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FMCSA showcases new, emerging roadside inspection technologies

GREEN COUNTY, Tenn.  —  FMCSA Administrator Anne S. Ferro Thursday headlined a group of dignitaries participating in a Commercial Motor Vehicle Technology Showcase that featured new-to-market and emerging roadside inspection technologies designed to improve the safety performance of commercial trucks and buses and make the inspections more efficient. 

Held at FMCSA’s Roadside Technology Corridor on Interstate 81 in Greene County, the showcase provided a first-hand look at how state-of-the-art technology better equips state law enforcement as they conduct commercial motor vehicle (CMV) safety inspections. FMCSA, in partnership with the Tennessee Department of Safety, Tennessee Department of Transportation, the University of Tennessee and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, organized the showcase.

If these technologies were fully deployed in all states and the trucking industry was fully participating through additional sensors on trucks, more than 250 lives per year could be saved and over 6,000 injuries a year could be avoided, it has that much potential, noted Jeff Loftus, chief of FMCSA's technology division.

“This is exciting stuff, indeed,“ said Ferro, who told The Trucker not only was she impressed by the safety potential and the way the technologies can “fundamentally improve the process“ of roadside inspections, but that it's also a testament to the cooperation between federal and state governments and public and private sectors.

It should be good news to carriers and drivers that use of the Wireless Roadside Inspection Program technology would input data on carriers' and drivers' good inspections, giving them “positive credit,” according to Ferro and Loftus. There has been concern with CSA 2010 that roadside inspection results could be skewed so this presents the opportunity to offset the bad inspections and violations would be diluted by good inspections, said Ferro.

This won't negate the use of traditional inspections but “improves efficiency,“ she said, adding that the WRI technology, increases “twenty-fold the number [of inspections] we can do today.“

In a real world setting, the showcase demonstrated various new safety technologies including:

Wireless Roadside Inspection (WRI).  Using a fixed site or mobile vehicle, the WRI is designed to conduct up to 25 times more vehicle inspections a year than the current, in-person inspection process. In real time, an inspector can obtain driver and carrier identity, vehicle condition and hours-of-service violations while the vehicle is traveling at highway speed. Smart Infrared Inspection System (SIRIS). SIRIS detects brake, wheel and tire problems by comparing infrared thermal images of wheels as the vehicle enters a weigh station. Once this technology is complete, it will use software to read thermal images and alert law enforcement if an inspection is needed. Performance-Based Brake Tester (PBBT). PBBT technology provides a safe, accurate and objective assessment of a vehicle’s brake force and overall performance. Medium Truck Duty Cycle.  This safety sensor technology outfits the vehicle with brake stroke, weight and tire pressure monitoring systems that collect data designed to help researchers develop tools that determine a vehicle’s safety fitness, and Technology In Motion Vehicle (TMV). The TMV demonstration vehicle, equipped with electronic on-board recorders, raises stakeholder awareness and increases adoption of the featured technologies.
“FMCSA is committed to strengthening commercial vehicle safety through the use of new technology,” Ferro said. “By providing a platform to test, evaluate and refine new enforcement technologies, we are able to clearly understand their benefits and encourage deployment on the state level.”

“Safety is our top priority,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said. “This technology showcase will help us as we seek innovative and more efficient ways to make our roads safer for everyone.”

To learn more about the Commercial Motor Vehicle Technology Showcase, visit www.fmcsa.dot.gov .

Dorothy Cox of The Trucker staff can be reached to comment on this article at [email protected] .

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