Feasibility Study of a System Safety Monitor for Hazardous Material Trucking

This paper summarizes the results of a study to examine the feasibility of a system safety monitor (SSM) for application to the trucking of hazardous materials. The concept is to provide a continuous record of truck and safety system operation and to detect the onset of certain critical situations. Although originally developed with respect to liquified natural gas trucking, the basic technology, with suitable modification, is applicable to trucks carrying other types of cargo. In developing the SSM concept, five critical accident scenarios were established following a statistical analysis of accident data and a series of interviews. To minimize the required measurements and instrumentation, a theoretical analysis of truck dynamics was performed to develop a set of directly measurable quantities which are sufficient to indicate the occurrence of the selected scenarios. To further demonstrate the feasibility of the SSM, a preliminary instrumentation and support electronics design was developed.