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VOL 30, NO 8 OC TO BER 28, 2016

App May Play a Role in Re duc ing Traf fic Ac ci dentsUses Sen sor on Any Smartphone to Record Driv ing Behav ior Includ ing Hard Brak ing, Rapid Accel er a tion, and Swerv ing and Speed ing

In the world of ever increas ing apps forsmartphones, a new app is cre at ing atten -tion since it can poten tially have a sig nif i -cant impact on traf fic safety.

Driversiti, the com pany that devel opedthe app (called Driversiti), recently startedapply ing their app. The Driversiti app cantell if you’re in a car, and how that car isbeing driven. The phone instantly detectsunsafe behav iors like hard brak ing, rapidaccel er a tion, swerv ing and speed ing – andcan even gen er ate audio alerts to coachdriv ers out of bad hab its. In addi tion,Driversiti enables the phone to dif fer en ti -ate between dis tracted driv ing and use ofthe phone by a pas sen ger. It also imme di -ately detects a crash – a pat ented capa bil itythat works for speeds as low as 25miles-per-hour.

Driversiti reports that “all of this hap -pens in real time, with min i mal bat tery anddata usage – and with out any inputrequired from the driver.”

Driversiti’s app is cur rently being usedby fleets like SuperShuttle to turn theirdriv ers’ mobile devices into safetydevices, at a very low cost. The app helpsfleet man ag ers under stand who the saf estdriv ers are, and applies real-time coach ingfor those who might need it. All data gath -ered is stored in Diversiti’s cloud-anal y sisplat form, enabling fleet man ag ers to seetrends in dan ger ous driv ing across theirentire fleet. Armed with that knowl edge,fleet man ag ers can guide the fleet to

Research Finds Link Between Air Pol lu tionand Traf fic Acci dents Lon don School of Eco nom ics and Polit i cal Sci ence Not Sure Yet WhatCom po nent of Air Pol lu tion Causes an Increase in Acci dents

Air pol lu tion appears to be caus ing anincrease in traf fic acci dents, accord ing to a new study on Cli mate Change and theEnvi ron ment at the Lon don School ofEco nom ics and Polit i cal Sci ence.

An anal y sis by researcher Lutz Sagerfound that small increases in the level ofnitro gen diox ide in the air are cor re latedwith a mea sur able rise in the num ber oftraf fic acci dents in the United Kingdom.

Sager’s results, based on data for theperiod between 2009 and 2014, show thata rise in the aver age con cen tra tion of

nitro gen diox ide of just one micro gram per cubic meter is suf fi cient to increase theaver age num ber of acci dents each day bytwo per cent, with the big gest effect occur -ring in cities.

Sager’s anal y sis divided the UK into agrid of 32 areas each cov er ing about 3,000square miles. He cal cu lated that in the areacon tain ing west Lon don, which suf fersfrom some of the high est lev els of air pol -lu tion, a cut of about 30 per cent in the con -cen tra tion of nitro gen diox ide could

Inside

Sur veys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Re quests for Pro pos als. . . . . . . . Page 22

Con fer ences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 23

A 'heat map' of St. Petersburg, FL, shows hard breaking events of all drivers. Thisinformation might be useful for identifying dangerous locations and for investigating

high accident locations. (Photo: Courtesy of Driversiti)

Please turn to Page 2

THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITORã 2016 Law ley Pub li ca tions. All Rights Re served.


© THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, OCTOBER 28, 2016, VOL. 30, NO. 8

The Urban Trans por ta tion Mon i tor, ISSN10404880, is pub lished monthly, except dur ingJan u ary and August (10 issues per year), by Law -ley Pub li ca tions, 6813 Jer e miah Ct., Fairfax Sta -tion, VA 22039, Tel: (703)764-0512, Fax:(703)764-0516, e-mail: edi [email protected]. Sub scrip tions $295 per year. Peri -od i cals post age paid at Fairfax, VA.POSTMASTER: Please send address changes toThe Urban Trans por ta tion Mon i tor, P.O. Box12300, Burke, VA 22009-2300. The Urban Trans por ta tion Mon i tor pub lishescur rent news on all modes and aspects related tourban trans por ta tion. Law ley Pub li ca tions is aninde pend ent and pri vately owned orga ni za tion. Copy right 2016, Law ley Pub li ca tions. AllRights Reserved. Repro duc tion, includ ing pho -to copy ing and fac sim ile or elec tronic trans mis -sion, in whole or in part with out writ tenper mis sion from the Edi tor is expresslypro hib ited.Law ley Pub li ca tions assumes no respon si bil ityor lia bil ity of any kind for the accu racy or com -plete ness of the infor ma tion herein, or for addi -tional or changed infor ma tion sub se quent to thedate the mate rial was received and/or pub lished.Pub lisher/Edi tor: Dan iel B. Rathbone, Ph.D., P.E.Man ag ing Edi tor: Clarissa Reeves, M.Ed. Senior Edi tor/Writer: Melanie Stark

Con tin ued from Page 1

App May Play a Role in Reducing Traffic Accidentsad dress spe cific prob lems, like stretches of

high way where speed ing is usu ally very

com mon.

The “heat map” on page 1 pro vides a

sam ple of hard break ing events in Tampa,

FL., from which it is easy to see:

· intersections where peo ple are driv ingdan ger ously;

· lo ca tions of hard break ing events; and

· lo ca tions where the speeds are of tendan ger ously high.

This in for ma tion is po ten tially very use -

ful for city and state traf fic en gi neers do -

ing safety anal y ses. The app re duces the

need for ex pen sive speed

and other stud ies. The in -

for ma tion can be bro ken

down by lo ca tion, time of

day, and in di vid ual driv -

ers that have the app in -

stalled on their per sonal

smartphones.

An ad di tional ap pli ca -

tion by Diversiti is to de ter -

mine where pas sen gers

board and alight on a pub -

lic trans por ta tion route.

Pres ently, this is also

re duce the num ber of road ac ci dents ev ery

day by al most five per cent.

Sager said: “Al though it has al ready

been shown that air pol lu tion ad versely af -

fects hu man health and the abil ity to carry

out men tal tasks, this is the first pub lished

study that as sesses the im pact on road

safety. The anal y sis iden ti fies a causal ef -

fect of air pol lu tion on road ac ci dents.”

Sager com mented to The Ur ban

Transportation Mon i tor that “ar gu ably, im -

paired vis i bil ity could be one chan nel

through which air pol lu tion might in crease

the num ber of ac ci dents. Other can di dates

are a re duc tion in men tal acu ity or phys i cal

A screenshot of the app.(Im age: Cour tesy of Driversiti)

ir ri ta tion caus ing dis trac tions (burn ing

eyes, itchy nose).” He added that in the cur -

rent ver sion of the pa per, he did not home in

on the pre cise ‘chan nel’ but fo cused ex clu -

sively on con firm ing that there ap pears to be

a pos i tive ef fect of air pol lu tion on the num -

ber of ac ci dents. He is hop ing soon to be

able to de ter mine which chan nel might be

the main cause of the in crease in ac ci dents.

For more in for ma tion or to ob tain a

copy of the work ing pa per ‘Es ti mat ing the

ef fect of air pol lu tion on road safety us ing

at mo spheric tem per a ture in ver sions’, con -

tact Bob Ward [email protected].

Con tin ued from Page 2)

Re search Finds Link Be tween Air Pol lu tionand Traf fic Ac ci dents

time-con sum ing and expensive.

Driversiti op er ates world wide, in clud -

ing North Amer ica, Eu rope, Asia, South

Amer ica, and the Mid dle East. Their cli -

ents have re corded mil lions of miles

driven, in clud ing by a num ber of fleet

com pa nies who are pay ing to de ploy

Driversiti through out their fleets.

For more in for ma tion, con tact Dan

Winston, Vice Pres i dent – Busi ness, tel.

(443) 435-4153, email:

[email protected]. Website:

www.driversiti.com.

Driversiti app screenshot of a trip speed ing in for ma -tion (red) and lo ca tions of phone han dling while driv -

ing. (Im age: Cour tesy of Driversiti)

mailto:[email protected]

© THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, OCTOBER 28, 2016, VOL. 30 NO. 8

The Na tional As so ci a tion of City Trans -

por ta tion Of fi cials (NACTO) and the

Global De sign ing Cit ies Ini tia tive ear lier

this month re leased a “Global Street De -

sign Guide” (GDSG) for de sign ing safe

and sus tain able cit ies.

Fabrizio Prati, Pro gram As so ci ate at

NACTO, said “the GSDG is a re source that

will set a global base line for de sign ing

streets and pub lic spaces while re de fin ing

the role of streets in a rap idly ur ban iz ing

world.” He added “it has been de vel oped

with the in put of more than 150 pro fes sion -

als from the pub lic and pri vate sec tors as

well as ad vo cates from 72 cit ies in 42

coun tries; to gether, we re fer to these ex -

perts as the Global Ex pert Net work. The

In ter na tional Street De sign Guide Re leasedNACTO Pro duces Guide Af ter In put from 42 Coun tries

Guide le ver ages the ex pe ri ence of this

global net work as well as na tional and in -

ter na tional pub li ca tions and re sources and

is based on over 40 case stud ies from

around the world.” “The Guide ded i cates a

chap ter on the needs of each of the var i ous

streets us ers—pe des trian, bi cy clists, tran sit

us ers, mo tor ists, freight and city ser vices

pro vid ers and peo ple do ing busi ness in our

streets—and pres ents 21 street typologies

and 50 unique street and in ter sec tion trans -

for ma tions ap pli ca ble in di verse con texts

and lev els of de vel op ment, from planned

settlements to informal areas.”

