Enhancement of Traffic Safety

Dr. Hozayen Ahmed Hozayen

Hozayena@yahoo.com
0020106044758

Course Notes

Course Outline
1 – Introduction to Traffic Engineering
Duties of traffic engineers
Traffic system components
Types of traffic studies

2 - Accident Studies and Analysis :

Factors causing crashes
Types of accidents
Collision diagram of accidents
Condition diagram of accident sites

3 - Accident Data Collection and Statistics :

Accident rate calculations
Accident Reporting
Filing system of accident data record
Accident Statistics
Determining High-accident locations

1
 Course Outline (Cont.)

4- Safety Countermeasures
Curve improvements
Enhanced Traffic control Devices
Milled rumble strips
Intersections re-alignment

5- Work Zone Safety

Fundamental principles of work zone control
Work zone areas and their components
Taper lengths and types
Advanced traffic control devices

What is it?
Traffic Engineering : It is that phase of Engineering which
deals with the safe and efficient
movement of people and goods.

Traffic engineer duties:

1- Interaction with the public and public safety .
2- Executing a systematic data collection program
( Volumes - Speed - accidents - ….. ).
3- Establishing an inventory program
( signs - signals - marking - …. ) .
4- Carry out traffic management schemes .

2
Key References and Terminology:

1- Manual for Uniform Traffic Control Devices ( MUTCD ).

It describes details on signs , signals ,
marking, lighting , regulations.
2- Highway Capacity Manual ( HCM ) .
3- AASHTO green book.
(Geometric design details).

General References:

“ Traffic Engineering “ by McShane and Roess .

“ Traffic Flow Fundamentals “ by May .
“ Traffic and Highway Engineering “ by Garber .

3
4
Available Sources for the MUTCD

Since December 2000 on FHWA’s

MUTCD website:
http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov
Printed and CD ROM versions from
professional organizations such as:
ATSSA, AASHTO, ITE, GPO, and
others

Who Uses the MUTCD?

State and local highway officials
Law enforcement professionals
Construction and manufacturing industries
Engineering consultants
Departments of motor vehicles
Insurance and other private industry
Academia and GENERAL PUBLIC

5
 The MUTCD Describes How
Traffic Control Devices are Used
in a Variety of Situations

Manual on Uniform Traffic

Control Devices
Part 1 – General
Part 2 – Signs
Part 3 – Markings
Part 4 – Highway Traffic Signals
Part 5 – Traffic Control Devices for Low Volume Roads
Part 6 – Temporary Traffic Control
Part 7 – Traffic Controls for School Areas
Part 8 – Traffic Controls for Highway-Rail Grade Crossings
Part 9 – Traffic Controls for Bicycle Facilities
Part 10 – Traffic Controls for Highway-Light Rail Transit
Grade Crossings

6
 Transportation Mode Highlights

Transit

•Includes:
• buses
• light rail
• heavy rail

7
 Passenger Miles by Mode

Air Passenger car

Passenger Vehicle
Air
Bus
Rail

Freight Miles by Mode

Trucks

Rail Trucking
Water
Pipe
Rail

Water

Pipeline

City Functions
• Maintain state highways and traffic control
within their jurisdiction through an agreement
with the Iowa DOT
• Collaborate with the state on development of
state highways in their jurisdiction
• Construct and maintain city streets
• Regulate developers and roadway development
within their jurisdiction (land use planning and
zoning)
• Implement and operate traffic controls
• Enforce regulations and laws

8
Transportation Modes Interaction
• Factors affecting choice:
– Cost
– Travel Time
– Convenience
– Flexibility

For example:
– Automobile: reliable, flexible, and comfortable

1-2 - System Components:

•Driver
•Pedestrian
•Vehicle
•Road

9
 Topics covered
• Driver Characteristics
• Vehicle Characteristics
• Static and Dynamic Characteristics
• Road Characteristics

Design Driver
• Wide range of system users
• What range of drivers use the system?
– Ages: 16 year old to 80 year old
– Different mental and physical states
– Physical (sight, hearing, etc)
– experience
• Design Driver: driver most expected to
use facility (familiar or unfamiliar?)

10
 Age distribution of drivers
12
Percent of Driving Population

10

0
< 20

20-24

25-29

30-34

35-39

40-44

45-49

50-54

55-59

60-64

65-69

70-74

75-79

80-84

> 84
Age Groups

Human Characteristics
• Perception-Reaction Time
• Visual Reception
• Walking Speed
• Hearing Perception
• Actions taken by drivers depend on their
ability to receive, evaluate, and respond
to situations – dog darting into roadway

11
 Visual Reception

• Glare Recovery: Ability to recover from

the effects of glare
• Dark to light : 3 seconds -- headlights in the eye
• Light to dark: 6 seconds – turning lights off
• Usually a concern for night driving

Need to provide light transitions

Aging’s impact of vision

• Older persons experience low light level
– Rules of thumb – after 50 the light you can
see halves with each 10 years
• Glare – overloading eye with light
– Older drivers can take twice as long to
recover from glare
• Poor discrimination of color
• Poor contrast sensitivity

12
 Visual Reception
• Depth perception
– Ability to estimate speed and distance
• Passing on two-lane roads
• Judging gaps
• Signs are standardized to aid in perceiving
distance
– Very young and old have trouble judging
gap

Age distribution of drivers

involved in crashes

13
 Hearing
• Ability to detect warning sounds
• Sirens, horns

Perception-Reaction Process
• 4 stages
• Perception
– Sees or hears situation (sees deer)
• Identification
– Identify situation (realizes deer is in road)
• Emotion
– Decides on course of action (swerve, stop, change lanes,
etc)
• Reaction (volition)
– Acts (time to start events in motion but not actually do
action)
• Foot begins to hit brake, not actual deceleration

14
 Perception-Reaction Process

• Perception
• Identification

• Emotion
• Reaction (volition)
PIEV
Used for Signal Design and Braking Distance

Typical Perception-Reaction
time range is:
0.5 to 7 seconds
Affected by a number of factors.
What are they?

