Connected Vehicle Infrastructure University Transportation Center
CVI-UTC researchers joined 75 exhibitors and more than 1,000 students at VDOTs 9th Annual Transportation Career Fair in Manassass, Virginia on October 3, 2013. The career fair exposes high school students to the rewarding and diverse careers in the transportation industry, including engineering, construction, architecture, environmental and technology. Students stopped by the CVI-UTC booth to check out the connected vehicle on site and learn about connected vehicle technologies and research.
CVI-UTC researcher talks to students about connected vehicles at the Youth of Virginia Speak Out (YOVASO) About Traffic Safety summer retreat
Youth of Virginia Speak Out (YOVASO) is a statewide, peer-to-peer advocacy program that empowers teenagers to work towards the prevention of their number one killer – motor vehicle crashes.
CVI-UTC research was displayed to students attending the 2013 YOVASO retreat, held at Lynchburg College on July 23 -26, 2013. This program was open to all high school students, including rising freshmen and graduating seniors. Students had the opportunity to learn peer-to-peer techniques for “Saving the World, One Driver at a Time” and participated in educational and team building activities, such as the a license checkpoint, Mobile Park Cinema, school action planning for the 2013-2014 school year, The Arrive Alive Texting Simulator, and much more.
YOVASO started in Roanoke, Virginia in 2001 as a pilot program for the Commonwealth by the Blue Ridge Transportation Safety Board (BRTSB) and the Virginia Highway Safety Office (VaHSO).
The program was developed in response to a 39% increase in the state’s teen fatalities in 2000 (from 113 in 1999 to 157 in 2000) and community meetings which highlighted a need for peer-to-peer advocacy programs in the schools. YOVASO operated primarily in schools in Southwest Virginia until 2007 when the Virginia State Police Association (VSPA) began administering the program and secured a grant from the VaHSO to expand the program statewide. On October 1, 2014 YOVASO came under the direction of the Virginia State Police. Today, the program has active safe driving clubs at high and middle schools in all regions of the Commonwealth. Through the continued sponsorship of VSP and grant funding from VaHSO, membership in YOVASO is free to all high and middle schools. Since statewide expansion of YOVASO in 2007, teen fatalities have steadily declined from 133 in 2007 to 64 in 2013.
June 6, 2013 marked the official launch of the Virginia Connected Test Bed, a public-private partnership spearheaded by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. The initiative involves vehicles equipped with connected wireless technology that enables them to “talk” to each other via wireless sensors installed along the highway infrastructure. CVI-UTC researchers held a special demonstration of connected vehicle technology for Virginia policy makers.
Read the full VT News Article.
Connected vehicle technology is demonstrated at the Virginia Connected Vehicle Test Bed launch event in Alexandria, Virginia
Tom Dingus talks about connected vehicles to attendees
The mission statement of the Connected Vehicle/Infrastructure University Transportation Center (CVI-UTC) is to conduct research that will advance surface transportation through the application of innovative research and using connected-vehicle and infrastructure technologies to improve safety, state of good repair, economic competitiveness, livable communities, and environmental sustainability.
Dr. Thomas A. Dingus serves as the director for the CVI-UTC, as well as the director of the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) and the National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence (NSTSCE). Prior to joining Virginia Tech, Dr. Dingus was founding director of the National Center for Transportation Technology at the University of Idaho and was an associate director of the Center for Computer-Aided Design at the University of Iowa. Dr. Dingus has more than 220 technical publications and has managed approximately $300 million in research funding to date ($130 million as principal investigator).
