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Device will tell parents if their teenage drivers are speeding
Vice Admiral Thomas Barrett stood on the plaza in front of the University of Minnesota's McNamara Alumni Center on Monday morning. He stood next to a motorcycle holding a black helmet fitted with wires and a camera. "If I'm getting on a bike, I'm having a helmet on." The Deputy U.S. Transportation Secretary slipped the helmet on and climbed aboard the modified bike, dress shoes, suit and all. He was trying out the U's device for researching motorcycle accidents and deaths. "The numbers are not tending in the right direction. They're going in the wrong direction, so we need to find better ways to get on top of this." Barrett was in Minnesota to kick start a new national clearinghouse for safety on rural roads. "Rural roads carry less than half of America's traffic, but they are home to far more than half of the nation's vehicular deaths. The death rates on rural roads are almost twice what they are on urban or interstate highways." Barrett noted behavioral differences in rural versus city accidents. "They're more likely to take place at higher speeds. The incidence of people driving under the influence is higher. The rate of seat belt usage is lower. The lowest seat belt usage we have in this country are by drivers of pickup trucks." The U's Center for Excellence for Rural Safety has been tapped by the DOT to use part of an $850,000 federal grant to create a new website using the "information superhighway" to share highway safety research. The U is to become a National Clearinghouse for information about the best ways to make rural roads safer. The website, www.ruralhighwaysafety.org, is to effect cyber-sharing of safety projects and research from across the country. Center Director Lee Munnich explained. "The Center's research focuses on policy, behavior and technology as critical elements in reducing crash fatalities in the U.S." Barrett hopped on the specially equipped motorcycle that the U researchers used in 2006 to determine that alcohol impairment occurs faster in 2-wheeled vehicle operators than in auto and truck drivers. Researcher Janet Creaser told the Deputy Secretary "Motorcycle riders are impaired at lower levels than drivers and it's around 0.05 where you start to see those changes." Barrett noted that "The leading cause of death for young men and young women between the ages of 15-20 is motor vehicle accidents and many of those accidents, unfortunately, take place in rural roads and you here in Minnesota know the impact of this. Most of these accidents that we see in roads are preventable, either through changing driver behavior, through looking at things to make the roads a little safer. We're talking about cable barriers, for example, to keep vehicles from crossing over (medians on divided 4-lanes)." Barrett slipped into the driver's seat of van modified by U researchers and heard a hand-held device, simulating a driving situation, talking to him. "Right curve, 20 miles per hour. Left curve, 20 miles per hour." The research uses a GPS (Satellite Positioning) monitor and a "smart" phone on the dashboard to alert teenaged drivers and their parents if the teen drivers are speeding. Engineering Graduate Student Rich Hoglund sat in the passenger's seat to explain how the audio warnings work in tandem with texting. The device's electronic voice warned "Exceeding speed limit. Exceeding speed limit. Reduce speed." Hoglund told Barrett "It's gonna keep yelling at you and warn you, warn you it's gonna send a text message (to the parents' phone), which it just did there." Barrett's reaction was positive. "Well, kids will hate it. Parents will love it. As a parent, I vote for it." The teen driver safety system is not "on the market" as yet. Cost for such a system is expected to be minimal since it uses existing technology. Center Director Munnich says the next step is to insure that tech-savvy youngsters cannot "hack" into the system and disable it. Barrett said he was impressed with the U's commitment to the program. "It's not every day that researchers and administrators get to save a life simply by talking about their work. Hundreds of drivers will one day soon owe their lives to the faculty and staff of this great institution." Click here for more information.
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