15
 Pedestrians
• Characteristics similar to driver
• Design of pedestrian facilities
• Signal timing – get peds across during red
phase

Pedestrians
• Walking Speed varied between 3 to 8 ft/sec

• Design value is 4 ft/sec

Used to calculate safe pedestrians

crossing time

16
 Static Characteristics
• Size:
• Design of lane widths, parking bays, etc…
• Vertical clearance
• Weight:
• Pavement design, bridge design, axle loads
• Maximum grade

• Radius of Curvature:
• Intersection design
• Interchange ramps

Vehicle Regulation and

Dimensions
• Vehicle attribute regulated
– Vehicle condition
– Vehicle weight and weight distribution
• Bridge formula
• Axle loading
– Vehicle dimensions
• Total length
• Length of trailers
• Number of trailers
• Height
• Width

17
Vehicle types (triples are not
shown)

Stopping distance
Practical Stopping Distance

700
600
Stopping Distance

500
400
Series1
300
200
100
0
0 20 40 60 80
Speed in MPH

18
Grade impacts on stopping
Varying Grade

Stopping Distance in Feet 600

500
400 2 percent grade
0 percent grade
300
-2 percent grade
200
100
0
0 20 40 60 80
Miles per Hour

Friction impact on stopping

Varying Friction
Stopping Distance in Feet

1800
1600
1400
1200 Friction = 0.5
1000
Friction = 0.25
800
600 Friction = 0.1
400
200
0
0 20 40 60 80
Miles per Hour

19
 Impact of reaction time
Varying Reaction Time

800 2.5 second

Stopping
Distance

600 reaction time

1.5 second
400
reaction time
200 0.6 second
0 reaction time
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Miles per Hour

Road Characteristics

20
 Sight distance

Distance a driver can see ahead at any specific time

Must allow sufficient distance for a driver to
perceive/react and stop, swerve etc when necessary

Stopping Sight Distance

Distance to stop vehicle, includes P/R time and braking
distance
S = 1.47ut + _____u2_____
30({a/g} ± G)
where:
Db = braking distance
u = initial velocity when brakes are applied
f = coefficient of friction
G = grade (decimal)
t = time to perceive/react
a = vehicle acceleration
g = acceleration due to gravity (32.2 ft/sec2)

21
 Stopping Sight Distance
With assumed acceleration, using friction

S = 1.47ut + _____u2_____
30(f ± G)
where:
Db = braking distance
u = initial velocity when brakes are applied
f = coefficient of friction
G = grade (decimal)
t = time to perceive/react

SSD Example
• A vehicle is traveling at uniform velocity, at t0 the
driver realizes a vehicle is stopped in the road ahead
and the driver brakes
• Grade = + 1%
• tP/R = 0.8 sec
• The stopped vehicle is just struck, assume vf = 0
• The distance since the driver realize the stopped vehicle
till he stopped is 405 feet
• Assume normal deceleration (11.2 ft/sec2)
• Should the police office at the scene cite the driver for
traveling over the 55 mph posted speed limit?

22
 SSD Example
SSD = 1.47ut + _____u2_____
30({a/g} ± G)

Stopping distance = 405 feet

405 feet = 1.47u(0.8 sec) +
________u2________
30({11.2/32.2} +
0.01)
405 feet = 1.17u + ________u2________
30(0.358)
405 feet = 1.17u + ________u2________
10.73
Solving for u, u = 59.9 mph

Passing Sight Distance

• Minimum distance required to safely complete passing
maneuver on 2-lane two-way highway
• Allows time for driver to avoid collision with approaching
vehicle and not cut off passed vehicle when upon return to lane
• Assumes:
1. Vehicle that is passed travels at uniform speed
2. Speed of passing vehicle is reduced behind passed vehicle as it
reaches passing section
3. Time elapses as driver reaches decision to pass
4. Passing vehicle accelerates during the passing maneuver and
velocity of the passing vehicle is 10 mph greater than that of
the passed vehicle
5. Enough distance is allowed between passing and oncoming
vehicle when the passing vehicle returns to its lane

23
 Passing Sight Distance

Passing Sight Distance

Dpassing = d1 + d2 + d3 + d4
d1 = distance traveled during P/R time to point where
vehicle just enters the left lane

d1 = 1.47t1(u – m + at1)
2
where
t1 = time for initial maneuver (sec)
u = average speed of passing vehicle (mph)
a = acceleration (mph/s)
m = difference between speeds of passing and passed
vehicle

24
 (1-3)
Traffic Demand
Studies
•Speed Studies .
•Sight Distance Studies.
•Volume Studies .
•Parking Studies.

Speed Studies

25
 SPEEDS

L=1 L=
T=t T=
Design Speed : Max. Safe speed that can be obtained on the road .
Spot Speed :It is the instantaneous speed of a vehicle at specific time ( l/t) .
Average Spot Speed :
Where N is the number of observed Vehicles . l
+
l
+ ......... +
l
t t t
overall speed : It is the total distance divided by the total= time .1 2

N
n

Running Speed (Operating Speed ) ( Traveling Speed ) :

It is the total distance divided by the running time .
L t1 + t2 + .......+ tn
Space Mean Speed : = tav
Where: =
Example : t av
N
given :
Vehicle 1 ………. 12
Number
Time ( sec. ) 3.5 ………. 10 N=12 , L = 400 ft.

Where : (Locations of Spot Speed )

-1 M id
- blocks of Urban Highways .
2- Straight and Level Sections of Rural Highways .
3- Geometric Improvement Locations .
4−( Problems- accidents- ..etc.)

When : Timing
−Off Peak . ( not during peak hour ) .
−The length of time ( Recording period ) Should allow
recording the minimum no. of Vehicles Required for the
study .
Min. one hour .
Min. sample size = 30 Vehicles ) .

