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Title:

Evaluating the Performance of Roadside Hardware
Cover of Evaluating the Performance of Roadside Hardware

Accession Number:

01624328

Record Type:

Component

Abstract:

The performance of roadside hardware is evaluated during the design phase using full - scale crashes. Crash testing has evolved over the last 40 years into a uniform evaluation standard currently presented in the Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware. The Roadside Design Guide provides guidance on how to select, locate and place roadside hardware which has been successfully crash tested. Ultimately, however, it is the performance of the hardware under real field conditions that should be used to evaluate the performance of designs. Crashes must occur and be observed in order to evaluate the in - service performance of roadside hardware. A review of crash frequency or probability of crashes occurring with particular roadside hardware evaluates the guidance for the application of hardware presented in the Roadside Design Guide since it recommends placement, location and layout parameters. Evaluation of the performance of the hardware itself, however, is based only on the outcome of crash that actually occurs. This paper presents a summary of crash testing evolution, confounding factors which should be acknowledged when evaluating any roadside hardware and the strengths and weaknesses of different study designs to estimate the effectiveness of the hardware. A discussion of data analysis techniques would have far exceeded the space limitations imposed, therefore, are excluded from this paper. An illustration of the suggested techniques is presented using flared guardrail terminal data from Maine. It is recommended that prior to any ISPE the evaluators first become knowledgeable in: (1) the development history; and (2) the acceptable uses of the hardware.

Supplemental Notes:

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AFB20 Standing Committee on Roadside Safety Design.

Monograph Accession #:

01618707

Report/Paper Numbers:

17-01714

Language:

English

Corporate Authors:

Transportation Research Board

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Authors:

Carrigan, Christine E
Ray, Malcolm H
Ray, Archie M

Pagination:

16p

Publication Date:

2017

Conference:

Transportation Research Board 96th Annual Meeting

Location: Washington DC, United States
Date: 2017-1-8 to 2017-1-12
Sponsors: Transportation Research Board

Media Type:

Digital/other

Features:

Figures; References (11) ; Tables

Geographic Terms:

Maine

Subject Areas:

Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors

Source Data:

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2017 Paper #17-01714

Files:

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Created Date:

Dec 8 2016 10:35AM