| Title | Contribution of ITS to rural safety : a look at crashes in Washington state |
|---|---|
| Record ID | 15731 |
| Personal Name Creator |
McCormack, E. D.; Legg, B. |
| Source | 58p. in various pagings |
| Corporate Creator | Washington (State). Department of Transportation; Washington State Transportation Center; United States. Federal Highway Administration |
| Publisher | Washington (State). Department of Transportation |
| Publication Date | 19990100 |
| Language | English |
| Abstract | Increasingly, transportation professionals are using technology, known as Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), to address transportation problems. This paper investigates the potential applications of ITS to safety issues on rural roadways in Washington. The most frequent type of rural crashes and their casual factors are identified from the state's Collision Report Form. The ability of ITS applications to reduce these types of crashes is then discussed. In Washington State, the factors that contribute most to rural crashes is human behavior. Some ITS applications, such as speed warning systems, may be good solutions at known hazardous locations. however, most human behavioral issues, such as inattention or poor driver judgment, cannot be directly addressed by ITS application that are currently available. In Washington, crashes due to some aspect of the roadside environment involved about one third of the vehicles. ITS offer a viable alternative to traditional engineering solutions for a number of these types of crashes by informing drivers about roadside hazards. ITS weather systems and traveler information systesm in general, can indirectly improve rural safety by providing information about travel and roadway conditions. Rural intersections, work zones, and railroad crossings are other potentially hazardous areas where ITS may be useful. The final factor that contributes to a small percentage of rural crashes is the vehicle and- ITS applications may help indirectly by making trucks more compliant with safety laws and by improving the efficiency of safety inspections. ITS emergency notification systems also offer some safety benefits by mitigating some of the consequences of rural crashes. For the WSDOT, a handful of ITS safety applications have been well enough tested that they can be aggressively used as tools to reduce rural crashes. However, many more ITS safety applications, although promising, still need to be fully documented and would be best applied in this state as a demonstration of future potential. Most of these applications would warn drivers about road and roadside hazards. The greatest benefit from ITS for rural safety may come from future applications that will address rural crashes caused by human behavior. These applications will eveolve from a number of large federal research projects that are under way and are still a number of years away from providing benefits on a wide scale. Given their potenital impact on rural safety, WSDOT should monitor these projects closely. |
| Rosap ID | dot:2115 |
| Rosap URL | https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/2115 |
| TRT Terms | Highway safety; Intelligent transportation systems; Advanced traveler information systems; Advanced driver information systems; Advanced traffic management systems; Traffic crashes; Prevention; Human factors in crashes |
| General Subjects | Accident factors; Accident prevention; Driver behavior; Highway safety; Human factors; Intelligent Transportatio; Roadside hazards; Rural areas; Rural roads; Rural transportation; Transportation planning; Transportation problems; Washington state; Weather |
| Classification | NTL - INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS - INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS; NTL - INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS - Roadway Operations and Maintenance; NTL - INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS - Road Weather Management; NTL - INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS - Traveler Information; NTL - INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS - Crash Prevention and Safety; NTL - SAFETY AND SECURITY - Highway Safety; NTL - SAFETY AND SECURITY - Human Factors; NTL - SAFETY AND SECURITY - SAFETY AND SECURITY |
| Geographical Coverage |
Washington |
| OCLC | 43169510 |
| TRIS Online Accession No |
778834 |
| Contract Number | T9903, Task 89 |
| Report Number | WA-RD 460.1 |
| Availability | Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office |
| Resource type | Research Paper |
| URL | https://ntlrepository.blob.core.windows.net/lib/15000/15700/15731/PB2000100413.pdf |
| Format | |
| Database | NTL Digital Repository |