26
How : Methods for Measuring spot speed :
Pulse Detector
1- Road Detectors ( Pneumatic tube ,
inductive loops )
2- Doppler Principle meter ( Ultrasonic t
meter , Remote sensing , Radar )
3- Aerio-Photo
4- Video Camera ( plus Computer ) .
Advantages : L
Less Human Error . Electrical Loop
Disadvantages :
Cost .
Affect Driver’s Response .
5- Inductive Loop .
Buried wire loop or electrical field
Impulse Counter

Pneumatic Road Tubes

27
Road Tubes for Collection of Spot Speed

Recorder

Sight Distance

28
 Vertical Curves
Stopping sight distance over a vertical curve

Measuring at an Uncontrolled Intersection

Assistant

Obstruction

Y
en
Li
ht
g
Si

Decision
Observer
Point

29
 Assistant

Movement of Assistant

Observer

Assistant with Target Rod (4.25 ft)

Observer with Sighting Rod (3.5 ft)

30
 Measuring Stopping Sight
Distance

Assistant with Target Rod (2ft object height)

Observer with
Sighting Rod (3.5 ft)

31
 Traffic Volume

Traffic Volume Definitions

- number of vehicles, pedestrians, etc. passing a point
during a specific period of time
– for vehicles, usually expressed as veh/hour (vph) or veh/hour/lane (vphpl)

Traffic Volume: Number of vehicles that pass a certain

point
on the road in a specified period of time
X

X
Volume is the most often parameter used to quantify Traffic Demand.

32
Traffic Typically Peaks twice per day,
depending on City and Country
7000

6000
Highway Capacity
Flow in vehicles per hour

5000
Highly Congested
4000

3000

2000

1000

0
2: AM
3: AM
4: AM
5: AM
6: AM
7: AM
8: AM
9: AM
10 AM

2 : PM
3 : PM
4 : PM
5 : PM
6 : PM
7 : PM
8 : PM
9 : PM
1 0 PM
1 : PM

1 1 PM
1 2 PM
1: M

11 AM

12 AM

M
0A

0A
30
30
30
30
30
30
30
30
30

30
30
30
30
30
30
30
30
30
0

0
0
0
0
:3

:3
:3
:3

:3
:3

:3
12

Time of Day

Counting Program
• To satisfy the traffic volume data needs for
all roads under a particular jurisdiction, we
establish a Counting Program

A systematic pattern of counting at

different times and locations

Transportation and Traffic Safety Center – Kuwait University Feb 2008 66

33
 Traffic Counts Map

Traffic Volume Studies

Methods and A Types of volume counts Planning and scheduling

Procedures and placing of volume counts
Cordon Volume Screen Line Intersection Origin – Destination
Studies Count Volume Studies Volume Studies
1
Ou 4
Leaving
t 2
Volume
A B 5
3
6 Inferencaes(in)
In Railway or River Exits
(out)
Entering Trafic volume OD 4 5 6
Volume Crossing a
major 1
Enter Leaving Barrier such as 2
(In) river or railway.
(Out) Accumulation 3
100 20 80 Applications of O-D studies
70 40+80=120 Techniques for O-D studies
30 1- Freeway Interchange
1- license plate tech.
50 40 10+120=130
2- Weaving areas 2- Post card tech.
60 80 130-20=110 3- light tech. 44- Road side interviews
3- Regional planning

34
 Traffic Volume Studies

Methods Types and placing B Planning and scheduling

of volume counts

Continuous Control Coverage

Counters Counters Counters
1
2

3 4 5

6
Objective of Planning and scheduling of volume counters:
1- To identify traffic variations and patterns.
2- To estimate the AADT and traffic peak hour volume.

Types of count stations

1 – Continuous Count Station: (AADT) (MF)

- Traffic volume is counted 24 hrs, 365days.

- The AADT can be directly obtained .
- Data are used to adjust traffic counts obtained from control or coverage
station.
- To establish monthly factor (MF).

2 –Control Station: (DF)

- Traffic volume is counted for one week (7 days every month).

- To establish Daily Factor.

3- Coverage Count Station: Hourly Factor (HF)

- Traffic Volume is counted for 24 hrs on a week.

- To establish Hourly Factor (HF).
- Every 4 years.

35
 Volume Variability within the Hour
Example: Time Interval Volume in time interval Rate of Flow

5:00 – 5:15 1000 1000 (60/15) = 4000

5:15 – 5:30 1100 1100/0.25 = 4400
5:30 – 5:45 1200 1200 / 0.25 = 4800
5:45 – 6:00 900 900/0.25 = 3600

Total = 4200 vph

= Hourly volume vph

Max. Rate of flow or (Service flow) = 4800 veh /hr (vph)

4200 = Hourly volume
Peak Hour Factor =
4800 Max. Rate of flow or (service volume)

HV HV
PHF = or SF =
SF PHF
PHF is a measure of variability (of peaking) that may occurs during one hour.
Note: The time interval could be 5 or 10 or 15 minutes or any other
time period.

Parking Studies

36
 Parking Supply and Demand

Parking Studies:
Parking Studies are essential in areas such as:
- Central Business District (CBD)
- High Value Land
- High Population density
- Fully Saturated Curb Parking (on-street)
Parking Supply:
No. of spaces in parking lots+Areas available for use as
parking lots.
No. of spaces in parking Garages+Areas available for use as
parking Garages.
No. of spaces in on-street Parking +Areas available for on-street
parking.

Parking Supply and Demand (Cont.)

Parking Demand:
No. of Vehicles (drivers) who wish to park.

Factors affecting parking demand:

- Car Ownership
- Existence of Public Transit
- Pedestrian distance
- Type of Land Use (Shopping, Hospitals,…….)

37
 2- Parking Accumulation:
It is the no. of parked vehicles at any specified time period in a day.

