The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has released the findings from three onboard safety system studies, finding that the benefits of using the systems over a period of five years outweighed the costs associated with purchasing the systems.


The research, sponsored by FMCSA and led by the American Transportation Research Institute, provides detailed examinations of motor carrier benefits and costs associated with roll stability control systems, forward collision warning systems and lane departure warning Systems.

"Carriers regularly seek credible data on which to base investment decisions," said Don Osterberg, Vice President, Safety & Driver Training, Schneider National and chairman of ATRI's Research Advisory Committee. "The ATRI-FMCSA reports provide an objective and sophisticated review of the return-on-investment that carriers can realistically expect from deploying these important safety tools."

For forward collision warning systems, for every dollar spent, carriers would get more than a dollar back in benefits that could be quantified for the analysis, ranging from $1.33 to $7.22 based on different VMTs, system efficacies, and technology purchase prices. Following the deployment of FCWS, the payback periods ranged from eight to 37 months.

For lane departure warning systems, for every dollar spent, carriers get more than a dollar back in benefits that could be quantified for the analysis, ranging from $1.37 to $6.55 based on different VMTs, system efficacies, and technology purchase prices. Following the deployment of LDWS, payback periods ranged from nine to 37 months.

For roll stability control systems, for every dollar spent, carriers get more than a dollar back in benefits that could be quantified for the analysis, ranging from $1.66 to $9.36 based on different VMTs, system efficacies, and technology purchase prices. Following the deployment of RSC systems, payback periods ranged from six to 30 months.

The full report is available here.