Recognizing the role advanced safety systems play in improving trucking safety, the FMCSA-sponsored Tech-Celerate Now program recently released four videos and two information guides that provide new safety technology information to industry stakeholders.
The videos and guides are designed to improve industry awareness and support adoption of proven advance driver assistance system (ADAS) technologies.
The two guides provide information on the safety benefits of ADAS, as well as return-on-investment expectations. The four videos describe the features and benefits of ADAS technologies related to braking, warning, steering and monitoring functions.
“Trucking industry crashes are a primary reason that motor carriers and truck drivers are experiencing double-digit increases in commercial insurance costs, even when the majority of crashes are caused by the car drivers,” said Dan Murray, program co-principal investigator and senior vice president of the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI). “ADAS technologies can mitigate crashes regardless of who is negligent. The direct impact is fewer crashes and lower operating costs.
“The materials we’re releasing today will help industry stakeholders make better-informed decisions on adopting proven safety technologies.”
The Tech-Celerate Now program was developed by FMCSA to reduce fatalities, injuries and crashes through expanded use of advanced driver assistance systems. The FMCSA program is analyzing industry awareness and perceptions of ADAS, with the goal of increasing its voluntary adoption of safety technologies among fleets and owner-operators.
Tech-Celerate Now is part of a new government-industry initiative led by FMCSA, a program that is bringing together government agencies and trucking industry organizations, including the American Trucking Associations, ATA’s Technology & Maintenance Council, ATRI and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association Foundation.
“Our mission is to reduce crashes and fatalities and we can achieve this mission in a lot of ways by using education, partnerships and innovation through collaboration,” Murray said. “We’re very pleased to share with industry our progress thus far, aimed at expanding the industry dialogue on the potential safety benefits of active safety systems.”
For more information about these guides and videos from FMCSA’s Tech-Celerate Now Program, visit Tech-CelerateNow.org.