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  Traffic and Safety »

  Examining the Impact of ASE in Work Zones on Driver Attention

  Idea Submitted by:

  Nichole L. Morris

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  University of Minnesota

  Idea Champion - Who at MnDOT/LRRB? :

  Peter D. Buchen, P.E.

  Project Type - MnDOT or LRRB / Research, Implementation or TRS:

  MnDOT Research

  While improving work zone safety is a top priority, there is little evidence that work zone safety nationwide has declined (Bai & Li, 2006). More work should be done in Minnesota to develop countermeasures against work zone crashes. Driver inattention contributes to as many as half of all work zone crashes and worker strikes. Research has previously examined the impact of Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE) in other states ...more »

  While improving work zone safety is a top priority, there is little evidence that work zone safety nationwide has declined (Bai & Li, 2006). More work should be done in Minnesota to develop countermeasures against work zone crashes. Driver inattention contributes to as many as half of all work zone crashes and worker strikes. Research has previously examined the impact of Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE) in other states on driver speed behaviors; however, little has been done to examine ASE impacts on other driver behaviors, like attention. This research proposes to examine driver attentional patterns as motorists travel through work zones and the impact that ASE may have on driver attention.

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  Submitted by NLMORRIS 1 day ago

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  Traffic and Safety »

  Safety study of 35W improvements done under UPA project

  Idea Submitted by:

  Brian Kary

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  Metro District - Freeway Operations

  Idea Champion - Who at MnDOT/LRRB? :

  Brian Kary

  Project Type - MnDOT or LRRB / Research, Implementation or TRS:

  MnDOT Research

  Major improvements were made on I-35W in recent years including reconstruction of the Crosstown Commons, implementation of the first priced dynamic shoulder lane in the country, construction of low-cost/high-benefit capacity improvements, and the deployment of Active Traffic Management with the use on lane control signals and advisory variable speed limits. These improvements have been in place for about 3 years and ...more »

  Major improvements were made on I-35W in recent years including reconstruction of the Crosstown Commons, implementation of the first priced dynamic shoulder lane in the country, construction of low-cost/high-benefit capacity improvements, and the deployment of Active Traffic Management with the use on lane control signals and advisory variable speed limits. These improvements have been in place for about 3 years and there is a need to conduct an evaluation of the crash benefits these improvements had in order to learn how these benefits could be utilized on other corridors. Due to major changes in traffic patterns because of the Crosstown reconstruction, a more complex statistical analysis will need to be conducted to determine the safety benefits along the corridor. For example, the section of 35W with the PDSL experiences higher levels of congestion due to the removal of the Crosstown bottleneck. Crashes on the PDSL stretch have increased but is this due to the geometrics of the corridor or the increased congestion in this area caused by the removal of the major bottleneck to the south. The consultant would be used to conduct a statistical analysis of the crashes compared to the volumes and congestion levels on the corridor and compare this to other congested corridors in the metro.

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  Submitted by brian.kary 16 days ago

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  Traffic and Safety »

  Develop a Queue Warning Sys Using ATM Infrastructure

  Idea Submitted by:

  Brian Kary

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  Metro District - Freeway Operations

  Idea Champion - Who at MnDOT/LRRB? :

  Brian Kary

  Project Type - MnDOT or LRRB / Research, Implementation or TRS:

  MnDOT Research

  MnDOT has been a leader in investing funding in new technologies to help reduce congestion and improve safety. Once such example is the Active Traffic Management (ATM) system on I-35W and I-94 which includes intelligent lane control signals (ILCS) spaced every half mile over every lane to warn motorists of incidents or hazards on the roadway ahead. The ATM system is used to warn motorists of hazards ahead through the ...more »

  MnDOT has been a leader in investing funding in new technologies to help reduce congestion and improve safety. Once such example is the Active Traffic Management (ATM) system on I-35W and I-94 which includes intelligent lane control signals (ILCS) spaced every half mile over every lane to warn motorists of incidents or hazards on the roadway ahead. The ATM system is used to warn motorists of hazards ahead through the use of icons that warn motorists when a lane is obstructed. Variable Advisory Speed Limits are also used to warn motorists of congestion ahead on the mainline, however, one area the system could be improved is in providing warning of queues or shockwaves that effect a single lane of traffic. One example would be WB 94 approaching the ramp from NB I-35W where shockwaves in the right lane lead to crashes within the I-94/I-35W interchange. Another example would be on SB I-35W approaching Hwy 62 where queues backing up from Hwy 62 impact the right most lanes of I-35W which has contributed to crashes on the corridor. This project would develop a system that could identify potential queues on the mainline and then send a warning to motorists upstream by utilizing the existing ATM infrastructure.

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  Submitted by brian.kary 16 days ago

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  Traffic and Safety »

  Naturalistic Driving Study Data Analysis - Intersection Safety

  Idea Submitted by:

  Alan Rindels

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  MNDOT PART

  Idea Champion - Who at MnDOT/LRRB? :

  Brad Estochen, Derek Leuer, LRRB Board, Cory Johnson

  Project Type - MnDOT or LRRB / Research, Implementation or TRS:

  Joint MnDOT/LRRB Research

  Rural intersections account for 30% of crashes in rural areas and 6% of all fatal crashes, representing a significant but poorly understood safety problem. Transportation agencies have traditionally implemented countermeasures to address rural intersection crashes but frequently do not understand the dynamic interaction between the driver and roadway and the driver factors leading to these types of crashes. The Strategic ...more »

  Rural intersections account for 30% of crashes in rural areas and 6% of all fatal crashes, representing a significant but poorly understood safety problem. Transportation agencies have traditionally implemented countermeasures to address rural intersection crashes but frequently do not understand the dynamic interaction between the driver and roadway and the driver factors leading to these types of crashes. The Strategic Highway Safety Program (SHRP 2) is conducting a large-scale naturalistic driving study (NDS) using instrumented vehicles which will provide a significant amount on-road driving data for a range of drivers. The team will utilize this NDS data to observe driver behavior at rural intersections first hand using video and vehicle kinematics data.