NACTO be lieves street de sign is “one of

the sin gle most pow er ful in stru ments avail -

able to city plan ners to com bat traf fic dan -

ger, a per sis tent global health cri sis re -

spon si ble for 1.25 mil lion deaths an nu -

ally.” NACTO added “street de sign is also

the key to re solv ing larger is sues of cit ies’

eco nomic vi tal ity, liv abil ity, and phys i cal

and so cial mo bil ity.”

The GDSG fol lows NACTO’s Ur ban

Street De sign Guide, Ur ban Bike way De -

sign Guide, and Tran sit Street De sign

Guide, ex pand ing from a North Amer i can

con text to ad dress a va ri ety of street

typologies and de sign el e ments found

around the world.

For more in for ma tion, con tact Fabrizio

Prati, NACTO, at [email protected]

and visit www.nacto.org .

Transforming an urban street as illustrated in the The Global Street De sign Guide.(Image: Cour tesy of NACTO)



Ear lier this month, Cu bic Trans por ta tionSys tems (CTS) and the Uni ver sity of Mel -bourne an nounced the sign ing of a Mem o -ran dum of Un der stand ing to part ner on thede vel op ment of a ‘Na tional Con nectedMultimodal Trans port (NCMT) Test Bed,’which will de liver the first im ple men ta tionof Cu bic’s ‘Sur face Trans port Man age -ment So lu tion.’

The NCMT Test Bed to be ap plied inMel bourne will be the world’s first ‘ur banlab o ra tory’ ca pa ble of large-scale test ingand im ple men ta tion of emerg ing tech nol o -gies in com plex ur ban en vi ron ments. Thetest ing will ex plore ways to re lieve pres -sures cre ated by in creased trip-mak ing byus ing data from traf fic, pub lic trans por ta -tion and park ing. The NCMT Test Bed will also fo cus on multimodal trans por ta tionsys tems con sist ing of con nected ve hi cles,road ways, freight, city lo gis tics, pub lictrans por ta tion, smart stations, pedestriansand cyclists.

CTS be lieves that gov ern ments need tomake op er a tions more ef fi cient, while al -low ing cus tom ers to con nect eas ily with all the ser vices and in fra struc ture avail able.“To achieve this, cit ies need to take ad van -tage of the mas sive amounts of data cur -

Cu bic Teams Up with Uni ver sity of Mel bourne to De liver World’sFirst 'Ur ban Lab o ra tory'Con nected Multimodal Trans port Test Bed to be Ap plied in Mel bourne, Aus tra lia

rently at their fin ger tips and re al ize newop por tu ni ties to con nect dif fer ent sys temsand cre ate a level of higher in tel li genceabout the sys tem as a whole,” said TomWalker, se nior vice president of CTSAsia-Pacific.

Cu bic’s Sur face Trans port Man age -ment So lu tion forms the core of the NCMT Test Bed by pro vid ing an en hanced sys tem for data us age and anal y sis by trans por ta -tion plan ners. Through its cloud-basedplat form and multimodal in te gra tion ca pa -bil i ties, Cu bic’s so lu tion can con nect dif -fer ent sys tems and data sets to pro videplan ners with a ho lis tic real-time view oftravel across the entire network.

The Ur ban Trans por ta tion Mon i torques tioned CTS about their ini tia tive:

Q. What does the test bed con sist of?Has an agree ment with the city of Mel -bourne been es tab lished?

A. It will be a real, live test bed. The testbed will use ded i cated cor ri dors and re -gions in Mel bourne for test ing and thesewill be agreed upon with the city. Cu bicwill pro vide the core trans port in te gra tionen gine and data hub for the project.

Q. Pres ently, most cit ies have park ingapps, nav i ga tion apps that take traf fic into

con sid er ation in real time and there is a sig -nif i cant amount of re search be ing con -ducted on AVs and their im pact on road ca -pac ity, etc. In ad di tion, there are the carshar ing apps, park ing apps, etc. What test -ing will be done at the NCMT?

A. Ex am ples of in te gra tion (apart fromcon nected ve hi cles) will be things likeSCATS (the traf fic sig nal sys tem cur rentlyde ployed in Mel bourne) in or der to betterco or di nate ve hi cles with traf fic lights; in -te gra tion of Myki data (Myki is areloadable, contactless, smartcard tick et -ing sys tem used on pub lic trans port in Aus -tra lia) to better un der stand how peo plemove around the city and to ex am ine howmulti-modal op tions could be de liv ered i.e. give us ers the in for ma tion they need tomake informed choices.

Q. Will in put be ob tained from the pub -lic?

A. The pub lic will be en gaged in a con -trolled man ner as one of the key aims is topro vide trav el lers with better in for ma tionand choices.

Q. What is the timeframe for ac tual ap -pli ca tion?

A. This is yet to be con firmed but theaim is to de fine the test bed be fore the endof the year and start de ploy ment early in2017.

Q. What are the unique com po nents ofthe test bed?

A. Cu bic’s Trans port for the Fu turepro gram is an op por tu nity to im prove themo bil ity of trav el lers across all modes oftrans port in Aus tra lia’s cit ies, and po ten -tially around the world. Not only that, butthe Gov ern ment will be able to man age on -go ing de mand and mo bil ity us ing Cu bic’sin te grated trans port frame work as thespring board for the next gen er a tion of in te -grated trans port man age ment. The over allre sult will place Aus tra lia at the fore frontof in no va tive trans port man age mentworld wide. It will max i mize the uti li sa tionof the ex ist ing in fra struc ture through theuse of ef fec tive in ter ven tion fea tures tobal ance de mand. This will de liver im -proved use of the ex ist ing trans port ca pac -ity as well as drive im prove ment in thenation’s productivity. Professor Iven Mareels, Dean of Engineering, Melbourne School of Engineering at The

University of Melbourne (left) and Tom Walker, Cubic Transportation SystemsManaging Director of Asia Pacific. (Photo: Cour tesy of Cubic) Please turn to Page 5


Ear lier this month, the U.S. De part ment ofTrans por ta tion’s Bu reau of Trans por ta tion Sta tis tics (BTS) re leased the up dated Na -tional Trans por ta tion Sta tis tics (NTS). The NTS is a web-only ref er ence guide to na -tional-level trans por ta tion data. NTS, up -dated quar terly, in cludes a wide range ofna tional trans por ta tion in for ma tion. NTScon sists of more than 260 ta bles of na tional data on the trans por ta tion sys tem, safety,the econ omy and en ergy and the en vi ron -ment, of which 68 were up dated in this new re lease. The next quar terly up date is sched -uled for Jan u ary 2017. NTS con tents areavail able on the BTS website.

The more than 260 data ta bles cover el -e ments such as the phys i cal com po nents,safety re cord, eco nomic per for mance, hu -man and nat u ral en vi ron ment, and na tional se cu rity of the U.S. trans por ta tion sys tem. The doc u ment also in cludes data sourceand ac cu racy state ments, a glos sary and alist of acronyms and initialisms.

The main sec tions of the NTS are listedbe low:Chap ter 1 - The Trans por ta tion Sys temChap ter 2 - Trans por ta tion SafetyChap ter 3 - Trans por ta tion and Econ omyChap ter 4 - Trans por ta tion, En ergy, and


Cu bic Teams Up

the En vi ron ment An Ad vi sory Coun cil on Trans por ta tionSta tis tics (ACTS) was cre ated with the es -tab lish ment of BTS in the Intermodal Sur -face Trans por ta tion Ef fi ciency Act of 1991, to ad vise BTS on the qual ity, re li abil ity,con sis tency, ob jec tiv ity, and rel e vance oftrans por ta tion sta tis tics and anal y ses col -lected, sup ported, or dis sem i nated by theBu reau and the De part ment. Mem bers in -clude Alicia Carriquiry, Iowa State Uni ver -sity; Barbara Fraumeni, Muskie School ofPub lic Ser vice; Herman Habermann, theCom mit tee on Na tional Sta tis tics; PaulJovanis, Penn syl va nia State Uni ver sity;Da vid Lee, Air lines for Amer ica; Jo sephSchofer, North west ern Uni ver sity; and Mi -chael Walton, Uni ver sity of Texas at Aus -tin. The re ap pointed mem bers are LeannaDepue, Mis souri De part ment of Trans por -ta tion; and Michael Replogle, Institute forTransportation and Development Policy.

For more in for ma tion, con tact DaveSmallen on (202) 366-5568, or visit

http://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/publications/national_transpor

tation_statistics/index.html. A con tact

email is an [email protected]

Cu bic pro vided the fol low ing ad di tionalin for ma tion:

“The pro ject is about tak ing trans portin Aus tra lia on a jour ney that will ul ti -mately de liver a more in te grated, cus -tomer-fo cused ex pe ri ence which will bethe envy of coun tries around the world.The pro gram out lined in this note re cog -nises that there is no sin gle as pect that willde liver the re quired step change in trav el -ler ex pe ri ence in the next 10 years. It willbe de liv ered through a combination of:

· in te gra tion of new ser vices; · changes in de liv ery ap proach of ex ist -

ing ser vices; · up grad ing of in fra struc ture;· greater use of sup port ing data ana lyt ics;· use of tar geted in ter ven tions and· the pro vi sion of per son al ised real-time

in for ma tion to us ers.”“It is built on the ap proach that all us ers

will have a sin gle ac count through whichthey are able to pay for all trans port andas so ci ated ser vices. A trans port man age -ment plat form will pro vide an en hancedlevel of multi-modal re sponse man age -ment. Data ana lyt ics is used to iden tifythose as pects that re quire the in ter ven tionof the trans port man age ment team wherethe re sponses can’t be au to mated. Im -prove ment to the ex ist ing trans port ser -vice pro vi sion will also con trib ute to theover all im prove ment in ser vice de liv ery,driv ing a more bal anced ap proach totrans port mode choice.”

