PA State Police Collision Reconstruction Seminar

The 9^th annual PA State Police Collision Reconstruction Seminar was held at the Ramada Inn , State College, PA, Sept 29 - Oct 1, 2009 with over 200 Police Accident Reconstructionists from the US and Canada in attendance. This is a yearly, grant-funded conference for law enforcement officers to network with others and to explore new ideas and technology in collision reconstruction. Bill attended this conference as a police officer in 2003 and this year he was honored to be a speaker, giving a 2.5 hr presentation on Heavy Vehicle Event Data Recorders, “Using HVEDR Data in Accident Reconstruction.”

CVSA Brake Safety Week

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) is conducting Brake Safety Week between the dates of September 13-19, 2009. The goal of the week-long event, which is taking place across North America, is to help improve commercial vehicle brake safety by emphasizing proper brake inspection, maintenance, and operation. The CVSA is carrying out this important safety event at truck stops, weigh stations, and other locations by way of enforcement, educational activities, and through distributing helpful information.

Learn more about the CVSA's Brake Safety Week.

MSC Research Hits the Presses

Over the last 7 months, MSC has been part of several research-intensive projects related to Heavy Vehicle ECM/EDR technology. We've traveled to Hattiesburg, MS, Charlotte, NC, and Wisconsin's Fox Valley for these tests. We've put quite a bit of time and money into these tests and we're happy to see the resulting publications start to roll off the presses.

Last month, the ECM Field Guide was published in the Accident Reconstruction Journal. The Field Guide was authored by Tim Austin (Wisconsin State Patrol) and co-authored by Bill Messerschmidt. It is meant to serve as a guidebook for accident investigators so that critical, crash-related evidence is preserved. Download a copy of the ECM Field Guide.

In October, Collision Magazine will publish Testing the Last Stop Record in the Mercedes MBE 4000 Engine. This article is authored by Benjamin Smith (ASI Investigations) and co-authored by Bill Messerschmidt and Ron DeMonia.

During September, we'll submit the first draft of our next research paper to SAE International, authored by Bill Messerschmidt and co-authored by Tim Cheek, Tim Austin, and Benjamin Smith. Then, on 29 September Bill will speak at the Pennsylvania State Police Reconstruction Seminar, where we expect to make two big announcements to the crash investigation community.

MSC Returns to Fox Valley for HVEDR Testing

Over Labor Day weekend, we returned to Appleton, Wisconsin, for another day of HVEDR/ECM testing at Fox Valley Technical College (FVTC). This was the fourth day of testing in a series of tests that we began in March. The testing has included controlled, instrumented tests of Detroit Diesel, Mercedes, Caterpillar, Cummins, and Mack trucks with EDR capabilities.

Thanks to the professional skill of Rob Behnke, Truck Driving Program Director for FVTC, and members of the Wisconsin State Patrol, we were able to complete over 50 fully-instrumented test runs, putting the total number of tests over 150 for 2009.

Over the fall and winter of 2009/2010, we’ll be preparing the data from these tests (along with a few more planned test runs) for publication in a variety of journals and industry publications. In addition, MSC is expecting to announce some big news on two fronts later this fall. We’ll announce the news through special editions of the MSC Newsletter and also on this blog as soon as the ink is dry!

Heavy Truck ECM Testing

Last week we began field testing for our latest ECM-related research project. Over the last decade, researchers and engineers have conducted a great deal of testing to validate data from the Event Data Recorders (EDRs) in heavy vehicles. Our goal is to build on this body of knowledge and learn more about how these devices capture data under the extreme circumstances that are often present in a crash. Scientifically, what we are trying to do is perform research that is "ecologically valid." In other words, research that very closely mimics what happens to the ECM in the environment we're interested in: the crash itself.

Since we can't simply go out and crash a lot of trucks (we've conducted over 80 controlled tests so far--going back to our initial testing in Hattiesburg, MS, in March), it has taken some creativity and skill! For this, we're indebted to the fine engineers and forensic scientists who are working on the project with MSC.

With the contributions of Tim Cheek (Delta[v] Forensic Engineers), Tim Austin (Wisconsin State Patrol) and Ben Smith (ASI Investigations), and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, we were able to test Mack and Cummins ECMs last week. Our testing will continue in September in Wisconsin, where our goal is to finish the testing.

Results from CVSA's Roadcheck 2009

On June 2-4, 2009, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) conducted Roadcheck 2009. According to the CVSA, the yearly Roadcheck program "is the largest targeted enforcement program on commercial vehicles in the world, with approximately 14 trucks or buses being inspected, on average, every minute..." Click here to read CVSA's description of the Roadcheck program.

According to the National Safety Council, this year's program inspected 72,782 trucks in three days! CVSA reports that 57,013 of these inspections were NAS Level 1 Inspections. (Level 1 inspections are the most thorough or detailed of the North American Standard Inspections).

The results of these inspections are something that the trucking industry can really be proud of:

• 95.7% of drivers were in compliance with regulations (the highest score ever).
• 77.8% of vehicles were in compliance with the regulations (a 20.4% increase from 2008).
• The number of NAS Level 1 Inspections that were conducted increased by 8.9%

You can read the CVSA's press release on Roadcheck 2009 here.

In the June 2009 MSC Newsletter, we asked readers why they felt trucking fatalities had reached their lowest levels in history. The majority (62%) felt that the reduction was mostly due to fewer miles driven in a slow economy. Maybe we were wrong?

Regardless, CONGRATULATIONS are due to the North American trucking industry, and THANKS to the men and women in Law Enforcement who made the Roadcheck happen!

Rec-Tec Stays on the Cutting Edge

Less than one week after NHTSA announced a new Final Rule that will likely increase the number of air disc brake systems on US highways, Rec-Tec Professional Accident Reconstruction software released an upgrade that allows for fairly simple analysis of truck stopping distance with air disc brakes.

But don't be fooled by the promptness with which Mr. Bonnett has released his latest improvement: the new "Disc/S-Cam III Air Brake" module was being researched and designed for over a year. Both government and private sector engineers & investigators (including MSC) had their opportunity to evaluate it or contribute to it, and on 01 August 09, Rec-Tec released the product.

Even more impressive is the fact that this new module has the capability to analyze heavy truck ABS systems. It allows the user to input the locations of ABS sensors and tell it which axles are linked by which sensors. By selecting the "Automatic ABS Computations" button, the program will vary air pressure as it determines a wheel (or series of connected wheels) is reaching lock-up.

At this point, Rec-Tec is no longer simply a "plug and chug" calculator with some built-in formulas. It's an increasingly robust simulation program, especially in the Heavy Truck Module series.