First International Roadside Safety Conference

Safer Roads, Saving Lives, Saving Money June 12-15, 2017 San Francisco, California

Dick Albin FHWA Resource Center

Combating Roadway Departures

49%

17% 11%

11%

12% 5.3%

4.4%

1.3%

0.2%

Data Source: NHTSA FARS (2013-2015)

54% of all Fatalities 49% Roadway Departure Only

17% Intersection Only

11% Pedestrian/Bicycle Only

11% Multiple Focus Areas

12% Crashes not involving a Focus Area

5.3% Intersection and Ped/Bike

4.4% Roadway Departure and Intersection

1.3% Roadway Departure and Ped/Bike 0.2% All Focus Areas

US Fatalities by FHWA Focus Area Avg Fatalities 33,576 /Year RwD Fatalities 18,275/Year

FHWA Roadway Departure Strategic Plan

Average Annual Roadway Departure Fatalities Most Harmful Event (FARS 2013-2015)

4,758

4,715 3,469

1,165

1,057

901 723

1,487 Rollover/OverturnOpposing DirectionTrees, ShrubsSigns, Poles, SignalsOther Fixed ObjectBarriersRoadside TopographyOther

Rollover

Head-on Trees

FHWA Roadway Departure Strategic Plan

Average Annual Roadway Departure Fatalities Most Harmful Event (FARS 2013-2015)

4,758

26%

4,715

26% 3,469

19%

Rollover

Head-on Trees

Nearly ¾ of Roadway Departure Fatal Crashes are from 3 crash types.

Curve Crashes for the RwD Emphasis Areas

46%

31%

43%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Tree

Head-On

Rollover

Curve related RwD crashes Low-Cost Treatments for Horizontal Curve

Safety 2016

http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/roadway_dept/horicurves/

Roadway Departure Objectives

• Keep vehicles on the roadway, in their appropriate directional lane.

• Reduce the potential for crashes when vehicles do leave the roadway or cross into opposing traffic lanes.

• Minimize the severity of crashes that do occur.

Keep Vehicles on the road

Reduce potential for

crashes when vehicles leave

road

Minimize Severity

of crashes

Strategies to keep vehicles on the roadway

Keep Vehicles on the road

• Improved curve delineation – Retroreflective pavement

markings and signs – Lighting

• Friction treatments in curves and other spot locations

• Edge line, shoulder & Center line rumble strips.

Edge Line, Shoulder & Centerline Rumble Strips

http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/roadway_dept/pavement/rumble_strips/

Mumble Strips • CA and MN evaluating

(various widths and spacing)

• Preliminary results show reduction in external noise

• Safety benefits have not yet been determined

*Statistically significant at the 95% confidence level. NOTE: Drop-off-related CMFs were only able to be developed for IA, NC and OH data.

Strategies to reduce crashes

• The Safety EdgeSM • Traversable roadside slopes • Clear zones

Reduce potential for

crashes when vehicles leave

road

Drop-off*

ROR* Head-on*

F+I* Total

CRF 34.5% 21.0% 18.7% 10.8% 1.1%

Std Error

6.4% 4.2% 7.6% 3.4% 2.5%

On-Going Clear Zone Research • 17-11 (2) Development of Clear

Recovery Area Guidelines • 17-55 Guidelines for Slope

Traversability • 16-05 Guidelines for Cost-

Effective Safety Treatments of Roadside Ditches

• 17-54 Consideration of Roadside Features in the Highway Safety Manual

• 17-82 Proposed Guidance for Fixed Objects in the Roadside Design Guide

Strategies to minimize the severity of crashes

• Breakaway Features & Energy absorbing poles – Signs and luminaire supports – Utility poles

• Barriers to shield obstacles including: – Slopes – Opposite direction of traffic – Trees & other fixed objects

Minimize Severity

of crashes

MASH Implementation Plan For contracts on the National Highway System with a letting date after the dates below, only safety hardware evaluated using the 2016 edition of MASH criteria will be allowed for new permanent installations and full replacements:

– W-beam barrier and cast-in-place concrete barrier: December 31, 2017

– W-beam terminals: June 30, 2018 – Cable barrier, cable barrier terminals, and crash

cushions: December 31, 2018 – Bridge rails, transitions, all other longitudinal

barriers (including portable barriers installed permanently), all other terminals, sign supports, and all other breakaway hardware: December 31, 2019

Need for more In-Service Performance Evaluations

• Report to Congress - Roadside Hardware Identification Methods

• NCHRP Special Report 323 – In-Service Performance Evaluation of Guardrail End Terminals

• NCHRP 22-33 Multi-State In-Service Performance Evaluations of Roadside Safety Hardware

• FHWA Guardrail Terminal Data Collection Pilot

FHWA Guardrail Terminal Data Collection Pilot

https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/roadway_dept/countermeasures/reduce_crash_severity/guardrail_end_terminal_data.cfm

Program Goals and Objectives · To market training provisions all U.S. States and Territories including states’ Local Transportation Assistance Programs (LTAP)

· To support the development and updates of manual/materials/checklists, and all provisions of training

· To sustain training once initially deployed in field

2016 Guardrail Safety Training

FAST Act, Pub. L. 114-94 §1418

Connected and Autonomous vehicles Q: How will autonomous vehicles affect RwD? Q: Will AV solve all our problems?

A: We Don’t know – But we are looking into it. The Effect of Vehicle-Based Technology on

Roadway Departure Crashes

Connected Automated Vehicle

Leverages autonomous automated and connected vehicles

Connected Vehicle Communicates with nearby vehicles and infrastructure

Automated Vehicle Operates in isolation from other vehicles using internal sensors

Needs Assessment for CV and AV • Standardization - Lane marking ,curve advisory speeds

etc • Redundancy of information is always beneficial.

– Information from infrastructure ( signage and roadside inventory) can supplement AV sensors and V2I applications.

• In rural areas, there are some technical issues that need to be addressed – power supply and density for roadside units (RSUs)

Needs Assessment for CV and AV • “chicken and egg” - should DOT’s first install RSUs or

should manufacturers first develop and perfect their V2I applications.

• Connected (CV) and Automated (AV) technologies differ but have some common needs.

• Collaboration and frequent communication is needed between the infrastructure officials and the developers of CV and AV technologies Next Steps Research Implementation Plan and Final Report - Early 2018

Questions

Dick Albin FHWA Resource Center Dick.Albin@dot.gov 303-550-8804 Reduce

potential for crashes when vehicles leave

road

Keep Vehicles on the road

Minimize Severity

of crashes