DENVER -- Scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) are developing what could become a commuter’s dream when faced with nightmarish weather conditions on the road.

The idea is simple: inform drivers about hazardous weather conditions such as dense fog, snow, rain, even black ice and slushy roads in real time, but with advanced warning about what the conditions are like down the road.

“The goal is to save lives,” said Sheldon Drobot, the NCAR program manager in charge of the project, ”We’re losing 7,400 people a year on the roads. Most that occurs when you stumble into a situation that you weren’t prepared for.”

For the most part, this revolutionary system will use existing technology. For example, newer cars already collect basic weather data that automotive engineers use to improve the vehicle’s efficiency.

NCAR’s scientists are enhancing the system into something that may seem like science fiction, but in reality is just around the corner.

“What we are trying to do here is have your car and all the cars around you talk to each other and to a central station and provide you with information that says something like, ‘hey, five miles ahead cars are reporting slippery conditions or foggy conditions,’ so you either want to slow down or if you take the next left you can go on a route where the cars are reporting good conditions,” said Drobot.

The system is designed to gather information about weather and road conditions from moving vehicles. Within about a decade, it should enable motor vehicles equipped with wireless technology to transmit automated updates about local weather and road conditions to a central data base, as well as to other cars, thereby alerting other drivers in the area.

Real time weather observations, RADAR data and satellite observations will be integrated into the system as a way of verifying and enhancing the accuracy and precision of the information.

“I think this system will give you the information that you need to make a decision to not get into a dangerous situation,” said Drobot.

NCAR's road weather system is part of IntelliDrive, a national initiative overseen by the Department of Transportation (DOT) to use new technologies to make driving safer and improve mobility. The goal of the DOT is to reduce motor vehicle accidents by 90 percent by 2030.

The national program brings together federal and state transportation officials, motor vehicle manufacturers, engineering and planning firms, consumer electronics companies, and others.

According to a 2004 National Research Council report, Where the Weather Meets the Road, an estimated 1.5 million motor vehicle accidents annually are associated with poor weather, resulting in about 7,400 deaths and 690,000 injuries. The report called for improving safety by establishing a nationwide observation system to monitor weather conditions along roads and warn drivers about potential hazards.

For the road weather portion of IntelliDrive, vehicles will use sensors to measure atmospheric conditions such as temperature, pressure, and humidity. An onboard digital memory device will record that information, along with indirect signs of road conditions, such as windshield wipers being switched on or activation of the antilock braking system.

The information will be transmitted to a central database, where it will be integrated with other local weather data and traffic observations, as well as details about road material and alignment. The processed data will then be used to update motorists in the area when hazards are present and, when appropriate, suggest alternate routes.

The incoming data would be anonymous. Officials are working on guidelines to allow drivers to opt out of the system for privacy considerations.

In addition to providing motorist warnings, such a system will alert emergency managers to hazardous driving conditions and enable state highway departments to efficiently keep roads clear of snow.

It can also help meteorologists refine their forecasts by providing them with continual updates about local weather conditions.

Motor vehicle manufacturers plan to install the onboard equipment in every new vehicle sold in the United States within a few years as part of a voluntary program to improve driving safety.

One of the biggest challenges for NCAR is to determine how to process the enormous amounts of data that could be generated by about 300 million motor vehicles. The center has worked with the Department of Defense, the aviation industry, and other organizations to analyze complex weather observations. But the new system incorporates information from far more sources, and those sources are moving.

NCAR engineers are developing mathematical formulas and other techniques to accurately interpret the information and eliminate misleading indicators.

For example, if a driver turns on the windshield wipers in clear weather to clean the windshield, the NCAR data system will identify that action as an outlier rather than issuing a false alert about precipitation.

"It's not enough to process the information almost instantaneously," says William Mahoney, who oversees the system's development for NCAR. "It needs to be cleaned up, sent through a quality control process, blended with traditional weather data, and eventually delivered back to drivers who are counting on the system to accurately guide them through potentially dangerous conditions."