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Volpe Journal 30th Anniversary - A Special Edition
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In 1900, the average American traveled 1,200 miles in an entire lifetime. Today, we each travel 12,000 miles by car alone, in just one year. Our unprecedented mobility takes us to fascinating places and provides opportunities for work, education, and recreation. But it also puts us at risk for injury and death. One of government's primary roles is to protect its citizens from harm. Keeping the traveling public safe is an ongoing concern--and a key mission of the DOT and the Volpe Center. Federal transportation safety initiatives have achieved significant results. Since the DOT was created in 1966, accident and fatality rates have decreased substantially. Yet despite improvement on many fronts, potential problems still exist. Changing circumstances can challenge the most sophisticated safety efforts. For example, increased air travel means more planes to manage safely in the air and on the ground. Innovation often poses new problems. High-speed trains promise fast, economical transportation, but their advanced technologies require new approaches to safety. When we begin any trip, we're confident that we'll arrive safely at our destination. The Volpe Center will continue to devote substantial resources to improving the safety performance of all transportation modes. When it comes to safety, there is no such thing as "good enough." |
Working Toward a World Without Accidents
Transportation safety depends on many factors: equipment, infrastructure, materials, engineering, biomechanics, technology, human performance, operations, and regulations. The Volpe Center has been involved with each of these issues, assisting the DOT to enhance safety and helping to save thousands of lives.
The most effective strategy is to prevent accidents from occurring at all. The Volpe Center has been engaged in a variety of accident prevention initiatives. Since many accidents are based on operator error, human factors research examines the interaction of people and machines to develop strategies to optimize safe operator performance. The Center also performs safety and risk assessment analyses of transportation systems. These studies identify safety hazards, accident causes and consequences, and actions that reduce the chance of accidents.
Crash avoidance is a more recent initiative that uses technology to reduce the number of accidents. Satellite-based navigation systems help operators and controllers "see" plane and ship positions under any weather conditions. Positive Train Control and Intelligent Cruise Control use computerized sensors to maintain safe distances between trains and motor vehicles on increasingly crowded tracks and roadways at the same time they maximize capacity.
Unfortunately, not every accident can be prevented, so the Center also works to understand and minimize the effects of accidents. Since the early 1970s, the Center has studied the complex body movements of crash victims. This research began with occupant-motion sensors and instrumented dummies, and today has evolved to computerized crash simulations. This biomechanical research enables the development of safer vehicles.
A Systems Approach Saves More Lives
Many issues influence transportation safety, and all are related. The Volpe Center's systems approach to problem solving examines every possible aspect to ensure that safety risks are fully addressed, and that work in one area doesn't compromise safety in another.
In addition to analyzing a problem, Volpe's systems approach factors in specific safety benefits, user acceptability, and the economic viability of potential corrective actions. Considering the full scope of issues leads to identification of the most effective solutions, because a safety initiative will work only if industry will build it and consumers will use it. This perspective also encourages changes in manufacturing philosophy. Today's planes, trains, boats, and automobiles are designed not only for looks and performance, but for safety as well.
The Volpe Center has established itself as a vital resource for transportation safety expertise. Volpe research has guided the development of regulations, design standards, inspection procedures, maintenance strategies, and safety preparedness plans. The Department of Defense (DoD), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and aviation organizations in over 30 countries depend on the Center's guidebook on human factors in air traffic control systems.
Keeping Tomorrow's Travelers Safer
Safety will continue to be a top priority as Americans keep moving through the 21st century. The Volpe Center's combined efforts in research and analysis, strategic planning and design, and new technology ensure that the goal of optimal safety performance is foremost for all transportation modes.
A hundred years ago, average Americans did not venture more than 20 miles from their homes during their entire lives. Today you can drive to a Park-n-Ride lot and catch the bus to a water taxi, which connects with a guided rail system that takes you to the airport so you can fly off to a faraway country...all in a few hours! And new modes of transportation are just over the horizon. The Volpe Center will continue its long-standing commitment to making every leg of the journey a safe one.
One area of focus for the Center will be new "smart" technologies such as crash avoidance technology in automobiles. The Volpe Center will continue to support development, testing, and deployment of innovative technologies that can truly deliver on the promise of improved safety.
The pages that follow contain examples of the way that the Volpe Center has responded to many safety problems or events over the years.
Transportation Hazards Spur Volpe Team To Find Solutions
More Accurate Breath Alcohol Measurement
In 1973, one-half of all traffic deaths involved a drunk driver. By 1998, there were 15,935 alcohol-related traffic fatalities (38.4 percent of the total traffic fatalities for the year), the lowest reported rate since the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) began reporting these statistics in the 1970s. Reducing drunk-driving fatalities continues to be a priority for NHTSA.