“To en sure adop tion of new ap proaches to trans port man age ment, it is im por tantthat all trans port modes are con sid ered aspart of a ho lis tic ap proach to de liv er ing anim proved user ex pe ri ence. Cu bic re cog -nises that the user ex pe ri ence will be dif fer -ent for each trav el ler group. Each user willper ceive their value dif fer ently, whether itis the re ver sal of cur rently in creas ing con -ges tion, de liv er ing shorter train jour neys,pro vid ing a greater fre quency of bus ser -vices, hav ing al ways con nected on-boardser vices, easy pay ment meth ods or betterreal-time in for ma tion pro vi sion. Our ap -proach is to en sure all these as pects are ad -dressed within this pro gram.”

For more in for ma tion, con tact JohnMacGregor at tel. 0414 445 447, email:[email protected], or visit www.cu -bic.com or on Twit ter @CubicCorp.

An Ex am ple Ta ble from the Na tional Trans por ta tion Sta tis tics (On line)

Na tional Trans por ta tion Sta tis tics Up datedBu reau of Trans por ta tion Sta tis tics Up date 68 Ta bles

1980 1990 2000 2010 2013

Fa tal i ties

Ur ban, to tal 21,546 18,813 15,855 14,642 15,102

In ter state 2,184 2,252 2,419 2,124 2101

Other arterials 12,752 11,742 9,523 8,471 8638

Col lec tors 2,226 1,427 1,001 1,069 1114

Lo cal 4,384 3,392 2,912 2,978 3249

Ve hi cle-miles of travel(VMT) (mil lions)

Ur ban, to tal 855,265 1,275,484 1,663,773 1,982,358 2,046,411

In ter state 161,242 278,901 393,465 477,693 505,309

Other arterials 484,189 699,233 900,392 1,052,572 1,068,927

Col lec tor 83,043 106,297 135,372 180,565 188,547

Lo cal 126,791 191,053 234,544 271,528 283,628

Fa tal ity rates per 100 mil lion ve hi cle miles

Ur ban, to tal 2.52 1.47 0.95 0.74 0.74

In ter state 1.35 0.81 0.61 0.44 0.42

Other arterials 2.63 1.68 1.06 0.80 0.81

Collectors 2.68 1.34 0.74 0.59 0.59

Lo cal 3.46 1.78 1.24 1.10 1.15

http://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/publications/national_transportation_statistics/index.html





Ear lier this month the U.S. De part ment of

Trans por ta tion (DOT) an nounced the re -

cip i ents of grants from the Ad vanced

Trans por ta tion and Con ges tion Man age -

ment Tech nol o gies De ploy ment

(ATCMTD) pro gram over seen by the Fed -

eral High way Ad min is tra tion and the Mo -

bil ity on De mand (MOD) Sandbox pro -

gram over seen by the Fed eral Tran sit Ad -

min is tra tion (FTA). The re cip i ents will re -

ceive $65 mil lion in fed eral fund ing and

through le ver ag ing will in crease this to tal

to $170 mil lion in pub lic and pri vate in -

vest ments.

ATCMTD pro gram’s grants are de -

signed to help com mu ni ties use tech nol -

USDOT An nounces Ad vanced Tech nol ogyTrans por ta tion GrantsGrants to be Le ver aged to Bring Close to $170 Mil lion in Pub lic and Pri vate In vest ment to De ploy Smart CityTech nol o gies

ogy to en hance mo bil ity and ex pand ac -

cess to op por tu nity. Pro jects funded by

these grants will im prove the ef fi ciency of

the high way sys tem and make the most use

of ex ist ing ca pac ity for com mu ters, busi -

nesses, and freight ship pers. These is sues

were high lighted in the ‘Be yond Traf fic’

re port, which ad dresses the chal lenges fac -

ing Amer ica’s trans por ta tion in fra struc -

ture over the next three de cades, such as a

rap idly growing population and increasing

traffic.

The $8 mil lion MOD Sandbox Pro gram

is part of a larger re search ef fort at U.S.

DOT that sup ports tran sit agen cies and

com mu ni ties as they in te grate new mo bil -

ity tools like smart phone apps, bike- and

car-shar ing, and de mand-re spon sive bus

and van ser vices. MOD pro jects help make

trans por ta tion sys tems more ef fi cient and

ac ces si ble, par tic u larly for peo ple who

lack ac cess to a car. Through cre ative busi -

ness mod els, the MOD Sandbox Pro gram

ex plores the po ten tial of in te grat ing pub lic

and pri vate trans por ta tion choices. FTA

sought pro jects with part ner ships be tween

tran sit pro vid ers, lo cal gov ern ments, tech -

nol ogy com pa nies, and others that

demonstrate solutions in real-world

settings.

For more in for ma tion, call (202)

366-4570.

Grant ees and Pro jects for the Ad vanced Trans por ta tion and Con ges tion Man age ment Tech nol o gies De ploy -ment (ATCMTD) Pro gram Run by the Fed eral High way Administration


City and County of

Den ver, CO

Den ver Smart City Pro gram - Freight ef fi ciency cor ri dor with travel time re li abil ity along ar te ri als as

a City ser vice to freight fleet operations.

$6,000,000

Los An geles County

Met ro pol i tan Trans -

por ta tion Au thor ity,

CA

Freight Ad vanced Trav eler In for ma tion Sys tem (FRATIS) - A large-scale de ploy ment of the Freight

Ad vanced Trav eler In for ma tion Sys tem (FRATIS) Pro ject us ing au to mated op ti mized dis patch ing

and traf fic sig nal- ve hi cle speed co or di na tion to re duce truck congestion and fuel usage.

$3,000,000

City of Los An geles,

CA

Los An geles DOT Im ple men ta tion of Ad vanced Tech nol o gies to Im prove Safety and Mo bil ity

within the Prom ise Zone Im ple men ta tion of con nected ve hi cle tech nol o gies to al low the sig nal sys -

tem to de tect red light-vi o lat ing ve hi cles and ad just tim ing, and per sonal wire less de vices to pri or i -

tize pe des trian travel and safety at intersections.

$3,000,000

City of Marys ville,

OH

NW 33 Smart Mo bil ity Cor ri dor De ploy ment of cor ri dor-fo cused con nected ve hi cle ap pli ca tions in a

mix ture of ru ral and sub ur ban en vi ron ments across mul ti ple com mu ni ties to im prove ac cess to large

em ploy ment sites and economic development.

$5,997,500

Ni ag ara Fron tier

Trans por ta tion Au -

thor ity, NY

A Con nected Re gion: Mov ing Tech no log i cal In no va tions For ward in the NITTEC Re gion Con nected

ve hi cle ap pli ca tions us ing mul ti ple com mu ni ca tions tech nol o gies to alert truck ers of bor der wait

times and avail able park ing to re duce con ges tion in the Buffalo-Niagara area.

$7,813,256

City of Pitts burgh,

PA

SmartPGH De ploy “Smart Spine” cor ri dors that layer en vi ron men tal, com mu ni ca tions, en ergy, and

trans por ta tion in fra struc ture tech nol o gies to im prove con nec tions be tween iso lated neigh bor hoods &

ma jor cen ters of em ploy ment, education, and healthcare.

$10,899,318

City and County of

San Fran cisco, CA

San Fran cisco Smart City Con nected dy namic toll ing for the Bay Bridge com bined with in cen tive ef -

forts for HOV and tran sit use, such as dy namic carpool/rideshare pick-up curbs and con nected ve hi -

cle tran sit pri or ity to re duce congestion.

$10,990,750

Texas De part ment of

Trans por ta tion

(Hous ton, TX)

ConnectSmart: Con nect ing TSMO and Ac tive De mand Man age ment Ex pands per son-trip ca pac ity

by seamlessly pro vid ing a broad range of in no va tive mo bil ity op tions to com mu ters le ver ag ing tech -

nol o gies such as shared-use ebikes, so cial carpooling in clud ing ridesharing ser vices, and uni fied pay -

ment across tran sit and other shared-use services.

$8,939,052



USDOT An nounces Ad vanced Tech nol ogyTrans por ta tion GrantsState Pro ject Spon sor De scrip tion Fund ing

AZ Re gionalTrans por ta tionAu thor ity ofPima County

The Re gional Trans por ta tion Au thor ity of Pima County will re ceive fund ing for the Adap tive Mo bil itywith Re li abil ity and Ef fi ciency pro ject, in te grat ing fixed route, sub scrip tion based ride-shar ing and so -cial carpooling ser vices into an ex ist ing data plat form to pro vide af ford able, con ve nient and flex i bleser vice. The pro ject aug ments tran sit by ad dress ing first mile/ last mile is sues and con ges tion mit i ga tion by in cor po rat ing shared ride-on-de mand ser vices, in te grated open pay ment systems and advancedtraveler information systems.

$669,158

AZ Val ley MetroRail, Inc.

Val ley Metro Rail of Phoe nix will re ceive fund ing for a smart phone mo bil ity plat form that in te gratesmo bile tick et ing and multimodal trip plan ning. The net work will in clude a range of mo bil ity pro vid ers,in clud ing ride-hail ing, bike shar ing, and car-shar ing com pa nies, al low ing all lev els of in come, age andpeo ple with dis abil i ties to have ac cess to an in te grated, con nected multimodal transportation system.

