Design of the In-Vehicle Driving Behavior and Crash Risk Study (2011)

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C H A P T E R 1 IntroductionThe second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) is administered by the Transportation Research Board (TRB) of the National Academies and has the goal of addressing the challenges of moving people and goods efficiently and safely on the nation’s highways. There are four areas of emphasis asso- ciated with SHRP 2: Safety, Reliability, Renewal, and Capacity. Each of these areas in turn encompasses several research projects. The SHRP 2 Safety research program evaluates the role of driving behavior in traffic safety. While driving behav- ior has largely been acknowledged as a primary factor in most collisions, the complex interrelationship of driver performance with factors such as roadway design, environmental condi- tions, and vehicle features—and how those factors influence the risk of collisions and casualties—remains largely unknown. Crash reports and investigations can capture only limited information on driver activities before the collision and cannot provide comparable information on driving activities in non- collision situations. By using innovative research methods com- bined with advanced technologies, SHRP 2 sees opportunities to improve traffic safety via the research project described below. Specific goals of the SHRP 2 Safety program include the following: • Understanding how drivers interact with and adapt to var- ious factors such as  The vehicle;  Traffic and traffic control devices;  The environment; and  Roadway characteristics. • Assessing the changes in collision risk associated with each of these factors and their interactions. In response to the TRB SHRP 2 solicitation S05: Design of the In-Vehicle Driving Behavior and Crash Risk Study (Study Design), the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) joined with the University of Michigan Transporta-4tion Research Institute (UMTRI) and Battelle Memorial Insti- tute (Battelle) to lay the foundation for the most significant program of highway safety research in more than 30 years. The successful completion of this research effort will produce an unprecedented database of near-crash, precrash, crash, driving behavior, driving performance, roadway informa- tion, and vehicle kinematics data that will allow substantial progress to be made in both the crash-causation and crash- countermeasure domains. By working to improve highway safety through a more comprehensive understanding of driv- ing behavior, the SHRP 2 Safety analysis projects, which will be conducted as a series of studies under Safety Project S08, will advance the directives of the Safe, Accountable, Flexi- ble, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) legislation passed by Congress in 2005 and of the SHRP 2 Safety plan. This research agenda comes at a critical time in the history of our nation’s surface transportation safety. The project is part of an effort to make driving safer in the United States. Vehic- ular crashes, because they do not discriminate by age, consti- tute a leading killer in terms of years of lost life. For example, newly licensed teen drivers are three times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash than their older counterparts. They are also more likely to die in a car crash than from all other sources of disease and accidental injury combined. This project’s research is an ambitious undertaking. The required data collection, archiving, reduction, and analysis efforts are of far greater magnitude and scope than any driv- ing safety-related studies that have been attempted or accom- plished to date anywhere in the world. In fact, advances in sensors, computing, data storage, video compression, and data-mining technology have only recently made this proj- ect feasible. In addition, the analytical methodologies, hier- archies and models, and the generation of hypotheses to be tested will need to be taken to a new level of quality and utility. Since achieving a successful outcome is a difficult

5task, the design of the project is a critical element to the suc- cess of the SHRP 2 NDS. This final report provides a high-level summary of the key areas of the planning study that will be used in supporting the NDS, which includes Safety Project S06 (Technical Coordina- tion and Independent Quality Assurance for Field Study), Safety Project S07 (In-Vehicle Driving Behavior Field Study), and Safety Project S04 (Roadway Data Collection). Figure 1.1 illustrates the general relationships among the SHRP 2 Safety projects as well as their approximate time frames. In brief, the planning accomplished in S05 Study Design supports the pro- curement of NDS data collection hardware (S12) as well as the NDS data collection activities to be accomplished in S06 and S07. Similarly, the evaluations performed in Safety Project S03 support the collection of the roadway data in the S04 projects. The analysis projects to be released in Safety Project S08 will be guided by the development of analysis methods and plans in Safety Projects S01 and S02. Finally, all data collected in the S04, S06, and S07 efforts will be integrated for S08 analysis projects, as well as for other analyses going forward. Safety Project S06 is intended to provide technical coordi- nation and independent quality assurance for the in-vehicle driving behavior field studies (S07) and technical coordination with the roadway data collection projects (S04A and S04B). This implementation project, as designed in Safety Project S05, includes the following: • Coordinating the recruitment and protection of human subjects;Figure 1.1. SHRP 2 safety projects.• Managing the data acquisition system (DAS) procurement, testing, and warranties; • Integrating data collection systems; • Providing support to the S07 site contractors; • Controlling quality aspects and managing oversight activ- ities; and • Managing and reporting all aspects related to the study. Safety Project S07 is tasked with conducting the in-vehicle driving behavior field study that will be performed at six locations throughout the continental United States. The key responsibilities include the following: • Participant intake, including consenting, assessing, and ini- tiating participant compensation; • Installing DAS units on participant vehicles; • Retrieving hard drives on which the data have been collected and uploading the data to the S07 staging computer (which will automatically transmit the data to the S06 servers); • Deinstalling DAS units when participants exit the study; and • Troubleshooting problems encountered, with the assistance of the S06 contractor. Safety Project S04 relates to the large field study of driver behavior and will provide and manage road information to be used in safety analysis. It has two parts: A and B. Safety Project S04A represents the effort to provide quality assurance and quality control for the S04B Safety Project. Safety Project S04A will acquire existing roadway data, provide technical

6coordination for collection of roadway data under Safety Project S04B, and produce the SHRP 2 Roadway Information Database. Safety Project S04B is focused on collecting roadway characteristic data on selected roads within the in-vehicle driving behavior field study areas. This work will be facilitated by the technical coordination contract under S06 to help the S04 contractor(s) determine the most salient roadways tocover in each study area. Ultimately, this will lead to the pro- duction of a roadway database in a geographic information system (GIS) linked via an appropriate linear reference sys- tem, and merged with existing roadway data from other sources. The study will incorporate variables using a roadway measurement system qualified in the SHRP 2 Roadway Mea- surement System.