Capacity of Parking Lot = 800 space

800
No. of Parked vehicles

700 19 % Vacancy Rate

600 650 = 81% Occupancy Rate
800
500 (OR)
400

300
Area (A)

200
100
0
8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Time of day

(2)
Accident Studies and
Analysis

76

38
 Factors Causing Crashes
• Driver
• Vehicle
• Roadway
• Environment

77

Improving Safety
• 3 aspects
– Driver (Road User)
• Driver training
• Blood alcohol limits or Mobile use
• Speed limits
• Driver license restrictions
– Road -- only one traffic engineer has control over
• Design
• Maintenance
• operational
– Vehicle
• Vehicle design has improved
• Air bags
• Better tires
• Seat Belts
78

39
 The moment of impact

A passenger on first seat

hasn’t fastened the seat belt

40
The driver fastened his seat belt

Immediately after impact

41
 The driver wore his seatbelt and lived. The passenger did not.

Take the time to wear your seatbelt.

Your life may depend on it.

42
 3 E’s of Traffic Safety

Education
Engineering

Enforcement

85

Engineering
• Geometry
– Lane width
– Horizontal-- vertical curves
– Sight distance
– Pavement condition
• Signing
• Intersection Control
– Clearance interval
– Proper stop control
• Approaches to highway safety
– Reduce occurrence
– Reduce severity
– Design aspects
86

43
 Engineering – there is only so
much we can do
• Bauer and Harwood of crash reports at eight
urban intersections found that “only 5 to 14% of
the accidents had causes that appeared to be
related to geometric design features of the
intersections.”
– Most crashes are caused by driver error
• Engineers can make sure that designs are
consistent, provide positive guidance, and
minimize cognitive load.
87

Designs Which Reduce Crashes

at Intersection

88

44
 Safety
 Points of Conflict and Types of Crashes
o Fewer conflict points

Traditional 4-Approach Intersection 4-Approach Roundabout

Diverging 8 Diverging 4
Merging 8 Merging 4
Crossing 16 Crossing 0
Total 32 Total 8

o Reduced speeds
o Changes the collision type

Safety
 Points of Conflict and Types of Crashes

Conflicts at a Signalized or Signed Intersection

Source: Roundabouts - Information Brief and Design Guide.

Alternate Street Design, Inc. Conflicts at a Single Lane Roundabout

45
 Safety
o Empirical Bayes observational before & after study (Persaud et al,
2001)
o Crash Reduction
o 23 Intersections
o All crashes - 40%
o Injury Crashes - 80%
o Consistent with internationally studies

Lothian, Maryland

Safety - Roundabout
o King County, WA
Injury Accident Statistics High-Speed Roundabouts vs. High-Speed Signals
Category Injury Accidents per 100 Million Vehicles
Fatal Serious Slight Total Number of Average
Sites Daily Traffic
Roundabouts 0.19 3.8 24.7 28.7 11 27,800
50–70 mph1
Signals 0.56 11.8 39.2 51.5 8 20,400
45-55 mph2
Novelty Hill Road, 0.0 29.9 62.3 92.2 1 13,700
Existing2
Projected 0.13 2.54 16.52 19.19
Roundabout3
1 Maycock and Hall, “Accidents at 4-arm Roundabouts” 1984
2 WSDOT Accident Records and WSDOT Traffic Counts
3 Projections from RODEL Ltd.

46
Reducing Accident Occurrence
• Prevention
• 96% involve some form of driver error
• Make safer designs
• Lowest accident rates on freeways where
geometry, signing, and marking standards are the
highest
• Proper geometric design
• Proper traffic control
93

Accident Types
• Specific types of accidents often have
underlying causes
• Clustering of types may indicate a specific
cause
• Specific causes have possible
countermeasures

94

47
Accident Types

Site Analysis
• Once location is identified as high crash locations,
need to identify causes
• Site investigation
• Collision diagram
– Schematic of all accidents for specific period
– Each accident shown by type and contributing factor
• Alcohol use
• Time of day
• weather
96

48
 Site Analysis
• Condition diagram
– Describes physical and environmental
conditions
– Geometry
– Traffic control
– Lighting
– Land use
– Driveway locations
98

49
 (3)
Accident Data Collection and
Statistics

50
 Highway Safety
General Facts
• 2,778 people were killed and 222,260 were
injured in road crashes in Canada during 2003
• 831 people were killed and 77,879 were injured
in road crashes in Ontario during 2003
• Transportation crashes remain a leading cause
of accidental death

• Motor vehicle collisions account for a high

percent of transportation-related deaths and an
even higher percentage of transportation
injuries.
• For the analyses of transportation trends, it is
usually used safety rates, which are estimated by
dividing the number of events (crashes,
fatalities, injuries, etc) by some measure of
exposure or subgroup (population, number of
trips, vehicle miles traveled, registered vehicles,
driver licensed, etc).

51
 Per Cent of Injured Persons in
Collisions by Severity of Injury
2003

Fatal: Person killed immediately or within 30 days

of the motor vehicle collision
Major: Person admitted to hospital. Includes
person admitted for observation
Minor: Person went to hospital and was treated
in the emergency room but was
not admitted
Minimal: Person did not go to hospital when
leaving the scene of the collision.
Includes minor abrasions, bruises and complaint
of pain
`

None: Uninjured person

52
 Ontario Statistics
(http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/safety/orsar/orsar03/c
hp2_03.htm)

Category of
Minimal Minor Major Fatal
Involved None Total
Injury Injury Injury Injury
Person

Driver 22 25,220 17,147 1,845 425 86,774

Passenger 24,122 14,496 8,897 1,020 216 48,751

Pedestrian 154 1,968 2,264 526 120 5,032

Bicyclist 33 1,221 1,040 137 13 2,444

Category of
Minimal Minor Major Fatal
Involved None Total
Injury Injury Injury Injury
Person
Bicycle
Passenger 10 97 92 13 0 212
All Terrain
Vehicle
Driver 8 9 17 4 1 39
All Terrain
Vehicle
Passenger 5 4 4 2 0 15
Snow
Vehicle
Driver 1 9 9 11 2 32
Snow
Vehicle
Passenger 0 6 3 1 0 10

53
Category of
Minimal Minor Major Fatal
Involved None Total
Injury Injury Injury Injury
Person
Motorcycle
Driver 78 284 582 221 46 1,211
Motorcycle
Passenger 40 70 156 42 6 314
Moped
Driver 11 14 15 3 0 43
Moped
Passenger 1 4 4 0 0 9

Hanger On 43 90 104 16 0 253

Total 67,096 43,630 30,401 3,848 831 145,8

Crash Rates
Basis for using Crash Rates
• Absolute number of crashes will not give the true
representation of the safety situation. Many
statistics are presented in the form of rates.
• Two based categories in crash rates:
– Population based
– Exposure based

54
 Crash Rates (contd.)
• Common bases for population based rates:
– Area population
– Number of driver licensed population
– Number of motor vehicle registered
– Highway (roadway) mileage
• Common bases for exposure based rates:
– Vehicles miles of travel
– Vehicles hours of travel

Crash Rates (contd.)

