Smart Cars of the Future are Closer than You Think

Automobiles that communicate with drivers have been around for a while. However, under a new initiative from the Department of Transportation, cars will soon be communicating with each other. US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood announced the initiative during a speech at ITSA 2010.

Vehicle-to-vehicle communication technology would give cars a standard method to communicate by combining a GPS system with a wireless communication system similar to Wi-Fi. Drivers would be warned if they were making a lane change and a car was in their blind spot, or the car could automatically apply the brakes when the driver doesn't notice the stalled truck ahead.

According to DOT statistics, an estimated 76 percent of crashes involving unimpaired drivers could be prevented using the technology. The technology is already an option in some newer cars, but the Intelligent Transportation Systems being proposed are much more advanced and comprehensive.

"We are fully committed to dedicated short-range communications that can deliver real-time information and data to and between vehicles on the road," said Secretary LaHood. In a related story, CNET reports that IBM will partner with the Texas Transportation Institute to test the next generation of vehicle communications and analytical tools. Read more about this partnership.

Read an article about the DOT’s IntelliDrive Initiative.

Visit the IntelliDrive website.

Commercial Truck Drivers in Western US are the Safest

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) released a study showing seventy-nine percent of commercial truck drivers in the Western US were using their safety belts in 2009. This region has the highest percentage of safety belt usage in the US. The lowest rated region in the US was the Northeast with only sixty-four percent.

Commercial Safety Belt usage by region:

• Northeast 64%
• Midwest 68%
• South 75%
• West 79%

Overall, commercial truck drivers increased safety belt usage from sixty-five percent in 2007 to seventy-four percent in 2009.

A recent article published in the Commercial Carrier Journal quoted U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who stated, “Safety belts save lives. We applaud those who are buckling up, but we won’t rest until every commercial driver is using a safety belt.”

One other interesting finding is that commercial safety belt usage is higher in states where not wearing a safety belt is considered a primary offense. This deterrent appears to be one of the most effective methods to increase safety belt usage.

Read the executive summary for the Seat Belt Usage by Commercial Motor Vehicle Drivers 2009 Survey.

Source: Commercial Carrier Journal: 3/22/10

FHWA Proposes Revisions to the MUTCD

On April 22, 2010, the Federal Register published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding revisions to the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), which were proposed by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The MUTCD is the national standard for traffic control devices used on all publicly traveled roadways.

The proposed revision to the MUTCD will add standards, guidance, options, and support information on maintaining uniform minimum levels for retroreflectivity of pavement markings. (Such standards were put into place regarding minimum levels of retroreflectivity for roadway signs in 2007.)

The notice states that the proposed revisions will “promote safety, enhance traffic operations, and facilitate comfort and convenience for all drivers, including older drivers” by establishing a minimum standard for nighttime pavement marking performance. Read the notice.

The minimum standard proposed by the FHWA is based on their research on drivers' nighttime visibility needs. Comments on the proposed revisions are being accepted until August 20, 2010.

Learn more about nighttime visibility, retroreflective pavement markings, and related issues at the FHWA’s “Nighttime Visibility” website.

Washington Fortifies Law on Hands-Free Cell Phone Use While Driving

On March 26, Washington became the 6th state to pass a law making it a primary offense to be caught holding a cell phone to your ear while driving.

By making it a primary offense to use a cell phone without a headset while driving, a law enforcement officer can stop any driver seen holding a cell phone to their ear. Previously, this was considered a secondary offense; it could only be enforced if the driver was stopped for another infraction, such as speeding.

The others states passing laws that make talking without a headset a primary offense are California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Oregon. The District of Columbia has also enacted this law. Read more about the law.

DOT Issues Rule Requiring Electronic On-Board Recorders for Serious Hours-of-Service Violations

Interstate commercial truck and bus companies with a minimum of 10 percent hours-of-service violations during a compliance review will be required to install electronic on-board recorders (EOBRs) in all their vehicles. EOBRs are devices that record the number of hours drivers spend operating the vehicle.

The US Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) passed the rule on April 2, 2010 (scheduled to begin June 1, 2012) and estimates 5,700 interstate carriers will use EOBRs by July 2013. Learn more about the rule.

"We are committed to cracking down on carriers and drivers who put people on our roads and highways at risk," said Secretary Ray LaHood. "This rule gives us another tool to enforce hours-of-service restrictions on drivers who attempt to get around the rules."

MSC in Wisconsin Trooper Magazine

In February, Messerschmidt Safety Consulting was honored by inclusion in the cover story of the Spring 2010 issue of Wisconsin Trooper magazine. Wisconsin Trooper is the official quarterly publication of the Wisconsin State Trooper Association.

During 2009, Troopers from the Wisconsin State Patrol (WSP) made important contributions to two Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) technical papers. Sergeant Duane Meyers coauthored a technical paper with Dr. L. Daniel Metz, which looks at tire/road friction at high speeds (“Controlled Braking Experiments with and without ABS,” forthcoming SAE 2010-01-1000), and Trooper Tim Austin coauthored a technical paper with representatives of several other organizations (including MSC) on the effect that power failure has on event data recorders (EDRs) in heavy trucks (“Simulating the Effect of Collision-Related Power Loss on the Event Data Recorders of Heavy Trucks,” forthcoming SAE 2010-01-1004).

Wisconsin’s Technical Reconstruction Unit, of which Meyers and Austin are members, continues to make meaningful and valuable contributions to forensic science, accident investigation and reconstruction, and criminal justice. We at MSC are privileged to have had the opportunity to work with the WSP and to have been included in the Trooper Association’s quarterly magazine.

Revisiting the 50th Anniversary of the IIHS

Last September, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) celebrated their 50^th Anniversary with such a bang that we think this “news” is worth revisiting.

At an event celebrating the contributions of auto insurers to the progress of improvements in highway safety, a crash test was conducted with a 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air and a 2009 Chevrolet Malibu. The crash event helped demonstrate how car crashworthiness has evolved since 1959.

Robert P. Hartwig, PhD, the President of the Insurance Information Institute, gave the keynote speech at this event. In his speech, he provided interesting statistics to help explain the progress of highway safety over the past 50 years. Dr. Hartwig said “there were 6 percent fewer highway deaths in 2008 than in 1960 despite the fact that last year [2008] there were nearly three times as many licensed drivers, four times as many cars and ten times as many miles driven than in 1960.” Read more about the event.

To see how much better the 2009 Malibu fared than the 1959 Bel Air, view a short video of the crash test event.