New Technology-Focused Transportation Grant Program in Kansas

November 27, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

A new program to fund and support technology-focused projects aiming to boost safety and mobility has been introduced by the Kansas Department of Transportation.

Announced in late August, the Innovative Technology Program will give financial assistance to those working to improve mobility, public safety, and transportation technology, and participating projects can involve any method of transportation. These include, but aren’t limited to, road networks, rail, transit and bicycle facilities, alternative fuels, and unmanned aircraft systems.

Around $3 million for each fiscal year will be made available to recipients, which can include non-governmental applicants. The application window was open between mid-August and mid-September.

“As a leader in UAS, it’s important that we implement new technologies safely,” said Julie Lorenz, Transportation Secretary. “This program will help both rural and urban areas of the state improve the transportation system.”

Throughout Kansas City, officials have been working diligently to implement drone operations, and the Mid-America Regional Council, which includes representatives for all nine counties within the Kansas City metropolitan area, released its outline for these tech explorations, named the Regional Unmanned Aircraft Systems Strategic Framework, in September of 2018. In this plan, officials detail the necessary steps to form strong partnerships with other agencies, to develop a drone usage manual, and to collect data on public concerns regarding drone operation.

Projects will not receive more than $1 million per cycle, and local government officials will administer the Innovative Technology Program projects. Each project must meet a minimum 25% non-state cash match, and applicants that can commit more than the minimum amount will receive boosted consideration.

Eligible projects can also receive further consideration if they have been supporting local business retention and economic growth. Geographic fund distribution will also be taken into consideration by KDOT, and projects receiving awards are set to be announced by the end of October.

Last fall, interested parties were able to discuss transportation priorities during Local Consult meetings, which were held in multiple regions throughout the state. These public meetings created opportunities for people to bring to light the transportation topics they felt would best shape Kansas’ 10-year transportation program plan.

“Citizens at Local Consult meetings across the state last year stressed the need for technology opportunities to better position Kansas for the future,” said Lorenz.

KDOT’s Eisenhower Transportation Legacy Program, known as ‘IKE,’ was created in March of 2020 and is a 10-year program that aims to modernize and expand highway projects on a rolling basis every other year. These efforts work to solve the biggest issues and largest fluctuating revenue difficulties regarding Kansas state transportation.

During these local meetings, more than 2,000 participants collaborated in the overall construction of the IKE program, and established vital aspects of the program that would include broadband investments, new technology investments, and an overarching commitment to multimodal transportation efforts. Preliminary engineering work on 40 different highway projects, under the IKE program, were announced in May by Lorenz and Governor Laura Kelly.

Kelly has pushed forward $216 million in sales tax revenue to the state highway fund in fiscal 2020, which has allowed KDOT to progress a variety of programs working to support infrastructure projects.

The Innovative Technology Program follows a series of technology-focused funding efforts within the state, such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service’s April 2020 announcement of $750,000 in funding for Kansas local and state governments, non-governmental organizations, and individuals to further increase innovation technologies. These Conservation Innovation Grants aimed to further develop innovative technology and tools meant to address natural resource concerns throughout private Kansas working lands. These funds aim to help farmers, ranchers, and other private forest landowners bring new conservation methods to their properties through the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches.

Additionally, between 2019 and 2020, Kansas City partnered with City Innovate to sponsor the Startup in Residence Program, which works to connect Kansas City departments with innovative technology startups. The city established a 16-week voluntary period to develop tech-based solutions addressing city government challenges, and created the STIR Program to connect public-sector agencies directly with tech entrepreneurs in order to boost technology product development and implementation in regards to specific public sector needs.

Staged Accident Scandal Brings Second Round of Indictments

November 16, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

More indictments come from a New Orleans federal grand jury following an investigation of staged automobile accidents involving tractor-trailers. 11 people have been charged on seven counts of fraud regarding these events, which occurred in 2017.

The indictment states that prosecutors believe those involved with the staged events, which took place between March and May of that year, were also involved in nearly 100 other tractor-trailer-involved accidents from 2015 to 2017.

The purpose of staging these incidents was to defraud insurance and trucking companies, according to the indictment, which also shows that these accident-staging individuals referred those who had said they were injured in these faux accidents to five specific attorneys. Then, these attorneys allegedly paid $1,000 for trucks and $500 for passenger vehicles to the leader of these fraudulent efforts for each participant’s “injuries.”

“In some cases, the attorneys knew that the participants were uninjured but referred them to medical providers for treatment to increase the value of subsequent lawsuits,” said Peter Strasser, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana. “In total, the victim trucking and insurance companies paid out $277,500 for these fraudulent claims.”

