Pelham Mourns the Loss of a Hero

On 03 Dec 2009, Pelham Police Officer Phillip Davis was murdered in the line of duty. According to the National Law Enforcement Officer's Memorial, Officer Davis is one of 45 officers to have been killed by gunfire this year in the US (an 18% increase over 2008) and one of 116 officers killed in the line of duty this year in the US.

We mention Officer Davis' sacrifice specifically for two reasons:

• Because MSC is located in Pelham, Alabama, and it's no accident why that is so. The Pelham, AL Police Department is one of the best trained, best educated, and person-for-person best overall police agencies in the United States. The staff at MSC travels across the US and Canada and interacts with many great Law Enforcement Officers. We're always glad to come home to Pelham, and glad to know that it's the Pelham PD who's watching our homes and families while we're gone. Officer Davis was a part of that, and we are grateful to him (and his fellow officers) for their fine work.
• Because Officer Davis was murdered on a traffic stop. Vehicle collisions (a.k.a. "traffic accidents") kill 37,000 people each year in the United States. As a society, we try to combat that staggering number with engineering, education, and enforcement. That is what Officer Davis was doing when he was murdered: enforcing the traffic laws that are designed to keep the rest of us from getting killed.

Officer Davis leaves behind a wife and two young children (he was 33 years old). Those of us who are grateful for his service, and have been blessed with more than we need, can make a donation to his family at any America's First Credit Union. The account name is Officer Phillip Davis.

News release from the City of Pelham about the fund for Officer Davis' family

Officer Davis was murdered in the act of keeping the rest of us safe. The fact that he volunteered for this responsibility doesn't make the benefit of his service any less real. While nothing we can do retroactively will bring him (or his fallen comrades) back, we can take an extra minute this holiday season to show our gratitude to the police officers, deputy sheriffs, and state troopers who work to ensure our safety--on the roadways, at the store, and in our homes.

Concerns of Police Survivors: (COPS)

The National Law Enforcement Officer's Memorial Fund

FMCSA to Revise the HOS Rule

In response to challenges to the Hours of Service (HOS) rule, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has agreed to propose a revised HOS rule within the next nine months and publish a new final rule within the next 21 months. Advocacy groups want the revisions to address safety and health issues such as driver fatigue. Read more about the HOS regulation and rules that are currently in place. The HOS rule will remain in effect during the FMCSA's revision and rulemaking process.

NAPARS 25th Anniversary Conference

This week, the National Association of Professional Accident Reconstruction Specialists (NAPARS) held its annual Joint Conference in Ocean City, Maryland. 2009 marks the 25th anniversary of NAPARS, and this year's conference topics focused on heavy trucks and commercial vehicles. Speakers included Ron Baade, Dr. Bruno Schmidt, Wade Bartlett, Chuck Veppert, David Brown, and Bill Messerschmidt. The conference was attended by over 175 crash investigators and engineers, representing 26 US States and 3 Canadian Provinces.

Bill gave the closing presentation of the conference, discussing the current state and future direction of Heavy Vehicle EDR research.

The NAPARS Conference also provided MSC with an excellent venue to make two big announcements: On Friday, 9 October 2009, Messerschmidt Safety Consulting and the Crash Data Group released EDR Analytics, a software program developed by MSC to assist crash investigators with HVEDR data analysis. Other products marketed by the Crash Data Group include the Bosch CDR Tool System and Greg Russell's CSV Pro software, used for passenger car EDR analysis.

The conference also provided Bill Messerschmidt and Ron Baade an opportunity to announce the first ever general classroom training in Heavy Vehicle EDR data retrieval and analysis. Bill and Ron will teach the 40 hour class though the University of Tulsa's Continuing Engineering and Science Education program. The first class will be taught on 22 February 2010 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We'll post more information about the details, including links to register online, in the very near future.

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!