Feature Channels: Travel and Transportation

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The American Thoracic Society applauds the efforts of New York Senators Schumer and Gillibrand and New Jersey Senators Booker and Menendez for their legislation to improve transportation safety by addressing sleep apnea. We believe screening for sleep disorders like sleep apnea and ensuring appropriate treatment for sleep related illness will improve the health of transportation workers and improve the safety of the U.S. transportation system for all travelers.

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A new study by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has quantified the impact speeding and slamming on the brakes has on fuel economy and consumption. Aggressive behavior behind the wheel can lower gas mileage in light-duty vehicles, which can equate to losing about $0.25 to $1 per gallon.

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Sarah Tanford, a professor with UNLV's Harrah College of Hospitality, is an expert in hospitality consumer behavior. Over the past five years, she’s been plumbing the depths of online travel review sites, examining a number of elements to evaluate how various options might influence customer decisions. By constructing mock review sites that allow customers to provide feedback on fictional hotels and restaurants, Tanford is able to test how prospective travelers react when choosing where to stay and what to eat.

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There are about 100,000 railroad bridges in the U.S. and approximately 30,000 of them are constructed from timber. More than half of these timber bridges were built before 1920. North American railroad bridge owners are now mandated to closely assess the structural capacity of their bridges. Consequently, in order to comply, railroad companies need new and effective ways to help them improve and develop bridge safety.

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Victims of gunshots and stabbings are significantly less likely to die if they’re taken to the trauma center by a private vehicle than ground emergency medical services (EMS), according to results of a new analysis.

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S&T’s Surface Transportation Explosives Threat Detection (STETD) Program is working to provide the surface transportation end-user community with the capability to screen for potential threat items at the speed of the traveling public.

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While the future of vehicles may be driverless, West Virginia University is steering the technology in the right direction. WVU’s researchers are working to improve vehicle and smart infrastructure technology that underpins their development and their benefit to communities in areas such as safety, energy, traffic, economic opportunity and more.

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Conflicts at Work Increase the Risk of Unsafe Driving by Professional Drivers

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Team PrISUm is preparing to take its "Solar Utility Vehicle" on a 1,900-mile race across the Outback of Australia. The Bridgestone World Solar Challenge is Oct. 8-15. Iowa State's student-engineers think they've built a car that can comfortably make that journey.

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ADCIRC, combined with meteorological forecasts like rain, atmospheric pressure and wind forecasts, predicts flooding threats, allowing decision makers to make better decisions about response efforts, before severe weather occurs.

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A new nationwide study finds that the U.S. made little progress from 2000 to 2010 in reducing relative disparities between people of color and whites in exposure to harmful air pollution emitted by cars, trucks and other combustion sources. While absolute differences in exposure to the air pollutant dropped noticeably for all populations, the gap between pollution levels to which white people and people of color were exposed narrowed only a little.

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Road-traffic injuries (RTIs), which are often fatal, are regrettable consequences of modern transportation. According to the World Health Organization, low- and middle-income countries have road-traffic fatality rates that are double those of high-income countries. It is well established that drinking alcohol increases the risk of a traffic crash. This study examined the role that alcohol plays in the risk of RTIs in 10 countries located in Latin America and the Caribbean.

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During major epidemics, cramped airplane cabins are fertile ground for the spread of infection, but new research suggests changing routine boarding protocols could be a key to reducing rampant transmission of disease.

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A new Bowling Green State University study aims to provide information and guidance to help communities and even major airports get and keep passenger routes. The project will develop research into the use of incentives by airports and communities to attract and retain air service.

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ORNL researchers have been awarded $2 million to apply novel machine learning techniques to large-scale scientific data.

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For nearly a decade, the rollout of new express bus and train service made it easier for Americans to put down their car keys and hop on a bus or train for intercity travel. But declining gas prices and fewer public transportation options are forcing travelers back behind the wheel, according to DePaul University researchers. A new study from the Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development shows that the country’s push for a balanced transportation system has hit the brakes.

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The American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) is disappointed that DOT has withdrawn its proposed rulemaking for the Evaluation of Safety Sensitive Personnel for Moderate-to-Severe Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA).

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Magnesium — the lightest of all structural metals — has a lot going for it in the quest to make ever lighter cars and trucks that go farther on a tank of fuel or battery charge.Magnesium is 75 percent lighter than steel, 33 percent lighter than aluminum and is the fourth most common element on earth behind iron, silicon and oxygen.

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The findings from the NIH-funded study will have implications on targeted interventions and policy changes in distracted driving.

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Computerized models have not replaced crash dummies in assessing the protective properties of motor vehicles, military equipment and other products. But virtual figures offer many advantages over mechanical manikins and are becoming more widely used in injury biomechanics and other fields.