$1,001,000

CA City of PaloAlto

The City of Palo Alto will re ceive fund ing for the Bay Area Fair Value Com mut ing Dem on stra tion pro -ject, which aims to re duce sin gle-oc cu pant ve hi cle driv ing from 75% to 50% in the Bay Area. The pro -ject in cludes com mu ter trip re duc tion soft ware, a mo bil ity ag gre ga tion multimodal trip plan ning app,work place park ing re bates and ana lyt ics to compare commutes.

$1,085,000

CA (&WA)

Los An gelesCounty Met ro -pol i tan Trans -por ta tion Au -thor ity

The Los An geles County Met ro pol i tan Trans por ta tion Au thor ity will re ceive fund ing for a two-re gionmo bil ity on de mand part ner ship with the car-shar ing com pany, Lyft, in Los An geles and Se at tle. Thepro ject will ex plore the vi a bil ity of first/last mile so lu tions for trips orig i nat ing and end ing at se lecttran sit stops. Cus tom ers can use the Lyft app or call a dis patcher phone num ber, pro vid ing equity tolower income individuals.

$1,350,000

CA San Fran ciscoBay AreaRapid Tran sit

San Fran cisco Bay Area Rapid Tran sit (BART) will re ceive fund ing for an in te grated carpool to tran sitpro gram that will help us ers find carpool matches as well as match them to their tran sit des ti na tions.The pro ject will pro vide a seam less way to re serve and pay for in-de mand park ing spaces at BART sta -tions, al low pref er en tial park ing for carpoolers while in creas ing tran sit ridership by im prov ing ac cess to BART sta tions. The soft ware will in clude ways to iden tify driv ers with wheelchair-accessible vehicles.

$358,000

FL PinellasSuncoast Tran -sit Au thor ity

The Pinellas Suncoast Tran sit Au thor ity will re ceive fund ing for the Para tran sit Mo bil ity on De mandDem on stra tion, a set of part ner ships with a taxi com pany, a para tran sit ser vice and a car-shar ing com -pany to de velop a model to pro vide more cost-ef fec tive on-de mand door-to-door para tran sit ser vice.The pro ject will fea ture a cen tral dis patch soft ware that pro vides us ers with a se lec tion of trans por ta tion ser vice pro vid ers based on an es ti mated time of pickup, avail able payment types, and physicallimitations.

$500,000

IL Chi cago Tran -sit Au thor ity

Chi cago Tran sit Au thor ity (CTA) will re ceive fund ing for a pro ject that will in cor po rate the lo cal bikeshar ing com pany, Divvy, a 580 sta tion bike share ser vice, into CTA's ex ist ing tran sit trip plan ning appso us ers can iden tify the avail abil ity of bikes or dock ing sta tions near their tran sit stops, and pay forbike rentals.

$400,000

OR Tri-CountyMet ro pol i tanTrans por ta tionDis trict

The Tri-County Met ro pol i tan Trans por ta tion Dis trict of Or e gon (TriMet) will re ceive fund ing for anOpen Trip Plan ner Share Use Mo bil ity pro ject that will cre ate a plat form in te grat ing tran sit andshared-use mo bil ity op tions. TriMet will build on its ex ist ing trip plan ning app to in cor po rate shareduse mo bil ity op tions and more so phis ti cated func tion al ity and in ter faces, in clud ing data shar ing forshared-use mo bil ity pro vid ers. By in te grat ing data, the pro ject will al low us ers to plan trips that ad dressfirst/last mile issues while traveling by transit.

$678,000

TX Dal las AreaRapid Tran sit

Dal las Area Rapid Tran sit (DART) will re ceive fund ing for a pro ject that in te grates ride-shar ing ser -vices into its GoPass tick et ing app to solve first and last mile is sues. This pro ject will com bine trav elerap pli ca tions to cre ate an in te grated, multimodal ap pli ca tion that le ver ages ride-shar ing ser vices. Thepro ject will im prove ease of ac cess to DART sta tions, par tic u larly in non-walkable ar eas not wellserved by transit.

$1,204,000

VT Ver montAgency ofTrans por ta tion

The Ver mont Agency of Trans por ta tion will re ceive fund ing for a state wide tran sit trip plan ner that will en able flex-route, hail-a-ride, and other non-fixed-route ser vices to be in cor po rated in mo bil ity apps.The on line trip plan ner for both fixed and flex i ble tran sit ser vices par tic u larly ben e fits non-tra di tionalru ral tran sit sys tem us ers, al low ing uni ver sal ac cess to tran sit in for ma tion, including to people withdisabilities.

$480,000


AC TIVE-AU RORA, a part ner ship be -tween the Gov ern ment of Can ada, sev eralpub lic and pri vate part ners in clud ing theGov ern ment of Al berta, City of Ed mon -ton, Uni ver sity of Al berta, Uni ver sity ofBrit ish Co lum bia, Nat u ral Sci ences andEn gi neer ing Re search Coun cil of Can ada,and the Can ada Foun da tion for In no va tion, is en ter ing a phase of test ing con nected-ve -hi cle ap pli ca tions last month. The “AC -TIVE” stands for the Al berta Co-op er a tiveTrans por ta tion In fra struc ture and Ve hic u -lar En vi ron ment and the “AU RORA”stands for Au to mo tive Test-bed for Re con -fig ur able and Op ti mized Ra dio Access.

The Gov ern ment of Can ada is in vest ing $1.3 mil lion in this pro ject from theAsia-Pa cific Gate way and Cor ri dor Trans -por ta tion In fra struc ture Fund. Sev eral of

Can ada Mov ing Ahead With Test ing Wire less Con nected-Ve hi cleTech nol ogyAC TIVE-AU RORA Pro ject Con sists of Four Test-Beds and Two Lab o ra tory Test En vi ron ments

the pub lic and pri vate part ners listed above are also pro vid ing fund ing and in-kindsup port, to tal ing $2.36 million.

The AC TIVE-AU RORA pro ject con -sists of four test-beds and two lab o ra torytest en vi ron ments, with AC TIVE rep re -sent ing the Ed mon ton com po nent and AU -RORA rep re sent ing the Van cou vercomponent.

Three on-road AC TIVE test-beds arelo cated in Ed mon ton. Re search on thesetest-beds will pri mar ily eval u ate how con -nected-ve hi cle tech nol ogy can be ap pliedto trans por ta tion safety, traf fic de mandman age ment, in crease peak ca pac ity andsmooth traf fic flow on busy roads.

One on-road AU RORA test-bed willde velop, test, dem on strate and com mer -cial ize in no va tions in Van cou ver, with

par tic u lar em pha sis on wire less com mu ni -ca tions for freight se cu rity and efficiency.

For more in for ma tion, con tact Tony Z.Qiu, Uni ver sity of Al berta, email:[email protected]

ACTIVE AURORA test beds, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Photo: Cour tesy, Alberta Transportation)

A Roadside Equipment (RSE) unit - at tached to the pole. The RSE units

com mu ni cate with Onboard Equipment(OBE) in ve hi cles pass ing a RSE. (Photo:

Cour tesy, Uni v. of Al berta.

Dr. Tony Qiu, Di rec tor of the Cen ter forSmart Trans por ta tion, Univ. of Al berta.


Plain tiff was se verely in jured in De cem ber 2011 when, at ap prox i mately 6:38 a.m., his truck skid ded on un treated black ice in thenorth bound lanes of In ter state 95 on theGold Star Me mo rial Bridge, CN. Four ac -ci dents, re ported by the state po lice to theDe part ment of Trans por ta tion at 5:40,5:49, 5:51, and 6:01 a.m. re spec tively, oc -curred on the bridge be fore plain tiff’s ac ci -dent. The Court of Ap peals would later de -scribe the sit u a tion as one of “ex treme dan -ger posed to trav el ers by in vis i ble black ice com pletely coat ing a five lane bridge on ama jor state thor ough fare at the start of themorn ing com mute.”

Plain tiff brought suit against the Com -mis sioner for Trans por ta tion for breach ofhis stat u tory duty to keep the bridge in area son ably safe con di tion by fail ing to take ad e quate mea sures in re sponse to the no -tice he had re ceived of its dan-gerous con -di tion, ei ther by treat ing its icy sur face,plac ing or us ing warn ing signs in the areato warn trav el ers of the dan ger ous con di -tion, or clos ing the bridge en tirely un til thedan ger ous condition could be remedied.

In 2012 the trial court ini tially grantedde fen dant’s mo tion for sum mary judge -ment on the ground that plain tiff’s writ tenspec i fi ca tion of the lo ca tion of the ac ci dent de scribed an area so large that it failed tosat isfy the re quire ments of the stat ute, oren able the De part ment of Trans por ta tionto “in tel li gently in ves ti gate” the ac ci dent.The Gold Star Me mo rial Bridge is 5,931feet long and has ap prox i mately 500,000square feet of deck area; plain tiff’s no ticemerely stated his ac ci dent oc curred on thenorth bound lane of the bridge “be tweenNew Lon don and Groton.” De fen dantmoved for reconsideration, which thecourt denied.

In 2014 de fen dant again moved forsum mary judg ment on the grounds that hedid not breach his duty, be cause (1) helacked ac tual no tice of the spe cific icepatch that caused that ac ci dent; (2) even ifhe had con struc tive no tice of that ice patch, he lacked suf fi cient time af ter re ceiv ingno tice to rem edy that ice patch be fore theplain tiff’s ac ci dent oc curred; (3) plain -tiff’s writ ten no tice of in tent to sue failed to sat isfy the re quire ments of the stat ute; and(4) plain tiff could not prove that the de fen -

Con nect i cut Ap pel late Court Pro vides Clar ity on Is sue of'Rea son able ness'

dant’s breach, if any, was the sole prox i -mate cause of his accident and resultinginjuries.

