UNC to lead national transportation safety research effort

UNC-Chapel Hill’s Highway Safety Research Center will receive up to $15 million in grants to run a National University Transportation Center for the federal government.

The center will create and manage the Collaborative Sciences Center for Road Safety to focus on the future of transportation research. The first year, UNC will receive $2.8 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation for the effort, aimed at reducing injuries and fatal crashes on roads across the nation. The work will involve collaborations among scientists in different fields at several universities besides UNC, including Duke, Florida Atlantic and the universities of California, Berkeley and Tennessee, Knoxville.

Chancellor Carol Folt, in a news release, praised the UNC Highway Safety Research Center for its 50-year track record of work that has “saved countless lives and prevented injuries” in North Carolina and the nation.

HSRC Director David Harkey will serve as the director of the new collaborative venture, which he said would look for new ways to tackle longstanding problems such as impaired driving and speeding.

The grant is one of 32 five-year awards and one of five national University Transportation Centers in the nation.

This story was originally published December 6, 2016 at 6:21 PM with the headline "UNC to lead national transportation safety research effort."