Matt Camden, Research Associate at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, joins Fleetio to share real data on the effectiveness of crash prevention technologies and the cost benefit for fleets. This webinar explores: - Onboard safety technologies including forward collision warning, lane departure warning and roll stability control - Cost benefits of onboard safety technologies - Recommendations for fleet implementation and measurement

1. 6
Effectiveness and Cost Benefits of Crash
Prevention Technologies
WEBINAR
Matt Camden
Research Associate
Virginia Tech Transportation Institute

2. “Safety work is today recognized as an
economic necessity. It is the study of the
rights way to do things.”
Robert W. Campbell, first president of the National Safety Council

3. Webinar
Overview ✓ What are forward collision warning/
automatic emergency braking, lane
departure warning, and roll stability control?
✓ Is there a safety benefit to these systems?
✓ Can I expect an ROI by installing these
technologies?
In this webinar we will explore:

4. Commercial Vehicle Crashes
! Rising crash rates
○ 3,838 fatal crashes
○ 97,000 injury crashes
○ 379,000 PDO crashes
○ $118 billion
• 90% of all crashes are caused by behavioral errors or wrong decisions
• Possible Solution: advanced vehicle safety systems

5. Onboard Safety Systems
! Advanced systems that use sensors or alerts to warn a driver of a possible
collision
! Examples:
o Forward collision warning (FCW)
o Automatic emergency braking (AEB)
o Lane departure warning (LDW)
o Electronic stability control (ESC)
o Roll stability control (RSC)
o Blind spot warning (BSW)
o Onboard safety monitoring systems
o Smartphone-based driver monitoring systems

6. Onboard Safety System Effectiveness Evaluation
! Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration funded
study
! Assess the effectiveness and cost-benefits of
three onboard safety systems (OBSS)
o FCW and AEB
o LDW
o RSC and ESC
• Use real-world, carrier collected data

7. Forward Collision Warning
! Targets large truck striking, rear-end crashes
! Forward looking sensor analyzes speed and
lane position to detect threats
! Alerts driver to possible collision

8. Automatic Emergency Braking
! Targets large truck striking, rear-end crashes
! Combines forward-looking sensors, driver alerts, and automatic
vehicle braking
o Always active
o Higher potential for saving lives

9. Lane Departure Warning
! Targets sideswipes and run-off-road crashes
! Vision-based system that monitors position within a lane
o Usually based on lane markings
o Alerts driver if unintentionally deviating outside the lane (no turn
signal)

10. Electronic and Roll Stability Control
! Targeted rollovers (ESC and RSC) and jackknifes (ESC)
! Estimates stability of truck based on mass and velocity
! Lowers speed with throttle and brakes to individual wheels

11. How did we assess effectiveness?
! Collected carrier-owned crash and vehicle data
o 14 carriers
o Over 151,000 trucks-years of data
o 88,000 crashes
• Compared crash rates of trucks with the OBSS to trucks without the
OBSS

12. • RSC had a 37.5% lower RSC-
related crash rate
• FCW had a 13.1% lower FCW-
related crash rate
• LDW had a 48.4% lower LDW-
related crash rate
CrashRate
0
0.05
0.1
0.15
0.2
RSC FCW LDW
0.192
0.092
0.064
0.1
0.08
0.04
OBSS Cohort Non-OBSS Cohort
Did OBSS-equipped trucks have fewer crashes?

13. Were there still benefits when accounting for external variables?
1. Your trucks without RSC may be in 1.5x more rollovers than your trucks
with RSC
2. Your trucks without LDW may be in 1.9x more sideswipes and run-off-
road crashes than your trucks without LDW
3. No statistical differences in trucks with and without FCW
• Lack of trucks with FCW
• 20% fewer crashes with AEB

14. What about ROI?
! Considerations in the ROI calculations
! OBSS purchase costs
! OBSS maintenance costs
! Driver training costs
! Crash costs
! Federal tax savings
! Mileage
! Discount rate of today’s dollars
! Service life of technology/vehicle
! Technology financing

15. RSC ROI
! Purchase price: $500 ($300-$700)
! Cost of rollover crashes
Cost Category PDO Crash Injury Crash Fatal Crash
Labor and Workers’
Compensation
N/A $71,241 $49,868
Operational $29,246 $29,246 $29,246
Environmental $84,290 $84,290 $84,290
Property Damage $57,044 $57,044 $57,044
Legal Settlement N/A $194,923 $834,977
Court Costs and Other Legal
Fees
$30,651 $35,759 $112,386
Total $201,230 $472,502 $1,167,811

16. RSC ROI
! BCR: 4.17 to 12.50
! Payback period: 5 to 12
months

17. LDW ROI
! Purchase price: $1,000 ($800-$1,200)
! Cost of LDW-related crashes
Crash Type PDO Injury Fatal
Single vehicle road
departure
$141,113 $360,526 $1,280,049
Single vehicle road
departure rollover
$201,230 $465,826 $1,069,390
Same direction lane
departure sideswipe
$102,322 $138,026 $904,350
Opposite direction lane
departure sideswipe
$102,322 $141,092 $915,589

18. LDW ROI
! BCR: 4.95 to 14.69
! Payback period: 4 to 12
months

19. What do drivers and managers think?
! Drivers and managers liked systems
o Beneficial and increased safety
o Keep drivers alert and taught safe driving
habits
o Reflected good safety culture
! Request hands-on training

20. Driver Quotes
“FCW has gotten me out of stuff. Like I was driving one night and it was foggy…Couldn’t see 2 inches
in front of my face and all of the sudden it lit up and beeped twice and I got out of it. And as I got
there …traffic was just dead stopped.”
“In the way of an actual collision, with these AEB the impact is much less. They’re hitting them at
35/40 mi/h instead of 65/70 mi/h. It’s allowing the drivers to keep control of their tractor trailer.”
“Yeah, because when we first got this on the truck, I was getting it to activate quite a bit. And maybe
it’s made me a more cautious driver, you know? “

21. What do these results mean for you?
• Upfront cost, but savings in the long run
• Saving money after year 1
• Keep your drivers and general driving public safe
• Save lives and increase safety culture
• Driver appreciation
• Recognize benefits
• Hands on training
• Not a silver bullet – driver buy-in, safety culture

22. fleetio.com/drive | mcamden@vtti.vt.edu
Questions?