Newsletter — January/February 2005
Top Story
New Additions and Announcements
The Office of Safety's Hari Kalla will be taking on a new role as the MUTCD Team Leader in the Office of Operations. He currently leads the Office of Safety’s Intersection Team, which focuses on enhancing the safety of the traveling public through improvements in geometric, intersection and interchange design, road safety audits, and ITS applications.Hari has considerable experience building productive partnerships with industry and is well regarded for his ability to effectively interact with individuals form a variety of backgrounds.
He will assume his new position around the first of February.
Congratulations, Hari!
The Office of Safety Welcomes Timothy Barkley
Timothy Barkley, currently the Marketing Specialist in the Resource Center / Atlanta Office, has accepted the position of Safety Communications and Outreach Program Manager within the Office of Safety.
Timothy brings us a wealth of experience and skills gained from professional positions in marketing, advertising, and communications in both commercial and governmental fields since the early 1980's. Since joining FHWA at the Resource Center four years ago, he has helped to lead technology transfer and outreach program efforts, with a strong orientation toward understanding and meeting customer and stakeholder needs.
Welcome, Timothy!
Crash Test Work Zone Safety Devices
The Office of Safety Design has made a major improvement in the search capability of the Crash Tested Work Zone Devices web site. After months of work by our web developers, and the generous contribution of time by Henry Ross of the American Traffic Safety Services Association's Temporary Traffic Control Devices Committee, we have posted two new methods of searching through the nearly 200 FHWA Acceptance Letters dealing with crash tested devices. These letters, describing hundreds of crashworthy channelizers, barricades, and temporary sign stands, may be found at: http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/roadway_dept/road_hardware/index.htm.
Once on that page, you can still get a list of all letters arranged by their WZ "code" by clicking on list of all FHWA Acceptance Letters. However, to narrow down your search, each of the 200 WZ letters has been assigned Keywords in the following areas as appropriate:
- Sign Substrate or Barricade Rail
- Sign Mounting Height
- Auxiliary Device
- Type of Device
- Manufacturer
Using the "Keyword Table Method" you see every keyword that we used to describe all of the letters. After the second iteration of clicking you get the list of letters that meet the two keywords you chose.
Under the "Dropdown Menu Method" you may specify a keyword in up to five of the keyword areas.
For more information, please contact Nick Artimovich at nick.artimovich@fhwa.dot.gov.
Highway Safety Human Factors Scan Tour
From June 11 to June 27 2004, a nine member scan tour team, which consisted of personnel from FHWA, AASHTO, and academia, visited transportation centers of excellence in human factors safety research in Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, and France. The primary objective of the tour was to learn how the various research groups plan, develop, and conduct human factors research and how they put the findings into practice. The following list consists of categories of implementable practices found in the countries visited that could be transferable to US roadway transportation programs:
- "Self—Explaining" Roads — This is a roadway design perspective which requires that roadways be designed and built in such a way that road users readily understand what is required of them in terms of vehicle speed, traffic flow, passing, lane change, etc.
- Driving Simulators And Infrastructure Design Guidelines — There is growing international interest in using driving simulators in conjunction with road validation studies to help define the contents of guideline documents.
- Interdisciplinary Roadway Research Teams — The regular use of a combination of research disciplines (e.g., highway designers traffic engineers, human factors psychologists, software and hardware personnel, and technicians) on roadway projects is a strategy that is becoming more widespread in Europe.
- Speed Management — All European countries visited are dedicating a good portion of their research effort into this area with excellent results. The reduction of speed on American highways would make a significant contribution to the reduction of fatalities and crashes.
- Human Centered Focus - This concerns a way of thinking that considers the capabilities, limitations, and requirements of human users in the design, implementation, and operation of roadway infrastructure systems.
- Cognitive Models — Little effort has been expended worldwide to develop behavioral models that help us understand why drivers and pedestrians do the things that do. The development of these models would be of considerable value to highway designers, highway planners, and traffic engineers as well as behavioral researchers
- Top—Down Human Factors Direction — With the increasing awareness of the human—centered perspective and of the importance of human centered research, a high—level group in FHWA should be formed to oversee and coordinate the behavioral activities of transportation related projects and issues.
For more information, please contact Tom Granda at thomas.granda@fhwa.dot.gov
Traffic Safety Information Systems
Making informed highway safety decisions requires sound analysis of information on crashes, enforcement efforts, driver characteristics, roadway geometrics, traffic control devices, traffic volume data, and the location of roadside hardware and obstacles. To advance U.S. practice in Traffic Safety Information Systems, the joint AASHTO / FHWA International Scanning Program sponsored a Team visit to the Netherlands, Germany, and the Australian States of Victoria and New South Wales during October 2003. Susan Martinovich of Nevada DOT and Michael Halladay of FHWA Co—Chaired the Team. This focus on safety data systems complemented the late 2002 Scan on Managing and Organizing Comprehensive Highway Safety in Europe. Both reports are now available at www.international.fhwa.dot.gov (direct link: http://www.international.fhwa.dot.gov/links/pubs.cfm?link_ID=9#G).
Implementation initiatives for the United States are being advanced by the Team in three key areas:
— Strategy: Governmental leaders should recognize highway safety as a core business; and establish goals and performance measures to assess on—going progress.
— Efficiency: Streamlining and simplifying data collection processes, including technology improvements, improves data quality in terms of accuracy, timeliness, and other requirements.
— Utility: Expanding the value of good safety information calls for raising awareness, 'marketing' applications among various users, and assuring that analytical tools are available.
For more information contact Michael Hallady at 202-366-3649.
NCUTCD January Meeting, Arlington, VA
The National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (NCUTCD) met from January 5—7, 2005 in Arlington, VA. The committee has 8 subcommittees: Bicycle, Regulatory and Warning Signs, G/MI Signs, Signals, Markings, Highway/Railway Crossings, Temporary Traffic Control, and Research. Representatives from the FHWA Office of Safety and Office of Operations were present. In—depth discussions were held in each committee meeting about language in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices. To view proceedings from this meeting, please visit www.ncutcd.org.
Saving Lives — A Vital Goal
Vision:
Improving Transportation for a Strong America.
Goal:
To continually improve highway safety by reducing the number of highway fatalities
and injuries including large trucks. Ensuring safe travel on highways is a guiding
principle throughout the FHWA.
Focus:
High—risk areas through technical assistance, research, training, data analysis, and public
information as well as through compliance and education. The FHWA is working
with safety partners to heighten safety awareness within the highway community,
business, industry, and the Public.
Top Priorities:
Roadway Departure, Intersections, and Pedestrians
| Dates |
Location |
Event |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | ||
| February 25-March 1 | Phoenix, AZ | ATSSA 35th Annual Convention and Traffic Expo, www.atssa.com |
| April 3-9 | Nationwide | National Work Zone Awareness Week |
| May 2-4 | Phoenix, AZ | ITS America Annual Meeting & Expo www.ITSA.org |
| July 15-19 | Honolulu, HI | National Association of Counties Annual Meeting www.naco.org |
| July 31-August 4 | Buffalo, NY | Traffic Records Forum http://www.nsc.org/trafficrecordsforum/ |
| July 23-27 | Dubuque, IA | National Local Transportation Assistance Program Meeting http://www.ltapt2.org/ |
| August 7-10 | Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | Institute of Transportation Engineers Annual Meeting & Exhibit http://www.ite.org/ |
