driver safety

Truckers Receive Live Traffic Alerts Through New Software in New Jersey, North Carolina

February 23, 2022 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Through a collaboration between Intelligent Imaging Systems, its subsidiary Drivewyze Inc., and INRIX transportation and data analytics firm, New Jersey is now offering a new method of warning truck drivers about any possible safety issues along a 600-mile highway stretch across the state.

“We’ve partnered with Drivewyze and INRIX to develop a real-time traffic alert system for commercial vehicle drivers,” said the New Jersey Department of Transportation in a tweet. “This program is designed to help reduce commercial vehicle crashes on New Jersey state highways.”

According to NJDOT, a fully loaded tractor-trailer needs about 66% more time to stop at an average speed than a passenger car, and rear-end crashes involving a vehicle stopped in line behind one initial crash tend to be common in secondary interstate incidents.

“The ability to alert commercial vehicle drivers to unexpected traffic conditions will improve safety for everyone driving on New Jersey’s highways,” said commissioner of NJDOT, Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti. “By warning drivers of congestion that is miles ahead, drivers of large commercial vehicles will have the extra time needed to safely slow down.”

Truck drivers will be able to receive alerts two to three miles ahead of an accident or slow down in traffic through Drivewyze’s app or in-cab alert technology. This kind of warning system will help truckers more easily avoid secondary crashes by giving them enough time to prepare to stop.

These drivers will be sent necessary notifications as they operate vehicles throughout New Jersey, including in areas such as the New Jersey Turnpike, the Atlantic City Expressway, Garden State Parkway, and other various highways. The notifications will include warnings for runaway ramps and mountain corridor steep grades, upcoming slow downs–especially when dangerous curves are involved, and signals when approaching a low bridge.

IIHS noted that both North Carolina and New Jersey’s Departments of Transportation utilized participation in the Eastern Transportation Coalition’s Traffic Data Marketplace to be able to implement Drivewyze’s systems into their state’s commercial motor vehicles.

“The New Jersey Motor Truck Association applauds the efforts to provide advance safety alerts to commercial truck drivers via Drivewyze,” said Gail Toth, executive director. “These efforts will help to keep our workplace–the highways–safer for all.”

The alert software has been successful, according to NCDOT’s public relations officer, Andrew Barksdale, who noted that more than 42,000 sudden slow down and congestion notifications have been sent to North Carolina Drivewyze users over the last four months. The states’ DOT is working to analyze the system’s overall safety benefits, as well.

Additionally, over the last few months, Drivewyze underwent a beta test by IIS to monitor safety alerts sent to the system’s users. In New Jersey, 104,000 alerts were released for 14,000 incidents, and 38,000 alerts were released in North Carolina for 7,000 incidents.

“Incidents in this case are either based on congestion (sustained traffic on a road segment for at least three minutes) or sudden slowdowns (temporary queue backups),” said Drivewyze spiderman, Doug Siefkes. “The queue backups could be for any reason: accidents, lane closures in work zones, [or] weather conditions.”

These alerts have an ability to bring significant safety boosts to North Carolina, New Jersey, and any other state which utilizes the software, said director of global communications for INRIX, Mark Burfeind.

Additionally, a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation crash-detection study used live traffic data from INRIX and Waze to crowdsource data from Waze’s connected users; the study found early on that this data outperformed data collected by Traffic Management Center employees, finding 86.7% of all reportable crashes in the state’s roadway network.

The study also found that work-zone and secondary crashes in heavy traffic congestion typically brought about more motorist injuries than other reportable crashes, and 46% of secondary crashes took place at least an hour after the initial crash.

The report explained: “The location of these crashes was of particular interest, with 32% of work-zone crashes and 49% of secondary crashes occurring more than two miles back from the origin point of congestion.”

Tesla’s Autopilot at Center of Fatal Crash, What Does This Mean for Driver Assist Tech?

February 22, 2022 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

We recently reported on two influential groups changing the way vehicles are rated by focusing on the safety of those with partially automated driver-assist systems. Now, these scores will incorporate these updates for all new vehicle models, starting in 2022, that utilize such technology. These changes come as prosecutors in California file two counts of vehicular manslaughter against a driver who ran a red light and killed two people while operating a Tesla on Autopilot in 2019.

