State police hope a new communication system between their road units and commercial truck drivers will bring down traffic crash numbers.
The Electronic Safety Campaign officially launched ahead of the Labor Day weekend.
Per federal rules, truck drivers have to have an electronic logging device to record their hours in their vehicle. Using a third party system, Smart Roadways developed by Drivewyze, Inc., MSP road officers are able to tap into the dash-mounted messaging unit in semi's. The messaging will alert truck drivers to hazards ahead and to slow down.
Patrick Morris is with the Michigan State Police. He said although targeted at truck drivers, all drivers could benefit.
"What we have found is that 70% nationwide of all crashes involving commercial vehicles are not the fault of the commercial vehicle. It's usually the passenger vehicle. But if the commercial vehicle drivers are aware, it benefits everybody," he explained.
The system allows law enforcement to send messages to truckers about hazards ahead, giving them time to move over or slow down. The messages are short at 25 characters. and can be geo-targeted to a specific area. Morris said he hopes it will help with future tailor-made messaging.
"There may be times we're putting messaging out so it's a repetitive message about 'drive safe', 'don't drive distracted', 'watch your speed' and we may not even be in that particular area at the time. Just to assist in keep a continuous message in hopes of making the motoring public safer each time."
Police officials hope to go over the data after a year the plan has been in place and see if it made an impact. They only launched in three areas downstate this weekend but hope to launch into a statewide program just before Thanksgiving.
