Implementing the Results of the Second Strategic Highway Research Program Saving Lives, Reducing Congestion, Improving Quality of Life - Special Report 296 (2009) / Chapter Skim
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2 Safety Focus Area
2 Safety Focus Area
Pages 28-44
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From page 28... ...
Driving simulators and studies performed on test tracks or in special test vehicles have made important contributions to understanding the driver, but these methods do not always provide good representations of real-world driving conditions or behavior. Surveying drivers about their behavior and interviewing them after a crash fail to yield very accurate or reliable reports of real behavior, not only because people are biased in their assessments of their own driving prowess or fear liability in the case of a crash but also because so much driver behavior occurs without full conscious awareness.
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From page 29... ...
This kind of safety research is sometimes referred to as a "naturalistic driving study" because it captures driving in natural or real-world circumstances. The benefits of this new knowledge will be realized in more effective use of existing safety countermeasures and in the development of entirely new safety strategies.
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From page 30... ...
The research described above -- known as the SHRP 2 naturalistic driving study -- represents by far the largest study of its type ever undertaken and promises to be a resource for improving highway safety for decades to
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From page 31... ...
The naturalistic driving approach provides detailed information about a single driver and vehicle over an extended period of time but little information about surrounding vehicles and the behavior of their drivers. The site-based approach, on the other hand, provides little information about individual drivers (it would not reveal, for example, whether a driver was wearing a safety belt or using a cell phone)
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From page 32... ...
promising products, and potential users, incentives, and barriers SHRP 2's Safety focus area is expected to produce the following products: • Initial findings that can be used in developing new driver, vehicle, and roadway treatments to reduce deaths and injuries and in improving existing treatments. • A rich source of naturalistic driving data, linked with roadway data, of unprecedented size and diversity, as well as tools for the development and evaluation of potential crash countermeasures.
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From page 33... ...
The answers to these questions will provide safety professionals with guidance for more effective safety strategies and are likely to Box 2-2 selected research questions generated for shrp 2 Lane-Keeping and Run-off-the-Road Crashes • Does lane-keeping vary with driver age, gender, or vehicle type? • Does risk of lane departure vary by road type, traffic volume, superelevation, or presence of opposing traffic?
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From page 34... ...
Box 2-3 provides examples of findings from other naturalistic driving studies performed at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, while Box 2-4 describes an array of uses of similar data from field operational tests performed at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. These studies are much smaller than the SHRP 2 naturalistic driving study and do not involve as wide a variety of drivers and geographic locations or the more detailed roadway data that SHRP 2 will have.
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From page 35... ...
Potential countermeasures include adjustments to hours-of-service regulations, electronic log books for truckers, and high-tech driver alertness monitors for all types of drivers. Evaluation of countermeasures can be carried out by using naturalistic driving data.
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From page 36... ...
to take a number of tests and respond to questionnaires to provide information about themselves -- such as their visual acuity, psychomotor skill, physical capability, risk taking and risk perception, sleep hygiene, medical conditions and medications, and driving knowledge and history -- that can be anonymously correlated with the driving data. Another data component of the naturalistic driving study -- a component never before included at this level of detail in such a study -- is extensive roadway data on curves and grades, intersection locations and characteristics, pavement and shoulder types, presence and types of signs, pavement markings, guardrails, and the like.
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From page 37... ...
The SHRP 2 data will enable study of how such factors as driving speed, braking, steering, and attention change with changes in roadway and environmental features -- such as lane width, signing, pavement type, pavement markings, shoulder type and width, lighting conditions, and prevailing weather conditions. This in turn should allow some roadway countermeasures to be explored analytically, with a wide variety of drivers, by taking advantage of features already in place in various areas instead of implementing the features in an experimental situation and waiting a long time to acquire crash data.
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From page 38... ...
Rumble strips or other roadway design features could help bring a driver's attention back to the driving task. In-vehicle technology could be developed to prevent cell phones from functioning while drivers are operating in challenging traffic and environmental conditions with high cognitive demand and to enable safe cell phone use in low-demand conditions.
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From page 39... ...
In addition, funding is needed to help ensure exposure of the data to both safety researchers and researchers in other fields who might have unique ideas about how to use them to derive new knowledge and to help in providing web- and universitybased training courses. Research and Analysis Tools In carrying out the naturalistic driving study, SHRP 2 will develop or improve on a number of tools that can be used by both safety researchers and
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From page 40... ...
Because the SHRP 2 study will involve thousands of volunteers throughout the country and make use of multiple contractors, it will advance the highway safety research community's knowledge concerning studies with human subjects and how to work with multiple institutional review boards (IRBs) for such research.1 All of these tools and the knowledge gained will contribute to a new way of approaching highway safety based on more scientific understanding of risk factors and driver behavior.
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From page 41... ...
At its current funding level, SHRP 2 will not be conducting these analyses itself. If the system can be demonstrated to work, however, such studies would be within the capacity of many states' research programs, as well as those of the Federal Highway Administration, NHTSA, the National Cooperative Highway Research Program, the American Automobile Association's Foundation for Traffic Safety, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, and others.
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From page 42... ...
conclusion The SHRP 2 Safety program represents the most ambitious driver-centered, system-oriented safety research effort conducted to date. Its main component is a naturalistic driving study involving approximately 4,000 volunteers
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From page 43... ...
In progress. The Naturalistic Truck Driving Study -- Commercial Vehicle Data Collection and Countermeasures Assessment Research Project, Phase II: Investigating Critical Incidents, Driver Re-Start Period, Sleep Quantity, and Crash Countermeasures in Commercial Vehicle Operations Using Naturalistic Data Collec tion.
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From page 44... ...
2003. NCHRP Report 510: Summary Report: Interim Planning for a Future Strategic Highway Research Program.
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