What's New at VTTI?
VTTI's director of Center for Truck & Bus Safety to speak at Alabama Distracted Driving Summit
Tuesday, December 2, 2009 — The University of Alabama will host the state's first distracted driving Summit on December 3rd. Leaders in transportation, policy, law enforcement, and science will come together to discuss how motor–vehicle crashes caused by distracted driving can be reduced through legislation, enforcement, public awareness, and education.
Alabama is the first state to sponsor a distracted driving summit since the national summit called by Ray LaHood, U.S. Secretary of Transportation, in September.
Rich Hanowski, director of VTTI's Center for Truck & Bus Safety, is one of three speakers considered to be experts in various aspects of distracted driving; LaHood is the keynote speaker.
"The purpose of the summit is to make the public aware of an issue that is responsible for an increasing number of motor–vehicle crashes, injuries and deaths in Alabama and the nation," said Desouba Stavrinos, a post–doctoral fellow and co–organizer of the Alabama summit. "It will provide a forum for exchanging information and ideas so measures to prevent and reduce the growing number of crashes, injuries, and deaths resulting from distracted driving can be identified and implemented." More about the summit
Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, and Ford team to study simulated car crashes involving pregnant women
Tuesday, December 2, 2009 — Although states are not required to report fetal deaths in accident data, between 300 and 1,000 unborn babies die in car accidents each year. This accident fatality rate is about four times the rate for victims between infancy and four years old, said Stefan Duma, head of the Virginia Tech –Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Science (SBES).
In response to these numbers, Ford Motor Company has worked with SBES for the past three years to gather data in support of future development of a computer–aided model of a pregnant woman for virtual crash test simulations. The effort builds on 15 years of Ford research that helped lead to one of the first adult whole body computerized crash models. These virtual crash models combine advanced computer simulations and medical research to virtually test how crash forces affect the human body. Pictured above: Women are often driving to work today much longer into their pregnancies, thus increasing chances of having an automobile accident. Researchers with the Virginia Tech – Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Science, and Ford Motor Company are investigating the development of improved safety devices to protect the fetus and the mother. Read the press release.
Director of the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute to testify at Subcommittee on Highways and Transit and the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection
Tuesday, October 27, 2009 — Dr. Tom Dingus, director of the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) has been invited to testify at hearings to be held by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure, Subcommittee on Highways and Transit on Thursday on October 29, 2009 and the Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection on November 4, 2009, both in Washington, DC.
The hearing topics are "Addressing the Problem of Distracted Driving" and "Distracted Driving: Wireless Devices and Vehicle Safety" with both being held in response to the Driving Summit Leaders to Explore Solutions to Distracted Driving held in Washington September 30 — October 1 in an effort to continue moving toward finding viable solutions to stem the growing problem of fatalities that occur as a result of driver distraction.
Dingus has conducted transportation safety and human factors research since 1984, including the issues surrounding driver distraction and inattention. His distraction work has resulted in over 40 book chapters and refereed publications, over 20 major technical reports and over 150 technical publications. The associated projects have involved automobiles, trucks, and a number of after–market devices including cell phones. This work has been sponsored by the NHTSA, FMCSA, RITA, FHWA, NIH, the Virginia DOT, and several major automobile manufacturers.
He has also had the honor of previously testifying before a U.S. Congressional sub-committee in 2001 as well as providing invited presentations over the past 8 years to a Congressional Roundtable, the National Council of State Legislatures, the National Safety Council, and the Virginia Legislature on issues of driver distraction and inattention. Dingus will also be presenting video from several of VTTI's large–scale naturalistic driving studies which show real–world examples of the causes of crashes and near–crashes as a result of driver distraction and inattention.
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.
First Participant Motorcycle Instrumented for Extended Naturalistic Data Collection
"From 1997 to 2007, fatalities from motorcycle crashes have increased 128% (NHTSA, 2008)." To identify factors behind this trend, VTTI engineers recently developed the first system capable of extended naturalistic data collection on motorcycles. Preliminary data collection is underway. The motorcycle pictured at left is equipped with five camera views: forward, rear, left, right, and rider; machine vision lane tracker, accelerometers (three axes), gyros (three axes), forward radar, GPS, and sensing on wheel speed, turn signals, and brakes.
Defensive Driving Tips Website for CMV Drivers
The final deliverable for the large–vehicle, naturalistic (open–roadway, non–test track) driving study conducted by the Center for Truck & Bus Safety at VTTI has been approved. This website was developed to raise the consciousness of CMV drivers about common driving errors and to provide valuable driving tips offering preventive measures CMV drivers can take to help avoid crashes. The website provides driving tips, interesting facts, video clips, a video description and training exercise questions and can be viewed at: http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/about/outreach/education/driverTips/index.htm
Virginia Teen Driver Coach Safety Project
The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute has been independently approached by representatives from Bedford and Montgomery Counties in Virginia to design a program to provide education and comprehensive monitoring and coaching to correct the most critical unsafe behaviors of teen drivers and to provide a comprehensive feedback mechanism for both teens and parents. This initiative is currently in progress with implementation expected over the next two years.
Datasets Now Available for 100–Car Crashes and Near–Crashes
The following datasets and accompanying documentation are now available for 100–Car Naturalistic Driving Study crashes and near–crashes:
- video reduction data which contains detailed event, driver state and driving environment information;
- vehicle instrumentation (time series) data collected at 10 Hz;
- eye glance data which contains frame–by–frame tracking of participant eye glance location.
In the near future, video reduction data and eye glance data will be released for baseline epochs. The data distribution website is: www.access.vtti.vt.edu