Download or read book Policy Considerations and Evaluation of the Safety Effectiveness of Rumble Strips in Wyoming written by Mirza Ahammad Sharif and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rumble strips/stripes are used by many states as a relatively low cost proven safety countermeasure to reduce or prevent lane departure crashes by providing a vibrotactile and audible warning to inattentive motorists. Although the advantages of rumble strips are generally found to outweigh the disadvantages, several issues and concerns have been identified regarding the implementation of rumble strips. The main goal of this study is to develop an effective policy of shoulder and centerline rumble strips/stripes in the State of Wyoming to enhance motor vehicle safety while accommodating all road users to the highest practical extent. Surveys were conducted to assess road users' concerns about rumble strips. Moreover, several issues regarding the use of rumble strips/stripes including: construction, maintenance, and noise are discussed. With the help of WYDOT, information regarding the state of practice of rumble strips/stripes in the U.S. was collected. Information was obtained through a review of the literature, online survey, and email communication with States DOTs. Thirty states responded to the online survey. Only four agencies have fully adhered to the NCHRP guidelines; Idaho, Mississippi, Nevada, and New Mexico. Fifteen agencies indicated that they are using the guidelines provided by NCHRP with some modifications to suit the needs of their region. Seven agencies are using their own guidelines; Alabama, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming. Among the agencies which took the survey, only Oklahoma responded that they do not have a written policy for rumble strips. Based on the DOTs guidelines identified recently from the literature and survey responses, thirty state agencies have already made provisions to accommodate bicyclists. Only three agencies responded that they do not have any provisions for bicyclists while the remaining eighteen state agencies indicated that they do not have adequate information to address this issue. The rest of the survey results showed that many DOTs are still updating their rumble strip policies. DOTs which had already been using their own guidelines are now moving forward to accommodate the non-conventional vehicles and nearby residents. About 72 percent of the states are following the NCHRP Report 641 guideline, either strictly or with some modifications. Application criteria and maintenance practices vary by state. Shoulder rumble strips are more widely used than centerline rumble strips or shoulder rumble stripes. Rumble strips are installed mostly on rural roadways since they possess fewer constraints on installation criteria. All of the 30 states which responded to the survey are using SRS and among them 27 states are using CLRS. The use of the combination of SRS and CLRS is not adopted by all the states, only 55 percent of the states are using both types in combination. Although the NCHRP 641 issued guidance on how state agencies can balance the increase in rumble strips implementation while accommodating all roadway users, 16 percent of state DOTs have indicated that their policies do not have any provisions for bicyclists when installing rumble strips, whereas, 42 percent of the DOTs do not consider noise when installing rumble strips. Most of the DOTs commented that they try to avoid installing rumble strips in urban areas to prevent noise. From the survey responses, information gathered in earlier surveys, and from synthesis documents; it was found that 36 states made provisions to accommodate bicyclists; while only 3 states; Idaho, Maine, and Florida attempted to accommodate motorcyclists. Maine DOT provides skip pattern on centerline rumble strips in rumble strips to facilitate motorcycle lane changes. Idaho DOT uses centerline rumble strips only in no-passing zones. The governing criteria ranked by DOTs when a roadway is considered for installing rumble strips are in the following order; area type (urban vs. rural), guardrail, pavement type, pavement thickness, bicycle traffic, motorcyclists, noise, nearby residents. An Expert System has been developed to provide an interactive easy way to navigate through rumble strips/stripes practices and guidelines in the U.S. It is recommended that the information compiled in the 'Expert System' should be fully utilized when adopting a new policy. It is also recommended that other DOTs implement or upgrade their rumble strips policies may utilize recent information presented in this study. Nine rural two-lane segments of 121.6 miles were identified for safety effectiveness analysis and to calibrate Crash Modification Factors (CMF) for rumble strips in Wyoming. Three years of crash and traffic data in the before and after were used to conduct a Naïve before-after analysis. The results showed significant effect of shoulder rumble strips on reducing target crashes and total crashes. Total crashes reduced by 40%. Additionally, Fatal and Injury (F+I) crashes, and Single Vehicle Run-Off-Road (SVROR) crashes reduced by 44% and 39%, respectively.
