Oregon’s Umatilla County has partnered with Drivewyze to provide commercial truck drivers with in-cab safety alerts to reduce commercial vehicle crash rates in active work zones.
The Umatilla County pilot program to improve highway safety includes a collaboration between Drivewyze, a connected truck platform, and one.network, a digital work zone and road management platform provider. The alerts, which give drivers a heads-up to upcoming work zones, have been shown to improve driver behavior by reducing the instances of over-speeding and hard braking.
“We’re excited to partner with Umatilla County to tackle the challenges of active work zones and improve highway safety,” Brian Heath, Drivewyze CEO, said
The in-cab safety alerts are available to all truck drivers and trucking fleets at no cost through the Drivewyze Free service. The service can be activated through more than 100 telematics service providers partnered with Drivewyze or can be downloaded directly from app stores.
“For the first time in the United States, road crews in Umatilla work zones will be able to use our Live Link app to reach truckers with comprehensive, timely, and vetted work zone information,” said Simon Topp, one.network’s chief commercial officer. “That’s important. Recent government data indicate one out of three work zone fatal crashes involves at least one large truck. Our information is shared through Drivewyze Free, assuring that freight operators have the most accurate information delivered into truck cabs at the right time and in the format they use most.”
Heath emphasized the importance of the data. “Between 2020 and 2021, work zone fatalities increased by 10.8%,” Topp said. “There were increases in the percentages of fatal work zone crashes involving rear-end collisions, as well as those involving a commercial motor vehicle. Work zone alerts can help to reduce these tragic accidents and the associated costs borne by our society.”
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Umatilla County, which covers more than 3,200 square miles in eastern Oregon, borders Washington state and connects to Boise on the border of Idaho via Interstate 84. It’s a main transportation corridor with midsized Oregon towns, like Baker City and Pendleton along the route.
“Rural road safety starts with data, good and usable data,” said Dan Dorran, commissioner of Umatilla County. “Umatilla County realized that there wasn't a rural county program that we could build off of that could supply us with information that could both address safety and transport issues. We were lucky to have a local state representative, Rep. Greg Smith, who also recognized our issue and successfully went to bat for pilot project funds from the State of Oregon that we matched at the county level. Through Drivewyze, we are bringing rural roads into the 21st century digital age.”
Drivewyze is partnering with leading transportation agencies across the U.S. to deliver essential safety alerts and advisories through Drivewyze Free to truck drivers and fleets at no cost. More than one-quarter of all states have or are in the process of implementing this in-vehicle extension to traditional highway safety programs, and the solution is growing quickly. In addition to active work zones, message sets can include warnings for sudden and unexpected slowdowns, service vehicles, virtual safety signs, and public emergency broadcasts.
