Development and Real-World Application of Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Enforcement Dashboards

TL;DR

This paper details the development and real-world deployment of CMV safety dashboards that assist enforcement agencies in monitoring and improving commercial vehicle safety performance using various data sources.

Contribution

It introduces new CMV safety dashboards designed with input from enforcement professionals, enabling more effective analysis of safety performance and enforcement impacts.

Findings

Dashboards help identify safety performance issues at specific sites.

Enforcement impact evaluation showed mixed results, highlighting data limitations.

Collaboration with agencies improved dashboard relevance and usability.

Abstract

Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) safety is crucial in traffic management and public safety. CMVs account for numerous traffic incidents, so monitoring CMV safety and safety inspections is essential for ensuring safe and efficient highway movement. This paper presents the development and real-world application of CMV dashboards designed under the guidance of CMV safety enforcement professionals from the Maryland State Police (MSP), the Maryland Department of Transportation - State Highway Administration (MDOT - SHA), and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to enable intuitive and efficient analysis of CMV safety performance measures. First, three CMV safety dashboards enable CMV safety professionals to identify sites with a history of safety performance issues. A supplemental dashboard automates the analysis of CMV enforcement initiatives using the same performance measures. These performance measures are based on CMV probe vehicle speeds, inspection/citation data from Truck Weigh and Inspection Stations (TWIS), patrolling enforcement, and Virtual Weigh Stations (VWS). The authors collaborated with MSP to identify a portion of I-81 in Maryland, susceptible to improvement from targeted CMV enforcement. The supplemental enforcement assessment dashboard was employed to evaluate the impact of enforcement, including the post-enforcement halo effect. The results of the post-enforcement evaluation were mixed, indicating a need for more fine-grained citation data.