In May 2015 the trial court granted de -fen dant’s mo tion, rul ing that the de fen dant was en ti tled to judg ment as a mat ter oflaw, ar gu ing that it could not con clude de -fen dant had ac tual no tice of the black icecon di tion that caused plain tiff’s ac ci dentbe fore the re port of the ac ci dent, and thatde fen dant’s re sponse time was rea son able. Plain tiff appealed this ruling.

The Court of Ap peals noted that plain -tiff ques tioned the rea son able ness, as amat ter of law, of de fen dant’s re sponse tothe no tice he re ceived of the black ice. Itagreed with plain tiff that the de ter mi na -tion of rea son able ness is a multifactorialac tion that must be made by the trier offact, based on the spe cific facts of the spe -cific case at bar.

The Court first in ves ti gated the rea son -able ness of de fen dant’s re sponse, andnoted the fol low ing:

In over 100 years of the de fec tive high -way stat ute, the courts had not laid down a“bright line rule” of what con sti tutes a rea -son able re sponse time, as this is a fact-spe -cific de ter mi na tion;

All that the law re quires of mu nic i pal i -ties is that the ef forts and mea sures em -ployed to en sure streets are main tained in a rea son ably safe con di tion are them selvesrea son able un der the spe ci f iccircumstances;

The cir cum stan tial el e ments of such ade ci sion in clude the lo ca tion, ex tent anduse made of the street, the prac ti ca bil ityand ef fi ciency of pos si ble re me dial mea -sures, the size of the emer gency, the cost ofpos si ble al ter na tives, and the phys i cal re -sources avail able to the mu nic i pal ity todeal with it.

In the case at bar, with re gard towhether and when de fen dant re ceived ac -tual no tice of the con di tion, it noted that de -fen dant rou tinely re lied upon the state po -lice to re spond to and re port high way de -fects on state roads and bridges. For thatrea son, the Su preme Court has held that ac -tual no tice to the state po lice of a high wayde fect con sti tutes ac tual no tice to the de -fen dant. There fore, the Court found therewas a ma te rial is sue of fact whether the no -tice to the state po lice of the ac ci dent at5:40 a.m., called in to the De part ment at5.49 a.m., was when de fen dant first re -ceived ac tual no tice of the con di tion. Fur -ther, it found that the rea son able ness of theDe part ment’s de ci sion to fol low its stan -dard pro to col was for a trier of fact to de ter -mine. It noted that stan dard re sponse tooff-hour calls for ser vice was to send a twoman work crew to salt the bridge. The crewleader who was called out lived 30- to35-min utes away from the ga rage. As a re -sult, it took him over an hour to get to andopen the ga rage, and to pre pare, load and

Transportation Tort Liability: Case in Review


The Gold Star Me mo rial Bridge, Connecticut. (Image: Cour tesy of Google Inc.)


drive the salt truck to the bridge. By thetime the work crew ar rived, plain tiff’s ac -ci dent al ready had oc curred. State po lice,who had been on the bridge since shortlyaf ter the first ac ci dent at 5:40 a.m., had also closed the bridge. Ac cord ing to de fen dant,it had ac ti vated an elec tronic warn ing signfrom at least 6:23 a.m., but sworn tes ti -mony from two wit nesses, in clud ing thecrew leader, in di cated that they had notseen it at about that time.

On the is sue of whether de fen dant re -sponded un rea son ably in fol low ing itsstan dard pro ce dures, it found a gen u ine is -sue of ma te rial fact whether de vi at ing from this pro ce dure would be re quired to en sure

trav el ers would not be in jured by an es pe -cially dan ger ous high way de fect. Re lated to this was whether de fen dant acted un rea son -ably by fol low ing the stan dard pro ce dure tocall out a crew, and whether it had not madead e quate use of avail able tem po rary rem e -dies, such as warning signs or completeclosure of the bridge.

Fur ther is sues of ma te rial fact to be de -ter mined by the trier of fact were whetherthe state po lice re sponded un rea son ably tothe icy con di tions on the bridge by fail ing to close the road be fore the plain tiff’s ac ci -dent, and whether the con duct of the statepo lice pro vided a ba sis for find ing the de -fen dant liable.

With re gard to the al leged vague nessof plain tiff’s no tice, the Court noted thatthe trial court had held that the use of theterm ̀ be tween’ was not pa tently de fec tive be cause it had two pos si ble rea son ablemean ings, i.e. it could re fer to the en tireGold Star Me mo rial Bridge or to thebound ary line be tween the towns of NewLon don and Groton. There fore, the ad e -quacy of the de scrip tion of the ac ci dentlo ca tion was an is sue for the trier of fact todetermine.

For all these rea sons the Court re -versed the trial court judg ment and re -manded the case for fur ther pro ceed ings.


Transportation Tort Liability

Traf fic-Video-Anal y sis Tech nol ogy Based on Im age-Rec og ni tion andMa chine-Learn ing De vel opedAdds Ad di tional Func tion al ity to Ex ist ing Cam eras

Last month, Fujitsu Lab o ra to ries Ltd. andFujitsu Re search and De vel op ment Cen terCo., Ltd. an nounced the joint de vel op mentof a tech nol ogy that uti lizes im age-pro -cess ing and ma chine-learn ing to an a lyzesur veil lance cam era im ages of traf fic, withhigh ac cu racy and in real time, to rec og nize traf fic con di tions such as con ges tion andac ci dents, as well as vi o la tions. The tech -nol ogy achieves high-pre ci sion traf -fic-video anal y sis by com bin ing two tech -nol o gies. The first is a tech nol ogy that an a -lyzes the im ages from sur veil lance cam -eras in stalled along high ways and streets,au to mat i cally group ing char ac ter is tics thatcan lead to rec og ni tion er rors, such aschanges in light ing and en vi ron men tal fac -tors in clud ing night and fog, and im agesfrom cam eras that have been sim i larly po -si tioned. This leads to ef fi cient ma -chine-learn ing, in creas ing rec og ni tion ac -cu racy. The sec ond is a tech nol ogy that an -a lyzes mov ing ob jects, such as ve hi clesand peo ple, and ef fi ciently iden ti fies com -plex in ci dents such as ac ci dents, whilemin i miz ing com pu ta tional demands.

It was found that 11 types of in ci dents of in ter est, such as traf fic ac ci dents and vi o la -tions, were rec og nized with ac cu racy lev -els of 90-95%. Even when used with ex ist -ing cam eras that do not have ad vanced im -

age-cor rec tion fea tures, this tech nol ogy can be used to de liver a highly ac cu rate,low-cost mon i tor ing sys tem that can au to -mat i cally as sess traf fic con di tions, ap plytraf fic-flow con trols and anal y sis to re ducecon ges tion, and en able quick ac tion betaken in response to accidents and trafficviolations.

When mon i tor ing sur veil lance cam erasin stalled over a large area, it is im por tant toquickly and cor rectly ex tract the in for ma -tion needed from a huge vol ume of im ag -ery, and con vey that to the rel e vant peo ple.The is sue with traf fic-mon i tor ing tech nol o -gies that use con ven tional im age-rec og ni -tion is that they are highly sus cep ti ble to thein flu ence of a va ri ety of en vi ron men tal fac -tors such as light sources, in clud ing head -lights, sun light, and shad ows. As a re sult,there are lim its to how much rec og ni tion ac -cu racy could be im proved when us ing ex -ist ing cam eras for anal y sis us ing video rec -

og ni tion. This is be cause it is dif fi cult toad just the cam eras, their po si tion, and di -rec tion in ac cor dance with con stantlychang ing en vi ron men tal vari a tions. In ad -di tion, it is also dif fi cult to ef fi ciently andaccurately recognize such varied andcomplex incidents as traffic accidents andviolations. Fujitsu Lab o ra to ries andFujitsu Re search and De vel op ment Cen -ter’s tech nol ogy tol er ates changes in thesur round ing en vi ron ment, in clud ingchanges in light, time of day, and fog, andother tech nol o gies for ef fi ciently iden ti fy -ing com plex in ci dents, such as trafficaccidents.

For more in for ma tion, con tact Fujitsuat [email protected] itsu.com andwebsite:

http://www.fujitsu.com/global/about/re s o u r c e s / n e w s / p r e s s - r e -leases/2016/1018-02.html

An ex am ple of a se ri ous anom aly de tected and in di cated by the yel low box. (Photo: Cour tesy of Fujitsu)


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This Month’s Sur vey Re sults (Sur vey 1)

Es sen tial Trans por ta tion Pub li ca tions

Ear lier this month the The Ur ban Trans por ta tion Mon i tor con ducted a sur vey among trans por ta tion pro fes sion als to ob taintheir opin ions on and in for ma tion about what are con sid ered to be the most es sen tial trans por ta tion pub li ca tions. Ques -tion naires were sent by e-mail to a ran dom sam ple of traf fic en gi neers, trans por ta tion plan ners and tran sit pro fes sion als.Al to gether 51 com pleted sur veys were ob tained. Ques tion naire re cip i ents were asked to list what they be lieve are es sen -tial pub li ca tions (ref er ence/man ual/guide/book/re port) that ev ery trans por ta tion pro fes sional should have ac cess to. Theywere also asked to pro vide a rea son for list ing a par tic u lar pub li ca tion as es sen tial. The re sults of the sur vey are pub -lished here.

