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Volpe Center Highlights

Safety

Letter from the Director | Focus | Safety | Environmental Stewardship | Published and Presented

Helping States Improve Motor Carrier Safety Data Reporting (FMCSA)

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is dedicated to reducing the number and severity of crashes involving large trucks and buses on U.S. highways. FMCSA's data-driven safety programs comprise a key element of its strategic approach to improving motor carrier safety. Accordingly, the agency has several initiatives for continually evaluating, monitoring, and improving the quality of safety data that supports these programs. One such initiative is the State Data Quality Review Program, established in 2005 by the FMCSA and supported by the Volpe Center.

FMCSA relies on states to provide it with standard, basic information about commercial motor vehicle crashes and roadside inspections. The objective of the State Data Quality Review Program is to document an individual state's processes for collecting and reporting crash and inspection data and to identify areas for improvement. FMCSA prioritizes states for review based on an assessment of their data quality and the contribution of their state-reported data to the entire nation's data quality. States seeking to improve the quality of their safety data participate in an onsite review conducted by a federal team. During the onsite review, state and federal staff work together to define the state's processes, identify bottlenecks and practices that compromise data quality, and suggest potential recommendations for improvement. After the onsite review, communication between the state and federal teams continues as a report and recommendations for improvement are developed. State officials can apply to FMCSA for technical assistance in implementing any recommendations. To date, the Volpe Center has conducted onsite reviews with transportation officials in three states: New Hampshire, North Carolina, and New Jersey.

Most recently, from March 21 through 23, 2006, Volpe Center staff met with managers and support staff of the FMCSA's New Jersey Division office, the New Jersey State Highway Patrol (SHP), and the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT), interviewing the SHP and NJDOT personnel involved with collecting and reporting safety data to FMCSA. The Volpe Center team then developed its report describing New Jersey's safety data reporting processes and identifying recommendations for process improvements. One person from the Volpe Center will continue working with the state to assist in implementing any recommendations chosen. Led by Ms. Elizabeth Deysher of the Motor Carrier Safety Division, the Volpe Center team includes Ms. Candace Brown, Mr. Jeremy Crowell, Ms. Dana Larkin, and Ms. Courtney Stevenson, all of the Division, and Mr. Kevin Berry, Mr. Shaun Dagle, Ms. Alla Ilchenko, and Mr. Walt Zak of the TRACX contract led by CASE, LLC (a Volpe Center onsite contractor).

Supporting Global Aviation Efforts for Better Air Traffic Surveillance (FAA)

ADS-B is a new technology for airborne and surface surveillance developed for use by air traffic controllers in separating aircraft as well as by pilots in maintaining awareness of the traffic situation around them. The Volpe Center supports FAA's efforts through technical development as well as coordination with aviation partners around the world.

The Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Flight Plan includes international leadership as a key goal and promotes aviation safety, security, environmental compliance, and connectivity not only within U.S. borders, but also across the globe. In this capacity, the United States leads the world in developing and implementing new technologies to create a safer and more efficient global airspace system and cooperates with bilateral, multilateral, regional, and global aviation partners to achieve these goals.

Internationally, FAA works with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which represents most of the world's civil aviation authorities, as well as with Eurocontrol and other regional and national authorities, toward setting aviation standards and policies. The Volpe Center contributes to this effort not only by developing and testing technologies that have global aviation applications, but also by supporting FAA's efforts to disseminate information and coordinate plans regarding these technologies among international aviation partners.

FAA has begun a program to implement a new surveillance technology known as Automatic Dependent Surveillance—Broadcast (ADS-B) for use by air traffic controllers in separating aircraft as well as by pilots in maintaining awareness of the traffic situation around them. FAA is augmenting ADS-B aircraft messages with a new ground broadcast service containing information about non-ADS-B aircraft as well as weather, flight restricted areas, and other data. Initial implementation of ADS-B and ground broadcast services will be in locations that currently lack radar coverage. Subsequent nationwide deployment will allow removal of some radar installations, enable new flight procedures not available today, and promote safety by providing pilots with greater knowledge of their operating environment.

