transportation
Keeping America Safely Supplied in the Face of Corona Virus By Gorm Tuxen
In trying and uncertain times like these, America is seeing what those in the transportation industries have always known: how important the trucking and supply chain is to our security as a nation. As stay-at- home and shelter-in-place orders have been issued across the country, critical and essential industries have been working harder than ever to support us all. Out on the interstates and highways of America, truckers are moving vital freight and bringing food, clothing, medical supplies, and much more to us 24 hours a day. But while as a group their efforts maybe tireless, each individual has limits and must obey federal rest mandates. Plus, while safety is always a primary concern, now more than ever it is essential that drivers remain safe and cargo arrives safely. One of the most common safety threats facing truck drivers—and those with whom they share the road—is fatigue, which causes nearly a third of all fatal crashes and a quarter of all insurance losses. Accord- ing to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, just over one in every five fatal motor vehicle crashes involves driver fatigue, and a third of crashes involving a drowsy driver also result in injuries. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, tired drivers are responsible for over 70,000 crashes a year, causing nearly 45,000 injuries. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that there are up to 6,000 fatal crashes caused by drowsy drivers each year. State and federal transportation administrators and policymakers have long sought strategies for reducing tired driving. The most important policy in that regard has been limiting the length of time that drivers can legally drive before taking a rest. The problem is, it’s not always easy for drivers to find someplace to pull over and rest. Rest areas and truck stops are often full, and it’s not unusual for drivers to have to drive dozens—even hundreds—of miles, passing rest areas that are already full, before finding someplace with an open space where they can rest. Several states, starting with Florida, have turned to transportation management technology to reduce driver fatigue among truck drivers. The programs are designed to help drivers find a place to safely pull over and rest when they get tired or approach their mandated time for resting. These programs use parking guidance sensors installed in truck stops and rest area parking spaces to monitor individual space avail- ability and communicate that information to truck drivers via roadside signage and hand-held smart phone apps. When it's time for a rest, drivers can access the system via a special app on their phones and locate the closest available parking space. States across the U.S. are
Transportation Management Technology Infrastructure in Florida
duplicating the Florida program and several mid-western states have banded together to form the nation's first Regional Truck Parking In- formation Management System (TPIMS). Technology to The Rescue These programs revolve around a pioneering new approach that com- bines parking guidance sensors with a specialized software platform to help drivers find the closest available truck stop or rest area parking space. The programs, which are managed separately by each state’s Depart- ment of Transportation, use parking sensors installed in truck stop and rest area parking spaces to monitor individual space availability and communicate that information to truck drivers via roadside signage and a specialized smart phone app. Both programs begin with the sensors. The parking guidance sensors resemble a hockey puck when installed in the ground (each truck lane is monitored by several sensors), individual sensors are installed in each parking space, monitoring whether that parking space is occupied or available. The wireless sensors are entirely self-contained. They use a combina- tion of magnetic and infrared technology to detect whether a vehicle has parked in an individual space. Each sensor is powered by a battery, so there is no wired infrastructure required to operate the system.
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csengineermag.com
may 2020
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