October 12, 2023
Innovation of the Month: Nighttime Visibility for Safety
The nighttime fatality rate on our Nation’s roadways is three times higher than the daytime rate, and 76 percent of pedestrian fatalities occur at night. Enhancing nighttime visibility where non-motorists mix with traffic during times of darkness can, and will, save lives.
The nighttime visibility for safety initiative focuses on deploying countermeasures to safely connect people to the community and essential services. Reducing crashes at intersections is one major focus area for this initiative.
FDOT upgraded this corridor near Tampa, FL, as part of its lighting upgrade. (Credit: FHWA)
Well-designed lighting can reduce nighttime crashes at rural and urban intersections by 33 to 38 percent. Adequate intersection lighting can help reduce nighttime pedestrian-injury crashes by 42 percent. In addition to the safety benefits, light-emitting diode (LED) luminaires use less energy than traditional ones, like high-pressure sodium luminaires, creating cost savings.
Designers can use LED lighting to control lighting levels and color temperatures that enhance nighttime contrast and small target detection over conventional high pressure sodium luminaires. Improving luminance and color contrast improves nighttime visibility and results in fewer crashes, fewer injuries, and fewer fatalities.
The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) researched multiple lighting solutions and directed $100 million to its districts to replace high-pressure sodium lighting with LEDs for improved pedestrian visibility. These upgrades resulted in enhancements at approximately 80 percent of the State’s most dangerous intersections.
At one intersection in the Tampa Bay area, preliminary results show that nighttime injuries and fatalities have been reduced by more than 50 percent. FDOT district seven, which comprises the Tampa Bay area including Citrus, Hernando, Pasco, Hillsborough, and Pinellas counties, installed improved lighting at over 400 intersection locations and before and after studies have shown crash reductions of up to 65 percent.
To learn more about FDOT’s lighting upgrade case study, please watch this overview video. To stay up-to-date on this initiative, subscribe to the team’s e-newsletter. If you have additional questions, please contact a member of the team: Joseph Cheung, FHWA Office of Safety, or George Merritt or Tori Brinkly, FHWA Resource Center.
PennDOT Data Show Roundabouts Reduce Fatalities, Injuries, and Crashe
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) recently announced that, according to department data, fatalities, injuries, and crashes decreased at 42 roundabout intersections that were previously stop- or signal-controlled. Intersections were selected for review if they had a minimum of three years’ crash data available both before and after the roundabouts were built.
Roundabouts are frequently installed to address intersections with safety issues but are also commonly installed to improve traffic flow or other reasons, such as traffic calming. At the reviewed intersections, crashes involving suspected serious injuries were reduced by 24 percent; crashes involving suspected non-serious injuries were reduced by 51 percent, and total crashes were reduced by three percent.
PennDOT also created a roundabout navigation video to help educate motorists on what to do when encountering roundabouts and their website includes a roundabout page with additional educational and guidance resources.
To learn more about roundabouts, please visit the FHWA roundabout webpage.
Discover Home-Grown Innovations from Around the Country
Are you interested in homegrown innovations being used by your peers in other parts of the country? Check out the National STIC Network Showcase, a component of the EDC-7 Virtual Summit. Registering for the event allows you to access all the content through February 2024. The Showcase features several innovations around pavements.
Learn about the Ohio DOT's LED Highway Lighting Conversion, which replaced all of ODOT’s existing high-pressure sodium luminaires with LEDs. This project replaced a total of 19,000 lights and will save money and reduce environmental impacts in addition to improving nighttime safety. ODOT projects long-term savings of $27 million from this effort.
Celebrate the ingenuity of your peers and read about these innovations—developed and deployed in-house at transportation agencies nationwide. Additionally, we invite you to watch the one-hour presentations on-demand that feature many of these and other innovations
In Case You Missed It- Sep/Oct Innovator
The September/October issue of Innovator is available, accessible from your computer, tablet, or mobile phone to optimize your reading experience
In this issue:
- Internally Curing Concrete Produces EPIC Results
- Environmental Product Declarations Help CreateSustainable Highways
- Nighttime Visibility for Safety: Visible Solutions
- EDC Legacy–Laying the Foundation for the Safe System Approach
- And more...
Comments? Questions? We'd love your feedback! Drop us a line and let us knowwhat you think.
Read past issues and sign up to receive Innovator by email here, or text "FHWA Innovation" to 468311 to get Innovator on your smartphone.
Stay Up to Date on the EDC Innovations That Interest You Most
EDC teams are always on the move! If you blink, you could miss out on important webinars, case studies, tools, videos, and more. To never miss information for the EDC innovations that interest you most, visit the subscription page and select the topics you’d like to receive updates on directly from the teams that coordinate them.
Recent bulletins:
Active & Upcoming Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs) 10/3/23
Pavement Sustainability 9/29/23
CHANGE 9/29/23
Build a Better Mousetrap 9/27/23
Upcoming Events
Value Capture Strategies and Asset Recycling
October 18, 2023, 1:00-3:00pm ET Register
Build a Better Mousetrap - 2023 National Winners
October 19, 2023, 2:00-4:00pm ET Details l Register
Global Benchmarking Webinar Series: Improving Pedestrian Safety on Urban Arterials
Part 3: A Safe System Approach to Road Safety Audits, October 23 — 2:30 – 4:00 pm ET Details l Register
Global Benchmarking Webinar Series: Improving Pedestrian Safety on Urban Arterials
Part 4: Speed Management Policies and Practices, November 7 — 2:30 – 4:00 pm ET Details l Register
About EDC
Every Day Counts, a state-based initiative of the Federal Highway Administration's Center for Accelerating Innovation, works with state, local and private sector partners to encourage the adoption of proven technologies and innovations to shorten and enhance project delivery.
EDC News is published weekly by the FHWA Center for Accelerating Innovation.
Notice: The U.S. Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trademarks or manufacturers‘ names appear in this presentation only because they are considered essential to the objective of the presentation. They are included for informational purposes only and are not intended to reflect a preference, approval, or endorsement of any one product or entity.
Disclaimer: The U.S. Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trademarks or manufacturers' names appear in this document only because they are considered essential to the objective of the document. They are included for informational purposes only and are not intended to reflect a preference, approval, or endorsement of any one product or entity.
Except for the statutes and regulations cited, the contents of this document do not have the force and effect of law and are not meant to bind the States or the public in any way. This document is intended only to provide information regarding existing requirements under the law or agency policies.
Recommended Citation:
U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration
EDC News; September 28, 2023
Washington, DC