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The design of aeroplane wings and storing organs for transplant could both become safer and more effective, thanks to a synthetic antifreeze which prevents the growth of ice crystals, developed by researchers at the University of Warwick.

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Julie Park graduated this year from Rowan University, but she almost didn’t make it to graduation. Last January, she sprained her ankle. A week later, she flew from her South Jersey home to Thailand for vacation. Although her ankle hurt during the trip, she didn’t think it merited going to a hospital while out of the country. What she didn’t realize at the time was that such indecision could have cost her life.

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There’s “Counting Crows,” counting sheep, counting blessings and now researchers at FAU have their own version of “counting cars” – literally – in an attempt to improve traffic flow on our nation’s overcrowded roads. And with more than 263 million registered passenger vehicles in the U.S. and more than 14 million registered vehicles in Florida alone, this is no small feat.

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Injuries are a leading cause of death — and completely preventable. To bolster research in this area, the U-M Injury Center just received new federal funding.

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New work at Los Alamos and Oak Ridge national laboratories is resolving difficult fuel-cell performance questions, both in determining efficient new materials and understanding how they work at an atomic level.

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Travel does more than broaden the range of a student’s experiences. It also provides a education majors with new perspectives on teaching.

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A University of Arkansas at Little Rock professor has received $500,000 to develop high-performance, cost-effective transportation fuel cells. Dr. Tansel Karabacak, professor of physics and astronomy at UA Little Rock, received $400,000 from the U.S. Department of Energy. UA Little Rock will provide $100,000 in matching funds. The main goal of the research is to produce transportation fuel cells that cost less, last longer, and provide more power.

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Oak Ridge national Laboratory researchers and industry partners used neutrons to investigate the performance of a new aluminum alloy in a gasoline-powered engine -- while the engine was running.

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A new study of pedestrian and bicycle travel suggests investment in infrastructure and policies to encourage walking and biking is correlated with lower rates of pedestrian and bicyclist deaths. The work by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the University of Wisconsin-Madison also identifies the safest and most dangerous metropolitan regions for pedestrians and bicyclists in the U.S.

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India is pushing hard to electrify its automobile market, aiming to sell only electric vehicles (EVs) by 2030. But what impact will that shift have on the country's utilities and the grid? A new report by scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has found that the prospective EV expansion will deliver economic benefits, help integrate renewable energy, and significantly reduce imports of foreign oil.

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Prior research suggests that college students, males, and people drinking alcohol at restaurants, bars, and nightclubs are at particularly high risk for driving after drinking. Breath-testing devices are not usually found at these drinking establishments, so patrons generally assess their own intoxication levels using internal (feelings of intoxication) and external (number of drinks consumed) cues. This study examined bar patrons’ self-estimates of their breath alcohol concentrations (BrACs) in natural drinking environments.

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Laws that require increasingly older kids to sit in car safety seats appear to have limited impact, new research has found.

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In just seven years, the number of marijuana-positive drivers increased 50 percent, according to the 2013-2014 National Roadside Survey of Alcohol & Drug Use by Drivers. On the flip side, the percentage of alcohol-positive drivers decreased 77 percent between 1973 and 2013-2014. These results and others will be shared at the 40th annual scientific meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA) in Denver June 24-28.

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Sound permeates the human experience and gets our attention, sometimes traumatically so. Consider the car horn. It is a widespread practical application of this noise-trauma-alert principle -- and an increasing source of noise pollution worldwide as the global traffic population grows. It also is the subject of new noise pollution research to be presented during Acoustics ’17 Boston. The study introduces a new pedestrian-friendly car-horn sound identified through the Mean Option Score.

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A new study shows that teens communicating on mobile phones with friends show stronger signs of technology addiction than when communicating with parents.

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In this month’s release, find new embargoed research about: U.S. gun fatality rate; health-related quality of life affected by occupation; and vehicle crash rates following marijuana legalization.

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Despite projections, insurers will likely play a key role in supporting the safe deployment, adoption and sustainability of driverless cars. The relatively unknown nature, likelihood and extent of driverless accidents presents risk management challenges to both the automotive and insurance industries. Future motor policies may require non-traditional risk management.

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For a sixth consecutive year, the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) will be giving away 1,000 bike helmets to children and adults on Saturday, June 17, 2017, at the Mill City Farmers Market. The free bike helmet giveaway is designed to raise awareness of and help prevent head injuries in Minnesota. It will take place between 8:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to arrive early as quantities are limited.

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When you and your family are zooming along the freeway, the last thing you’re worried about is the security of your car’s computer systems. That’s one reason Ohio State University Associate Professor Emre Koksal devotes most of his time to thinking about how to protect vehicles from cyberattacks.

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With motor vehicle incidents as a leading cause of on-the-job police officer deaths, communication studies students at West Virginia University put their skills to work to develop and test motor vehicle safety messages with law enforcement officers across the nation.