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  Submitted by alan.rindels 19 days ago

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  Traffic and Safety »

  Evaluation of Intersection Conflict Warning Systems

  Idea Submitted by:

  Jon Jackels

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  MnDOT Office of Traffic Safety and Technology (OTST)

  Idea Champion - Who at MnDOT/LRRB? :

  Jon Jackels

  Project Type - MnDOT or LRRB / Research, Implementation or TRS:

  Not sure (contact Research Services to discuss)

  We are installing an additional 20 or more Rural Intersection Conflict Warning Systems to the existing 10 systems. These systems are intended to reduce the number and severity of crashes at 2-way STOP controlled rural intersections. We need to establish how these warning systems change driver behavior at these and adjacent untreated intersections. This would include establishing driver understanding and acceptance ...more »

  We are installing an additional 20 or more Rural Intersection Conflict Warning Systems to the existing 10 systems. These systems are intended to reduce the number and severity of crashes at 2-way STOP controlled rural intersections. We need to establish how these warning systems change driver behavior at these and adjacent untreated intersections. This would include establishing driver understanding and acceptance of the operation of these systems. We also need to discover an upper limit traffic volume where these systems are no longer dynamic, are continually activated and lose their abililty to reduce crashes.

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  Submitted by jon.jackels 1 month ago

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  Traffic and Safety »

  Determine initial cause of fatal crash types

  Idea Submitted by:

  Ray Starr

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  Office of Traffic, Safety and Technology

  Idea Champion - Who at MnDOT/LRRB? :

  Ray Starr

  Project Type - MnDOT or LRRB / Research, Implementation or TRS:

  MnDOT Research

  Idea Status (moderator):

  Hold for FY 15

  Crash statistics categorize crashes by type, such as run off the road, right angle, rear end, etc., but do not give information about the initial causes of crashes that could help guide selection of countermeasures. For example, run off the road crashes make up a large percentage of fatal crashes. Why did the vehicle run off the road? Did the driver fall asleep or was the driver impaired? Did the driver swerve to miss ...more »

  Crash statistics categorize crashes by type, such as run off the road, right angle, rear end, etc., but do not give information about the initial causes of crashes that could help guide selection of countermeasures. For example, run off the road crashes make up a large percentage of fatal crashes. Why did the vehicle run off the road? Did the driver fall asleep or was the driver impaired? Did the driver swerve to miss another vehicle or animal and went off the road? Did icy roads cause the driver to lose control? Was the driver distracted? Rumble strips warn the driver when they are going off the road, but can we implement a countermeasure that would have stopped the vehicle from going off the road in the first place by addressing the initial cause? Similar for intersection crashes. Did the driver intentionally run the red light or stop sign? Were they distracted? Were they looking straight ahead and forgot to look for approaching traffic? Did they misjudge the speed/distance of approaching traffic? Determining the initial cause will be difficult and may require interviewing crash survivors and reading individual crash reports and crash reconstruction reports.

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  1 comment for Idea: Determine initial cause of fatal crash types

  Submitted by ray.starr 11 months ago

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  Traffic and Safety »

  Work Zone safety system for workers

  Idea Submitted by:

  Cory Johnson

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  Traffic, Safety, and Technology

  Idea Champion - Who at MnDOT/LRRB? :

  Ray Starr

  Project Type - MnDOT or LRRB / Research, Implementation or TRS:

  MnDOT Research

  Idea Status (moderator):

  Hold for FY15

  “Here I am” device for construction workers. Display information to construction vehicles and supervisors. ADA application? Navigating work zone areas at night can be challenging to provide information to drivers (retro-reflective markers, barrels, arrows, etc.) and provide appropriate guidance. How do drivers navigate, what information is required, does this improve safety to drivers and workers? VMS to indicate worker ...more »

  “Here I am” device for construction workers. Display information to construction vehicles and

  supervisors. ADA application? Navigating work zone areas at night can be challenging to

  provide information to drivers (retro-reflective markers, barrels, arrows, etc.) and provide

  appropriate guidance. How do drivers navigate, what information is required, does this improve

  safety to drivers and workers? VMS to indicate worker safety.

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  Submitted by Coryj.johnson 11 months ago

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  Traffic and Safety »

  Traffic control sign flashing lights

  Idea Submitted by:

  Steven M Baublitz

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  MN DOT D1

  Idea Champion - Who at MnDOT/LRRB? :

  Steven Baublitz

  Idea Status (moderator):

  Maintenance Research (NTREC) would be better program for this need

  In maintainance we use temperary traffic signing to control our work zones and we often encounter inatentive drivers approaching our work zones. If we could have flashing LED lights around the temporary folding traffic signs we use this may help alert drivers to our traffic layout sooner and prevent accidents in our flagging operations. I have seen these lights on stop signs at busy crossings and they are very noticable ...more »

  In maintainance we use temperary traffic signing to control our work zones and we often encounter inatentive drivers approaching our work zones. If we could have flashing LED lights around the temporary folding traffic signs we use this may help alert drivers to our traffic layout sooner and prevent accidents in our flagging operations. I have seen these lights on stop signs at busy crossings and they are very noticable from a long distance.

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  Submitted by steven.baublitz 1 year ago

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