Initial Analyses from the SHRP 2 Naturalistic Driving Study: Addressing Driver Performance and Behavior in Traffic Safety (2013)

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1 CHAPTER 1 Introduction The second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) is conducting the largest and most comprehensive naturalistic driving study (NDS) ever imagined. The study recruited 2,800 volunteer drivers, ages 16–80, across six sites: two counties surrounding Tampa, Florida; ten counties in central Indiana containing Indianapolis; Erie County, New York containing Buffalo; four counties in North Carolina containing Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill; ten counties in central Pennsylvania containing State College; and four counties in Washington containing Seattle. All of their trips are recorded for 1 to 2 years. Data include vehicle speed, acceleration, and braking; all vehicle controls; lane position; forward radar; and video views forward, to the rear, and on the driver’s face and hands. When complete in early 2014, the NDS data set will contain over 33,000,000 travel miles from over 3,800 vehicle-years of driving, totaling over four petabytes of data. In parallel, the Roadway Information Database (RID) will contain detailed roadway data collected on approximately 12,000 centerline miles of highways in and around the study sites plus additional information about crash histories, traffic and weather conditions, work zones, and active safety campaigns in the study areas. The NDS and RID data can be linked to associate driving behavior with the roadway environment. Campbell (2012) provides an excellent overview of the study. Additional details may be found at the study websites www.shrp2nds.us/ and http://forums.shrp2nds.us/. The study’s central goal is to produce unparalleled data from which to study the role of driver performance and behavior in traffic safety and how driver behavior affects the risk of crashes. This involves understanding how the driver interacts with and adapts to the vehicle, the traffic environment, roadway characteristics, traffic control devices, and other environmental features. After-the-fact crash investigations can do this only indirectly. The NDS data record how drivers really drive and what they are doing just before the crash or near crash. The NDS and RID data will be used for years to come to develop and evaluate safety countermeasures that will prevent traffic crashes and injuries. The First Four SHRP 2 NDS Analyses Four analysis contracts were awarded in 2012 under SHRP 2 Project S08, Analysis of the SHRP 2 Naturalistic Driving Study Data, to study specific research questions using the early SHRP 2 NDS and RID data. An open competition solicited proposals to address topics of the contractor’s own choosing that would have direct safety applications. The four selected contractors and their research areas are: • Iowa State University Center for Transportation Research and Education (CTRE): Lane departures on rural two-lane curves; • MRIGlobal: Offset left-turn lanes;

2 • University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies (CTS): Rear-end crashes on congested freeways; and • SAFER Vehicle and Traffic Safety Centre at Chalmers University, Sweden: Driver inattention and crash risk; The four contracts began in February 2012. In Phase 1, which concluded in December 2012, each contractor obtained an initial set of data, tested and refined their research plan, and developed a detailed plan for their full analyses. Projects selected for Phase 2 will obtain a much richer data set and complete their study by July 2014. Summaries of each contract’s Phase 1 work, prepared by the four contractors, follow. Each summary discusses: • The research topic and why it is important; • What is known already about the topic; • Why NDS and RID data will provide new insights into the topic; • The analysis plan, including what trips are analyzed and what data are needed; • How the data were obtained from the NDS and RID data sets; • How the work to date demonstrates that the full analyses of Phase 2 will be successful; • Any major changes planned for Phase 2; • What results are expected from the full analyses and how the results can be used; and • Any lessons learned about using the NDS and RID datasets. These summaries demonstrate how the SHRP 2 NDS and RID data can be used to address a wide variety of important highway safety research questions. They also provide examples for other researchers on effective strategies for acquiring and using these data.