National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence Reports (NSTSCE, VTTI)
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Browsing National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence Reports (NSTSCE, VTTI) by Author "Blanco, Myra"
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- CMV Driver Health OutreachTrimble, Tammy E.; Morgan, Justin F.; Hanowski, Richard J.; Blanco, Myra (National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence, 2013-10)Many commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers struggle to maintain a healthy lifestyle against the demands of their job. While some previous CMV health programs have been developed, these programs have either not been widely implemented or they fail to adequately address the needs of CMV drivers with programs adaptable to their unique lifestyle challenges. Additionally, reaching this highly fragmented and mobile population has proven difficult. This report describes the development of an integrated social networking-based health effort, called Driving Healthy. The main objective of Driving Healthy was to create a unique health and wellness resource for the CMV community that provides trusted information about a variety of health topics in an easy-to-access fashion, as well as timely updates via social networking platforms. Specific objectives included the development and enhancement of the Driving Healthy website and the social networking platforms that complement the website. In doing so, additional driver-focused health information was produced, along with new outreach tools and materials and expanded connectivity options for this outreach effort. This report documents two project phases. Phase I of the project spanned the period of January 1, 2010, through July 31, 2011, with the sites being launched in January 2011. Phase II covers August 1, 2011, through November 15, 2012, and included the development of additional outreach tools.
- Commercial Motor Vehicle Driving Safety WebsiteTidwell, Scott; Trimble, Tammy E.; Blanco, Myra (National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence, 2016-08-06)This report documents the CMV Driving Safety website (http://cmvdrivingsafety.org/), which was created by the National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence (NSTSCE) as an outreach effort to assist commercial motor vehicle (CMV) fleets and drivers, driver trainers, CMV training schools, and insurance companies. The website contains 15 unique pages and provides six downloadable training modules on driver distraction, driver health, hours of service, driver drowsiness and fatigue, sharing the road, and safety systems. In addition to profiling the website, the report provides statistics on site visits and the number of times the training modules have been downloaded.
- Evaluating the Sleeper Berth Provision: Investigating Usage Characteristics and Safety-Critical Event InvolvementSoccolich, Susan A.; Blanco, Myra; Hanowski, Richard J. (National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence, 2015-07-20)Hours-of-service (HOS) regulations control the maximum daily drive time, workday hours, and work week (period) hours for commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers. The regulations also include periods of off-duty time that drivers must take before beginning a work shift, referred to as shift-restart methods in this study. In the 2005 regulations, the shift-restart methods included taking at least 10 consecutive hours off duty or in the sleeper berth (10+ hour restart), taking at least 34 consecutive hours off duty or in the sleeper berth (34+ hour restart), and a sleeper berth provision (SBP). The SBP requires one period of at least 8 (but less than 10) consecutive hours spent in the sleeper berth plus a period of at least 2 (but less than 10) consecutive hours spent in the sleeper berth, off duty but not in the sleeper berth, or a combination of off-duty time spent in and out of the sleeper berth. The purpose of this project was to examine the usage of shift-restart methods and the relationship between shift-restart methods and driver safety performance in a naturalistically collected driving data set. The data used for this study were collected by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) in the Naturalistic Truck Driving Study (NTDS) and developed into a hybrid data set of naturalistically collected video data and activity register data that accurately detail the participating CMV drivers’ driving and non-driving activities.(7) With the activity register data, researchers determined which restart method drivers used before beginning a new work shift: 10+ hour restart, 34+ hour restart, or the SBP. The proportion of shifts preceded by SBP breaks was significantly higher for drivers who reported taking medications regularly versus those who did not and also for drivers with longer average delivery distances. The number of years of CMV driving experience had a significant inverse relationship with the proportion of total shifts with SBP breaks. A mixed-effect negative binomial model with a logarithmic link function was used to model safety-critical event (SCE) rate at the shift level, controlling for the driver. The SCE rates in shifts following an SBP break were found not to be statistically different from those in shifts following 10+ hour or 34+ hour restart breaks. Odds ratios were also used to assess the risks associated with each of the three shift-restart methods. The 10+ hour restart and 34+ hour restart methods were found not to be significantly different. However, both the 10+ hour restart and 34+ hour restart methods were associated with significantly higher risk than the SBP. This project serves to enhance the understanding of the current HOS regulations and the impact that these regulations have on drivers, a topic of significant concern in the CMV community. Drivers have different preferred break usage patterns. The use of the SBP in the current study does not appear to be associated with a decrement in safety performance. Future efforts should look into how the usage of shift-restart methods has changed under the new regulations, which went into effect on July 1, 2013, and modified the driving limits, on-duty time limits, and rest break requirements.
