Research

The Division of Freight, Transit, & Heavy Vehicle Safety (DHVY) solves complex and meaningful heavy-vehicle problems through deployment, testing, analysis, education, and outreach. With a focus on addressing real-world challenges, this Division follows a research-to-practice philosophy by translating research findings into actionable countermeasures – most recently with a strong focus on cutting-edge driver assistance and automated truck and bus technologies. With a long history of establishing key partnerships across a variety of industry and government stakeholders, DHVY has conducted innovative research-based initiatives that support the safety, health, and well-being of truck and bus drivers and all who share the roads with them.

Division Programs

Human Factors & Advanced System Testing

Research to Practice & Outreach

Fleet Focus & Industry Applications

Heavy Vehicle Programs & Initiatives

Fleet Focus & Industry Applications

Led by Andrew Miller, the Fleet Focus and Industry Applications program focuses on the fleet-based implementation of behavioral or technological systems through private and public research.

Human Factors & Advanced System Testing

Led by Andrew Krum, the Human Factors and Advanced System Testing (HFAST) program specializes in helping industry and government sponsors solve transportation challenges by providing applied research focused on understanding and optimizing interactions between humans (e.g., drivers, passengers, pedestrians) and the transportation system. HFAST provides practical solutions based on advanced technology, public and private policy, and guidelines for a variety of transportation safety issues (e.g., visibility, fatigue, distraction) involving light vehicles, heavy trucks, buses, and specialty vehicles (e.g., those that transport hazardous materials and fire apparatus).

Heavy Vehicle Programs & Initiatives

Led by Rebecca Hammond, the Heavy Vehicle Programs & Initiatives team provides support to all aspects of the research process including instrumentation, driver recruitment, data collection, data reduction, data analysis and report writing as well as administrative and financial support.

Research-to-Practice & Outreach

Led by Matthew Camden, the Research-to-Practice and Outreach (R2PO) program specializes in conducting applied research and translating the results to real-world applications and countermeasures. R2PO develops, evaluates, and implements innovative systems-level solutions to promote safe driving, prevent crashes, and save lives. These efforts target all types of occupational drivers and everyone that shares the road with them. R2PO’s research and outreach programs focus on operator education and training, driver distraction and fatigue, advanced driver assistance systems, automated driving systems, and operator health and wellness.

Division Leadership

Rich Hanowski

Division Director

Matt Camden

Research to Practice & Outreach

Rebecca Hammond

Heavy Vehicle Programs & Initiatives

Andrew Krum

Human Factors & Advanced System Testing

Andrew Miller

Fleet Focus & Industry Applications

Impact

• POLICY: The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration reduced the maximum number of hours a truck driver can work per week from 82 to 70 hours based on VTTI’s study of its hours-of-service regulations.
• RESEARCH: Texting while driving increases a truck driver’s risk of encountering a safety-critical event 23 times over, according to the VTTI Driver Distraction in Commercial Vehicle Operations study. This statistic has since been cited nationally by the New York Times and AT&T.
• INNOVATION: The Commercial Training and Prototyping (CTAP) Simulator gives fleets and organizations the ability to provide high quality training and allows them to design and evaluate systems and technologies before moving to full-field testing or demonstrations. The I-81 Corridor Coalition is a consortium of stakeholders dedicated to improving the safety, continuity, and efficiency of commercial and personal travel along the I-81 corridor. The focus of the coalition is to study and implement innovative solutions to challenges specific to travel on this freight-intensive highway serving a variety of geopolitical regions and users.
• OUTREACH: Our heavy-vehicle researchers share roadway safety and driver health best practices with those who can derive the most benefit: truck drivers, students in driver’s education programs, and the general driving public. Outreach programs include: Tips for Sharing the Road with Commercial Motor Vehicles, Commercial Motor Vehicle Driving Safety, Trucking Along: Save Drives, Healthy Lives, and Commercial Motor Vehicle Driving Tips. Contact Rebecca Hammond to get involved.
• RESEARCH 2 PRACTICE: Our researchers have computed a positive return-on-investment (ROI) for several advanced safety technologies, including automatic emergency braking, lane departure warning, and video-based onboard safety monitoring systems. Calculate your ROI by using our ROI calculator.

Select Publications

• CMV Driver Restart – Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
• Fast Dash Program – Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
• Field Study of Heavy Vehicle Crash Avoidance Systems – National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

View more VTTI Publications