• Amount of travel is considered as a surrogate for
the exposure to “Risk”
• However, many other factors affect the risk:
- Volume levels on the roadway
- Environmental & surrounding activities
- Land use
- Intersection frequency
- Driveway density

55
 Crash Rates (contd.)
- Geometry of the roadway
- Speed
- Human factors
- Others

• For intersections, since VMT and VHT will not

make sense, total number of entering vehicles is
used instead. (Million Entering Vehicles)

Crash Rates (contd.)

Basic (most commonly used) Crash Rates:

• Crash rate per million entering vehicles

R = A ∗1,000,000
V
R: Crash rate per million entering vehicles
A: Total number of crashes on location considered
(usually for 1 year)
V: ADT*36

56
 Crash Rates (contd.)
• Crash rate per 100 million vehicles mile
R: Crash rate pr 100 million vehicle miles
traveled
A: Total number of crashes on section considered
(usually in 1 year)
A × 100,000,00 0
R =
VMT
VMT: Total vehicle miles traveled (ADT*N° of
days*length of section)

Crash Rates (contd.)

• Crash rate per mile

R = A
L
R: Crash rate per mile
A: Total number of crashes on section considered
(usually for 1 year)
L: Length of the section

57
 Crash Rates (contd.)
• Crash Involvement Rate:

N × 100,000,000
R=
VMT
R: Crash involvement rate per 100 million
vehicles traveled
N: Total number of drivers of vehicles involved
in crashes (usually in 1 year)
VMT: Total vehicle miles traveled (ADT*N° of
days*length of section)

Crash Rates (contd.)

• Death/Fatality Rate Based on Population

R = B × 100,000
P
R: Death/Fatality Rate per 100,000 people
B: Total number of traffic fatalities
P: Population

58
 Crash Rates (contd.)
• Death/Fatality Rate Based on Driver-Licensed
Population

R = B × 10,000
D
R: Death/Fatality rate per 10,000 licensed drivers
B: Total number of fatalities
D: Driver licensed population

Crash Rates (contd.)

• Death/Fatality Rate Based on Registered-Vehicle

R = B×10,000
M
R: Death/Fatality rate per 10,000 registered-
vehicles
B: Total number of fatalities
M: Total number of registered motor vehicles

59
 Crash Rates (contd.)
• Death/Fatality Rate Based on VMT

R = B ×100,000,00 0
VMT
R: Death/Fatality rate per 100 million VMT
B: Total number of fatalities
VMT: Total vehicle miles traveled (ADT*N° of
days*length of section)

Crash Rates (contd.)

Crash Indices:
• Severity Index: Defined as number of fatalities
per crash
SI = Total number of fatalities
Total number of crashes
Example: City A City B
70 fatalities 95 fatalities
2000 crashes 3500 crashes
SI= 0.035 SI= 0.027

60
 Crash Rates (contd.)
• Risk Index:
% of crash involvemen t in group
RI =
% of population in group

Example:
Driver group Population Crash RI
Distribution Involv.
Old driver 25% 30% 1.20
Middle age driver 45% 45% 1.00
Young driver 30% 25%
0.83

Global Safety Comparisons

(Fatality Rate – 2002 data - deaths/1B kmVT)
– United Kingdom 7.5
– Netherlands 7.6
– Sweden 8.3
– Norway 8.3
– Switzerland 8.4
– Finland 8.5
– Australia 9.0
– Denmark 9.2
– Canada 9.3 (Source: IRTAD 2004)

– Germany 11.1

61
 Global Safety Comparisons
(Fatality Rate – 2002 data - deaths/1B kmVT)
– United Kingdom 7.5
– Netherlands 7.6
– Sweden 8.3
– Norway 8.3
– Switzerland 8.4
– Finland 8.5
– Australia 9.0
– Denmark 9.2
– Canada 9.3
– USA 9.4 (Source: IRTAD 2004)
– Germany 11.1

Crash Reporting Systems

Crashes
• Crashes are complex events caused by many
different factors. These factors could be
divided in three categories:
– Drivers, occupant, pedestrian
– Highway
– Vehicle

• Estimates on causative factors: drivers 85%,

highway 10%, and vehicle 5%.

62
 Crash Database
Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS)
• FARS contains data on all crashes in the United
States that occur on a public roadway and where
a fatality is involved in the crash. Maintained by
the Department of Transportation, National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration, National
Center for Statistics and Analysis.

Crash Database (contd.)

• Available through the Bureau of Transportation
Statistics. Data from 1994 to 2004 is available
through its web site http://www.bts.gov . Data
prior to 1994 is available in CD format.
• FARS includes motor vehicle traffic crashes
that result in a fatality to a vehicle occupant or
non-motorist from injuries resulting from the
traffic crash within 30 days of the date of the
crash.

63
 Accident Data Analysis

• Four major types of accident analyses:

– Summarizing number of accidents and trends
– Identifying accident prone locations
– Selecting accident countermeasures
– Evaluating existing countermeasures

Accident Data Analysis

• Number of accidents at a location or set of

locations during certain time period are often
required by many people, such as engineers,
policy makers, news media, and so on. Such
summaries are useful in
– Distributing highway safety funding
– Identifying the magnitude of the problem
– Observing trends with time, etc

64
65
 Data

High-accident locations

66
 Data

School accident locations

Accident Countermeasures
(contd.)
• Each accident is plotted separately on the
approach and near the place where the first
harmful event is said to have occurred.
• An arrow in the direction of travel represents
each vehicle involved in the accident.