- Fact SheetsTidwell, Scott; Fitchett, Vikki L.; Blanco, Myra (National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence, 2017-12-06)To extend its public outreach, the National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence has created concise fact sheets describing research findings important to surface transportation safety. To date, fact sheets have been completed for nine projects. They are readily accessible through the NSTSCE page of the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute’s website (https://www.vtti.vt.edu/national/nstsce/index.html) and the Commercial Motor Vehicle Driving Safety website (http://cmvdrivingsafety.org).
- Supporting CMV Driver Distraction Outreach Efforts: Letter Report SummaryMorgan, Justin F.; Flintsch, Alejandra Medina; Blanco, Myra; Hanowski, Richard J.; Fitchett, Vikki L.; Fitzgerald, Hollie E.; Radlbeck, Joshua (National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence, 2015-04-08)The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) CMV Driving Tips website (https://cms.fmcsa.dot.gov/safety/driver-safety/cmv-driving-tips-overview) is a source for information on safety and practical driving tips for CMV drivers and safety managers. The purpose of this project was to review the driver distraction content on the CMV Driving Tips site and identify recently published research that may be included in a potential site update. The content was made more accessible to a broad audience of CMV drivers by simplifying the text, providing a Spanish-language translation, and creating English and Spanish versions of a one-page tip sheet on how to reduce distracted driving.
- Tips for Sharing the Road with Commercial Motor Vehicles: A Web-Based ApproachDunn, Naomi J.; Baker, Stephanie Ann; Blanco, Myra (National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence, 2016-01-11)This report documents the Tips for Sharing the Road with Commercial Motor Vehicles website (http://www.cmvroadsharing.org). The website was created by the National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence to educate teen drivers about how to share the road with heavy vehicles. The website incorporates video clips of real-world driving events captured during a naturalistic driving study conducted by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI). The video clips provide examples of both proper and improper driving behavior. The rationale for providing examples of both types of behavior was that effective education of drivers, especially those who are young and inexperienced, needs to show not only “what not to do,” but should also illustrate the alternative “correct” road sharing behavior. The naturalistic driving video clips shown on the website are all from the truck driver’s perspective to highlight the difficulties these drivers face on the road every day due to other drivers’ improper road sharing behavior.
- Transportation Research Today: The NSTSCE Quarterly NewsletterTidwell, Scott; Fitchett, Vikki L.; Blanco, Myra (National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence, 2015-11-02)The National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence (NSTSCE) newsletter, Transportation Research Today, was published quarterly from January 2014 to October 2014. The newsletter described NSTSCE research and included profiles of researchers, announcements, safety facts, and a transportation-related cartoon. As of September 20, 2015, the newsletter had been viewed over 8,900 times with an average reading time of 15 minutes. After the fourth issue, the newsletter was combined with the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute’s (VTTI’s) e-newsletter. All issues remain available at http://www.vtti.vt.edu/national/ncstsr/index.html.
- Vehicle Information Reporting SystemsFitzgerald, Kaitlyn; Blanco, Myra (National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence, 2020-09-22)The Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) standard currently tracks data elements such as manufacturing details, vehicle descriptors, vehicle security codes, and serial numbers. To date, the VIN standard does not include information on safety features or vehicle equipment. Expanding the standard to indicate the presence of automated driving systems and advanced driving assistance systems could allow the efficacy and impact of these technologies on crash avoidance and crash mitigation to be more accurately determined. The research team held a series of meetings to solicit stakeholder feedback on a expanding the VIN and a number of Vehicle Information Reporting System (VIRS) alternatives. The six alternatives involved two methods of implementing a modified VIN, barcodes, optical chips, event data recorders, and a write-in option for a “participant-specified” VIRS alternative. Qualitative data of the feedback meetings was obtained from transcriptions and was further analyzed to identify preferences for VIRS alternative options. Quantitative data was obtained using a Likert-type survey adapted from the System Usability Scale. Unfortunately, due to time and budget constraints, no original equipment manufacturers participated in this project. Thus, this feasibility study may offer an incomplete view without this feedback.
- Voluntary Versus Mandatory Standards: Analysis of Voluntary and Mandatory Regulations Use Cases to Address Rapidly Developing TechnologiesMaheshwary, Anurag; Fitzgerald, Kaitlyn; Trimble, Tammy E.; Blanco, Myra (National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence, 2021-04-20)This report examines the approaches that are being used by a variety of institutions to regulate rapidly emerging technologies in transportation. Several case studies were examined to determine if there are relevant criteria and situational contexts that determine an agency’s choice of either voluntary standards (industry self-regulation) or governmental rulemaking. From this case study analysis, the research team identified the following: • “Voluntary” and “mandatory” models of rulemaking are not binary choices; rather they are different points along a continuum. • The federal government, including the Department of Transportation, have developed regulatory tools that rely on both voluntary and mandatory approaches to accommodate innovation. • Alternative approaches of rulemaking utilized by other agencies, such as a cooperative mixed-model, may be useful for future regulation of automated vehicles.