The American Transportation Research Institute has decided on its research priorities for 2017, approving studies on congestion, driver distraction, and hours of service, among others.

ATRI’s board of directors approved the 2017 Top Research Priorities that was developed by the Research Advisory Council at its March meeting. Several of ATRI’s 2017 top priority studies will focus on improving congestion choke points at the nation’s top truck bottlnecks as identified in ATRI’s annual listing. The top priority topics will also examine the impacts of technology on the industry today and in the future.

The 2017 ATRI top research priorities are:

• Driven to Distraction – examining the impact of technology deployment inside the truck and its effect on truck driver distraction. The research will also look at the role of car driver distraction on trucking industry crash involvement.

• Cumulative Economic Impact of Trucking Regulations – examining the potential for developing a standardized methodology for conducting regulatory impact analyses of trucking industry regulations, which can then be applied across agencies and regulations to identify industry costs.

• HOS Flexibility: A Possible Solution to Bottlenecks – exploring the opportunity for addressing some of the nation's worst congestion choke points through flexibility in the federal hours of service rules, which would allow drivers to wait out the most congested periods of the day.

• Impact of E-Commerce on Trucking – mapping potential impacts of e-commerce to the trucking industry's top industry issues.

• Truck Bottleneck Trends: Economic Changes or Infrastructure Improvements – conducting a deep dive into ATRI's Annual Truck Bottleneck List to identify specific infrastructure improvements that will improve congestion.

• Autonomous Truck Impacts on the Truck Driver – a detailed analysis of how autonomous truck technologies will change the operational environment and driving requirements for commercial drivers.