Download or read book Safety Evaluation of Centerline Rumble Strips written by David A. Noyce and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Effectiveness of Various Safety Improvements in Reducing Crashes on Wyoming Roadways written by Zebulun C. Coulter and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 89 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2006, the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) SMS Committee organized an effort to reduce the number of fatal and serious injury crashes on Wyoming roadways. A plan was published in a formal document known as the Wyoming State Highway Safety Plan (WSHSP). When developing the WSHSP, the WYDOT SMS Committee recognized four main emphasis areas: roadway departure crashes, use of safety restraints, impaired driving, and speeding. While each one of the four emphasis areas plays an important role in the overall reduction of fatal and serious injury crashes statewide, this research focuses primarily on roadway departure crashes. This research study summarizes the effectiveness of the WSHSP on crash severity statewide. This is done by analyzing crash severity on geometric conditions statewide, as well as the effectiveness of two types of safety devices installed on selected roadway sections: shoulder rumble strips and cable median barriers.
Download or read book Effectiveness of Various Safety Improvements in Reducing Crashes on Wyoming Roadways written by Zebulun C. M. Coulter and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The high societal cost of roadway crashes nationwide makes improving highway safety an important objective of transportation agencies. Recognizing this, Safety Management Systems (SMS) have been required by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to encourage states to pursue and promote safety and accident investigations. In 2006, the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) SMS Committee organized an effort to reduce the number of fatal and serious injury crashes on Wyoming roadways. A plan was published in a formal document known as the Wyoming State Highway Safety Plan (WSHSP). When developing the WSHSP, the WYDOT SMS Committee recognized four main emphasis areas: roadway departure crashes, use of safety restraints, impaired driving, and speeding. While each one of the four emphasis areas plays an important role in the overall reduction of fatal and serious injury crashes statewide, this research focus' primarily on roadway departure crashes. This research study summarizes the effectiveness of the WSHSP on crash severity statewide. This is done by analyzing crash severity on geometric conditions statewide, as well as the effectiveness of two types of safety devices installed on selected roadway sections: shoulder rumble strips and cable median barriers.
Download or read book Guidance for the Design and Application of Shoulder and Centerline Rumble Strips written by Darren J. Torbic and published by Transportation Research Board. This book was released on 2009 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report provides guidance for the design and application of shoulder and centerline rumble strips as an effective crash reduction measure, while minimizing adverse effects for motorcyclists, bicyclists, and nearby residents. Using the results of previous studies and the research conducted under this project, safety effectiveness estimates were developed for shoulder rumble strips on rural freeways and rural two-lane roads and for centerline rumble strips on rural and urban two-lane roads.
Download or read book Development of Crash Modification Factors for Shoulder Rumple Strips and Passing Lanes on Rural Two way Two lane Highways written by Md Julfiker Hossain and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 117 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: According to the Wyoming Strategic Highway Safety Plan, lane departure crashes contribute to 72% of all critical crashes in Wyoming. Critical crashes are defined as events that lead to a fatality or incapacitating injury. In the US, single vehicle run off the road crashes contribute to a total of 54% of all crashes and a total societal loss of $80 billion every year. Shoulder Rumble Strips (SRS) have been proven to have a significant effect on reducing lane departure crashes. Passing lanes have also been considered as another effective countermeasure in reducing lane departure crashes though the primary objective of implementing passing lanes is to improve operation of two-way two-lane highways. The main objective of the study is to develop Crash Modification Factors for Shoulder Rumble Strips and Passing Lanes on two-way two-lane highways. Three main tasks were completed in this study to achieve the goal such as: 1) To develop Wyoming-specific full Safety Performance Functions, 2) To quantify the safety effectiveness of shoulder rumble strips, and 3) To develop Crash Modification Factors for Passing Lanes. Safety Performance Functions (SPFs) are needed to calibrate Crash Modification Factors for any countermeasure using before-after with Empirical Bayes (EB) analysis. The Highway Safety