67
 Accident Countermeasures
(contd.)

• Symbols are used with the arrows to indicate

the vehicle types, intended vehicle movements,
accident severity, and accident type.
• Figure: a sample Collision Diagram

Accident Countermeasures
(contd.)
• Some accidents – as explained by police
accident reports, might have vehicles that
helped cause but were not damaged in the
accident. Arrow with different type of line than
that used for involved vehicles can represent
those uninvolved vehicles

• Road surface condition and lighting is also

shown. Type of fixed object, struck may also
be useful and shown.

68
Accident type symbol
Rear- End

Head On

Right Angel

Other Angel
( opposing direction )

Other Angel
( Common Direction )

Side Wipe
( common Direction )

69
 Side Wipe
( Opposing Direction )

Collision With fixed

Object

Movement symbol

Left turn

Right turn

Straight

70
 Vehicle type symbol
PASSNGER
(T)
Truck
(B)
Bus
(C)
Cycle
(O)
Other

pedestrian

(C)
Cycle

(O)
Other

pedestrian

71
Severity symbol

PDO

Injury

Fatal

72
73
 Crash Trend

147
Mn/DOT Traffic Safety Fundamentals Handbook

Fatality Rates in Upper Midwest

148
Mn/DOT Traffic Safety Fundamentals Handbook

74
 Location of Crashes

149
Mn/DOT Traffic Safety Fundamentals Handbook

Crash Rates by Functional

Class

Mn/DOT Traffic Safety Fundamentals Handbook

75
 Crash Rates by Design
Standard

Mn/DOT Traffic Safety Fundamentals Handbook

Crash Type Distribution

Mn/DOT Traffic Safety Fundamentals Handbook

76
 Crash Rate per Accesses

Mn/DOT Traffic Safety Fundamentals Handbook

Crash Rates by Intersection

Control

Mn/DOT Traffic Safety Fundamentals Handbook

77
 Crash Type by Intersection

Mn/DOT Traffic Safety Fundamentals Handbook

Severity Before and After

Signalization
Crash Severity
Before & After Signal Installation
High Speed Expressw ay Intersections

250

208
195
200

150
Bef ore
113
Af t er
98
100

53
47
50 37
32

7 9
4 3
0
Fat al Major Injury Minor Injury Possible Injury PDO Tot al

C r a sh S e v e r i t y
Cr ash data f or 13 i nter sections wer e incl uded in this Char t.

78
 RESULT & ANALYSIS
• Frequency analysis is presented for the
following variables only:
– Time
– Day
– Weather
– Road condition
– Accident type
– Location description A
– Location description B

RESULT & ANALYSIS

– No. of lanes
– Road type
– Car movement
– Accident cause A
– Accident cause B (rear collision)
– Accident cause C (side collision)
– Accident severity

79
 RESULT & ANALYSIS
Cumulative
Time Percent Time Vs
Percent
Frequency
30.0%
6:30am-9:00am 16.0 16.0

9:00am-12:30pm 23.9 39.9

25.0%

12:30pm-2:30pm 12.2 52.1

2:30pm-5:30pm 15.1 67.2 20.0% 6:30am-9:00am

Frequency Percentage
9:00am-12:30pm
12:30pm-2:30pm
5:30pm-8:30pm 16.9 84.1
2:30pm-5:30pm
15.0% 5:30pm-8:30pm
8:30pm-11:30pm 9.9 94.0 8:30pm-11:30pm
11:00pm-1:00am
1:00am-4:00am
11:00pm-1:00am 3.4 97.4
10.0% 4:00am-6:30am

1:00am-4:00am 1.5 98.9

5.0%
4:00am-6:30am 1.1 100.0

0.0%
Total 100.0
Time

RESULT & ANALYSIS

Day Vs Frequency Percentage

Cumulative 20.0%
Day Percent
Percent
18.0%

16.0%
Saturday 16.0 16.0
14.0%
Sunday 15.1 31.1
Saturday
12.0%
Sunday
Monday 15.6 46.7
F re q u e n c y

Monday
10.0% Tuesday
Wednesday
Tuesday 15.5 62.2 Thursday
8.0%
Friday
Wednesday 17.9 80.1 6.0%

Thursday 11.9 92.0 4.0%

Friday 7.9 99.9 2.0%

0.0%
Total 100.0
Day

80
 RESULT & ANALYSIS
Cumulative Accident cause B rear Cumulative
Accident Cause A Percent Percent
Percent collision Percent
Exit from local to main
13.0 13.0 Sudden stop 13.3 13.3
road

Enter from main to local

3.6 16.6 Sudden speed Reduction 12.3 25.6
road

Passing red light signal 1.5 18.1 Stopping in signal 4.4 30.0

Car parking 18.5 36.7 Impediment 1.1 31.0

Running over 1.1 37.8 Inside roundabout 1.2 32.3

Others 62.0 99.9 Others 67.7 100.0

Total 100.0 Total 100.0

RESULT & ANALYSIS

• Cross tabulation analysis is presented for
the following variables only:
Time Vs Day
– Time Vs Accident type
– Day Vs Accident type
– Road Condition Vs Weather
– Accident type Vs Weather
– Accident type Vs Time

81
 RESULT & ANALYSIS

– Accident Cause A Vs Day

– Accident Cause A Vs Governorate
– Accident Cause A Vs Road Type
– Accident Cause A Vs Location Description
A
– Accident Cause A Vs Location Description B

RESULT & ANALYSIS

– Accident Cause A Vs No of Lanes

– Accident Cause B (rear collision) Vs Time
– Accident Cause B (rear collision) Vs Day
– Accident Cause B (rear collision) Vs Governorate
– Accident Cause B (rear collision) Vs Road Type
– Accident Cause B (rear collision) Vs Location
description A

