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Title:

Impact of Adverse Wintry Conditions on the Effectiveness of Centerline Rumble Strips - A Case Study of Wyoming and Colorado Using Before-After Empirical Bayes Design

Accession Number:

01763965

Record Type:

Component

Abstract:

Head-on crashes contribute towards the highest share of multi-vehicle crashes despite being a small percentage of overall crashes. Over the years, centerline rumbles strips (CLRS) have emerged as a cost-effective countermeasure to prevent head-on or cross-over-the-centerline crashes. The overall safety benefits of CLRS is well-proven in the literature. However, there are some anecdotal evidence of its reduced effectiveness during adverse wintry conditions. Since there was no quantitative research in this matter, this study aims to fill that gap. The overall safety effectiveness of CLRS in Wyoming and Colorado was quantified in this study by season; summer and winter. A before-after Empirical Bayes method was chosen to develop Crash Modification Factors (CMFs). Safety performance functions were developed to predict annual, summer, and winter Total, Property Damage Only, Fatal and Injury, as well as Target crashes. Expected crash reductions in Wyoming were found to be between 23% and 72% and those in Colorado ranged between 41% and 84%. The higher percentage of expected crash reductions were associated with the target crashes, head-on crashes. Results show that the CMFs obtained for Wyoming are higher than the ones for Colorado, which can be attributed to the winter maintenance efforts of the jurisdictions. Furthermore, winter CMFs were found to be higher than the summer CMFs suggesting the impact of accumulated snow or ice on reduced depth accompanied by reduced noise and vibration levels. Active and timely winter maintenance efforts are key to keep the CLRS free of snow or ice, thereby not reducing its effectiveness.

Supplemental Notes:

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ACP55 Standing Committee on Traffic Control Devices.

Report/Paper Numbers:

TRBAM-21-03721

Language:

English

Corporate Authors:

Transportation Research Board

Authors:

Ahmed, Irfan U
Ahmed, Mohamed M

Pagination:

15p

Publication Date:

2021

Conference:

Transportation Research Board 100th Annual Meeting

Location: Washington DC, United States
Date: 2021-1-5 to 2021-1-29
Sponsors: Transportation Research Board; Transportation Research Board

Media Type:

Digital/other

Features:

Figures; References; Tables

Geographic Terms:

Colorado; Wyoming

Subject Areas:

Environment; Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors

Source Data:

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2021 Paper #TRBAM-21-03721

Files:

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Created Date:

Dec 23 2020 11:16AM