The original name of the department was the ‘Department of Tractors and Automobiles’. The department was established in 1952 under a proposal to develop a new faculty aimed at agricultural mechanisation. The department was responsible, in teaching terms, for all courses (subjects) linked with the specialist area of tractors and trucks in every faculty of the University of Agriculture, Prague. Academic and research work began at the end of 1950s. The main focus was initially on tractors. By the end of the fifties the department had successfully completed the research phase of the project: ‘Researching and studying the influence of parameter design on the working properties of agricultural tractors’. In the years 1961-1965 the department actively participated in the following projects: ‘Research in the operation of tractor engines’ and ‘Research in the conception of complex tractors and their working parts’. Significant changes in the department’s activities became possible at the beginning of the nineties as a result of the new political and economic situation in the Czech Republic (former Czechoslovakia). The faculty’s new name and the curriculum change led to the implementation of a wide range of new courses. These activities involved considerable effort on the part of the department’s staff. The most important development was the introduction in 1993 of a new specialist area of study at the technical faculty: ‘Road and terrain load transport’. This specialisation was later changed into a separate branch of study ‘Road and urban motor vehicle transport’. The department owes its current name to the increased emphasis on the importance of the theme of traffic.
Focus:
The mission of the DVGT is to provide teaching and research in the following specialisms: combustion engines, traffic engineering, vehicle mechanisms, vehicle driving properties and mobile machines operating in motor car transport, agriculture, forestry and civil engineering. The core activity of the department is to supervise the study branch ‘Road and urban cars transport’. In accordance with its mission, the DVGT focuses mainly on the ecological aspects of the operation of mobile techniques. Most of the teaching is intended for Technical Faculty students, but the DVGP also contributes to the teaching of students from other faculties in the university.
Educational activity:
Katedra je garantem studijního oboru "Silniční a městská automobilová doprava". V rámci svého poslání věnuje pozornost zejména ekologickým aspektům provozu mobilní techniky. Převážná část pedagogické práce je určena studentům technické fakulty, katedra se však částečně podílí i na výuce studentů ostatních fakult univerzity.
Research activity:
Activities in the field of science and research concentrate mainly on the theme of transport ecology, engine vehicles and combustion engines. The DVGT focuses on the operational economy of engine vehicles and transport safety. Departmental staff play a role in a grant-funded project by the MDCR (Ministry of Transport of the Czech Republic). Another aspect of the research of the DVGT is linked with the theme of soil compaction, and other departmental staff are involved in the faculty’s research project. The strategy of the DVGT in the field of science and research is to develop the above mentioned areas in the near future. Emphasis will be placed on international activities and projects. Nowadays new projects are prepared by the staff of the DVGT in conjunction with Mendel University, Brno, and the Transport Faculty of the Technical University, Prague.
International contacts:
Departmental staff regularly and actively participate in international symposiums, conferences, seminars and workshops that focus on and are of relevance to the department’s mission. The DVGT also organises at regular intervals international seminars and conferences on the theme of vehicles and transport. An important international activity is the participation of members of the department in the EU COST management committee (Action 356: Towards the definition of a measurable environmentally sustainable transport). Another member of the DVGT staff is involved in ISTVS (The International Society for Terrain - Vehicle Systems, Inc.). The DVGT is currently developing collaborative links with the Kimenlaakso Polytechnic, Kotka, Finland, under the auspices of the Socrates Erasmus programme