82
 RESULT & ANALYSIS
Day
Time Total
SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI

6:30am-9:00am 20.1% 17.8% 16.7% 13.9% 21.2% 7.0% 3.3% 100.0%

9:00am-12:30pm 17.7% 17.0% 15.3% 16.0% 18.8% 11.0% 4.1% 100.0%

12:30pm-2:30pm 14.7% 17.6% 14.7% 18.7% 15.8% 10.3% 8.1% 100.0%

2:30pm-5:30pm 14.2% 14.5% 15.4% 14.5% 14.8% 15.4% 11.2% 100.0%

5:30pm-8:30pm 12.6% 11.6% 15.5% 14.5% 18.4% 14.7% 12.6% 100.0%

8:30pm-11:30pm 14.5% 11.3% 14.9% 17.6% 20.8% 11.3% 9.5% 100.0%

11:00pm-1:00am 9.1% 16.9% 23.4% 11.7% 13.0% 15.6% 9.1% 100.0%

1:00am-4:00am 33.3% 12.1% 6.1% 9.1% 6.1% 18.2% 15.2% 100.0%

4:00am-6:30am 16.0% 4.0% 16.0% 20.0% 8.0% 20.0% 16.0% 100.0%

83
 (4)

Safety
Countermeasure
(forgiveness roads)

Safety Improvement
• Design beyond minimum design standards
• Update existing facilities to current
standards
• Maintain uniformity to minimize violations
of driver’s expectation
• Monitor system to identify hazardous
locations
• Anticipate hazardous conditions
168

84
Example: Left turn-Head On Accidents
• Probable Causes
– A: large turn volumes
– B: restricted sight distance
– C: Short clearance interval
– D: Absence of left turn phase
– E: excessive speed

169

Left turn-Head On Accidents

• Possible countermeasures
• A: Large Turn Volumes
– 1. Create one-way street
– 2. Add lane
– 3. Provide left-turn signal phase
– 4. Prohibit turn
– 5. Reroute left-turn traffic
– 6. Provide adequate channelization
– 7. Install stop sign
– 8. Revise signal phase sequence
– 9. Provide turning guidelines for multiple left turn lanes
– 10. Provide traffic signal
– 11. Retime signal 170

85
Emphasis on Reducing

Fatal and Major Injury Crashes

Seatbelt Usage

• 86% Seat Belt Usage

• The 14% Unbelted represent

~55% of Fatalities

86
 Safety Investment Strategy
• Candidate Safety Projects
– Paved shoulders
– Milled in shoulder rumble strips
– 2-lane shoulder widening
– High severity crash 2-lane roads
– High crash curves
– Centerline rumble strips
– Cross-median head-on crashes
– High severity crash intersections
– Expressway intersections

Curve Improvements

• Improve superelevation
• Pave shoulders
• Add shoulder rumble strips
• Flatten foreslopes
• Remove fixed objects
• Delineate with chevrons /
pavement markings
• Ball bank advisory speed

87
 Bigger and Brighter Curve
and Chevron Signs

US 6, Johnson County

Inside Curve
Paved Shoulder with Rumble Strip

88
 Outside Curve
Paved Shoulder with Rumble

Advanced Curve Warning

Initiative

Pennsylvania DOT

89
 Rumble Warning Panel
in Advance of Curve

US 18, Palo Alto County

No Shoulders, Steep Slopes

90
Shoulder Drop-off “Edge Rut”

Two Feet Paved Shoulder,

Flat (6:1) Foreslope

91
 Rolled-in Shoulder Rumble Strips

Milled-in Shoulder Rumble Strips

Photos: Pennsylvania DOT

92
 Paint in Milled Rumble Strip

I-75 Michigan

Milled Centerline Rumble Strips

2 Milled Strips @
4 ft spacings

93
 Pavement Markings
Milled-in Cost / mile
Tape Material (4-inch Life
solid line)
6 mos. – 2
Water-based $ 400
yrs
High-build NEW
$ 630 2 – 3 yrs
Water Borne
Epoxy,
$ 3,100 3 – 4 yrs
Polyurea
Milled-in
$ 15,800 4 – 7 yrs
Tape

Water-based
paint

Brighter Signs & Pavement

Markings

I-35
Ankeny

94
 Utility Pole Relocation /
Consolidation

BEFORE

Pennsylvania DOT AFTER

Digitally Enhanced Photographs

Utility Pole Delineation

95
 Tree Removal

BEFORE

AFTER
Pennsylvania DOT
Digitally Enhanced Photographs

Slope Flattening & Day

Lighting

BEFORE AFTER

Pennsylvania DOT
Digitally Enhanced Photographs

96
 Daylight: Intersections, Drives

• Vegetation: crops, bushes

• Cut or fill problem
• Signs & poles

Cross Slopes (Transverse)

• Flatten to avoid impacts or ramping

• Remove or grate pipe hazards

97
 Rip Rap

• Foreslope and toe: maximum 4

inch
• Backslope: any size?
• Do not create a wall

Skid Resistance

Friction
Program

98
Larger Stop Sign

Flag on Stop Ahead Sign

99
 Flags on Stop Sign

Flashing Beacon on Stop Sign

100
 Sign Replacement &
Maintenance

Larger Street Name Signs

101
Larger Street Name Sign

Florida Advance Lane Assignments

Florida Department of Transportation

102
 Advisory Speed with Beacon

US 65, Bondurant

Protected
Left-turn Arrow
Offset Left-turn Lanes for
Better Visibility

103
 Offset Right-turn Lane

Off-Set Right-Turn Lanes

104
 Pedestrian Advisory
Signing

Low-Cost Intersection Gap

Warning System

Pennsylvania DOT
Digitally Enhanced Photograph

105
 Tailgating Treatment

Pennsylvania DOT
Digitally Enhanced Photograph

Traffic management measures

• Prohibit trucks
• Truck routes
• Prohibit daytime use
• Traffic signal timing
• Speed limits
• One way system
• Intersection re-alignment

• Will all these work?