The charges, which were initially filed in October, seem to be the first involving a felony against a driver using any partially automated driving technology in the United States. The 27-year-old driver, Kevin George Aziz Riad, pleaded not guilty.

Tesla’s autopilot system helps control speed, braking, and steering, and its misuse has been the underlying cause of various crashes and investigations. Although other criminal charges regarding automated driving systems have taken place, this case marks the first charge involving a commonly-used driver assist system.

In the U.S., there are currently 765,000 Tesla vehicles with the Autopilot system implemented onboard–a stark contrast from the tech involved in the charge of negligent homicide in 2020 involving an Uber driver who had been helping to test fully autonomous vehicles on public roads.

The recent Tesla crash involves much more widely-used technology, which is a major concern for transportation safety advocates. In the incident, a Tesla Model S was driving quickly when it exited a freeway, ran a red light in Los Angeles, and hit a Honda Civic at an intersection in Gardena. The driver and passenger in the Civic died immediately, while Riad and his passenger were hospitalized due to their injuries.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had sent investigators to the crash, and in January 2022, confirmed the use of Tesla’s Autopilot system as being utilized at the time of the incident. Riad’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for tomorrow.

Drivers’ overconfidence in driver assist systems has been at the center of many crashes–including deadly ones. Because of this, the National Transportation Safety Board, along with the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, have been reviewing Autopilot’s misuse and consider it to be “automation complacency.”

“I think we are a lot further away from self-driving cars than tech companies and commercials would like us to believe,” said Levinson and Stefani’s Jay Stefani. “That said, there is a lot of great safety technology out there to assist drivers. Lane drift alarms, blind spot detectors, active forward collision avoidance systems, and back-up cameras and alarms are all examples of technology that has saved lives.”

According to Consumer Reports and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, studies have shown drivers often rely too heavily on their automated systems and pay little attention to alerts. Advertising for vehicles with these programs on board typically overexaggerate the systems’ abilities, as well.

Tesla’s autopilot system was launched in 2015, and in 2018, a Tesla driver died in a collision with a freeway barrier in Mountain View, California. According to the NTSB, the driver was allowing the system to operate while he or she played a mobile game.

“Keeping drivers focused on the road and the vehicle is critical for the safe use of partially automated driving systems,” said the president of IIHS, David Harkey.

Drivers often equate partially automated systems with self-driving vehicles, although no self-driving vehicles are available to consumers. When a driver ignores the monitor systems of a vehicle, their driving may be more dangerous than if they had been operating a vehicle without a partially automated system, Harkey noted.

“There are studies that go back probably 80 years that show humans are pretty bad about just watching automation happen,” said Jake Fisher, senior director of Consumer Reports’ Auto Test Center. “It’s just too easy to get bored and let your attention wander.”

Tesla has responded to these issues by working to update its automated driving software to be able to more easily deter misuse, as well as to improve its Autopilot’s capacity to detect emergency vehicles.

FMCSA Relaxes Vision Regulations for Monocular Truckers

February 18, 2022 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

New vision standards will relax previous requirements mandating that truckers with inadequate vision in one eye must seek an exemption from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

The agency announced the new rule late last month, which will now allow commercial drivers “who do not satisfy, with the worse eye, either the existing distant visual acuity standard with corrective lenses or the field of vision standard, or both, to be physically qualified to operate a commercial motor vehicle in interstate commerce under specific conditions.”

The updated regulation now “enhances employment opportunities while remaining consistent with FMCSA’s safety mission,” the agency added. The new rule will be fully implemented on March 22nd.

“With limited exceptions, individuals physically qualified under the alternative standard for the first time must satisfactorily complete a road test administered by the employing motor carrier before operating a CMV in interstate commerce,” said FMCSA in a federal register post. “This rule eliminates the need for the current federal vision exemption program, as well as the grandfather provision for drivers operating under the previously-administered vision waiver study program.”

