Conference focuses on commercial vehicle safety in the Midwest

Tuesday, April 12, 2022 | Written by Megan Gould

 

OLATHE — The 2022 Midwest Commercial Vehicle Safety Summit hosted by Kansas State University Department of Civil Engineering is June 1-2. It aims to reduce the number and severity of commercial vehicle crashes in the Midwest through an exchange of ideas.

The 2022 Midwest Commercial Vehicle Safety Summit, or MCVSS, will bring together multiple federal agencies, private industry, law enforcement, transportation safety engineers, university researchers, insurance companies and nonprofits who want to decrease commercial motor vehicle crashes on roadways by increasing safety through knowledge and networking. The theme of the MCVSS this year is "Connecting the Dots of Technology, Human Behavior, Enforcement and Research to Increase CMV safety in the Midwest."

The K-State team is led by Eric Fitzsimmons, associate professor who holds the Hal and Mary Siegele professorship in engineering, along with civil engineering colleagues Christopher Jones, associate professor and Wallis-Lage Family Cornerstone teaching scholar, and Scott Schiff, teaching professor and Wallis-Lage Family — Carl and Mary Ice Cornerstone teaching scholar.

"The need to develop and expand commercial vehicle safety planning is ever present with an increased demand of shipping goods across the nation,” Fitzsimmons said. "With the opportunity to come together in-person this year at our inaugural event, we are looking forward to the summit to affect meaningful change in the transportation industry in the Midwest.

Discussions at the conference will focus on the following:

• Understanding how the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will have the opportunity to affect the safety of our commercial vehicles;
• Exploring new truck technology to increase safety and roadway departure crashes;
• Providing a forum for university researchers to present commercial vehicle truck research;
• Understanding commercial vehicle crashes through presentations made by the Volpe Center, OOIDA and the NTSB;
• Understanding the supply constraints and how private shipping industry continues to manage the increase in shipping demand; and
• Enhanced quality and quantity of commercial vehicle safety data.

For more information on the 2022 Midwest Commercial Vehicle Safety Summit, visit olathe.k-state.edu/mcvss.