MSC Expands to Mississippi

On Monday, August 16, MSC opened its doors in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Our new office--pictured above--is located at 518 Main Street in the revitalized downtown area of the Hub City. The new office will be managed by Ben Smith, a Hattiesburg resident and USM alumnus.

Read the text of our press release below, or check it out in the Birmingham Business Journal or the Mississippi Business Journal.

Messerschmidt Safety Consultants (MSC), a provider of traffic safety and forensic analysis based in Birmingham, Ala., announced today it opened an office in Hattiesburg, Miss., to serve the growing demand for MSC’s accident reconstruction and forensic analysis services. The Hattiesburg office expands MSC’s ability to offer local support services to its growing base of clients in the region. This is the second office location for MSC.

"We have seen significant growth in inquiries for our technical expertise and analysis," said William Messerschmidt, founder and principal technical analyst, MSC. "Our transportation, legal and insurance industry clients in the Florida Panhandle, New Orleans, La., Jackson, Miss., and Mobile, Ala., are experiencing an increase in their need for accident analysis and accident prevention services. To support their efforts, we are expanding our local resources. The Hattiesburg office will deliver superior support to our clients.”

The new Hattiesburg office will be owned and operated by Mississippi-based management and will be located at:

518 Main Street, Suite 202, Hattiesburg, Mississippi 39401

“We chose Hattiesburg because it is a vibrant community with a commitment to both arts and sciences,” said Messerschmidt. “We seek to draw on the locally available talent to employ professionals, scientists and support staff focused on consulting, research and product development.”

All of us at MSC want to thank our clients (and our professional vendors) who have made the launch of our new office possible!

MSC to Sponsor Run to Benefit Alabama State Trooper Association

At 9:00 pm on October 29, 2010, the Alabama State Trooper Association (ASTA) and the Tuscaloosa Track Club will be co-hosting the Freaky Friday 10K Run in Coker, Alabama. The run will raise money for the ASTA, particularly the death benefit fund, which was created to help the families of fallen Troopers in the aftermath of a tragedy.

Messerschmidt Safety Consultants is proud to support the Alabama State Trooper Association as a sponsor of the 2010 Freaky Friday 10K.

According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF), the number of law enforcement officers and State Troopers killed in the line of duty has increased by 44% in the first half of 2010. Read the news release.

The ASTA is an organization of over 1000 current and former State Troopers (including MSC's Principal Motor Carrier Safety Consultant, Ronnie DeMonia). The ASTA provides supplemental life insurance to State Troopers, represents the Alabama Law Enforcement, and works to “advance the principles of proper law enforcement and to protect the community and rights of all citizens of the State of Alabama.” Learn more about ASTA and their mission.

The entry fee for the Freaky Friday 10K Run is $20 ($15 for members of the Tuscaloosa Track Club) and includes a participant t-shirt. For more information about how to help sponsor the run, contact Cpl. David Steward, AST at 205.553.5531.

Bill Messerschmidt Presents at IAARS Annual Conference

On July 19, 2010, MSC’s Principal Technical Analyst, Bill Messerschmidt, had the opportunity to address the annual conference of the International Association of Accident Reconstruction Specialists (IAARS).

At this year’s conference, Bill provided a presentation on human factors in vehicle collision reconstruction, as well as a session on heavy vehicle Event Data Recorder (EDR) technology. Learn more about heavy vehicle EDRs.

The conference was held at the Mall of America Radisson Hotel in Bloomington, Minnesota, and was attended by civilian and law enforcement crash investigators and engineers from across the US and Canada.

Conference organizer and IAARS president Dan Lofgren said, “It was a very good seminar experience for all in attendance, in large part due to your presentations. We had very good feedback.” Positive feedback can be attributed in large part to the subject matter experts invited by IAARS and the excellent planning and facilities chosen by the organizers.

Other speakers included Dr. Frank Navin, Mr. Peter Murphy, Dr. Don Schmalzbauer, IAARS president Dan Lofgren, and textbook author Myron Lofgren. It was an honor for Bill and MSC to be included “on the ticket” with these people.

The cost of the conference was $75 for members of IAARS, and it provided ACTAR continuing education credits for accredited reconstruction experts. MSC is looking forward to the 2011 IAARS Conference.

FMCSA Sends Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on HOS to the White House

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) sent its notice of proposed rulemaking regarding a new Hours-of-Service (HOS) rule to the White House on July 26th. From this point, the agency has until July 2011 to publish the proposed rule, receive comments on it, and issue a new final rule.

During the past five years the FMCSA’s HOS Regulation has been one of their most hotly contested regulations. Because of policy changes and legal challenges to the FMCSA, the HOS rules have been changed—and then changed back—several times.