Manual (HSM) provides simple SPFs that consider Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT) only to predict crashes. Also, the SPFs were developed utilizing data from limited number of states which may not represent the actual site conditions in Wyoming. Therefore, Wyoming-specific full Safety Performance Functions were developed in this study for total, fatal and injury, and lane departure crashes. Initially the data for Safety Performance Functions were collected for 12 years from 2003 to 2014. While verifying the data through navigating the Pathway Video Logs, an intermittent application of shoulder rumble strips was noticed. Therefore, a more accurate final data set was developed considering 7 years from 2008 to 2014. CMFs are dependent on the accuracy of the calibrated SPFs. A Normal Regression model with a Log-Link model was utilized to develop Wyoming-specific full Safety Performance Functions. While it is simple to quantify the safety effectiveness of permanent shoulder rumble strips, the process becomes challenging when resurfacing and shoulder rehabilitation may result in an intermittent presence of SRS in some locations. This study quantified the safety effectiveness of shoulder rumble strips for three different conditions; 1) assuming that SRS are present at all times since their initial implementation, 2) considering only verified sections with existing SRS for a continuous period of time, and 3) considering the intermittent nonexistent time periods of SRS as before period with after period when SRS are implemented. The thesis utilized cross-sectional and observational before-after with Empirical Bayes (EB) methods for the aforementioned three different conditions. The results from this study indicate that the safety effectiveness of shoulder rumble strips might be underestimated in case of not considering the intermittent implementation practice in the state. Specifically, it was found that SRS are 30% and 17% more effective in reducing fatal and injury, and lane departure crashes when considering the intermittent implementation compared to assuming their continued presence, respectively. Shoulder rumble strips resulted in about 50 and 40 percent reduction in fatal and injury crashes and lane departure crashes, respectively, considering the intermittent use. When the intermittent use was not considered, the shoulder rumble strips yielded only 14 to 28 percent reduction in different type of crashes which might be misleading. It is recommended that transportation agencies should consider immediate reapplication of SRS after resurfacing projects in order to help in reducing fatal and injury, and lane departure crashes. The final task of this study was to develop Crash Modification Factors for passing lanes. Passing lane is a potential countermeasure to reduce fatal and injury, and lane departure crashes. In this study, Crash Modification Factors for passing lanes were calculated by utilizing before-after with Empirical Bayes (EB) analysis. It is worth mentioning that the developed Wyoming-specific Safety Performance Functions were used to predict crashes in EB analysis. The result of the observational before-after analysis showed that the Crash Modification Factors for passing lanes were 0.58, 0.69 and 0.69 for total, fatal and injury, and lane departure crashes, respectively. Implementation of passing lanes in two-way two-lane highways is a cost-effective countermeasure to reduce crashes along with improving operations compared to four-lane construction.
Download or read book WRRSP written by Khaled Ksaibati and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: SAFETEA-LU contains language indicating that state department of transportation (DOTs) will be required to address safety on local and rural roads. It is important for state, county, and city officials to cooperate in producing a comprehensive safety plan to improve their statewide safety. This legislation provides an opportunity to implement a more cohesive and comprehensive approach to local road safety in Wyoming. The Wyoming Local Technical Assistant Program (LTAP) coordinated an effort in cooperation with the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) as well as Wyoming counties and cities to identify low cost safety improvements on righ risk rural roads in Wyoming. In this project, safety techniques and methodologies were developed to identify and then rank high risk locations on rural roadways in Wyoming. What makes this project unique is the high percentage of gravel roads at the local level in Wyoming. The evaluation procedure developed is based on historical crash records and field evaluations. The main objective of this research was to develop and evaluate transportation safety techniques that can help Wyoming agencies in reducing crashes and fatalities on rural roads statewide. Three Wyoming counties were included in the pilot study. The statewide implementation began in 2009. This report describes the findings and recommendations of this research study, which would be very beneficial not only in Wyoming but also to those states interested in implementing a High Risk Rural Road (HRRR) Program.
