September 5, 2024
Innovation of the Month: Nighttime Visibility for Safety
U.S. DOT has adopted the National Roadway Safety Strategy (NRSS) that set in motion the adoption and promotion of the Safe System Approach (SSA). The SSA places special emphasis on six principles, including, “responsibility is shared.” All stakeholders—including government at all levels, industry, non-profit/advocacy, researchers, and the general public—are vital to preventing fatalities and serious injuries on our roadways.
This is one of many reasons the Nighttime Visibility for Safety team is supporting stakeholders at all government levels. Leveraging the successes of the Safe Transportation for Every Pedestrian (STEP) EDC-5 initiative and the relationships built with State and Local audiences, the team is delivering training to safety stakeholders to help advance pedestrian safety improvements during darkness.
The Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) and its Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) program, also known as the T2 Center at the University of Connecticut, have partnered with the nighttime visibility team to incorporate nighttime safety concepts and countermeasures into the Center’s Safe Transportation for Every Pedestrian training. This is helping to fill gaps where aspects of nighttime visibility can have a significant impact. The nighttime visibility team has delivered nighttime visibility for safety training to nearly 150 stakeholders at all levels of Government across CT helping to promote cost-effective and proven safety countermeasures that will help reduce nighttime fatalities and serious injuries.
The T2 Center, as part of their Safety Academy, has succeeded in bringing a multi-disciplinary group of stakeholders together to jointly participate in safety training. This helps police, state and local engineers, planners, public works and signal professionals engage on common safety challenges while sharing their unique perspectives and build relationships that are important to improving safety, advancing the safe system approach, and building a stronger safety culture across the state.
Find your State’s LTAP center here.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, FHWA Resource Center.
Center Buffer Areas Reduce Head-On Crashes
Example of a center buffer (Credit: FHWA)
Roadway or lane departure crashes account for half of fatalities on US roads. More than a quarter of these fatalities are the result of head-on crashes, which claim over 5,200 lives each year. These crashes are primarily on undivided roads (85 percent) with speeds of 50 mph or greater (70 percent). While the primary countermeasure to reduce these crashes are centerline rumble strips, States are implementing other countermeasures to reduce the number and severity of these crashes. Texas DOT installed center buffer areas which provide more separation between opposing traffic. In evaluating Texas’s data, NCHRP Research Report #995, Guidelines for Treatments to Mitigate Opposite Direction Crashes, reported that a 4’ buffer area can reduce 64 percent of head-on crashes. Oregon DOT installed a variation of a center buffer by adding a centerline barrier, and reported a 29 percent reduction in fatal and injury crashes at one location.
For more information on countermeasures promoted in the EDC initiative Focus on Reducing Rural Roadway Departures (FoRRRwD), contact Dick Albin or Paul LaFleur.
Marking National #RoundaboutsWeek, an EDC Safety Legacy
In the 10 years since innovative Intersection and Interchange Geometrics were featured in EDC-2, the number of roundabouts in the U.S. doubled, from just over 5,000 to now more than 10,000! Given that a roundabout reduces injury and fatal crashes by an average of 80 percent, this is a lasting legacy of safety. Roundabouts are safer due to fewer conflict points and lower speeds, but they are also highly efficient in terms of reducing delay, and can complement efforts to make an intersection safer for pedestrians and bicyclists. Roundabouts are also highly adaptable, working equally well across a range of intersection scenarios, from urban, low-speed to rural, high-speed environments, and from single lane mini roundabouts to multilane turbo roundabouts.
In recognition of the life-saving impacts of roundabouts, National Roundabouts Week is celebrated every September. So, whether your community considers roundabouts old news, breaking news, or anything in between join the #RoundaboutsWeek conversation online September 16 – 20! For more information, contact Jeff Shaw, FHWA.
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:
Sustainable Pavements (LCTM NOFO) 8/27/24
Next-Gen TIM 8/27/24
Local Aid Support (LCTM NOFO) 8/29/24
Innovation in Project Delivery 9/3/24
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About EDC
Every Day Counts, a State-based initiative of the Federal Highway Administration's Office of Innovation and Workforce Solutions, works with State, local, and privatesector partners to encourage the adoption of proven and underutilized technologies to deliver transportation projects more efficiently, enhance safety forall users, support a sustainable and resilient infrastructure, and incorporate equity inproject planning and delivery.
EDC News is a weekly publication highlighting successful EDC innovation deployments across the country.
EDC News is published weekly by the FHWA Center for Accelerating Innovation.
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; June 13, 2024
Washington, DC