Transit, Pedestrian and Bicycle Publications

Urban Bikeway Design Guide, Second Edition, National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO), 2014

· For de sign ers in an ur ban en vi ron ment, the AASHTO green book can be dif fi cult to use due to the lower speed en vi ron -ment. De sign guides from NACTO as sist the de signer to de ter mine more con text sen si tive so lu tions where multi-modalgoals are the norm.

· Good in for ma tion for bike lane de sign in ur ban ar eas.· Pro vides state of prac tice guid ance for in cor po rat ing the bi cy cle mode into the trans por ta tion network.

Transit Capacity and Quality of Service Manual, Third Edition, Transit Cooperative Research Program, Report 165,Transportation Research Board, 2013

· It an swers any ques tion a pub lic tran sit plan ner may have.· Com pre hen sive ex plan a tory and cri te ria man ual for tran sit fa cil i ties plan ning and design.

Separated Bike Lane Planning and Design Guide, FHWA, 2015

· This is a good guide to the use and de sign of pro tect bike fa cil i ties.

Separated Bike Lane Planning & Design Guide, Massachusetts Department of Transportation, 2015

· Pres ents con sid er ations and strat e gies for the de vel op ment of sep a rated bike lanes. The Guide pro vides a frame work for de ter min ing when sep a rated bike lanes are ap pro pri ate and fea si ble. It pres ents de sign guid ance for sep a ra tion strat e -gies, bike lane con fig u ra tion, and con sid er ations for tran sit stops, load ing zones, util i ties, drainage, parking andlandscaping.

Building Type Basics for Transit Facilities, by Kenneth W. Griffin, John Wiley & Son, 2004

· Valu able ref er ence over view of ba sic tran sit fa cil ity re quire ments and rec om men da tions.

Designing Walkable Urban Thoroughfares: A Context Sensitive Approach, multiple authors, Institute of TransportationEngineers and the Congress for the New Urbanism, 2010

· Helped turn the cor ner on thor ough fare de sign from treat ing streets and roads as util i ties to treat ing them as vi tal el e -ments of com mu nity life.

Pedestrian Planning and Design, John J. Fruin, Ph.D., 1987, second edition

· De tailed ex pla na tion of pe des trian plan ning cri te ria.

Human Transit: How clearer thinking about public transit can enrich our communities and our lives, by Jarrett Walker,Island Press, 2011

· Hu man Tran sit pro vides the most ar tic u late frame work I’ve read for un der stand ing the trade-offs in mak ing tran sit pol icyde ci sions and in ef forts to make tran sit in vest ments more effective.

Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials(AASHTO), 2012, 4th Edition

· There is lit tle guid ance in this area, and this is a valu able re source.

Economics of Public Transport, by C.A. Nash, Longman, 1982

· Pro vides an ex cel lent eco nomic frame work for an a lyz ing and un der stand ing man age ment de ci sions and strat egy in theop er a tion of public tran sit.


Es sen tial Trans por ta tion Pub li ca tions (con tin ued)

Traffic Engineering and Highway Design Publications

A Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets, 6th Edition, American Association of State Highway andTransportation Officials, 2011

· Ba sic text on street de sign.· Es sen tial guide to the de sign of the pub lic rights of way.· It pro vides con sis tent guid ance to en sure mo tor ist safety and ex pec ta tions. It pro vides de sign cri te ria that pro motes safe

driv ing by de sign, not regulation.· Thor ough text on geo met ric de sign.· Fun da men tal de sign ref er ence.· It’s an ex cel lent re source for road de sign, speed, sight dis tance, ve hi cle turn ing paths, etc.· This is the com pen dium of trans por ta tion geo met ric de sign, and de sign stan dards, con tin u ous for years.· Com pre hen sive de sign guide for streets and high ways.· Guide lines for road de sign.· This pub li ca tion, com monly re ferred to as the “Green Book,” con tains the cur rent de sign re search and prac tices for high -

way and street geo met ric design.· It is the Stan dards Ref er ence of road way de sign.

Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices, Federal Highway Administration, 2009

· One-stop shop for ev ery thing you need but the website is better be cause you can search for spe cific text.· Es sen tial tool to guide de sign ers for con sis tent com mu ni ca tion to the pub lic re gard ing use of the pub lic rights of way.· The source for all traf fic con trol guide lines.· Pro vides stan dards, rec om men da tions, and guide lines for signs, strip ing, and sig nals.· Na tional stan dard for traf fic con trol de vices in the USA.· Reg u lar re view of streets.· The MUTCD is a great tool in the en gi neer ing and trans por ta tion de part ments. It pro vides ex act in for ma tion of what a

road needs and should have to be functional.

Trip Generation Manual, Ninth Edition, Institute of Transportation Engineers, 2012

· Es sen tial for any eval u a tion in volv ing new or changes in ex ist ing land use.· Needed for ev ery traf fic im pact study.· In valu able re source of trip gen er a tion rates for a large num ber of land uses.· It is es sen tial for es ti mat ing trips/traf fic for site de vel op ment and traf fic im pact analysis.· To es ti mate the trans por ta tion im pact for un de vel oped par cels (fu ture land uses).· Pro vides some scale of travel de mand rel a tive to land de vel op ment[s] planned and ex ist ing.· A uni ver sally ac cepted com pen dium of trip gen er a tion stud ies to cover most trip gen er a tion con cerns, that in cludes qual i -

fi ers on when not to use the data and how to pre pare stud ies to be added to the data base for future editions.

Highway Capacity Manual, Transportation Research Board, 2010

· Ba sis for de ter min ing ca pac ity and level of ser vice for all modes.· It pro vides the tech ni cal ba sis for most of the en gi neer ing anal y sis I do.· It is the ba sis for all traf fic en gi neer ing de ci sions - how does this im pact the ca pac ity?· This man ual cod i fies the pro to col of traf fic op er a tions and the dy nam ics of traf fic den si ties on streets. It pro vides guid ance

in the plan ning of streets with and with out traf fic con trol de vices, pe des trian move ment and non-mo tor ized modes oftraffic.

· The stan dard for in ter sec tion anal y sis.

Traffic Engineering Handbook, 7th Edition, Institute of Transportation Engineers, 2016

· Ex cel lent re source.· Trusted pub lisher; breadth of scope; top ics cov ered.· A sum mary of the most im por tant as pects of Traf fic En gi neer ing.· State of the Prac tice for traf fic en gi neer ing and traf fic en gi neer ing stud ies.· Guid ance on do ing traf fic en gi neer ing stud ies.


Es sen tial Trans por ta tion Pub li ca tions (con tin ued)

Manual of Transportation Engineering Studies, Second Edition, Institute of Transportation Engineers, 2010

· Pro vides in struc tions and forms on how to per form traf fic en gi neer ing sur veys.· Lays out uni form ways to con duct “En gi neer ing Stud ies” ref er enced in the law re gard ing traf fic con trols (the MUTCD).· It is a valu able desk ref er ence for any traf fic en gi neer who is ei ther start ing out or has a var ied prac tice re quir ing knowl -

edge of a va ri ety of study types.

Traffic Control Devices Handbook, ITE, 2013, 2nd edition

· Be cause the MUTCD was pub lished in 2009 and out side the 3-year time frame. This man ual ac com pa nies the MUTCD,which pro vides im por tant stan dards and guide lines for uni form ap pli ca tion of traf fic control de vices.

· Fa cil i tates MUTCD im ple men ta tion.· Pro vides guid ance on traf fic sig nals de sign and op er a tion.

Driveway Information Guide (Florida DOT), Florida Department of Transportation, Systems Planning Office, 2008

· This is the one pub li ca tion which con tains in for ma tion, in plain Eng lish, about best de sign prac tices as well as spe cificFlorida stan dards for the con struc tion and place ment of drive ways serv ing the public.

· This doc u ment ex plains in rel a tively lay man’s terms the con cepts be hind de ci sions for drive way de sign and place mentun der dif fer ent con di tions. This hand book helps the prac ti tio ner to de sign drive ways to han dle dif fer ent kinds of traf fic. Italso con tains in for ma tion on drive way place ment and de sign for transit operators and pedestrians

Quality/Level of Service Handbook, Florida Department of Transportation, Systems Planning Office, 2013

· It is one of the few pub li ca tions ex plain ing the con cepts of LOS for plan ning level anal y sis. It is ac com pa nied by a suite ofsoft ware pro grams (all free) which will help you get a quick first shot es ti mate of LOS for free ways, streets, and ru ral road -ways with minimum effort.

Highway Safety Manual, American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials, 2010

· Stan dard ref er ence for road way safety de sign.

Urban Street Design Guide, National Association of City Transportation Officials, 2016

· Most rel e vant guid ance for build ing and retro fit ting city streets to be come more ap pro pri ate for all us ers. · First com pre hen sive guid ance for ap pro pri ately de sign ing for var i ous types of tran sit ve hi cles within ur ban street

conditions.· The first street de sign guid ance ap pro pri ate for ur ban con di tions found in larger cit ies.· Good in for ma tion for ur ban street de sign.

Traffic Calming In Practice, Kennington Publishing Services London, Landor Publishing Ltd., 1994

· This book talks about the Traf fic Calm ing De vices in Prac tice. For me this book gives a lot of in sight about the use of thede vices and ex am ples about where they are lo cated and func tion al ity.

The Median Handbook, Florida DOT Systems Planning Office, 2012

· This doc u ment ex plains in plain Eng lish the con cepts be hind de ci sions for me dian open ing de sign and place ment. Usesba sic traf fic en gi neer ing skills put to gether for de ci sion-mak ing. Uses the con cept of de cel er a tion, queu ing, turn ing ra -dius, traf fic speed to help de ter mine ap pro pri ate me dian open ing de sign and lo ca tions. It also goes into the im por tance ofde sign ing for U-turns and the impacts on pedestrians.