Those charged were Roderick Hickman of Baton Rouge, La., Lois Russell of Gibson, La., James Williams of Gibson, La., Tanya Givens of Gibson, La., John Diggs of Thibodaux, La., Henry Randle of Gibson, La., Ryan Wheaten of Lafayette, La., Dakota Diggs of Fort Smith, Ark., Bernell Gale of Raceland, La., Marvel Francois of Houma, La,, and Troy Smith of Houma, La.

Defendants will face five years in prison for one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and up to 20 years for six counts of mail fraud if convicted. Upon release, defendants could potentially be placed under parole for up to five years and charged $250,000 per count.

The fraud participants’ methods of mailing illegal payments are what lead to the mail fraud charges. Regarding the rest of the plan, according to prosecutors, one conspirator would drive a vehicle that hit a truck or a car–this vehicle was referred to as the “slammer.” Next, another vehicle would trail the slammer closely to be able to pick up the slammer driver post-crash. This vehicle was called the “spotter.” After the crash, the slammer driver would leave the scene in the spotter vehicle. Another passenger in the vehicle would claim to be the driver.

After a few months, one of the involved attorneys would send a demand letter to attorneys for the drivers who were crashed into, and would move forward with a lawsuit.

One attorney, according to the indictment, received payment for at least 40 of these staged incidents, and another was paid for up to 20.

Additionally, organizers of the fraudulent events would meet with their attorney partners for food or coffee to create a detailed scheme plan.

The first public reports of these incidents were made public in October of last year in relation to two accidents involving tractor-trailers in June of 2017, and indictments were called the “tip of the iceberg” by attorneys that represented victim trucking companies. Some of these companies included Chattanooga, Tennessee’s Covenant Transportation Group and Jefferson, Louisiana’s Southeastern Motor Freight Inc.

These cases were the first criminal charges in New Orleans that included federal authorities investigating what they believed was a pattern of related fraudulent events.

Earlier in August, the leader of the first New Orleans group that began staging accidents, Damian Labeaud, pleaded guilty to one federal count of a plan to defraud interstate commercial trucking carriers and insurance companies by staging two June 2017 crashes. Of this first group, six other co-conspirators have pleaded guilty.

Trucking companies that frequently travel around New Orleans were made aware of these scams last year by victim trucking and insurance company clients’ attorneys.

Among at least 30 fraudulent cases in New Orleans, attorneys found many similarities, such as multiple people in the claimant vehicle and minimal damage to the claimant vehicle, sideswipe allegations with commercial vehicle trailers, little damage to the insured trailer, and a commercial vehicle driver who either denies impact or is completely unaware of an incident.

“It’s always the same thing: Four people in a sedan and there’s always a random witness who gives a loose statement to the cops and has a random appointment and has to get away,” said Chance McNeely, Louisiana Motor Transport Association executive director. He also noted that these people also were usually using the same attorneys and doctors.

In one federal lawsuit by Tiffany Turner, Adonte Turner, and Dimitri Frazier of New Orleans, the three conspirators said they traveled in a 2010 Chevrolet Impala on Interstate-10 when their vehicle was hit by a Whitestone-owned semi-truck. They claimed that driver had suddenly switched lanes and caused a collision, and that they suffered “severe and serious bodily injuries.” They sought $1 million in damages for negligent entrustment of the company’s vehicle to the driver and for failure to properly train employees. They also sought damages for medical expenses, physical pain, mental anguish, and inconvenience.

This investigation is still ongoing following this second round of indictments.

Communication and Collaboration Vital to Addressing Natural Disasters, Experts Say

November 15, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Communication needs strengthening between the transportation industry and emergency management agencies for effective natural disaster response, according to disaster preparedness experts. When Hurricane Laura hit the Gulf Coast this summer, it was clear that these partnerships were more vital than ever.

Tulane University professor of emergency and security studies, Robert Allen, said focusing on risk assessment of each emergency situation is key, as well as determining the availability of resources and teamwork.

“You look at what transportation infrastructure you have,” he explained. “You’ve got to have good knowledge of transportation routes.”

He also suggested fleets work with law enforcement and the U.S. National Guard to stay aware of any problems regarding route accessibility.

In late August, the National Hurricane Center reported that Hurricane Laura was headed across the Gulf of Mexico at winds of up to 125 miles per hour. The day before, the Center had reported Post-tropical Cyclone Marco moving along the coast of Louisiana at up to 30 miles per hour.

