[PDF] - Road Safety Fundamentals Part 1 Foundations of Road Safety Larry PDF Document

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Road Safety Fundamentals

Part 1 – Foundations of Road Safety

Larry Hagen, PE, PTOE, RSP

Download this reference in the handout pod Larry@TrafficSafetyGuru.com

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Standard Disclaimer:

The following interviews and commentaries are for informational exchange only. The views and opinions expressed therein are those of the individual speakers and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the Florida LTAP Center, Hagen Consulting Services or any of their respective affiliates or employees. This 1-1/2 hour webinar will not make you an expert in anything. It is impossible to cover all of the necessary topics related to this webinar topic within just a 1-1/2 hour time frame. The user assumes all responsibility for the use of any and all information contained within this webinar. The Florida LTAP Center and Hagen Consulting Services, LLC assume no liability for the use of the information contained herein. The information depicted in this presentation may or may not be fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events, locations, or firms is purely coincidental. Viewer discretion is advised.

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Road Safety Fundamentals

Today – August 19, 2020

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Road Safety Fundamentals

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Road Safety Fundamentals

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Road Safety Fundamentals

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Road Safety Fundamentals

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Road Safety Fundamentals

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DESCRIBE the importance of road safety and how it relates to public health, economic, environmental and demographic trends RECOGNIZE roles and responsibilities of various disciplines and approaches to improving road safety DISTINGUISH between nominal and substantive safety IDENTIFY key points in the history of road safety in the U.S., including key legislation and agency formation, and understand how these decisions have shaped today’s roadways IDENTIFY different groups of road users and challenges unique to each group

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Chapter 1 – Context of Road Safety

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Context of Road Safety

Average of 37,000

fatalities per year in the United States

Estimated 2.3 million

injuries sustained in motor vehicle crashes each year

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Context of Road Safety

Impacts all road users:
Motor vehicles
Pedestrians
Motorcyclists
Bicyclists
Others

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Context of Road Safety

Fatality rate per 100

million vehicle miles traveled has dropped close to 1.0

Rate of decrease is

declining

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Defining Safety?

Safety can be defined as the absence of risk or danger The ability of a person to travel freely without injury or death A perfectly safe transportation system would not experience crashes between various road users Safety is measured by the number and severity

f crashes.

Everyone gets home at the end of the day

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Context of Road Safety

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Important point to remember:

Simply building a road that meets all the current design standards will not ensure that the road is substantively safe.

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Common Goals in Transportation Decision-making:

Safety
Mobility
Efficiency
Moving goods
Environment
Public health
Economics

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Road Safety Decisions – Examples:

Advantages:

Increases safety at intersection
Reduces vehicle speeds
No power required

Install a modern roundabout at an existing signalized intersection

Disadvantages:

Requires main street vehicles to

slow down

May require more R/W
Emergency / evacuation

response

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Road Safety Decisions – Examples:

Advantages:

Reduces risk of head injury

among cyclists

May increase visibility of cyclists

Require bicycle helmet usage by ordinance

Disadvantages:

Requires enforcement
May reduce the number of

bicyclists

Requires educational outreach

and training

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Road Safety Decisions – Examples:

Advantages:

Enforcement of the law without

endangering officers

Decreases serious crashes

Install red light running cameras at signalized intersections

Disadvantages:

Public opposition
Expensive to install
Public opposition

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Road Safety Decisions – Examples:

Advantages:

Reduces left-turning crashes

substantially

Increases intersection safety

Install protected-only left turns at signalized intersections

Disadvantages:

Additional time needed
Additional left turn storage

needed

Increases delay to all users

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Road Safety Decisions – Examples:

Advantages:

Reduces run-off-road crashes
Relatively inexpensive to install

Install rumble strips on shoulders of the roadway

Disadvantages:

Not conducive to bicycle use
May collect trash and silt
Noise

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Road Safety Decisions – Examples:

Advantages:

Minimize and organize conflict

points

Increases vehicular safety

throughout the arterial

Improves arterial throughput

Implement access management on a suburban arterial

Disadvantages:

Increased speeds
Long distances between

intersections creates need for mid-block ped crossings

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Road Safety Decisions

Sometimes improving safety for one group of road users may negatively impact the safety of another group.

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Questions?

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Late 19th Century and the Popularity of Bicycling

In the 1880s and 1890s, bicycles were the dominant vehicle
With the introduction of the “safety” bicycle with two wheels of the

same size and the pneumatic tire in the late 1880s, bicycling became an economic, political and social force in the U.S.