Implementation of ADS-B/broadcast services requires that standards for messages from aircraft and ground equipment be established for use worldwide. To this end, Volpe Center staff support FAA by attending international meetings to explain the technology; to coordinate the development of common standards; and to address technical and operational issues, implementation dates, regulatory actions, and the economic impact of a transition from radar to ADS-B surveillance. In recent months, Mr. Rick Castaldo of the Center's Advanced Communication, Navigation, and Surveillance (CNS) Technologies Division has traveled to Brussels, Belgium, to meet with Eurocontrol officials; New Delhi, India, to meet with representatives of the Indian Aviation Authority; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to explain the system to representatives from several African national Civil Aviation authorities; and Glasgow, United Kingdom, to help accelerate the application of ADS-B in European airspace to increase airspace capacity and safety. In April, Mr. Castaldo participated in a Eurocontrol workshop titled "Co-operative Air Traffic Services through Surveillance and Communication Applications Deployed in European Civil Aviation Conference" in Toulouse, France, to foster understanding of the U.S. ADS-B program.

Train-to-Train Test of New Crash Energy Management System (FRA)

The Volpe Center is conducting research for the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) into new technologies that could vastly improve the crashworthiness of passenger rail cars. The eighth and most complex in a series of full-scale tests was conducted successfully on March 23, 2006, at DOT's rail-testing facility in Pueblo, Colorado. The test was designed to determine the viability of innovative, energy-absorbing designs of commuter rail cars, as well as passenger seats and tables, in better protecting rail passengers and crew members.

The Volpe Center's ongoing research on rail equipment crashworthiness for FRA integrates computer modeling and full-scale test crashes. Top half of image: 2002 crash test results using conventional equipment. Bottom half of image: Simulation of March 23, 2006 test using crash energy management (CEM) system.

A five-car, cab-forward passenger train equipped with a crash-energy management (CEM) system was crashed head-on into an equally weighted standing locomotive with two freight cars, at a speed of 32 miles per hour. The CEM design uses zones of controlled crush; collision energy is absorbed by a series of components and distributed to unoccupied areas throughout the length of a train, rather than crushing large volumes of the first car, as is characteristic of current equipment. The CEM-equipped train survived the test relatively unscathed and both trains remained upright and on the tracks, in contrast to earlier tests on typical rail equipment. The seats and tables appeared to have performed equally well.

Included among the many new elements of the improved worktable design are a melamine top and crushable, energy-absorbing aluminum honeycomb interior. During the March 23 test the table was deformed by the impact of the dummy; this design could mitigate abdominal injury to passengers.

This crash test was the first to incorporate a CEM system and other passenger safety technologies, including the following.

• Crush zones protect the passenger and operator space and distribute the force of impact to unoccupied areas of the train.
• Pushback couplers and anti-climbers absorb the force of impact, hold the train cars together, and keep trains upright and in line.
• Strengthened end frames, advanced bumpers, and other structural improvements help absorb energy and lessen the impact on passengers.
• Improved seats are strategically padded and designed to contain and cushion passengers during a crash.
• Newly designed worktables with crushable edges reduce the risk of abdominal injury.

The Volpe Center is closely analyzing the test data, gathered with hundreds of sensors, dozens of cameras, and ten instrumented dummies. However, preliminary results hold promise for the next generation of rail cars and their occupants. Current equipment can protect occupants in crashes of up to 15 mph; equipment with all the features tested on March 23 can protect occupants up to a speed of 36 mph. The Rail Equipment Crashworthiness Research Team is comprised of Mr. Michael Carolan, Ms. Karina Jacobsen, Mr. Eloy Martinez, Mr. Daniel Parent, Dr. Benjamin Perlman, Ms. Michelle Priante, Ms. Kristine Severson, and team leader Mr. David Tyrell, all of the Center's Structures and Dynamics Division.

The March 23 test was a milestone in the testing program developed by the Volpe Center in support of the FRA Office of Research and Development's Equipment and Operating Practices Research Division. Since 1989, the Center has been performing in-depth studies to determine effective strategies for improved structural crashworthiness and occupant protection. The first series of full-scale tests defined the crashworthiness of conventional-design equipment in three impact conditions. Corresponding tests of modified passenger rail cars allowed comparison of the performance of both types of equipment. The Center's ongoing research, which integrates computer modeling and full-scale test crashes, supports the development of federal regulations and standards for new rail car designs.

The Volpe Center's role includes defining appropriate scenarios to study collisions, developing computer models to simulate the structural and dynamic results of the collisions, designing and supervising the full-scale tests, processing the test data, and comparing the test measurements with the analysis results. The computer models are then used to evaluate a wider range of collision conditions than can be tested.