Reporter: David Tate
Blacksburg, VA - US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood was in Blacksburg Friday visiting with students, faculty and staff that conduct the valuable research at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute.
He brought two messages with him: "Good work", and "We have more work ahead."
Ever since LaHood came to office, he has been using the one-of-a-kind research compiled at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, and Friday he went to say thank you.
"These folks have been good partners for us, and I had never been here. I never met these folks. I wanted to come and thank them for the good work and research they've been doing," said LaHood.
His visit is a big deal to the institute, which has been focusing research in a plethora of areas related to transportation. Much of that information is used at the federal level, which means Virginia Tech's Transportation Institute is setting the bar for others to follow.
"By the end of this year we will have almost 3,000 vehicles on the road; all of them instrumented. So we're watching drivers how they actually drive, what they do, why they get into near crash and crash events and so that is very unique," said Tom Dingus, director of VTTI.
But the work isn't done, and LaHood is focused on addressing the increasing dangers of distracted driving. It's a problem that killed 3,000 people nationwide in 2010. He says he wants VTTI to continue to be a part of the solution.
"That's 3,000 too many. We can reduce that number. We could get down to zero if people would put their cell phones and their texting devices in the glove compartment when they are driving. It's just too dangerous," he said.
The VTTI is made up of nine centers, four of them safety centers.
Their research runs the spectrum from crash worthiness data, to truck driver fatigue, to driver distraction.