In response, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration sent out a regional emergency declaration to truckers working within Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas relief efforts. State officials in Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana also issued their own states of emergency and disaster. FMCSA’s declaration gave exemption from Parts 390-299 of its Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations regarding hours of service, longer combination vehicles, and parts needed for safe operation.

Texas Trucking Association’s John Esparza said TTA has been working diligently with Federal Emergency Management Agency and Department of Homeland Security officials, port authorities, and members of the governor’s office for up-to-date safety information.

Ports in New Orleans and Houston were working toward potential closures before Hurricane Laura reached land, as storms can cause ships to disengage from their routes. Esparza said this communication with government officials was incredibly important during that time, as the Port of Houston processes almost 70% of Gulf Coast container traffic.

“With major weather events like hurricanes, freight movements tend to follow a common pattern,” said DAT Freight and Analytics in a tweet. “But, within that pattern, circumstances and freight flows change quickly.”

2017’s Hurricane Harvey brought with it many learning opportunities relating to emergency preparedness, Esparza explained.

“We’ve already been sending out information to our membership, should we find ourselves in the situation that we have experienced in the past,” he said. “We know it is great to identify and have a network of drivers ready. We learned before that even if you have 100 drivers that you identify, once the storm comes in, you might have 12 or 15 of them that are even available or able to assist.”

Still, current emergency practices are “night and day” when compared to those of 2005, said Allen, who worked with the United Nations Police and the Harbor Police Department aligned with the Port of New Orleans during that time. Hurricane Laura hit the coast around the 15th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s arrival in 2005, and Allen said preparedness techniques are much more efficient now, especially when it comes to prepositioning supplies like water and ready-to-eat meals.

“My dad told me one time, ‘Sometimes when you tap somebody on the shoulder, you may not get their attention, but if you crack them in the head with a two-by-four, they’re going to listen,’” Allen said. “Katrina was a two-by-four, and we listened, and we learned a lot from it.”

One aspect of preparation that was definitely learned was building bridges of communication far in advance of any catastrophic event, said University of California-Berkely doctoral candidate in transportation engineering, Stephen Wong.

“Pick up a phone and make sure the supply chain network is good to go,” he said. “You don’t want to be exchanging business cards during a disaster. You want to be changing business cards before a disaster.”

Suppliers and agencies should also stay connected in order to ensure important items like personal protective equipment can be stored and contracts can be fulfilled when necessary, Wong explained.

“Build out infrastructure, partnerships, and storage for rapid relief,” he said.

Additionally, natural disasters should be looked at as recurring issues and not one-time events, said Louisiana State University engineering professor, Brian Wolshon.

“I believe these are still looked at as one-off events,” he said. “[Hurricane Laura] is not a one-off event. It’s going to probably happen next year, if not the year after. What there needs to be is kind of a more holistic, systematic approach, and it needs to be more mainstreamed into thinking for transportation.”

New Safety Performance Dashboard Launched by Idelic

November 14, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Data and analytics firm Idelic, which focuses on crash prevention, recently announced its new performance dashboard along with upgraded fleet insight tools.

The Fleet Performance Dashboard is launched with improved reporting capabilities for companies to focus on data-driven safety boosts while they gain more insight into their fleets’ overall performance. The Idelic Safety Suite, which the company calls “the trucking industry’s most comprehensive driver management platform,” allows fleets to obtain targeted training suggestions and actionable safety insights from their disparate data.

“Transportation is an incredibly competitive industry, and it’s only gotten more difficult for fleets to stay in the market–let alone compete–with the rise of nuclear verdicts and insurance costs,” said Hayden Cardiff, founder of Idelic.

The dashboard will now allow managers to see comprehensive snapshots of driver performance, with data showing information regarding recent incidents, professional development plans and progress, and upcoming expirations.

“We’ve built our Fleet Performance Dashboard and new reporting functionality to solve those problems, optimize workflows across departments, and standardize a maximum level of efficiency for our customer to drive real value and ROI,” Cardiff explained.

Normally, within a trucking company, managers use a variety of systems to collect comprehensive data on their driver’s safety behavior. They’ll often use different platforms to track training, speeding, hard braking, citations, and violations. Idelic aims to bring together all these aspects of safety data with predictive analytics to find out what a driver’s most at-risk behavior may be and address the problem before a preventable crash takes place.

“This new dashboard is our fleet performance dash, and what this does is take those key performance indicators, those reports..and [pull] it all together into a dashboard that fleets can begin using,” said Geena Barberio, Idelic’s senior marketing manager.

