Tomorrow's Forecast: Informed Drivers

In a typical year, there are 1.5 million weather-related vehicle crashes in the U.S., leading to over 670,000 injuries and more than 7,000 fatalities. Adverse weather and the associated poor roadway conditions are also responsible for 554 million vehicle-hours of delay per year in the U.S., with associated economic costs reaching into the billions of dollars. With funding and support from the U.S. Department of Transportation's (USDOT) Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) and direction from the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) Road Weather Management Program, the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) is conducting research to develop a Vehicle Data Translator (VDT) that incorporates vehicle-based measurements of the road and surrounding atmosphere with other, more traditional weather data sources, and creates road and atmospheric hazard products for a variety of users. This presentation highlights current progress and future roles for providing warnings to drivers.