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Title:

Evaluation of Supplementary Traffic Control Devices for Surveyor Safety Enhancement

Accession Number:

01478307

Record Type:

Component

Availability:

Transportation Research Board Business Office

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Abstract:

Many Department of Transportation (DOT) employees who conduct geodetic/land surveying work alongside a roadway are constantly exposed to fast-moving traffic. Existing studies on traffic control and safety devices are predominately focused on traditional work zones such as construction and maintenance zones. There are limited studies on using traffic control and safety devices to address the safety issues encountered by surveyors at their unique short-term work sites. Information on traffic control and safety devices that can be used to enhance surveyor safety is greatly needed. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of two traffic control and safety devices for surveyors and other employees whose work cover a large area within predetermined limits. The selected devices are portable rumble strips and warning lights. These devices were tested extensively at actual surveyor work sites in New Jersey. All tests sites were on four-lane two-way urban roadways. The effectiveness of the selected devices was assessed by a set of surrogate safety measures including reduction in mean speed, 85th 12 percentile speed, changes in speed distributions, speed limit compliance, and braking rate. The results show that portable rumble strips overall outperformed the warning lights while both devices positively affected the surrogate safety measures at surveyor work sites. In addition, the combination of the two devices performed more effectively than using them separately. The potential safety benefits and relative ease of use of these devices make them potential traffic control and safety devices for surveyors as well as other employees who work in similar work sites.

Supplemental Notes:

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AHB55 Work Zone Traffic Control.

Monograph Accession #:

01470560

Report/Paper Numbers:

13-4921

Language:

English

Corporate Authors:

Transportation Research Board

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Authors:

Yang, Hong
Ozbay, Kaan
Bartin, Bekir
Chien, Steven I-Jy

Pagination:

16p

Publication Date:

2013

Conference:

Transportation Research Board 92nd Annual Meeting

Location: Washington DC, United States
Date: 2013-1-13 to 2013-1-17
Sponsors: Transportation Research Board

Media Type:

Digital/other

Features:

Figures; References; Tables

Uncontrolled Terms:

Warning lights

Geographic Terms:

New Jersey

Subject Areas:

Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors; I73: Traffic Control; I85: Safety Devices used in Transport Infrastructure

Source Data:

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2013 Paper #13-4921

Files:

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Created Date:

Feb 5 2013 12:56PM