Clay Gabler Received the 2022 Kenneth A. Stonex Award
Clay Gabler received the Kenneth A. Stonex Roadside Safety Award at the 2022 Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. The Kenneth A Stonex Award is the highest award offered by the roadside safety committee for outstanding contributions to improving highway and roadside safety. The award was presented on January 11, 2022, exactly one year from when Clay passed away. The award was a fitting way to remember Clay's accomplishments, his humble character, and our friendship. The award was received by Clay's students, colleagues, and friends.
The inscription on the plaque reads as follows:
Kenneth A Stonex Roadside Safety Award Presented to Dr. Hampton Clay Gabler III in recognition of his 37 years of outstanding contributions to improving highway and roadside safety
Clay was an active member of the Transportation Research Board's Roadside Safety Design Committee (AKD20) for over 10 years. After receiving his B.S. in nuclear engineering and earning his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, Clay joined the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 1984. While working at NHTSA, Clay worked on crash compatibility of vehicles, head to A-pillar interactions and event data recorders. He moved to academia in 1998 becoming a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Rowan University. Clay became more involved in roadside safety, app;ying his knowledge of occupant safety and his passion for data-based analysis to various roadside safety design issues like using EDR data for crash data analysis, investigating the effectiveness of median barriers to reduce crossover crashes, auditing severe injury guardrail crashes, and assessing the feasibility of breakaway utility poles. He moved to Virginia Tech in 2005 where he continued his work in roadside safety characterizing guardrail damage that warrants repair, examining injury mechanisms in motorcycle-barrier crashes, collecting real-world crash data, and examining guardrail terminal performance. Clay tragically passed away in January 2021, at which time he was leading an effort evaluating occupant risk metrics and characterizing roadside and work zone encroachments. His impressive body of work includes more than 80 journal publications, 30 technical reports, and more than 150 conference proceedings; most of which focused on roadside safety. Clay was an excellent researcher, dedicated educator, committed mentor, and honorable man who will be greatly missed by his peers.