This year the Safety Council and its members will work to provide information and educational material related to a separate issue for each of the four weeks: - June 1 - 7 Teen Driving
- June 8 - 14 Fall Protection
- June 15 - 21 Overexertion
- June 22 - 30 Distracted Driving
MSC is proud to have been a member of the NSC since our inception in 2006. All of us believe that along with the ability to analyze accidents comes the obligation to use that ability so that future mishaps, accidents, and injuries can be prevented.
07 May 2009
ECM Testing in Wisconsin
Bill Messerschmidt conducted Electronic Control Module (ECM) testing with the Wisconsin State Patrol in Appleton, Wisconsin, at Fox Valley Technical College on May 4 - 5. The testing involved using heavy vehicles to simulate real-life events, such as a loss of power, to better understand how ECMs record data during accidents.
MSC would like to thank Trooper Tim Austin and Sergeant Duane Meyers and the rest of the Wisconsin State Patrol Technical Reconstruction Unit; Ben Smith of ASI Investigations; Rob Behnke and the staff of Fox Valley Technical College; Chris Voeglie of the NTSB; Vericom Computers; and Lamers Bus Service for their help in facilitating this testing event.
Watch news footage about the ECM testing.
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