The updated standard–which has been changed for the first time since 1998–will bring about a more “collaborative process” to allow a driver to obtain verification; a driver must have a complete optometrist- or ophthalmologist-conducted vision evaluation before he or she can become medically certified under the new standard. Additionally, the doctor must record the evaluation results and offer professional opinions regarding an agency Vision Evaluation Report. Currently, nearly 2,000 truck drivers hold vision exemptions under the previous standards.

The ophthalmologist or optometrist recording these report findings may then offer a driver up to 12 months of a certification period if the driver is found to meet FMCSA’s physical qualification standards and the new vision standard. The driver will need to be evaluated again each subsequent year for renewed qualification.

To make these determinations, examiners are required to take into account the entire Vision Evaluation Report and apply four particular standards using his or her own medical judgment. These standards include that the driver has a stable vision deficiency; has had enough time since the deficiency became stable to adapt to the vision changes; can recognize traffic signal and device colors and see the differences between red, green, and amber; and have a distant visual acuity of at least 20/40 in his or her stronger eye, with or without corrective lenses, as well as a field of vision that is of at least 70 degrees in the horizontal meridian.

FMCSA is seeking public comment on this final rule by February 22nd, and received 69 comments on the proposed rulemaking notice in 2021. These comments came from drivers, motor carriers, private citizens, healthcare providers, and trade associations. 45 of these comments showed support for the potential regulation change.

“Common reasons cited for supporting the proposal include the following: The evidence shows monocular drivers are safe and have no adverse impact on safety; the rule would remove barriers to entry, create job opportunities, encourage more individuals to enter the workforce, keep experienced drivers and reduce the driver shortage,” said the agency.

Should any safety concern arise from the new rule, FMCSA has claimed that its most prominent counter-argument is that monocular drivers have had no major issues in recent years.

“This could lead one to conclude drivers with monocular vision are as safe as other drivers,” the agency noted. “We remind readers that the data is either absent or conflicting regarding the safety of monocular drivers. With such a small percentage of drivers having monocular vision, this data will continue to be difficult to obtain in a statistically-significant manner.”

FMCSA’s medical review board approved the rule update last year, although it recommended that the policy’s field of vision standard require commercial drivers to have a field of vision of at least 120 degrees.

Roadway Deaths On Incline, DOT Announces New Plan to Make Necessary Changes

February 17, 2022 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

The ‘National Roadway Safety Strategy,’ released last month by the U.S. Department of Transportation, is a new multibillion-dollar plan that will focus on industry priorities such as safer roads, safer vehicles, safer speeds, post-crash care, and overall safer people. This comes as the department is pushing for boosted efforts during “a national crisis in roadway fatalities and serious injuries.”

“We cannot tolerate the continuing crisis of roadway deaths in America,” said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “These deaths are preventable, and that’s why we’re launching the National Roadway Safety Strategy.”

The Biden Administration’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will provide funding for this program, Buttigieg noted, explaining that the entire transportation industry, along with the government, will be working together to bring this program to fruition “because every driver, passenger, and pedestrian should be certain that they’re going to arrive at their destination safely, every time.”

Along with the 38-page program strategy, Buttigieg included a letter estimating that around 38,680 Americans died in motor vehicle crashes in 2020, and 20,160 more died in the first half of 2021–an 18.4% increase as compared to the same period in 2020. Additionally, the rural roadway death rate is twice as high than that of urban roads, the program’s strategy outline added.

The major aspects of the program will include methods of leveraging technological advancements as a manner of improving American roadway motor vehicle safety, which will involve automatic emergency braking and pedestrian automatic emergency braking regulations, along with New Car Assessment Program updates; ways to collaborate with both local and state road owners to best maintain and rebuild safer roads through speed limit setting, Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices updates, and manners of providing technical assistance to all communities through a Complete Streets Initiative; and infrastructure bill-funded road safety investments such as the $4 billion Highway Safety Improvement Program funding and the $6 billion Safe Streets and Roads for All program, as well as further funding for behavioral interventions and research.

What safety concern would Levinson and Stefani’s Jay Stefani prefer to see funding for? Side under-ride guards on commercial motor vehicles.

“‘Safety First’ should continue to be the focus of any changes,” he said. “Side under-ride guards would make a difference not only in highway crashes, but also in more urban settings with pedestrian and cyclist crashes. Nearly 90% of truck crashes are due to driver error–and nearly one out of five involve a rear-end collision–so forward-facing collision avoidance systems should be among the first steps.”

