Talk Title: “The Use of Technology To Improve Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety”
Speaker: Linda Hill, Distinguished Professor, Director of Transportation Research and Education for Driving Safety, and Associate Dean for Community Relations at the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health, UC San Diego
Free and open to the public; no registration necessary. Seating is first come, first served.
Watch Livestream on YouTube
Abstract: Commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) are a crucial part of the U.S. economy, moving 72 percent of freight by weight. Though only comprising 5 percent of vehicles on the road, CMVs represent 11 percent of vehicular miles driven. Due to the size of these vehicles, CMV-associated crashes are more likely to be fatal to the drivers of other vehicles on the road. The Transportation Research and Education for Driving Safety (TREDS) Center at UC San Diego is partnering with two companies to address CMV driving safety. One technology alerts drivers to upcoming work zones through their required electronic logging devices, which track and monitor driver and vehicle information in real time. The randomly selected intervention group receive alerts 500 meters before a work zone identified by the California Department of Transportation. The technology records changes to speed, speed at passing through work zones, and rates of deceleration. Preliminary data has shown that alerted vehicles begin their deceleration earlier. A second technology uses cameras supported by artificial intelligence (AI) to detect speeding, handheld phone use and seatbelt compliance. Highly accurate prevalence of these risk behaviors is being collected for all passing CMV vehicles across two lanes of traffic. The behaviors vary by time of day, day of week, and location. Both technologies have potential to save lives of CMV drivers, the motoring public and work zone employees.
Speaker Bio: Dr. Linda L. Hill is a Distinguished Professor in and founding faculty member of the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health at UC San Diego, where she serves as associate dean. She is also faculty in and immediate-past director of the UC San Diego-San Diego State University general preventive medicine residency, a role she assumed in 1989. San Diego Family Care, a community health center supported by Section 330 of the Federal Public Health Service Act, is the site of her clinical activities, where she serves a largely refugee and migrant patient population. Hill directs the UC San Diego Transportation Research and Education for Driving Safety (TREDS) Center, which works across transportation modalities, including passenger cars, commercial vehicles and railroads. Her research focuses on displaced populations and transportation safety, including fatigue, drug use, drunk driving, distraction and medical conditions. She is a fellow of the American College of Preventive Medicine.
About the Talk: Co-sponsored by the UC Berkeley Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS).
About the Series: Charting New Paths illuminates challenges and opportunities in applying emerging innovations to combat climate change, transform urban mobility, improve public health and shape technology policy. Free and open to the public, these seminars take place on Fridays from 3–4 p.m. PT in fall 2024.
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