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Digital Alerting is the Next Frontier for Vehicle Safety: A Conversation with Darcy Bullock

December 10, 2024

At HAAS Alert, we’re all about creating lifesaving mobility solutions to ensure that everyone gets home safely.

We’re proud to join the ranks of industry experts and research groups that fully believe in the life-saving benefits of digital alerting.  

Among those groups is Purdue University. Darcy Bullock, the Lyles Family Professor of Civil and Construction Engineering at Purdue University and Director of the Joint Transportation Research Program, has spear-headed multiple research studies on the power of digital alerting.

The first study, “Evaluating the Impact of Vehicle Digital Communication Alerts on Vehicles,” was published in 2021. Its goal was to learn if warning drivers of work zones earlier with digital alerting could help reduce hard braking events on highways. They continued with their research in their July 2024 study “How In-Cab Alerts Influence Truck Speeds: Insights from Ohio Highways.” 

We sat down with Professor Bullock to discuss these studies, the findings, and why he firmly believes that digital alerting is the next frontier for in-vehicle safety. 

Why did Purdue University decide to conduct multiple studies on digital alerting?

My team is always interested in finding new ways to do things cheaper, better, faster, and safer. For many decades now, we’ve relied on putting signs on the interstate and strobes on trucks to protect first responders and roadway workers. But my team firmly believes that the next frontier is in-vehicle digital alerting.

We want to ensure we implement this solution in a manner that’s safe and doesn’t create distractions. We’re excited to see more OEMs integrating these capabilities into their cars to improve communication with drivers.

Why was it important for your team to get the word out about digital alerting? 

You’ve seen the statistics on the number of work zone crashes at the back of the queue. It’s the most vulnerable place to be on the interstate. Studies show that when you have stopped traffic, crash rates go up by a factor of 24. 

It’s important to make sure drivers are actively engaged in the driving task. Urban drivers expect to stop. But in rural areas, drivers sometimes become disengaged. As a result, we have too many crashes where we have vehicles running into the back of queued vehicles on the interstate. 

My group worked with the Indiana Department of Transportation to evaluate  the impact of having advance warning queue trucks to alert traffic of impending slow downs. An important part of our research was incorporating digital alerting capabilities  on the trucks so the motoring public received alerts 30-60 seconds before they encountered those trucks.  

What did the results of your study show?

The combination of deploying the queue trucks with the digital alerts reduced hard-braking by 80 percent. Hard braking is highly correlated with crashes. We viewed that as a huge win in learning more about improving safety for all roadway users. In fact, USDOT has posted that evaluation study on their website.

We also found that, in the commercial truck space, 20 percent of trucks reduce their speed by 5 mph after receiving an alert. We were pleased with this result. This is part of the acceptance curve. You got to start and get drivers believing in it, but I think we’re moving down that path. 

How do you think receiving digital alerts impact driver behavior? 

Digital alerts give drivers a gentle nudge. They say, “Hey, pay extra attention. Something is coming up where you have to make a decision that’s more than just keeping the vehicle in the lane.”

The great thing is that they cause positive collateral impact as well. If we suddenly have a situation where vehicles are seeing brake lights from their peers in advance, that’s a good thing. That means more drivers will likely follow suit and slow down. I absolutely believe digital alerts have a broader impact beyond just the vehicle receiving it. It’s actually an active research area for my team right now.

Is it distracting for drivers to receive these alerts through screens?

No. I absolutely believe that component is really critical. This is a partnership. For 100 years, we’ve built roads, and car companies have built cars — but they’ve never really talked. We’re now at a point where it’s essential  to be engaging with car companies to find the best way to deliver these messages. We’re thrilled the auto industry is part of that discussion. There’s an evolving ecosystem around digital alerting as OEMs identify best practices to integrate them, ensuring enhanced safety without causing distractions.

Your research shows that digital alerts are effective at protecting queue trucks on the interstate. Does that translate to protecting first responders and roadway workers?

Absolutely, we want digital alerts in all vehicles. First responders are vulnerable road users. There are plenty of statistics out there that identify roadway operations as a significant hazard for first responders. Anything we can do to protect responders and roadway workers is important. 

We’ve used signs and strobes on the road for years. But as vehicles become more integrated with information, it’s important to bring that information into the vehicle. How do we up our game from the signs and strobes? That’s where the partnership with OEMs to bring digital alerts directly into vehicles is so crucial. 

What would you say to anyone — responder, roadway worker, or member of the motoring public — who is not sure about digital alerting? One of the most effective things my team has done is taking people for a ride along. We’ve driven the superintendent of the state police by a fire truck to demonstrate how digital alerting works. It’s so important to let people see it. It turns them into believers.We’re now seeing some public safety agencies that see it go from “Oh I think this is good.” to “Can I get this in my vehicle?” I’m a huge believer in active learning. I’m also a huge believer in digital alerts. I believe in this with my whole heart and soul. Letting people see it for themselves will help to get them there, too.

At HAAS Alert, we stand by Professor Bullock’s belief that digital alerting is a crucial component in the future of roadway safety. It’s why we created Safety Cloud®. 

Safety Cloud sends drivers digital alerts up to 30 seconds before coming into contact with a hazard in the road. This allows drivers more time to take appropriate action. These crucial extra moments have been proven to reduce the risk of collision by 90 percent compared to traditional lights alone.

As Professor Bullock aptly pointed out, analog alerting systems like lights and sirens are no longer enough to keep people safe on the road. Traffic deaths in the U.S. are on the rise. The more distracted drivers become, the more first responders and roadway workers are at risk. 

Every year, tens of thousands of collisions occur between civilian drivers and emergency vehicles. In 2017, 15,000+ fire department vehicles in the US were involved in collisions. Incidents such as these can lead to tragedy. For example, up to 25 percent of annual line-of-duty firefighter fatalities are attributed to motor vehicle crashes. Similarly, nearly 30 percent of law enforcement officer deaths in the last decade were traffic-related. 

Safety Cloud protects the people who put their lives on the line every day. Want to see how it can protect your fleet on the road? Talk to a member of our team to learn more.