Traffic Study Manual; The Insider’s Guide to Studying the Traffic Impacts of a Proposed Development, Mike Spack andBryant Ficek, Spack Consulting, 2013

· Prac ti cal ad vice on how to do a good job and how to re view a study done by some body else. Con tains check lists and ad -vice on traf fic data col lec tion; rules of thumb; in for ma tion on the use of trip gen er a tion and sur round ing traffic growth.

Urban Street Geometric Design Handbook Hardcover, Institute of Transportation Engineers, 2008

· Good in for ma tion per tain ing to ur ban and com plete street de sign

IMSA Journal, IMSA

· Keeps Traf fic pro fes sion als up to date with Tech nol ogy

Traffic Analysis Handbook, Florida Department of Transportation Systems Planning Office, 2014

· This hand book an swers many of the ques tions re gard ing what types of mod els to use for dif fer ent types of trans por ta tionanal y sis stud ies. It cov ers stud ies all the way from small sites to large area stud ies. Cov ers large-scale re gional trans por -ta tion mod els as well as some of the newer mi cro sim u la tion mod els. It gives prac ti cal ad vice on their use as well as waysto know if your output is reasonable.


Es sen tial Trans por ta tion Pub li ca tions

Achieving Multimodal Networks: Applying Design Flexibility & Reducing Conflicts, FHWA, 2016

· A re view of cur rent de sign flex i bil ity and meth ods to re duce con flict be tween mo tor ized and non-mo tor ized modes oftravel, with case stud ies, and de sign guide ref er ences to sup port that flexibility.

Parking Generation, 4th Edition: An ITE Informational Report, 2010

· Pro vides park ing gen er a tion data that would oth er wise be un avail able to us ers.

Roadside Design Guide, AASHTO, 3rd Edition

· Es sen tial guide for road side bar ri cade and shoul der de sign.

Transportation Planning and Miscellaneous Publications

The Art of the Longview, Peter Schwartz, Currency Doubleday, 1996

· Pro vides a re source for plan ners to use in struc tur ing their ap proach to en gag ing man ag ers, de ci sion-mak ers, and com -mu ni ties in think ing about the long view. It out lines the pro cess for us ing sce nario plan ning as a pro cess for hav ing ef fec -tive strategic conversations.

Start Up City, Gabe Klein and David Vega-Barachowitz, Island Press, 2015

· In spir ing sto ries of how to get things done.

Crucial Conversations, Patterson, Grenny, McMillan, Switzer, McGraw Hill, 2002

· Out lines an es sen tial ap proach and tools to use in en gag ing de ci sion-mak ers and the pub lic in mak ing prog ress on the of -ten di vi sive is sues re lated to the in ev i ta ble out come of plan ning processes - change.

TMIP, various authors, US Department of Transportation, weekly (go tohttps://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning_Hlt466965553_Hlt466965554/BM_1_BM_2_tmip/community/list_serv.cfm for moreinformation)

· Cur rent re search and find ings.

ITE Journal, Institute of Transportation Engineers, monthly

· While the con tent is not crit i cal to the pro fes sion, it is of ten worth re view ing and more im por tantly it is an im por tant re -source to be aware of what is hap pen ing in the field of trans por ta tion en gi neer ing and plan ning. It is a good barometerjournal.

· Wide va ri ety of trans por ta tion-re lated sub jects cov ered. Many ar ti cles use ful, some just in ter est ing.· Con stant Tech ni cal Up dates.

Shared Parking, 2nd Edition, 2005, Urban Land Institute

· Can be used to de ter mine shared park ing re duc tions.

Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us), Tom Vanderbilt, Vintage Books, 2008

· Un der stand ing the psy chol ogy of driv ers. All the de sign knowl edge in the world is use less if you do not un der stand youruser.

Transportation Research Parts A-F, Elsevier, 2016

· (Speak ing as the pub lisher) tak ing into ac count both quan tity and qual ity, this jour nal fam ily is the sin gle most im por tantre pos i tory of trans por ta tion research.

TRB Journals and Publications, various contributors, Transportation Research Board, 2016

· Ge ner i cally, ev ery trans por ta tion pro fes sional needs to keep up-to-date with the ma te ri als pro duced by the TRB.

Urban Transportation Monitor, Lawley Publications, serial

· In ter na tional cov er age; sur vey re sults.

Volpe Publications, various contributors, Volpe, 2016

· Volpe - Ad vance Trans por ta tion Tech nol o gies - the field of trans por ta tion will be chang ing rap idly. It is crit i cal that trans -por ta tion pro fes sion als be aware of the po ten tial change, and Volpe is a great source to re view the most cred i ble fu turechanges/ar eas-of-in ter est rise to the top.

https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/tmip/community/list_serv.cfm


This Month’s Sur vey Re sults (Sur vey 2)

Traf fic Fa tal i ties - Your Opin ion

The Ur ban Trans por ta tion Mon i tor con ducted a sur vey among trans por ta tion pro fes sion als to ob tain their opin ion abouttraf fic fa tal i ties in the U.S. Emails re quest ing par tic i pa tion in the sur vey were sent to 1,200 in di vid u als. The emails weresent mostly to traf fic en gi neers. A to tal of 89 re plies were re ceived. The re sults of the sur vey are pub lished here. Theques tions for the sur vey were de rived from the Trans por ta tion Re search Board pub li ca tion: Achiev ing Traf fic Safety Goals in the United States. Les sons from Other Na tions. Spe cial Re port 300.

Please note - the fol low ing state ment ap peared at the start of the ques tion naire:

Al though there has been a steady de crease of traf fic fa tal i ties in the U.S. over the past num ber of years (ex clud ing thepast two years), it does not com pare well with other in dus tri al ized coun tries. In fact, if the U.S. had achieved the same av -er age re duc tion in traf fic fa tal i ties as four other in dus tri al ized na tions achieved over the past 13 years, pres ently it wouldhave over 10,000 fewer fa tal i ties per year. The sur vey fo cuses on this is sue.

In most in dus tri al ized coun tries in Eu rope, the blood-al co hol con tent (BAC) thresh old is 0.5 g/L, while in the U.S. the limitis much higher at 0.8 g/L. Do you be lieve the BAC should be low ered to 0.5 g/L or close to this level?

The fol low ing com ments as so ci ated with this ques tion were re ceived from re spon dents:

· I lived in Aus tra lia when the limit was low ered to 0.5. It has been very well ac cepted by the pop u la tion, and ac knowl edged as hav ing apos i tive ef fect on pub lic health. My chil dren all be came of driv ing and drink ing age with an ex pec ta tion that there should al ways be ades ig nated driver when ever a group is out so cially and al co hol is pres ent. 0.5 is no lon ger a topic of dis cus sion, but uni ver sally ac cepted as ap pro pri ate.

· BAC is not the only fac tor be hind fa tal i ties. Driver dis trac tion needs to be con sid ered as well as seat belt use. I re viewed ev ery fa tal ity inmy Dis trict of three coun ties and 3 in ter states and there are a lot more is sues as so ci ated with this prob lem.

· The prob lem is not the limit, but the fact that there is no real pun ish ment in this coun try for of fend ers. Mak ing the pen al ties se vere woulddo more. Take away the car on first of fense, make fines ex tremely high like $10,000 for first of fense. Sim i lar to sex of fend ers, put themon a list of of fend ers and force them to re main en rolled in AA pro grams for life.

· I be lieve it should be lower; this would re quire a ma jor cul tural shift in Wis con sin, where it seems drink ing and driv ing is still ac cept able at some lev els

· BAC only mat ters if the sus pected driver is stopped by law en force ment of fi cers. How ever, anti-DUI PSAs and pro grams, e.g., MADD,are ef fec tive be fore a driver en ters the ve hi cle.

· Show me sta tis tics that in di cate the ma jor ity of crashes that in volved al co hol as a pri mary fac tor where a driver was be tween 0.5 and0.8.

· I don't know how ef fec tive a lower thresh old would be on re duc ing im paired driv ing crashes and fa tal i ties. En force more our cur rentthresh old laws.

· Would need to see stud ies that show this makes a dif fer ence. How many ac ci dents oc cur when a per son is be tween these lev els?

· I don't be lieve it would stop the prob lem drink ers/driv ers from drink ing and driv ing. It would just cost so ci ety more.

· We have trou ble en forc ing the laws that we have and re cid i vism for drunk driv ers is huge. I can't see that chang ing the BAC will haveany kind of pos i tive re sults un til we can tackle ad dress the drunk driv ing cul ture in our coun try. We also should cre ate a more ro bust andef fec tive treat ment sys tem for al co hol ics. Most drunk driv ers are not "bad peo ple" or "crim i nals." Fin ing them will not solve the prob lem.

· Don't just cen ter on DUI look at DWI, many other in tox i cants/drugs are abused in ad di tion to al co hol. So de velop pol i cies for lim its for all.

· I'm not sure what the cor rect num ber is, but based on a study I par tic i pated in it should be lower than .08.

· Not un less pub lic trans por ta tion is made avail able to the ex tent of Eu rope. Self-driv ing ve hi cles will mit i gate this is sue.

· Sub jec tive cri te ria should be con sid ered. A per son with mod er ate tol er ance could be un af fected at 0.5 or even 1.5. A per son with lowtol er ance would be im paired be low 0.5. Is the next step to have zero tol er ance?

