Getting from Today to Tomorrow - Safely

This is the time of year where safety becomes more personal, perhaps because of family holiday travel. This December, I find myself on the campus of Penn State at the Transportation Engineering and Safety Conference (TESC) promoting safe data collection using Terrestrial Mobile LiDAR Scanning (TMLS). The flight to Penn State started with an unexpected celebrity aboard, University of Nebraska Athletic Director, Tom Osborne. I began absorbing the football theme this trip appeared to be taking. I quickly realized the lesson the universe was throwing at me was going to be about teamwork.

The keynote speaker at lunch was Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Secretary, Barry Schoch, He addressed an audience of 500 other safety-minded professionals telling them they have “a duty to apply technology to transportation safety working as an industry with a collective set of ideas and technologies. You have to show a willingness to reinvent yourself.” Then, like a 52- yard field goal Schoch went on to say, “Collectively we have to be willing to try new ideas, to push the envelope as a leader in safety”. 

Push the envelope! All of a sudden I was in the huddle getting pumped for a play that was coming my way! “Pushing the envelope” was a term that has guided me my entire career as a surveyor and into LiDAR technology. Pushing… What is the technology designed to do?... What can it do?.... What else can it do?

How refreshing to hear my shared passion for safety that promoted teamwork. Schoch understands what I have been promoting for many years about LiDAR technology and the industry. He said we must embrace change as surveyors, engineers and the public driving sector, he called “shareholders”, as it applies to transportation safety and the role of technology. Instead of worrying about the past ways of approaching issues think more about the new tools that provide opportunities for a better, safer outcome.

Schoch went on to say that with immediate results… showing immediate return… the funding will support it because “the only way to get from today to tomorrow is by providing immediate benefits”. How refreshing to hear my shared passion for safety that promised support through teamwork and backed by funding.

TMLS is the tool that takes surveyors safely out of the red zone during data acquisition. As the vehicle moves at highways speeds unobtrusively in traffic it is also safer for the traveling the public. No lane closures, no roadside distractions and no stopping. The immediate benefits reach beyond survey grade accuracy at traditional survey cost. After all what is the cost of saving one life?

From all of us at Terrametrix we wish you and yours a safe holiday season.