Trends and Challenges Posed by Medium-Duty Trucks to the Operation and Safety of Oregon Highways

The primary goal of this initiative is to provide the agency with a comprehensive understanding of medium-duty truck operation, identification of potential areas of risk, forecast of future operational growth and monetization of the costs associated with these changes. To meet this goal, the research methodology must meet the following objectives: (1) Estimate of the number of medium-duty trucks operating in Oregon, including general categorization by industry and/or commodities/services utilizing the trucks, general trip characteristics and logistic patterns, and regional patterns by population density; (2) Evaluate safety data to compare and contrast crash rates, incidents and other relevant safety data involving medium trucks compared to heavy trucks requiring commercial driver's license (CDL) drivers in order to determine whether there is a statistical difference between the two populations; (3) Develop a monitoring methodology for Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) to implement in order to track medium-duty truck safety and performance into the future. This study will identify whether the growing use of medium trucks poses risk to the safety of Oregon highway users. If the evidence indicates an emerging area of risk, ODOT will have time to develop new policies and rules designed to mitigate the risk, avoiding costs to society associated with property damage, personal injuries, fatalities and reduced reliability on the transportation system. Long term benefits could include higher safety compliance, and more effective enforcement.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $247000
• Contract Numbers:

  SPR846

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Oregon Department of Transportation

  555 13th Street NE
  Salem, OR  United States  97301
• Project Managers:

  Knudson, Anthony

• Performing Organizations:

  Portland State University

  Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
  Engineering Bldg, 301D, 1930 SW 4th Ave.
  Portland, OR  United States  97201

  Oregon State University, Corvallis

  101 Kearney Hall
  Corvallis, OR  United States  97331
• Principal Investigators:

  Hernandez, Salvador

• Start Date: 20201201
• Expected Completion Date: 20230131
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: Transportation, Planning, Research, and Development

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Commercial drivers; Costs; Crash rates; Highway operations; Highway safety; Medium trucks; Monitoring; Truck drivers; Trucking safety
• Identifier Terms: Oregon Department of Transportation
• Geographic Terms: Oregon
• Subject Areas: Freight Transportation; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01769198
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Oregon Department of Transportation
• Contract Numbers: SPR846
• Files: RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Apr 8 2021 4:43PM