01550131

Component

https://doi.org/10.3141/2515-05

Lane departures are a precipitating event in most fatal crashes in the United States. This problem is particularly pronounced on high-speed undivided highways, which are prone to cross-centerline crashes. A common countermeasure to reduce such crashes involves installing centerline rumble strips (CLRS), which provide an audible and tactile warning to alert drivers of an impending lane departure event. This study assessed the safety effects of a statewide CLRS implementation program conducted by the Michigan Department of Transportation (DOT) between 2008 and 2010. This program included the installation of CLRS across the Michigan DOT–maintained network of rural, high-speed nonfreeway facilities. Shoulder rumble strips (SRS) were installed in combination with the CLRS at locations with paved shoulders at least 6 ft in width. The empirical Bayes method was used to assess the effectiveness of 4,077 mi of two-lane highways where CLRS were installed as part of this initiative. CLRS were found to reduce target cross-centerline crashes by 27.3% and by 32.8% when used in combination with SRS. Rumble strips were also effective in reducing crashes that occurred under adverse pavement conditions or involved passing maneuvers or driver impairment. This study also provides important insights as to the identification of target (i.e., cross-centerline) crashes. A comprehensive manual review of more than 70,000 crash report forms demonstrated that approximately 10% of target crashes were misclassified by crash type, which is the predominant field typically used to identify such crashes.

01587392

15-0179

English

pp 34–40

2015

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board

9780309369305

Print

References (13) ; Tables (8)

Center lines; Crash characteristics; Fatalities; Lane changing; Road shoulders; Rumble strips; Rural highways; Two lane highways

Michigan

Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I85: Safety Devices used in Transport Infrastructure

PRP, TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Dec 30 2014 12:12PM

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• Developing Calibration Factors for Crash Prediction Models with Consideration of Crash Recording Threshold Change
• Empirical Bayes Before–After Study on Safety Effect of Narrow Pavement Widening Projects in Texas
• Evaluation of the Safety Effectiveness of the Conversion of Two-Lane Roadways to Four-Lane Divided Roadways: Bayesian Versus Empirical Bayes
• Exploring Piecewise Linear Effects of Crash Contributing Factors with a Novel Poisson–Mixed Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines Model
• Is Horizontal Curvature a Significant Factor of Safety in Rural Multilane Highways?
• Modeling Crash Rates for a Mountainous Highway by Using Refined-Scale Panel Data
• Multivariate Full Bayesian Hot Spot Identification and Ranking: New Technique
• Results and Lessons from Local Calibration Process of the Highway Safety Manual for the State of Maryland
• Safety Analysis of Freeway Segments with Random Parameters
• Statistical Evaluation of Different Sample Sizes for Local Calibration Process in the Highway Safety Manual
• Strength of the Variable: Calculating and Evaluating Safety Performance Function Calibration Factors for the State of Ohio
• Transferability and Calibration of Highway Safety Manual Performance Functions and Development of New Models for Urban Four-Lane Divided Roads in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
• Validation Technique Applied to Oregon Safety Performance Function Arterial Segment Models