106
 (5)
Work Zone Safety

107
 Specifics for Work Zones
• Fundamental principles of work zone
traffic control design
• Four work zone areas and their
components
• Taper lengths and types
• Advance signing applications and factors
that impact setup

108
 1. Fundamental Principles (cont.)
Work Zone Traffic Control Design –
10 Fundamental Principles (MUTCD Part 6)
Why? worker/motor vehicle safety in temporary traffic
control areas

• Traffic safety must be integral and high-priority

during project development (from planning to
construction) and rehab/ maintenance or utility
activities
• Follow same principles of normal permanent
roadside/roadway designs (goal is use comparable
geometrics/traffic control if possible)

1. Fundamental Principles (cont.)

• Produce a traffic control plan (TCP) (understand
before field work)
• Traffic should be impeded as little as practicable
– Avoid frequent and abrupt geometry changes
– Provide for incident management vehicles
– Minimize work time and do off-peak if possible
• Guide drivers/peds in a clear and positive manner
approaching and through zone (adequate traffic
control, proper action with permanent control,
flagging)

109
 1. Fundamental Principles (cont.)
• Routinely inspect your traffic control elements
• Maintain the roadside during construction (for
safety)
• Train all levels of workers in temporary traffic
control zone safety
• Provide statutes that allow work zone traffic control
(no real engineer control???)
• Maintain good public relations (media)

2. Four Areas of a Work Zone

Measured from first sign to last traffic control device
(normal traffic point)
• Advance Warning Area – driver informed
what to expect
• Transition Area – Channel driver path from
normal to needed
• Activity Area – where the work takes place
– Work Space – Set aside for workers, equipment,
etc.

110
 2. Four Areas of a Work Zone

– Traffic Space – Space for traffic

– Buffer Space – Longitudinal (in advance of work)
and Lateral (separates traffic from work)
– Incident Mgmt Vehicle Storage Space – Optional
space in high speed/high volume areas to store
emergency vehicles
• Termination Area – Used to return traffic to
normal (from the work area to the END ROAD
WORK sign)

Storage
(not shown) Termination

Work
Activity

Buffer
Transition

Traffic
Advance Warning

111
 Older AASHTO

New MUTCD

3. Tapers – Important Safety

Element of Work Zones (Why?)
• Used in transition and possibly termination areas of
work zone
• Use a series of channelizing devices and/or
pavement markings
• Observe after implementation (adjust as appropriate)
• Channelizing device spacing (in feet) approximately
equal to the roadway speed in MPH

112
 Taper Lengths (See Table next page)

„40 mph or less L = WS2/60

„45 mph or greater L = WS

L = taper length in feet

W = width of offset in feet
S = Posted speed, off-peak 85th percentile
speed before work, or anticipated operating
speed in MPH

113
 Taper Types
• Merging – longest because it requires drivers to merge with
other traffic (use L minimum)
• Shifting – merging not required, but a lateral shift is (use ½ L
minimum)
• Shoulder – used where shoulder may be mistaken for driving
lane (use 1/3 minimum, but L is traveled on)
• Downstream – provide visual cue that original lane is now
accessible (optional – if used 100 feet/lane minimum, 20-foot
device spacing)
• One-lane, Two-way – used when one lane closed and used by
both directions (use 100-foot maximum and typ. flagger)

114
 4. Warning Signing for Typical
Applications
• Place warning signs in advance of work areas at
spacing indicated
• Distances measured from transition or point of
restriction start
• Table 6C-1 suggests spacing for warning signs on
different roadway types
• “A” is distance from transition/point of restriction to
first sign
• “B” is distance to from first to second sign, and
• “C” is distance from second sign to initial sign
encountered by driver (in a three- sign series)

115
 Selecting a Typical Sign Setup
Consider:
• Duration of Work (long-term stationary,
intermediate-term stationary, short-term
stationary, short duration, and mobile)
• Location of Work (e.g., outside shoulder, near/on
shoulder, median, on roadway)
• Roadway Type (e.g., rural two-lane, urban
arterials, other urban arterials, rural or urban
divided/undivided, intersections, and freeways)
• MUTCD has 44 typical applications split by these
categories

http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/ - contains
standards and principles for design,
Key resources … installation, and maintenance of traffic
control devices in work zones

http://wzsafety.tamu.edu/

AASHTO Roadside Design Guide: Chapter 9 discusses:

Traffic Barriers, Traffic Control Devices and Other
Features in Work Zones. Should be used with Traffic
Control Devices Handbook – Part VI

http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/fourthlevel/pdf/bestprac.pdf

116
 http://www.dot.state.ia.us/workzone/index.htm

Work Zone Traffic Control Devices

• Cones/Tubular Markers
• Vertical Panels
• Drums (watch breakaway lamps – ballast
at bottom and no greater than 25 kg)
• Barricades Type I, II, and III
• Shadow Trucks, etc. for moving
construction or maintenance

117
 Work Zone Traffic Control Devices
• Temporary barriers (Portable Concrete Barrier (PCB) used
by many states - uses: bridge widening, shielding roadside
structures, roadway widening, and the separation of two-
way traffic on a normally divided roadway)
• Glare Screens (block view of construction, for design
consider separation distance, vertical curvature, horizontal
curvature)
• Signs and Supports – meet normal specifications –
breakaway within clear zone, etc. (MUTCD)
• Warning lights (minimum height 3 ft. or 900 mm –
securely fasten and battery on ground – why?)

Detour considerations
• Speed
• Capacity
• Distance
• Safety

118
 How to increase detour
capacity
(e.g., during I-235 reconstructions – Univ. Ave., etc.)
ƒ eliminate some turns
ƒ reroute some trucks and buses
ƒ ban parking
ƒ ban loading/unloading during peak
ƒ eliminate some bus stops
ƒ coordinate signals
ƒ widen the traffic way
ƒ implement one-way
ƒ ITS??? (incident management, esp.)

http://www.dot.state.ia.us/design/e00_toc.htm#Chapter_9

119
120