PLANO, Texas — Oregon’s Umatilla County has partnered with Drivewyze to provide commercial truck drivers with in-cab safety alerts in an effort to reduce commercial vehicle crash rates in active work zones.
The Umatilla County pilot program to improve highway safety includes a collaboration between Drivewyze, North America’s largest Connected Truck platform, and one.network, a digital work zone and road management platform provider, according to a news release.
“The alerts, which give drivers a heads-up to upcoming work zones, have been demonstrated to improve driver behavior by reducing the occurrence of over-speeding and hard-braking events,” the news release notes.
The in-cab safety alerts are available to all truck drivers and trucking fleets at no cost through the Drivewyze Free service. Drivewyze Free can be activated through 100-plus telematics service providers partnered with Drivewyze or downloaded directly from app stores.
“We’re excited to partner with Umatilla County to tackle the challenges of active work zones and improve highway safety,” said Brian Heath, Drivewyze CEO.
Umatilla County, which covers more than 3,200 square miles in eastern Oregon, borders Washington state and connects to Boise on the border of Idaho via Interstate 84.
It’s a main transportation corridor with mid-sized Oregon towns, like Baker City and Pendleton along the route.
“Rural road safety starts with data, good and usable data,” said Dan Dorran, Umatilla County commissioner. “Umatilla County realized that there wasn’t a rural county program that we could build off of that could supply us with information that could both address safety and transport issues. We were lucky to have a local state representative, Rep. Greg Smith, who also recognized our issue and successfully went to bat for pilot project funds from the State of Oregon that we matched at the county level. Through Drivewyze, we are bringing rural roads into the 21st century digital age.”
Heath emphasized the importance of the data. “Between 2020 and 2021, work zone fatalities increased by 10.8%,” he said. “There were increases in the percentages of fatal work zone crashes involving rear-end collisions, as well as those involving a commercial motor vehicle. Work zone alerts can help to reduce these tragic accidents and the associated costs borne by our society.”
“For the first time in the United States, road crews in Umatilla work zones will be able to use our Live Link app to reach truckers with comprehensive, timely and vetted work zone information,” said Simon Topp, one.network’s chief commercial officer. “That’s important. Recent government data indicate one out of three work zone fatal crashes involves at least one large truck. Our information is shared through Drivewyze Free, assuring that freight operators have the most accurate information delivered into truck cabs at the right time and in the format they use most.”
Drivewyze is partnering with leading transportation agencies across the U.S. to deliver essential safety alerts and advisories through Drivewyze Free to truck drivers and fleets at no cost to the industry.
More than one-fourth of all states have, or are in the process of, implementing this in-vehicle extension to traditional highway safety programs and the solution is growing quickly. In addition to active work zones, message sets can include warnings for sudden and unexpected slowdowns, service vehicles, virtual safety signs, and public emergency broadcasts.
Drivewyze Free is accessed through the Drivewyze mobile application, which is integrated with ELD partners operating on millions of trucks.
The application can be embedded, run as a companion application, or run directly on the vast majority of telematics devices, smartphones or tablets installed in commercial vehicles.
In addition to agency sponsored safety alerts, Drivewyze Free also provides Drivewyze sponsored alerts and advisories warnings for High-Rollover risk areas, Low Bridges, Mountain alerts (steep grade ahead; chain-up/brake check stations; and runaway ramps), and truck parking availability, where available.
Born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and raised in East Texas, John Worthen returned to his home state to attend college in 1998 and decided to make his life in The Natural State. Worthen is a 20-year veteran of the journalism industry and has covered just about every topic there is. He has a passion for writing and telling stories. He has worked as a beat reporter and bureau chief for a statewide newspaper and as managing editor of a regional newspaper in Arkansas. Additionally, Worthen has been a prolific freelance journalist for two decades, and has been published in several travel magazines and on travel websites.
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