By 1890, U.S. was manufacturing over 1 million bicycles per year.
Poor roadways outside the big cities contributed to many crashes.
The Good Roads Movement arose from these conditions.
By the late 1890s, cars were sharing roads with bicycles and peds.
In 1899 first motor vehicle fatality – vehicle vs pedestrian

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Early 20th Century and the Rise of the Motor Vehicle

In 1905 there were only 78,000 automobiles, mostly in cities
Ten years later, 2.33 million automobiles traveling the U.S.
By 1918 there were 5.55 million automobiles on our roadways
Fueled by mass-production of the Model-T at low cost
As there were now more vehicles on the roads, trips became longer
Development patterns began to change
Highways would now be designed for motor vehicle travel

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The Downside to Increased Personal Mobility

Expansion of automobile use had immediate positive effects on the national economy and quality of life around the country. Yet proliferation of motor vehicles also had a negative side. As millions of new drivers took to the roads, traffic crashes increased rapidly—tripling from 10,723 in 1918 to 31,215 in 1929.

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First National Conference on Street and Highway Safety

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Road Safety Through the Years

Highway Safety Act of 1966

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Questions?

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Four E’s of Safety

Engineering Education Enforcement Emergency response

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Road Safety is a Complex Issue

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Multidisciplinary Approaches

Roadway Design

Clear zones provide a clear and unobstructed, traversable roadside area that allows a driver to stop safely or regain control of a vehicle that has left the roadway.

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Multidisciplinary Approaches

Targeted Enforcement

To reinforce pedestrian safety laws, police departments can initiate targeted enforcement operations at

crosswalks. Under this approach, a

law enforcement officer in plain clothes will attempt to cross the street at an uncontrolled crosswalk. Drivers who do not yield may be cited or warned.

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Multidisciplinary Approaches

Click It or Ticket

Click It or Ticket is a successful national seat belt enforcement campaign that has helped to increase the national seat belt usage rate. The program uses public education to communicate the law and risks of not using seat belts in a variety of settings.

Florida Strategic Highway Safety Plan

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Florida SHSP Emphasis Areas

Lane Departures
Impaired Driving
Pedestrians and Bicyclists
Intersections
Occupant Protection
Motorcyclists
Aging Road Users
Commercial Motor Vehicles
Speeding and Aggressive

Driving

Teen Drivers
Distracted Driving
Work Zones
Traffic Records and

Information Systems

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Need for a Multidisciplinary Approach:

“In the U.S., no single player manages all programs and disciplines that impact road

safety. Therefore, collaboration

among all players is fundamental to consistently reduce serious injuries and fatalities.”

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Questions?

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Road Users

Road user groups include the following:

Passenger vehicle drivers and
ccupants
Drivers of trucks and other large vehicles
Motorcyclists
Pedestrians
Bicyclists

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Trucks

Roughly 4% of registered

vehicles

Account for 9% of VMT
Accounted for 12% of the

highway fatalities in 2013

Between 2004 and 2013:
Miles driven increased 25%
Fatalities decreased 20%
Often are the design vehicle

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Motorcycles

Since 2000 number of registered

motorcycles has nearly doubled

Resulted in 71% increase in cycle fatalities
Motorcycles are 15% of all traffic fatalities
Motorcycles are 3% of registered vehicles
Motorcycles represent 0.7% of VMT
Motorcycles are significantly over-

represented in traffic fatalities

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Pedestrians

Nearly 11% of all trips are taken on foot
Over half of the US population use

walking as a regular mode of travel

In 2012, 14.1% of the traffic fatalities

were pedestrians

Between 2008 and 2012 motor vehicle

fatalities decreased 13% while fatalities for pedestrians increased 8%

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Bicyclists

Some of the earliest users of roads
Provided the early push for better roads
Number of bicycle trips doubled between

1990 and 2009

Bicycling accounts for about 1% of trips
Bicycling accounts for 2% of fatalities
Wide variety of users and abilities

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Road Users

The intended speed of this roadway is 35 miles per hour, but the wide design of the road and the number of lanes leads drivers to travel much faster.

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Road Users

“Roadway designers must design roads not for the way in which they would like users to behave, but for the way in which users actually behave.”

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Road Users

Road Diet

Reducing the number of lanes or repurposing them to better accommodate all roadway users.

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Larry Hagen, PE, PTOE, RSP Rudy Umbs, PE, RSP

Questions?

Send follow-up questions to: FloridaLTAP@CUTR.USF.edu

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Road Safety Fundamentals

August 26, 2020

Part 2 of 5

Next Week

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