The last amendment to the HOS rules, which increased the maximum number of hours a driver could drive (after coming back on duty) from 10 to 11 hours, went into effect in January 2004. That amendment prompted concerns about driver fatigue, as well as the current lawsuit and settlement requiring the FMCSA to pen a new HOS rule.

Based on the amount of time typically needed by the Office of Management and Budget for reviewing regulations like these, the Federal Register will likely publish the proposed rule in late October / early November of this year.

Con-way Freight Incorporates Advanced Safety Technologies

Less-than-truckload (LTL) Con-way Freight recently invested $5.4 million toward the installation of several advanced safety technologies into 1,300 new Freightliner Cascadia 2010-model tractors, which the carrier has put into service. Con-way’s goals for incorporating the safety technologies are to reduce the frequency of accidents and the accident situations that trucks are most commonly involved in. They are also aiming to minimize driver distraction.

Examples of the technologies Con-way has installed include a forward collision warning technology with adaptive cruise control, developed by Meritor Wabco, to help with maintaining a safe following distance and to help with avoiding rear-end collisions by braking as needed. The lane departure warning system, developed by Iteris, monitors the vehicle’s lane position and sounds an alarm when the vehicle’s operator unintentionally moves out of the lane. The roll stability control, also developed by Meritor Wabco, senses when the vehicle is at high risk of a rollover and automatically intervenes. And in order to help minimize driver distraction, Con-way implemented factory-installed, in-dash AM/FM/satellite radios in place of portable radios. This means drivers have one fewer distraction to content with behind the wheel.

"With the anticipated release of FMCSA's Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010 initiative and the potential for stricter safety regulations for truck drivers and trucking companies, Con-way Freight is proactively pursuing a high-tech approach to safety," said Bob Petrancosta, the company's vice president of safety. Petrancosta also stated that Con-way was very pleased to work with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) in the year of testing and research that went into the implementation of the technologies which can provide “real-world, lifesaving results.”

Read a news piece about Con-way’s safety technologies.

Visit Con-way Freight online.
Visit Meritor Wabco online.
Visit Iteris online.

27% of Americans Admit to Texting While Driving

Cell phones have universal appeal for a multitude of reasons, including staying in close
contact with family, friends, coworkers or clients. With the advent of smart phones, having
access to information, news, messaging, and games on handheld devices further encourages their use.

A new Pew Internet survey reports that 27% of American adults (those age 18 and
older) say they have texted while driving. These findings come from a nationwide phone
survey of 2,252 American adults conducted between April 29 - May 30, 2010.

People ages 18-33 are the most likely age group to report texting while driving, and 59% report having sent or read messages while behind the wheel. Fifty percent of people ages 34-45 report having sent or read messages while behind the wheel, while 29% of people ages 46-64 report doing so.

"The temptation to stay connected and multitask in what is otherwise seen as idle time is very strong," said Mary Madden, a senior research specialist at the Pew Research Center and an author of the new study. "However, one point that is often overlooked in discussions of this issue is that it's about more than just keeping your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel. When you're in conversation with someone outside the car — whether texting or talking — it reduces your situational awareness which is so essential to having a quick reaction time to hazards on the road."

Read a short article about the study.

FleetMentor Offering Webcast Series to Help with CSA 2010

At the end this month, FleetMentor--J. J. Keller & Associates, Inc.'s online advisor tool for fleet management--will be offering the first of seven monthly webcasts that will cover each of the Behavioral Analysis Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs) under the FMCSA's CSA 2010 initiative. Visit the FleetMentor website.

Kicking off the series on July 28, 2010, at 1:00 pm Central Time is: "The Vehicle Maintenance BASIC: Staying on the Road to Compliance." Transportation professionals who are not currently using J. J. Keller's online fleet management advisor can register by signing up for a free 30-day trial of FleetMentor.

Each of the interactive, instructional webcasts in the series will be hosted by J. J. Keller's experts and will cover subjects such as roadside inspections, applicable regulations, violations, interventions, records keeping, scoring, and the safety management cycle. Various elements of FleetMentor's "online toolbox" will be covered, the goals of which are to help participants prepare for and manage their compliance programs under CSA 2010.

The following list provides the schedule for the remainder of the FleetMaster webcasts:

"Unsafe Driving," August 26, 2010 at 1:00 pm Central Time
"Improper Loading / Cargo Securement," September 22, 2010 at 1:00 pm Central Time
"Fatigued Driving (HOS/EOBR)," October 28, 2010 at 1:00 pm Central Time
"Controlled Substances and Alcohol," November 16, 2010 at 1:00 Central Time
"Driver Fitness," December 14, 2010 at 1:00 PM Central Time
"Crash / Incident Experience," January 25, 2011 at 1:00 Central Time

Visit the J. J. Keller website.