The plan will work to bring about strong collaboration from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the Federal Highway Administration, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, according to DOT. $4 billion for the plan’s strategy will be allocated toward improvements in vehicle, behavior, and truck safety programs as well as boosts in crash data.

“People have physical limits for tolerating crash forces before death or serious injury occurs,” said the document outlining the strategy. “Therefore, it is critical to design and operate a transportation system that is human-centric and accommodates physical human vulnerabilities.”

DOT acknowledged that both human vulnerability and mistakes come into play in regards to overall roadway safety, and notes that the plan will work to create a “redundant system” to keep drivers and passengers as safe as possible.

“Reducing risks requires that all parts of the transportation system be strengthened, so that if one part fails, the other parts still protect people,” said the department.

The strategy’s ‘safe system approach’ will aim to bring roadway design that will help to circumvent common human mistakes, and will expand features working to prevent crashes and their impacts.

“We are pleased to see DOT moving forward with a comprehensive national strategy to address highway safety that focuses on all roadway users, given that a high majority of fatal crashes involving trucks are caused by passenger vehicles,” said Dan Horvath, vice president of safety policy for American Trucking Associations. “We look forward to the implementation of many safety provisions included in the bipartisan infrastructure bill that pertain to trucking, including working with FMCSA and other stakeholders to further study the causes of truck-involved crashes and determine the best approach to reducing them.”

Most Common Truck Violation in North America: Broken Lights

February 11, 2022 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

In national roadside truck inspections taking place throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico during 2021, the highest number of violations came from inoperable vehicle lamps, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s data found.

Out of 2021’s 243,159 roadside truck inspections, 11.75% of all violations were due to non-functioning vehicle lamps, totaling 344,225 violations regarding these required lighting fixtures. In the United States, specifically, out of 212,256 inspections, 300,433–or 11.78%–of all violations were for vehicle lamps. For Canada, 9.57% of violations were for the lamps, coming out to 3,269 violations out of 2,768 inspections; In Mexico, 11.72% of violations were for vehicle lamps, totaling 40,235 violations out of 27,963 inspections.

“It’s important to note–commercial motor vehicles coming in from Mexico are checked regularly as they cross the border and generally have better lighting compliance,” said Texas Department of Public Safety Press secretary, Ericka Miller.

Still, commercial trucks throughout North America had the highest numbers of non-compliant lighting fixtures throughout 2021.

“Obviously, lights are important,” said Roadside Inspection program director for the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, Kerri Wirachowsky. “They can go out at any time. Some lights are critical, such as brake lights and tail lights, and can cause a vehicle to be placed out of service. Some are not, like license plate lighting.”

FMCSA’s data showed that throughout the continent, inoperable headlamps, inoperable tail lamps, and inoperable brake lamps also comprised other top violations, with last years’ second-most-common violation being inoperable turn signal lights.

“As vehicles are traveling, parts wear,” noted public information officer for the Tennessee Highway Patrol, Lt. Bill Miller. “The rougher the roadways, the more the stress on the vehicle components.”

This issue is something state troopers check for daily, and truckers should know the importance of compliance.

“Lamps such as brake lamps, head lamps, and turn signals prevent crashes, especially at night,” said Miller. “Lighting provides visibility and assists in signaling the vehicle movements or driver intentions.”

Commercial trucks often deal with non-functioning truck lamps as their miles add up. Still, safety must remain a top priority.

“All lights are essential; for example, a side-marker lamp on a trailer can warn another vehicle that a trailer is next to them in the dark,” said Georgia Department of Public Safety Information Office official, Franka Young.

LED lighting is an additional factor that often brings about truck lamp violations, especially within recently-manufactured commercial vehicles, added Wirachowsky.

“For drivers doing their truck inspections, LED lights are their friends,” she said. “LEDs don’t all go out at the same time, unless a plug falls out, because they are clusters of diodes…I’m often asked, ‘How many diodes should be out before you fix them?’ I say, ‘As soon as you find any out, fix them and maintain the truck.’”