Managers and executives will also be able to use the Fleet Performance Dashboard for instant access into analytics regarding FMCSA roadside inspections and violations, as well as a driver’s training and history. Additionally, managers can see a driver’s Risk Score, a tool that, using artificial intelligence, generates a driver’s score of his or her risk of getting into a preventable crash.

To determine this score, Idelic integrates information of all fleet systems onto the platform, including information regarding background checks, training, drug/alcohol/medication tests, applicant tracking and recruiting, asset management, and sleep apnea. Then, Safety Suite uses machine learning to predict which drivers are most at-risk, explains the reasons why, and recommends how managers can improve training methods to address these specific concerns. With the Idelic Risk Score, all driver behaviors that have contributed to the score, as well as how much each individual behavior affects the overall score, are shown.

“If you only analyze MVR and CSA scores, you’re ignoring almost 80% of the relevant driver data available to you,” Idelic says on its website. According to the company, Safety Suite uncovers driver data patterns that have been unnoticed by analysts, and the AI and ML technologies used to create these safety scores are aligned with the future of trucking safety.

“With an AI platform, you can track everything, and discover metrics you didn’t realize were leading indicators,” Idelic says. Safety suite combines the use of artificial intelligence with machine learning techniques and neural networks for high-accuracy insights.

A large motivator of Idelic’s efforts with the dashboard is the desire to avoid nuclear verdicts, or “astronomical rulings” in court cases, as well as rising industry insurance costs.

“This has increased very recently and very drastically,” said Barberio of these kinds of verdicts. “We have come to learn that a big reason for nuclear verdicts is negligence,” although this negligence is typically unintentional and comes from overwhelming amounts of data.

“With the fleet performance dashboard, we’ve included notifications in a more visual location of compliance,” she continued.

Notifications will include upcoming inspections, expirations, and next steps in a driver training plan.

The Fleet Performance Dashboard has an overarching goal of boosting visibility in order to help fleets be more proactive rather than reactive with the data they receive. With this platform and the preventative measures suggested, fleets should be able to maximize safety performance and reduce liability with the data they collect.

“Idelic’s mission is to bring every driver home safe each night,” the company said. “By giving fleets the ability to turn their data into action with these new features, Idelic is better able to make good on this promise to their customers.”

AV Test Initiative Tracking Tool Goes Public

November 13, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

An online tracking tool created for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Automated Vehicle Transparency and Engagement for Safe Testing (AV TEST) Initiative has been released.

The initiative was unveiled during a two-day virtual panel discussion, which was the third in a series of online events focusing on AV TEST. The pilot program aims to develop a higher level of publicly-displayed automated vehicle testing and development information.

The virtual event was kicked off by Secretary Elaine Chao of the U.S. Department of Transportation, and included congressional remarks by Senator John Thune of South Dakota, a demonstration of the tracking tool by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Chief Safety Scientist Joseph Kolly, and discussions by panelists like NHTSA Director of Safety Programs, John Marshall and Uber’s director SDV safety standards, Chris Mullen.

The interactive map tool has been made public and offers information related to an array of AV driving system testing activities throughout the United States. Users can use the tool to see current testing locations and find information on all companies testing vehicles on American roads.

Those on the platform are also able to see new legislation and current policies in relation to each state’s approach to autonomous vehicle testing via voluntarily-shared data released by both government agencies and private groups.

The initiative, launched in June, “brings the department together with states, local governments, and private sector stakeholders,” said Chao at the time of program unveiling. “[The tool] unlocks valuable information for state and local governments overseeing testing. It encourages developers to exercise better, safer practices, and it provides clarity on AV testing for communities all across the country.”

According to James Owens, Deputy Administrator for NHTSA, AV TEST has been open to all stakeholders supporting the safe testing of AV technology. Participants can include manufacturers, owner-operators, highway safety offices, city government agencies, and departments of transportation.

The overall goal for this new platform is to boost transparency in relation to AV technology information and to bring further interaction regarding these innovations to the public, industry experts, and government leaders.

The initiative will also work to educate the public about all aspects of automated technology and its testing, and those working toward AV development and implementation are invited to bring their information to the platform in order to help educate people and avoid any misconceptions about these efforts.

“These systems have the promise to help prevent fatal crashes, save lives, and reduce crash severity,” said Owens. “Public trust will be the key to their adoption.”

Participating states include Arizona, California, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Utah. Companies involved with the initiative are Beep, Cruise, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Local Motors, Navya, Nuro, Toyota, Uber, and Waymo.

Nicole Nason, Federal Highway Administrator, explained that AV tech will bring freight movement improvements, and that the Federal Highway Administration has released safety and operation policy initiatives regarding vehicle automation.

