FMCSA Safety and Security Accomplishments
Office of Research and Analysis
Washington, DC
January 22, 2006
Lane Departure Warning Systems and Deployment
Amy Houser
Program Manager, Technology Division
Roadway Departures
- Crashes resulting from simply leaving the roadway represent a substantial portion of the total crash problem
- Occur on both straight and curved sections
- Often involve either rollover of the vehicle or collisions with fixed objects such as trees, utility poles, etc.
- 13,000 roadway departure crashes involving large trucks occurred in 2003 (General Estimates System)
Lane Departure Warning Systems
- Lane Departure Warning Systems (LDWS)
- Camera surveys road ahead – not driver
- Tracks road and vehicle position in lane
- Monitors weaving and lane drifts
- Alerts driver before lane and road departures
- Blocks warnings automatically
- Turn signal is used
- Speed is less than threshold (approximately 35 mph)
- Warning functions disabled
- Poor visibility
- Not well-defined lane boundaries
- Poor confidence in lane position calculation
Mack Intelligent Vehicle Initiative
- McKenzie Tank Lines
- Hazardous materials haulers operating out of multiple Gulf Coast States
- Drivers assigned to specific trucks
- Destinations varied daily
Under FOT Conditions, the Lane Departure Warning System reduces crashes
- 21% to 23% reduction in single vehicle roadway departure crashes
- 17% to 24% reduction in rollover crashes
- Improves safety-related driving behavior by decreasing unintended lane excursions
- Economically justified for tractor-tanker applications
Assistware SafeTRAC LDWS
- Video Image Interpretation
- Lane position
- Road curvature
- Lane boundary type
- Time to Lane Crossing
- Lane Departure Warning
IVI Field Operational Testing
- Lane Departure Warning Systems
- Roll Stability Systems and Electronic Stability Systems
- Collision Warning Systems with Adaptive Cruise Control
Top Purchasing Factors
- System accuracy and reliability
- System effectiveness
- Cost, including installation, maintenance, and driver training
- Availability of vendor or OEM technical support
- System availability from OEMs in new equipment
- Protection of recorded vehicle data
- Ability to monitor driver behavior via on-board data
A Tall Order . . .
Deployment Planning
- Develop plans to facilitate the deployment of technology by the industry
- Establish partnership opportunities with stakeholders
- Support decision-making with additional information
- Develop voluntary requirements
- Compute industry costs and benefits
- Assess technology adoption
Voluntary Requirements
- Relay a better understanding of how technology functions
- Concept of operations
- Operational functionality
- System features
- Requirements walkthrough
- System suppliers and OEMs
- Expert panel requirements review
- Representatives from insurance companies, carriers, academia, and industry associations
Industry Collaboration
- Technology Maintenance Council (TMC)
- Self-supporting unit of the American Trucking Associations (ATA)
- Address the operations and technology needs of the trucking industry
- Provide technical information for specifications and maintenance of commercial vehicles and equipment
- Working with FMCSA to provide industry information and perspectives about on-board safety systems
- Developing recommended practices for on-board safety systems
Costs and Benefits
- Industry demographics
- Crash types and costs
- Damages: vehicle, cargo, personal, and infrastructure
- Costs
- Technology, installation, maintenance, and training
- Benefits
- Direct benefits: savings accrued through crash avoidance
- Indirect benefits: savings accrued through other means, such as improved customer goodwill and employee morale
- Net present value
What's Next?
Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety Systems
- Integrate systems to optimize the effectiveness of new driver safety systems
- Address rear-end collisions, run-off road crashes, and lane change/merge collisions, which account for about 63% of all heavy vehicle crashes
- Conduct human factors research
- Determine the best types of in-cab environments
- Minimize driver distraction and workload
Thank you for your attention!
Contact Information:
Amy Houser
Amy.Houser@fmcsa.dot.gov
(202) 385-2382
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