 Breath alcohol tester in use: before any new breathalyzer is used by the police, it is tested at the Volpe Center. |
In the early 1970s, the Volpe Center was asked to participate in a high-profile alcohol countermeasures program. Early research included evaluating police breath analyzers and related equipment for effectiveness and accuracy, as well as initiating the development of automatic breath alcohol testers and collaborating with over 200 forensic blood laboratories. The devices must not only be technically accurate but also easy to use. Before any testing device is used by police in the United States, it is tested at the Volpe Center for accuracy and usability. Because of Volpe's national expertise in alcohol countermeasures, NHTSA and numerous judicial courts have called on the Center to give expert testimony.
"Have a safe trip" is a part of our everyday conversation. Everyone thinks about transportation safety. Whether we're driving the kids to school, commuting to work, setting off on a fishing trip, or flying home for the holidays, we want to feel that we'll reach our destination safely.
Firestone Recall Triggers Reporting System Improvements
In August of 2000, Bridgestone-Firestone recalled 6.5 million tires as unsafe. NHTSA announced shortly afterward that it had linked 174 deaths in the United States and an estimated 100 in Venezuela to the recalled tires, prompting a congressional investigation and an announcement by then-Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater that the budget of the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) would be sharply increased. One critical question at issue for Congress was why NHTSA had not been able to identify a defect trend in the tires with its existing information systems.
ODI called upon the Volpe Center, with its extensive experience in database development and integration, to help pinpoint the problem areas and seek solutions. The Volpe team is in the process of finding ways to integrate NHTSA's many databases, to streamline and maximize the information available to the agency, and to identify defect trends before fatalities occur. Part of NHTSA's safety system is the Auto Safety Hotline, which allows citizens to report defects or accidents involving defects. Volpe will integrate information from the hotline with other databases into a new information system that will also accommodate a significant amount of new data from manufacturers, and will develop a strategy for making information available to the public as appropriate.
Database Experience Leveraged For New Projects
 The crash in Gander, Newfoundland, of a chartered plane carrying American soldiers sparked a series of safety database projects. |
On December 12, 1985, a chartered plane carrying more than 240 American soldiers crashed in Gander, Newfoundland, killing all aboard. A review of the crash concluded that the plane was overloaded, and that the chartered carrier had no safety protocol to ensure that the combined baggage, carry-on, and passenger weight was calculated prior to takeoff. The reviewers recommended that a system be developed to assess the performance of carriers considered for DoD contracting, in the form of a centralized safety database.
Because of the Volpe Center's proven expertise in developing safety databases, DoD turned to the Volpe Center for assistance. Volpe created a system for scoring contract carriers according to their records in five performance areas. DoD then had a tool to evaluate the safety record of carriers they would use. Volpe was asked to widen its scope and create the Safety Performance Analysis System, a system for scoring all air carriers, and then to develop SafeStat, which assesses motor carriers. In all of these projects, Volpe leveraged information and skills from one project to the next and demonstrated a holistic approach to solving transportation problems.
 The SafeStat system assesses motor carriers for safety and makes the results available online. |
The public's dependence on the safety of our nation's transportation system is a fundamental responsibility shared and supported by the Volpe Center. For the last 30 years, the Center has demonstrated its commitment to improving transportation safety.
Risk Management in Transporting Hazardous Materials
The crash of ValuJet Flight 592 near Miami in 1996, apparently caused by uncapped oxygen generators in the cargo hold, dramatically focused national attention on the risks of transporting hazardous materials (hazmat) as passenger aircraft cargo. The DOT's Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA) regulates the transport of such materials within the United States. New regulations were immediately implemented after the ValuJet accident, but research continues into the effectiveness of those and other rules concerning hazmat transport.
 National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators determined that volatile oxygen-generating canisters stowed in the jet's cargo hold were the cause of the ValuJet airplane crash in the Everglades in 1996. |
To help evaluate the effectiveness of RSPA regulations, the Volpe Center conducted a comprehensive quantitative analysis to determine the amount of risk inherent in transporting hazardous materials in passenger aircraft cargo compartments. The results will help RSPA determine the effectiveness of current safety activities, target specific risks for priority action, and develop effective countermeasures. The Volpe Center is developing an overall theoretical and conceptual framework and definition for risk management as it relates to hazardous materials transportation.