House Committee on Energy and Commerce member, Representative Fred Upton (R-Michigan), supports the new platform and said this technology is incredibly important, as 94% of all traffic accidents occur due to human error, such as incidents involving distracted, fatigued, or impaired driving.

“These are real truck drivers hauling real freight,” said Nason. “This will help us improve efficiency. [It is] now more important than ever to exchange information with our stakeholders.”

The Department of Transportation released AV 4.0, its latest autonomous AV tech guideline update, in January of this year, to work toward unifying automated vehicle technology principles throughout 38 different agencies and executive offices. “Ensuring American Leadership in Automated Vehicle Technologies,” as it was named, aims to guide state and local government agencies, industry representatives, and tech experts in all aspects of these innovations.

Av 4.0, which expands upon 2018’s AV 3.0, works to boost the overall growth of this particular technology and the collaborative opportunities that come with it.

“We’ve been pleased by the tremendous interest we’ve received,” said Owens. “We’ve been blown away. As more stakeholders participate and as more data is collected, the web tool will become more and more robust.”

At the unveiling, experts explained that AV tech has the potential to massively improve road safety as well as increase mobility options for anyone facing certain challenges with transport, including the disabled and the elderly.

Carriers Adjust to New Technology Standards that Arrived with the Pandemic

November 12, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

All carriers across the trucking industry have been forced to adapt quickly to the major changes brought on by COVID-19, and one major aspect of these new changes has become investments into technology.

Monitoring employee health, improving loading and delivery efforts to avoid human contact, or just transitioning industry workers to working from home have all brought new technological methods and programs to trucking companies, and industry experts say these changes are boosting overall efficiency and effectiveness that will become a regular part of the trucking industry as a whole.

For example, alcoholic beverage distributor Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits has implemented a text message system that requests a health form completion from drivers and employees two hours before their shifts begin. Throughout the pandemic, this method has become a vital communication tool as the company uses this same system to send important information to employees as it can reach them quickly, even when they are working remotely or on the road.

Telematics system and electronic logging device data have also increased heavily during this time, and fleets are learning how to implement these systems into their daily routines to boost operation quality and efficiency.

“We are able to tell our customers our projected delivery time from the first stop to the last, with added traffic and weather impacts,” said McLane Co. director of transportation support, Jim VonAchen. “Our customers can then prepare for our arrival 12 hours out and make sure they have resources ready.”

VonAchen explained that these changes allowed McLane to update all of its delivery network procedures in order to reduce costs and meet rising demands when the pandemic began.

“As you scale up from a small company, these tools become invaluable,” he explained.

“We don’t see an end in sight to this any time soon,” agreed Ron Flanary, senior vice president of national operations for Southern Glazer’s. “We are making the investment in technology,” which will be vital for the company’s fleet of 2,189 straight trucks, 721 tractors, and 2,500 drivers.

Fleet Advantage chief operating officer, Jim Griffin, notes that many carriers are now kicking themselves for not having invested in advanced trucking equipment before COVID-19 hit.

“We have some clients that had put off fleet modification and felt that was a mistake,” Griffin said. “They should have been more prepared.” This is especially true as more fleets have been left with aging equipment throughout the pandemic, which hinders companies from having cost-reducing automated safety systems and improved fuel efficiency.

Older trucks will be replaced quickly with newer, advanced models as soon as the economy bounces back, and growth will continue, Griffin predicts.

Technology has also made remote jobs much easier during stay-at-home orders, and there have been more opportunities than ever to secure this kind of work. Additionally, many trucking companies have found that remote scheduling and digital management practices through a decentralized business model have also helped employees working in-office.

“You never thought you could send people home for a long period and keep the national supply chain to grocery stores holding up very well,” said Flanary of his surprise at the efficiency of these methods.

For Clean Harbors, the company shifted into a nearly-fully remote work and dispatch system within only eight days, which included the time it took to feel things out and solve initial problems with the transition, said the company’s executive vice president of transportation and logistics, Kevin Ridings.

Clean Harbors utilizes a virtual private network that is accessible via laptops, but also has dispatchers working from office workstations who needed a method of accessing the system. Now, employees have their own iPhones, given by the company, which allow all workers to access the essential planning and dispatch database through iPhone applications.

Still, though, Sysco executive vice president and chief supply chain officer Marie Robinson believes remote working won’t last forever, and said some team members–especially management–will need to conduct employee evaluations or update engineering methods in person.

“This is the first time in my 32-year career when I’ve actually asked my associates to put themselves in a situation that I have not put myself in,” she said. “I want to get back into the truck.”