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Center for Vulnerable Road User Safety (Created in 2013; Dr. Jon Antin, Director)

The center conducts research and outreach designed to enhance safety for all vulnerable road us ers, including senior and teen drivers, bicyclists and other vehicle riders, and pedestrians. Vulner able road users comprise all age groups and a variety of demographics. Their one shared trait is an increased risk of suffering a traffic-related crash or injury. The center includes the Teen Risk and Injury Prevention group and the Senior Mobility Awareness, Safety, and Health group. Research includes a naturalistic driving study of novice teen drivers with the aim of providing real-time feed back, gathering information for driver training, and keeping teens’ parents informed. One outreach initiative is designed to provide recommendations for coordinating public and private services for the aged, disabled, and indigent populations. The Center for Gerontology at Virginia Tech is a partner in this project. Connected Vehicle/Infrastructure University Transportation Center (Created in 2012; Dr. Thomas A. Dingus, Director) Virginia Tech/VTTI, the University of Virginia, Morgan State University, and the Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research teamed to develop a Tier 1 University Transportation Center headquartered at VTTI. Robust vehicle-to-vehicle, vehicle-to-infrastructure, and vehicle-to device communication will enable applications addressing the U.S. Department of Transportation strategic goals of safety, state of good repair, economic competiveness, livable communities, and environmental sustainability. The center operates two test beds. The Southwest Virginia test bed resources include the Smart Road for closed-circuit testing and Route 460 in Montgomery County for real-world testing. The Northern Virginia test bed includes portions of I-66 in Fairfax County and Routes 29 and 50, all of which are equipped with wireless roadside communication technology. There are 43 instrumented intersections as part of the route. Research projects include in-vehicle notifications of a stopped school bus ahead, especially when the bus is stopped over a hill or around a blind curve, and communication devices installed in safety vests worn by road workers to alert workers and vehicle operators when an on-foot worker is in danger of being struck. National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence (Created in 2006; Dr. Jon Hankey, Director) The center was established by the Federal Public Transportation Act of 2005 to develop and dis seminate advanced transportation safety techniques and innovations in rural and urban commu nities. Research focus areas are safety devices and techniques that enhance driver performance, evaluations of the built roadway environment and infrastructure-based safety systems, safe mobil ity for vulnerable road users, and solutions to driver impairment. The center is supporting research projects that include an analysis of the effectiveness of visibility aides for bicycles and pedestrians, automated detection of driver drowsiness and driver attention away from the forward roadway, and improving the health of commercial motor vehicle drivers. The center includes a stakeholders’ committee that shares a vision for improving road-user safety locally and nationally. The committee comprises the Federal Highway Administration, General Motors Corporation, the Virginia De partment of Transportation, the Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and Travelers.

VTTI works to ensure the safety of all transportation users photo by Jim Stroup

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