Secretary of Transportation Rodney E Slater has announced four federal Intelligent Vehicle Initiative (IVI) grants totaling $12.7 million. The grants, when combined with $7.7 million from partners, will finance operational tests of advanced safety systems addressing large truck rollover, rear-end collisions, roadway departure collisions, advanced braking, and hazard warning.
"These tests of high-tech equipment once again underscore our effort to improve safety, which is President Clinton's highest transportation priority," Slater said. "This equipment is intended to enhance a driver's ability to operate large trucks safely and thus prevent crashes, save lives, and reduce injuries."
Freightliner Corp will lead a partnership to test a "Rollover Stability Advisor" to address large-truck rollovers. This operational test will be conducted in the Midwest. Other firms in this partnership include Praxair Inc (a hazardous materials fleet operator and trailer manufacturer), Roaduser International, and the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute.
Volvo Trucks North America Inc will lead a partnership to test large trucks equipped with a collision warning system and an advanced braking system. The other firms in this partnership include US Xpress Leasing Inc (a fleet operator) and North Carolina A&T University. This test will be conducted throughout the United States.
Mack Trucks Inc will test an infrastructure-assisted hazard warning system for commercial vehicles. This test will be conducted in the southeastern United States. Other organizations in this partnership are McKenzie Tank Lines Inc (a fleet operator) and the Virginia Department of Transportation.
Rollover crashes in 1997 accounted for 14% of fatal and 9% of injury crashes, according to the department's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Approximately one-half of the large-truck driver fatalities in 1997 occurred in rollover crashes. Rear-end collisions in which a large truck struck the rear of another vehicle accounted for 300, or 6%, of fatal crashes involving large trucks. One out of eight traffic fatalities in 1997 resulted from a collision involving a large truck.
The IVI is a vehicle component of the Department of Transportation's Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) program, authorized in the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), which was signed into law by Clinton in 1998. The mission of the IVI is to accelerate consumer market availability of advanced safety systems.