Download or read book Safety Effectiveness of Regulatory Headlight Signs in Wyoming Phase 1 written by University of Wyoming. Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 81 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although Daytime Running Lights (DRLs) may have a significant impact on increasing vehicle conspicuity during different times of the day, their effect on overall safety is still up for debate. A recent study by the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) showed that DRLs offer no statistically significant reduction in the frequency or severity of crashes analyzed. There are functional issues with using automatic DRLs only: drivers with automatic DRLs often do not turn on their low-beam headlights in adverse weather conditions and at dusk or dawn. This is especially dangerous because the taillights do not come on until the low-beam headlights are turned on manually. This becomes more important at hazardous roadway sections that require both headlights and taillights. This project investigated the impact of the compliance rate, and the density of the DRL technology on the safety benefits of regulatory headlight signs on mountainous and non-mountainous rural two-lane highways. The safety effectiveness of headlight signs was examined based on DRLs-equipped and non-DRL- equipped vehicles. Simple odds and ratio of odds ratios were utilized to adjust for a variety of exogenous factors. Four different scenarios were considered in analyzing crash data. A case-control method was used to compare crashes for a set of passenger vehicles equipped with DRLs and vehicles without DRLs on roadway sections with and without headlight signs. The low compliance rate to the mandatory headlight sign may result in misleading conclusions about the safety benefits of the regulatory headlight signs. A careful analysis should be carried out to quantify the actual benefits. Development of social media campaigns might be necessary to raise public awareness about the importance of complying with the mandatory headlight use signs.
Download or read book Evaluation of Innovative Safety Treatments written by Vivek Reddy and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 23 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Instandhaltung written by and published by . This book was released on 1972 with total page 79 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Evaluating Safety and Operational Effectiveness of Truck Climbing Lanes Along Interstate 80 in Wyoming written by Muhammad Tahmidul Haq and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 131 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Roadway safety is of a primary concern for all stakeholders in the transportation industry, as well as the general public. A major use of the highway system is the movement of goods, and the trucking industry keeps on contributing fundamentally to the nation’s economy. Over the recent years, the United States has encountered steady development in the amount of freight transported by truck because of globalization, trade growth, and improvements in logistics and supply chain management. In 2012, 4 million tons of freight in United States were transported by trucks, which accounted for 68.5 percent of the total freight weight. This percentage is expected to continue to grow in the next ten years. Although these improvements have prompted financial development, there has been a sharp increase in the extent of cargo/truck movement going along key routes that has caused significant interactions between trucks and other vehicles. In 2016, over 4,300 people died in large truck related crashes in the United States. The number of motor vehicle fatalities increased by 1,976 in 2016 compared to 2015, which was about 5.6% increase. Among these motor vehicle occupants killed in traffic crashes, approximately 21% were due to truck-related crashes. The approximate average cost of a large-truck related crash was more than $91,000. Wyoming is also encountering an extensive increase in truck movement along Interstate 80 (I-80). The increased interactions between trucks and other vehicles have raised many operational and safety concerns along I-80. According to Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) annual crash report, 65% of fatal truck crash (medium and heavy truck) occurred on interstate highways of Wyoming in 2016, and 54% of these fatal crashes were observed on I-80 in Wyoming. On the other hand, the presence of heavy truck traffic degrades the operational performance of roadway system. According to the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM), passenger cars can negotiate upgrades of 4% to 5% without a noticeable loss in speeds maintained on level roadways. However, the performance of trucks is greatly affected by vertical grades. Trucks start losing their speeds at freeway grades of about 1%. Trucks generally decrease speed by more than 7% on upgrades as compared to their operation on level terrains. The reduction in truck speeds depends on the rate and length of grades, as summarized by the HCM. This causes a lot of friction between passenger cars and trucks on upgrades, with a noticeable difference in speeds. Also, because of the high truck percentage, it is very common for trucks to use the left lane, which causes a queue buildup behind them and leading to deteriorated traffic conditions. This study investigated