VTTI in the News
New Data from VTTI Provides Insight into Cell Phone Use and Driving Distraction
Monday, July 27, 2009 — Several large–scale, naturalistic driving studies (using sophisticated cameras and instrumentation in participants' personal vehicles) conducted by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI), provide a clear picture of driver distraction and cell phone use under real–world driving conditions. Combined, these studies continuously observed drivers for more than 6 million miles of driving.
"Given recent catastrophic crash events and disturbing trends, there is an alarming amount of misinformation and confusion regarding cell phone and texting use while behind the wheel of a vehicle. The findings from our research at VTTI can help begin to clear up these misconceptions as they are based on real–world driving data. We conduct transportation safety research in an effort to equip the public with information that can save lives," says Dr. Tom Dingus, director of the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. Read the press release.
"The 10 Most Dangerous Foods to Eat While Driving" not issued by VTTI
Thursday, July 23, 2009 – For the past 10 years, VTTI has conducted numerous light and heavy–vehicle naturalistic driving research studies regarding distracted driving and crash causation. The jump has been made by many media outlets from our research to the "The 10 Most Dangerous Foods to Eat While Driving", which was not issued by VTTI, and was actually issued by Cleveland–based www.insurance.com Please check their website for more information on this listing.
Congressman Rick Boucher Visits the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute
Congressman Rick Boucher, along with Virginia Senator Creigh Deeds, visited the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) last week and was given a presentation about VTTI and the Smart Road by VTTI director, Tom Dingus; witnessed a demonstration of a transportation study conducted on the Smart Road; had an opportunity to see various instrumented vehicles used in transportation studies and took a trip up and down the Smart Road. Boucher was traveling across Southwest Virginia campaigning for Deeds as the next Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
New Partnership between VTTI and Center for Injury Biomechanics Receives First Award
A team of three Virginia Tech faculty members, Stefan Duma, Warren Hardy and H. Clay Gabler was recently awarded $2.6M from U.S. Army Research Acquisition Activity to study the biomechanics of head, neck and chest injury prevention for soldiers. Joel Stitzel at Wake Forest University will also be heavily involved in the project.
This award represents the first major grant of a new partnership between the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) and the Center for Injury Biomechanics (CIB) that combines VTTI auto safety expertise with CIB injury biomechanics for military applications.
FMCSA and VTTI Release Driving Tips Website for CMV Drivers
In an effort to reduce the nearly 400,000 accidents that occur each year involving heavy trucks, particularly the estimated 87% of those caused by driver error, the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) in partnership with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has developed a website to educate large truck drivers about defensive driving techniques.
Award for Larger Naturalistic Driving Study
The National Academy of Sciences' (NAS) Strategic Highway Research Program 2 (SHRP 2) has awarded the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) $3 million for the Design of the In-Vehicle Driving Behavior and Crash Risk Study, the first stage of a multi-phase project that will ultimately become the largest naturalistic driving study ever conducted.
Studies Determine Accidents Not More Likely to Occur Because of Digital Billboards
The combined results of two separate studies that examine crash causation and statistical data and driver performance in relation to digital billboards were released today. The research offers conclusive evidence that traffic accidents are no more likely to happen in the presence of digital billboards than in their absence.
Teen Driving Study
Teen drivers, particularly during the first few months of independent driving, are at much higher crash risk when compared to other drivers. This period of elevated risk is probably due to some combination of inexperience and risk taking, but there is a major gap in our knowledge of the relative contribution and specific factors associated with this problem.
Thus, VTTI is conducting an 18-month study to better understand these problems. The study will examine how newly licensed teenagers drive and what behaviors are potentially the riskiest. The study is currently in the data collection phase; we hope to release results in the next 18 months to 2 years.
The 100-Car Naturalistic Driving Study
With the primary purpose of collecting pre-crash naturalistic driving data, over 100 individuals volunteered to drive their own (or leased) vehicles with specialized instrumentation for 12 - 13 months in the Northern Virginia/metropolitan DC area. The project was started in 2000, with an original project award of approximately $3.7 million.
The 100-Car Study was the first instrumented vehicle study undertaken with the primary purpose of collecting pre-crash naturalistic driving data. Drivers used these vehicles in their normal daily routines, were given no special instructions, no experimenter was present and the data collection instrumentation was unobtrusive.
The 100-Car Study and its follow-on analysis were co-sponsored by NHTSA, the Virginia Transportation Research Council (VTRC) and Virginia Tech.