PPC Receives $17 Million for Vehicle Safety Research
The University of Iowa Public Policy Center (PPC) has received one of the largest vehicle safety research grants ever awarded, as part of Toyota’s settlement agreement in the unintended acceleration class action lawsuit filed against the company in 2010.
Included in the $1.6 billion settlement is $30 million in research grants, of which the largest portion, $17.2 million, will go to the UI PPC for five different studies. The remainder of the grant was divided among Stanford, MIT, Michigan and Texas A&M, with each institution receiving $3.2 million.
Daniel McGehee, director of the PPC’s Human Factors and Vehicle Safety Research Program, says of the grant, “We are pleased to have been given the opportunity to receive research funding under the settlement. The work we will do can significantly advance driver safety.”
“When large sums are invested into basic research, innovation follows. This is a win-win for both the consumer and for science,” says McGehee, who also serves as adjunct professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, occupational and environmental health, and emergency medicine.
The UI research project includes:
--A national survey on public perceptions on vehicle safety technologies.
--A national education campaign on vehicle safety technology in which the UI has partnered with the National Safety Council and Iowa City-based Digital Artifacts, LLC.
--A study at the National Advanced Driving Simulator (NADS) that examines replicating emergency events in a controlled and safe environment.
--Measuring and mitigating unintended vehicle acceleration in younger and older drivers.
--Understanding the context of unintended acceleration: an engineering analysis.
The survey will be the first-ever national survey of consumer driving safety and will examine drivers’ understanding and use of defensive driving techniques. It will also assess knowledge of and familiarity with vehicle safety systems and their limitations. The results of this survey will be developed into a national education campaign, designed to reach 90 percent of U.S. adults multiple times.
The three additional studies included in the PPC’s proposal will bring together experts in human factors, automotive engineering, medicine, and neuroscience to examine driver behavior in emergency situations; evaluate the effectiveness of cognitive and physical training on drivers’ pedal application behavior; and identify ways in which a vehicle might detect when an acceleration is unintended.
The University of Iowa has been a national leader in driver safety research for over 25 years, and has the advantage of having the National Advanced Driving Simulator located on its Oakdale Campus.
Public Policy Center Director Peter Damiano says, “The fact that Dan’s team was written into the settlement as the lead research unit over many other bigger name universities across the country is a real tribute to the quality of the program, the research, the team and the national reputation that they have developed.”
UI research project leaders include McGehee, overall principal investigator, and investigators from four other UI colleges: Sue Chrysler, College of Engineering (NADS); Dr. Matthew Rizzo, Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine Department of Neurology; Kevin Leicht, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Department of Sociology and Iowa Social Science Research Center; and Natoshia Askelson and Corinne Peek-Asa from the UI College of Public Health.