Alloy Rail Safety Investigated
On November 12, 1983, an Amtrak passenger train operating on Missouri Pacific track near Marshall, Texas, derailed as it traveled at about 70 mph over a temporary track repair, killing four passengers. The alloy rail over which the train was passing fractured and fragmented into small pieces. The length of the fracture and resulting fragmentation were puzzling, since similar fractures observed in plain carbon steel rail generally had lengths one third those detected in the alloy rail.
To find the cause of the unusual failure of the alloy rail, which was coming into wide use at the time, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) asked the Volpe Center to apply its years of experience and technical expertise in analyzing accidents to conduct an evaluation. Volpe's task force identified the technical factors leading to the alloy rail failure, assessed the safety risks associated with similar installations, and identified measures that could reduce the risks related to alloy rail.
Looking toward the next 30 years, the Center stands ready to address new and potential problems by continuing to ask the right questions, apply lessons learned, and deliver innovative solutions.
V-Tail In-Flight Failures Finally Assessed
In 1959, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the "Big Bopper" (J.P. Richardson) died when their Model 35 Beech Bonanza (V-tail) airplane crashed. For many years the V-tail was the most popular single-engine aircraft in the world, known for its performance and luxury. However, the V-tail had a very high rate of in-flight failures. Although Beech, the manufacturer, did not acknowledge a problem, the deaths from in-flight failures continued to rise after the 1959 accident. By 1984, the FAA, responding to growing public concern, initiated an investigation to determine conclusively whether there were design deficiencies in the Bonanza V-tail.
 The Beechcraft Bonaza (V-tail) airplane was plagued by a high rate of in-flight failures. |
A panel of experts from the Volpe Center discovered several problems with the plane. The design satisfied the structural requirements for certification, but those requirements did not take into account the unique characteristics of the V-tail. The V-tail's handling and stability characteristics may have encouraged pilots to exceed the allowable flight envelope (speeds allowable at a given altitude). The in-flight breakup rates of most single-engine airplanes with retractable landing gear were significantly higher than other categories of general aviation aircraft.
Volpe Studies Aging Aircraft Risks
Aloha Airlines Flight 243 departed Hilo en route to Honolulu at 1:25 p.m. on April 28, 1988. As the Boeing 737 leveled off at the top of its climb, the fuselage ruptured and senior flight attendant Clarabelle Lansing was blown from the aircraft to her death. The cockpit door was blown away, and there was only blue sky where the roof had been. Jagged bits of metal broke loose and speared back among the passengers. Most of the passengers were injured, seven seriously.
The accident was ascribed to undetected fatigue damage in the 19-year-old aircraft. The FAA launched a National Aging Aircraft Research Program (NAARP) to investigate and prevent future accidents due to aircraft aging. The NAARP called upon the Volpe Center to study the role of the factors implicated in aging, such as fracture mechanics, fatigue crack propagation, and airframe damage tolerance. The Center's work on Widespread Fatigue Damage (WFD) has set the standard for research into structural integrity of aging aircraft. As America's aircraft grow older and the traveling population becomes larger, Volpe continues to provide research that will prevent future disasters.
 Aloha Airlines Flight 243, near Maui, Hawaii, following the April 1988 accident that was caused by undetected fatigue damage in the 19-year-old aircraft. |
"...Promote the public health and safety by working toward the elimination of transportation-related deaths, injuries, and property damage." |
- From the Department of Transportation's Strategic Plan. |
Crashing Trains: Testing for Structural Integrity in the Colorado Desert
 Full-scale crash tests of train equipment provide data for design improvements. |
In 1970, the Volpe Center collaborated with the State of Colorado to build the Transportation Technology Center (TTC) in Pueblo. This Center was designed to test all types of rail equipment and vehicles in a variety of weather and terrain conditions. By crashing trains under test conditions, researchers are able to analyze the structural integrity of cab cars and examine the effects of crashes on passengers and crew members. This was part of the FRA's response to fatal rail collisions. Researchers were able to evaluate potential collision conditions, study locomotive structural design, and consider how colliding locomotives interact. Recently, the Volpe Center has coordinated a series of full-scale commuter train crash tests at the TTC and has analyzed the results of these tests. Further large-scale impact tests are planned at the Pueblo site in the near future. The Volpe Center has continued to support the FRA in this effort by developing innovative computer simulations to measure effects on passengers and equipment. This work is part of a larger effort in support of the FRA's crashworthiness research that focuses on developing and implementing procedures for improved crashworthiness of cab and coach door structural designs, as well as developing and validating computer modeling tools.