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information in order to target their efforts. The first test of this in Alabama," February 17, 2005, http://www.policeone.com/
kind was conducted by Volvo North America, the Univer- police-products/traffic-enforcement/articles/99313/).
sity of Tennessee, and the National Transportation Research
Center in December 2004. FMCSA currently is conducting
research in this area, as well. Geo-Fencing
Satellite tracking systems currently are being tested to
Five and Nine-Tenths Gigahertz (5.9 GHz) determine their effectiveness in monitoring the location of
hazardous material shipments and notifying motor carrier and
The Federal Communications Commission has allocated a enforcement personnel if a shipment diverts from its approved
new communication spectrum (5.9 GHz) to roadside-vehicle route. This technology is being tested as part of the recent
uses. This frequency may become the underlying technol- increased focus on commercial vehicle security. In a similar
ogy for a variety of new commercial vehicle services, includ- use of technology, transponders and cargo seals also are being
ing improved electronic screening, cargo/freight tracking, used to ensure that commercial vehicles remain on predeter-
and wireless inspections. To date, commercial vehicle stake- mined routes. Tests of this transponder-based technology are
holders have not be actively involved in the planning for the being conducted in the State of Washington, as well as in the
use of this frequency but this community will be involved in corridor between Laredo, Texas and Detroit, Michigan.
future discussions--once the issues related to the use of this
technology by passenger vehicles are addressed.
VEHICLE IDENTIFICATION
ISS-Driver (ISS-D) Nearly 60% of the survey respondents indicated that the
highest priority for their commercial vehicle inspection pro-
FMCSA currently is developing a new screening algorithm gram is identifying problem drivers. This was followed by
that will integrate commercial driver data into existing screen- 28% indicating that identifying problem carriers was the
ing algorithms. Known as the Inspection Selection System highest priority and 24% indicating that identifying problem
Driver (ISS-D), this algorithm incorporates data regarding a vehicles was the highest priority. Only 8% of the respondents
carrier's historical driver safety management performance indicated that identifying problem cargo was their highest pri-
into its ISS score. Initial evaluation data has indicated that ority. (Note: Some respondents indicate multiple "number 1"
enforcement agencies that use this new measure are twice as priorities, which is why the totals do not equal 100%.)
likely to place a commercial driver out-of-service than when When asked what factors are considered when selecting a
they do not use the algorithm. vehicle for an inspection, 73.9% of the respondents indicated
that they would look for an obvious vehicle defect. This implies
some level of visual inspection once the vehicle has been
Electronic Citations
stopped. However, the majority (64%) of respondents indi-
cated that they use electronic means by which to screen vehi-
Researchers at the University of Alabama recently devel-
oped software that can be used by the Alabama law enforce- cles. The implication of these values is that many jurisdictions
ment community to automate citation issuance and to upload rely on electronic screening tools for selecting vehicles in
the citation information to a central data repository. The soft- advance of a fixed site. Once vehicles have been pulled into
ware allows Alabama officers to use their computers to quickly a facility officers often rely on a visual inspection to determine
and accurately fill out citation forms and then print out the what action to take next.
tickets. In the near future, the capability to automatically Once it is determined if there is a visible defect with the
upload the citation data to a central citation data repository vehicle, enforcement agencies consider the safety history of
will be implemented. the carrier/vehicle/driver (34.8%), whether they have a CVSA
In addition, troopers will also be able to swipe a driver's decal (26.1%), whether there is a traffic violation (21.7%),
license with a magnetic code or bar stripe and have instant previous inspection results (13%), probable cause (8.7%),
access on their computers to that motorist's driver and vehi- weight of the vehicle (8.7%) and status of operating creden-
cle data, any violations, and the driver's picture. This data tials (4.3%) as the reasons that factor into the decision as to
will be available from a database called the Law Enforcement whether or not an inspection should be performed.
Tactical System. With such a system, it will soon be feasible When industry representatives were asked to indicate what
for an officer who just pulled over a motorist to know that this the number one priority should be for commercial vehicle
motorist, for example, was also pulled over 2 hours ago in a inspection programs most indicated that targeting problem
different part of the state. The repeated violation would then drivers should receive highest priority. Most of these repre-
likely warrant a more severe punishment than a standalone sentatives believe that drivers are the most likely to be respon-
violation (policeone.com website, "E-citations going statewide sible for an accident as opposed to the carrier they are operating