the impacts of truck traffic on selected upgrades of freeway segments along I-80 in Wyoming and climbing lanes were considered as one of the potential mitigation strategies to enhance operational efficiency and safety. Cross-sectional analysis was adopted to evaluate the safety effectiveness of climbing lanes. Data were collected from different sources and Wyoming-specific Safety Performance Functions (SPFs) were developed using crash data from 2008 to 2016 for different severity levels and crash types. All the segments were selected from I-80 in Wyoming with climbing lanes as treatment sites, and segments with similar geometrical characteristics without climbing lanes as comparison sites. The Negative Binomial (NB) and Zero-Inflated Negative Binomial (ZINB) model were used to develop Wyoming-specific SPFs for I-80 as they were found to fit better for the crash data. The Crash Modification Factors (CMFs) for climbing lanes were found effective in reducing different severity levels and crash types. For operational analysis, a ten-mile eastbound segment along I-80 (MP 313 – MP 323) was chosen, and the traffic volume and roadway geometry associated with this segment were collected to evaluate the climbing lane efficiency for this specific segment. A combination of VISUM and VISSIM was applied to develop microsimulation model for both current and future (the year 2027 and 2037) traffic conditions at selected segment of I-80 corridor. It was found that the installation of climbing lanes has the potential to improve operational performances (average delay, total delay, total travel time, average speed) for a 10 and 20-year planning horizon.
Download or read book A Study of Effectiveness of Various Shoulder Rumble Strips on Highway Safety written by Chung S. Chen and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 78 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Run-off-the-Road (ROTR) type of accident has been a predominant factor in highway fatalities nationwide. This situation has created a major concern and challenge for traffic management within transportation departments. Shoulder rumble strips are new traffic control devices for interstate and limited access roadway systems, which hold great potential for reducing ROTR accidents. Consequently, they have become a critical and attractive subject for highway safety improvements. Although shoulder rumble strips have been recognized as an effective measure and have been widely tested by 35 state agencies and several countries, the rolled type rumble strip is found most often in the literature. The optimal design patterns among the available types and their effectiveness have not been quantitatively tested and confirmed. This paper reexamines different typical patterns using field tests, implementation surveys from agencies, and mathematical analysis. A model has been developed to determine the optimal patterns. The results reveal that a milled pattern is superior to a rolled pattern for asphalt shoulders in terms of audibility and tactility effectiveness, quality control and ease of construction. The corrugated pattern is practical for concrete shoulders. Evidence is presented that existing implementation of policy and design criteria for rolled rumble strips should be modified and that more research is needed to determine the degree of effectiveness.
Download or read book Safety Evaluation of Centerline Plus Shoulder Rumble Strips written by Craig Lyon and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The research documented in this report was conducted as part of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Evaluation of Low-Cost Safety Improvements Pooled Fund Study (ELCSI-PFS). The FHWA established this pooled fund study in 2005 to conduct research on the effectiveness of the safety improvements identified by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program Report 500 Guides as part of the implementation of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Strategic Highway Safety Plan. The ELCSI-PFS studies provide a crash modification factor (CMF) and benefit-cost (B/C) economic analysis for each of the targeted safety strategies identified as priorities by the pooled fund member states. The combined application of centerline and shoulder rumble strips evaluated under this pooled fund study is intended to reduce the frequency of crashes by alerting drivers that they are about to leave the travelled lane. Geometric, traffic, and crash data were obtained at treated two-lane rural road locations in Kentucky, Missouri, and Pennsylvania. The results of this evaluation show that head-on, run-off-road, and sideswipe-opposite-direction crashes were significantly reduced, and application of centerline and shoulder rumble strips also has potential to reduce crash severity for all types of crashes.
Download or read book Safety Effectiveness of Centerline Rumble Strips and Shoulder Rumble Strips on Louisiana Two lane Highways written by Sushmita Khanal and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Report written by and published by . This book was released on 1964 with total page 838 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Guidance for Implementation of the AASHTO Strategic Highway Safety Plan written by and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book NCHRP Report 641 written by and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
