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u.s. news Diabierna 4 September 2020

Study: Electronics could stop 40% of big truck rear crashes

By TOM KRISHER
AP Auto Writer
DETROIT (AP) — Safety
features such as automatic
emergency braking and for-
ward collision warnings
could prevent more than 40%
of crashes in which semis
rear-end other vehicles, a
new study has found.
The Insurance Institute for
Highway Safety, a research
group supported by auto in-
surers, also found that when
the rear crashes happened,
the systems cut the speeds by
over 50%, reducing damage
and injuries.
The institute called on the
federal government to re-
quire the systems on new
large trucks and said many
truck fleet operators are al-
ready adding emergency
braking on their own. In this Monday, March 25, 2019, file photo, cars and trucks travel on Interstate 5 near Olympia, Wash.
“Rear-end crashes with trucks
and other vehicles happen a Associated Press
lot, often with horrible con- that were equipped with col- Two federal agencies that ulations requiring automatic required by the European
sequences,” said Eric Teoh, lision warning alone, auto- regulate heavy trucks, the emergency braking on all Union on all new large trucks
the institute’s director of sta- matic emergency braking, Federal Motor Carrier Safety new vehicles, both passen- since late 2013, the insti-
tistical services who did the and no crash prevention fea- Administration and the Na- ger and commercial, after the tute said. The systems could
study. “This is an important tures at all, the IIHS said. tional Highway Traffic Safety technology is used over time prevent horrific crashes that
countermeasure to that.” The IIHS also found that Administration, said they by fleets and drivers. happen when trucks don’t
Trucks with collision warn- trucks equipped with a col- will review the IIHS report. Yet the Owner Operator In- stop for slower or stopped
ing systems reduced rear lision warning system had NHTSA said in a statement dependent Drivers Associa- traffic in freeway construc-
crashes by 44%, while au- 22% fewer crashes than those that it is nearly finished with tion said it can’t accept the tion zones, Teoh said.
tomatic emergency braking without either technology. a study examining the safety study’s conclusions because A crash with those circum-
cut rear crashes by 41%, the For automatic emergency benefits of driver assist tech- it did not include real-world stances happened in July
study found. braking, the figure was 12%. nology on heavy vehicles, factors such as driver training 2019 in Indianapolis, killing
To reach his conclusions, “This is important informa- while the motor carrier ad- and experience or a carrier’s a woman and her 18-month-
Teoh examined crash data per tion for trucking companies ministration has been en- safety record. The systems old twin daughters. Prosecu-
vehicle mile traveled at 62 and drivers who are weigh- couraging voluntary use of use cameras, radar or other tors alleged that a semi driver
trucking companies that use ing the costs and benefits of systems such as automatic sensors to check the roadway. was traveling 65 mph (105
tractor-trailers or other trucks these options on their next emergency braking. Some just warn the driver of kilometers per hour) when
weighing at least 33,000 vehicles,” Teoh said. In October of 2015, NHTSA hazards, while more sophisti- his rig hit a line of traffic in a
pounds (15,000 kilograms). The institute says U.S. crash- began the regulatory process cated emergency braking sys- construction zone. Authori-
The study found about 2,000 es involving large trucks rose to evaluate forward collision tems will actually brake the ties charged the driver with
crashes that happened over by nearly one-third since hit- warning and automatic brak- truck. reckless homicide and said he
more than 2 billion miles (3.2 ting a record low in 2009. A ing for heavy trucks. In the U.S., there are no re- didn’t start braking until the
billion kilometers) traveled total of 4,136 people died in The American Trucking As- quirements for either sys- rig slammed into the first of
from 2017 through 2019. such crashes in 2018, with sociations, an industry group tem, but automatic emer- several vehicles. Five other
The study compared trucks 119 of the deaths in rear-end that represents many large gency braking with forward vehicles were hit and seven
from the same companies crashes. carriers, said it supports reg- collision warning has been more people were injured.q

Army Cyber Command completes its move to Georgia base

By RUSS BYNUM by Army Under Secretary James McPherson and vilians and contract workers worldwide.
Associated Press Gen. Paul Nakasone, who serves as commander According to the Army, the Cyber Command
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — The Army com- of U.S. Cyber Command and director of the Na- headquarters will bring about 1,200 additional
mand dedicated to defending against hackers tional Security Agency. soldiers and civilian workers to Fort Gordon.
and other online threats celebrated its move into McPherson noted the move brings the Army’s Fogarty said all of them should be in place within
a new $366 million headquarters in Georgia on cyber soldiers, commanders and trainees together the next year. Fortitude Hall spans 336,000 square
Thursday. at Fort Gordon, which is also home to an NSA feet (31,215 square meters) and is equipped with
Created a decade ago, the Army Cyber Command facility. more than 300 servers.
had been spread across Army installations in three “The cyber domain in the most recent one, it’s Before the consolidation, elements of the Army
states before consolidating at Fortitude Hall, its the one that changes the most rapidly and it it is Cyber Command were also based in Fort Bel-
new home at Fort Gordon in Augusta. Plans to the one we must learn to not only compete in but voir, Virginia, and Fort Meade, Maryland. At Fort
bring the entire command together under one dominate in with our near-peer competitors,” Gordon, the Army now has its electronic warfare
roof had been in the works for seven years. McPherson said. and defense units based at the same installation
“It’s not just a physical move. It’s not just a nice The U.S. military established the Army Cyber used for training new cyber soldiers and provid-
new facility,” Lt. Gen Stephen Fogarty, the com- Command in 2010 after the Defense Department ing them with continuing education.
mander of Army Cyber Command, told report- declared cyberspace a new domain for warfare, The headquarters dedication on Thursday was
ers on a conference call Thursday. He called the citing rising threats from hackers backed by for- largely symbolic. Army Cyber Command’s lead-
headquarters “a purpose-filled cyber weapons eign governments and online attackers acting in- er, Lt. Gen. Stephen G. Fogarty, and his com-
system.” dependently. mand staff have been working at Fort Gordon
Fogarty was joined during a dedication ceremony The command oversees about 16,500 soldiers, ci- since July.q