Typically, drivers will wait for groups of their LED lights to burn out instead of regularly replacing each of them as they stop working. Still, LEDs have a decade-long lifespan, and replacing LEDs on the go is easier than many think, noted Mack Trucks’ director of national accounts, Ray Hasting. Although LED lamps have more upfront costs than incandescent lighting, LED diodes last much longer, are more shock-resistant, use less voltage, and function at lower temperatures–making them a no-brainer for a majority of highway fleets.

The states with the most overall commercial truck and bus inspections throughout 2021 included California, with 282,453 inspections, Texas with 204,336, New York with 57,344, Maryland with 53,149, North Carolina with 48,568, and Florida with 40,872. Those with the lowest number of inspections were Hawaii, Alaska, Rhode Island, Vermont, and the District of Columbia.

Another reason truck lamp violations have been so shockingly high–finding non-functioning lamps is particularly easy for the inspector during his or her walk-around inspection, according to Wirachowsky.

Car Safety Ratings Will Now Include How Systems Keep Drivers Alert

February 10, 2022 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

As the transportation industry works to find ways to keep drivers alert while on the road, two particularly influential groups will start rating vehicles on how efficient their driver behavior-tracking systems are.

For vehicles using partially automated driver-assist systems, the ratings will become part of the overall scores for new vehicle models starting in 2022, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and Consumer Reports, both of which many car buyers seek out for vehicle safety judgments.

“The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is developing a new ratings program that evaluates the safeguards that vehicles with partial automation employ to help drivers stay focused on the road,” said the institute in a tweet on January 19th, when the groups announced their new rating methods. This safety rating comes as more and more new vehicles are becoming equipped with automated safety systems.

These systems have had tendencies to make mistakes while drivers often fail to take swift action, leading to serious accidents. According to the groups, recent studies show drivers typically rely too heavily on their automated systems even though they are only partially automated. Additionally, vehicle advertising often overexaggerates the abilities of the systems, according to both groups.

IIHS and Consumer Reports noted that this new move was motivated by a concern over the lack of standards and ratings from the National Highway Safety Administration; NHTSA explained that it is still finding ways to analyze driver data and monitoring systems to set benchmarks in place.

Partially automated systems typically consist of lane-centerting technology, radar sensors, camera monitoring, and advanced cruise control, although the quality of these systems varies between different vehicles. Still, drivers may often ignore the alerts from their monitoring systems, especially when they’re referred to as “autopilot,” such as within Tesla models.

Tesla launched its “autopilot” driver-assist system in 2015, and a driver in a Tesla operating on the system was killed in a collision with a freeway barrier in Mountain View, California in 2018. The driver, according to the National Transportation Safety Board, was likely playing a game on his or her cellphone at the time.

“Autopilot” is easily considered self-driving, although no self-driving cars are currently available on the market, and all drivers must remain alert and aware at all times behind any wheel.

“Keeping drivers focused on the road and the vehicle is critical for the safe use of partially automated driving systems,” said IIHS president, David Harkey.

Some carmakers with partially automated systems onboard, including Ford, General Motors, and BMW, have cameras installed that monitor whether or not a driver’s eyes are on the road, while others may only look to see if a driver’s hands are present on the steering wheel. According to IIHS and Consumer Reports, the lack of federal standards means monitoring can easily be turned off or ignored.

If a driver decides not to pay attention to these monitoring systems, it could make driving even more dangerous than it would be while driving without any partially automated driving system onboard at all, noted Harkey.

“There are studies that go back probably 80 years that show humans are pretty bad about just watching automation happen,” said senior director of Consumer Reports’ Auto Test Center, Jake Fisher. “It’s just too easy to get bored and let your attention wander.”

There are currently no partially automated driving systems that meet IIHS’ standards, Harkey noted. Monitoring systems must have a variety of alerts available to remind a driver to keep his or her eyes on the road and to make sure the driver’s hands are on the steering wheel at all times, and the system must slow or stop the vehicle if a driver doesn’t respond to the alerts. All of these features must be in place for IIHS to give the vehicle a “good” rating.

“We’re hoping, and we think, that the automakers will respond, and they’ll start to add more robust features into their vehicles that have these systems,” added Harkey.