Percentage of Respondents

Yes 51%

No 49%

`


It is be lieved that wide spread im ple men ta tion of sus tained, high-fre quency so bri ety test ing pro grams in the United Statesat so bri ety check points could be ex pected to save 1,500 to 3,000 lives an nu ally. Are you in fa vor of such a measure?


· Free driver ed u ca tion pro grams and PSAs would be more ef fec tive.

· "It is be lieved...." By whom? Check points are a waste of re sources. Show me the eco nom ics of the cost of check points vs. the value ofthe po ten tial lives saved by those caught in the drag net.

· Again, based on my Aus tra lian ex pe ri ence, po lice reg u larly set up ran dom breath test (RBT) points through out the large cit ies on a rou -tine ba sis, in clud ing Sunday morn ings (when heavier drink ers may think they are safe to drive home but are still ine bri ated). The check -points are very ef fi cient. The ini tial screen ing breath test is much quicker than the typ i cal US so bri ety checks, and they are wellac cepted by the com mu nity.

· "It is be lieved"? If this was true, I agree, but I doubt this is at tain able and at what cost?

· Ccould ex ac er bate ex ist ing prob lem of mass in car cer a tion.

· In our ru ral area the MSP hold Check Points funded through var i ous grants (that are lim ited). Hun dreds of ve hi cles pass through withmany lo ca tions yield ing "0" ci ta tions. At best per haps one in sev eral check points.

· I think there is lit tle po lit i cal will to pro vide fund ing to de ploy so bri ety check points in the US. As a re sult a lot of ef fort could be put intopass ing leg is la tion to do this with no suc cess.

· I be lieve tech nol ogy in the ve hi cle with breath an a lyz ers dis abling ve hi cles is what is needed. There are too many places where so bri etycheck points are missed/avoided and the re sources needed by law en force ment is too great to be per pet ual to run enough check pointsto the fre quency needed to mit i gate the prob lem.

· Yes, so long as they are ran dom and are fo cused in data driven lo ca tions.

· Only if the pen al ties are in creased at the same time. Again, there is no real pun ish ment in this coun try. How many 5, 6, 7+ time of fend ers are there out there.

In many in dus tri al ized coun tries in Eu rope, speed man age ment ini tia tives are of high vis i bil ity (through pub lic ity and en -dorse ment of elected of fi cials), are long term (sus tained for pe ri ods of years), tar get ma jor por tions of the road sys tem,and use in ten sive en force ment (e.g., au to mated en force ment and high pen al ties). Af ter sev eral years of ap pli ca tion, thespeed man age ment ini tia tives can re duce fa tal i ties by 15 to 20 percent. Are you in favor of such measures?


· Au to mated en force ment could be ac cept able if the speed lim its in ques tion were ac tu ally es tab lished based on en gi neer ing prin ci plesrather than for rev e nue en hance ment or in re sponse to po lit i cal pres sure. Red light photo en force ment should only be per mit ted if thesig nal tim ing is cor rect (yel low change in ter val and all red clear ance) and the sig nals are de signed and op er ated cor rectly. This in -cludes the cor rect place ment of ve hi cle de tec tors for the speeds on the ap proaches to the sig nals. It would also in clude check ing sig nalco or di na tion to make sure that no "gotchas" are cre ated.

· The is sue is im prop erly set speed lim its that are in con sis tent with the road way geometrics and the 85th per cen tile speed that breedsdriver dis re spect.

· Stan dard en force ment is preferrable than in ten sive en force ment be cause the pub lic gen er ally re sents in ten sive en force ment.

· Au to mated speed en force ment is only ef fec tive in cre at ing a large pool of cash for pol i ti cians to spend with no re stric tions. Noth ing ben -e fi cial to the pub lic ever re sults.

· "Af ter sev eral years of ap pli ca tion...." How long be fore the ben e fits are seen? Would n't those tech nol o gies and en ergy be better spentgrow ing the V2I in fra struc ture to take driver be hav ior out of the safety equa tion?

· In ten sive en force ment is im por tant, but I'm not a fan of au to mated en force ment. In Lou i si ana pho tos of driv ers must be blurred caus ingle gal is sues with proof of who is driv ing. Also prone to abuse.

· How ever, "can re duce 15-20%"?? Again, I don't be lieve this num ber is at tain able but the prem ise of fo cused traf fic safety ini tia tives is agood idea. This as sumes that speed lim its are prop erly set when look ing at in ten sive en force ment, which is of ten not the case.

Traf fic Fa tal i ties - Your Opin ion (con tin ued)


Yes 65%

No 35%


Yes 70%

No 30%


Laws in nearly ev ery in dus tri al ized coun try in Eu rope re quire mo tor cy clists to wear hel mets. Thirty U.S. states lack suchlaws. If all states in the U.S. re quire hel met use, an es ti mated 450 mo tor cy cle deaths will be pre vented. Do you be lieve all states should re quire hel met use?

The fol low ing com ments as so ci ated with this ques tion were re ceived from re spon dents

· Also ad dress tiered mo tor cy cle li censes that Eu rope uses.

· Mo tor cy clists wish ing not to wear a hel met need to be held fi nan cially ac count able. Aka no tax payer health care sup port.

· Hel met use is ef fec tive af ter a crash, whereas, highly vis i ble cloth ing and loud muf fler noise can be more ef fec tive in pre vent ing fa tal i -ties.

· Mo tor cy clist not wear ing hel mets are peo ple who know the risks and flaunt them as part of their per son al ity. Too au thor i tar ian for thegov ern ment to play nanny to these peo ple. They don’t want the help. Only ag gra vat ing them.

· I also be lieve that if you choose to ride with out a hel met, your in sur ance com pany is not re quired to cover you if you are in an ac ci dentthat leads to head in jury or death.

· Rid ers who claim that it in fringes their in di vid ual rights to be forced to wear a hel met fail to ac knowl edge the ad di tional cost they are im -pos ing on the com mu nity if they are in jured or killed, when it could be avoided by us ing a helmet.

· Yes, but al low mo tor cy clist with a large enough pol icy to cover the pos si bil ity of their in jury to ride with out a helmet.

· In di vid ual choice to be stu pid. They al ready suf fer a self-in flicted high pen alty for not wear ing one when they are in a crash.

· Per sonal choice. They are id i ots if they don’t wear them though!

Do you be lieve the U.S. should have a more rig or ous pro cess to ob tain and main tain a driver’s li cense?


· We need tiered li censes. Even for 4-wheel ve hi cles, you should start with low-power, man ual ve hi cles.

· Yes, ab so lutely.

· Each time a driver's li cense is re newed, the ap pli cant should be re quired to read and un der stand any traf fic laws that were changed oradded since their last re newal.

· Driver's test ing should be more fre quent, es pe cially at young and older ages. Also, driver's li censes could be re newed with an an nualopen book test re view of new/changed laws, chang ing ve hi cle tech nol ogy, and chang ing in fra struc ture (round abouts, new signs, etc.).

· I think the ini tial train ing and li cens ing is sat is fac tory. But coun tries that have a grad u ated sys tem based on ex pe ri ence (e.g., pro vi -sional li cense with speed and pas sen ger lim its dur ing the first one, two or three years) are prob a bly re duc ing the num ber of crashes, in -ju ries and fa tal i ties among in ex pe ri enced driv ers.

· In Mary land I am OK with the pro cess. You can't teach ex pe ri ence so "rig or ous" needs to be de fined. I think re test ing or eval u a tionshould be tied to cer tain driv ing er rors and not just when you ex ceed a point value.

· The US should have a more rig or ous pro cess to main tain a driver's li cense, es pe cially at the youn ger and higher ages where there areis sues. The lack of pub lic trans por ta tion makes it dif fi cult to change the pro cess for ob tain ing a li cense.

· Those that are re peat of fend ers should not be al lowed to have one. Make them use pub lic tran sit or find other means to get around.

· In Wis con sin the time be tween re new als is 8 years. This seems way too in fre quent. Many changes can hap pen to a per son's men taland phys i cal ca pac ity in that span of time that could change their abil ity to safely use a mo tor ve hi cle.

· Should have pe ri odic test ing to main tain li cense and to check to see if driv ers know new laws.

Traf fic Fa tal i ties - Your Opinion (con tin ued)


Yes 80%

No 20%


Yes 80%

No 20%



Do you be lieve the level of traf fic safety ex per tise at lo cal ju ris dic tions are suf fi cient to ap ply the most cost-ef fec tive traf ficen gi neer ing mea sures to re duce traf fic fa tal i ties?


· Not all lo cal ju ris dic tion care or have ac cess to the lat est traf fic safety ini tia tives, stan dards and state of prac tices. Of ten lo cal elected of -fi cials do not even re al ize the im por tance of trained traf fic pro fes sion als and the as so ci ated funding needs.

· Lo cals have to bal ance mo bil ity with safety and de spite peo ple dy ing in greater num bers, the call has n’t come for greater safety mea -sures; es pe cially to re duce speeds.

· If the ques tion asked about ‘fund ing’ in stead of ‘ex pe ri ence,’ I would have an swered an un equiv o cal ‘No,’ but I’m un sure with re spect toex per tise—I know within my or ga ni za tion, safety is of ut most con cern and as a re sult, we try to stay on top of the most cost-ef fec tivemeasures.

· In some states, the lo cal gov ern ments of very small towns are re spon si ble for de sign ing, op er at ing and main tain ing traf fic sig nals onstate highways.

· Cit ies are no lon ger us ing tech ni cal data prop erly. The City of Se at tle just ar bi trarily low ered speed lim its even though their own studyshowed it was not an ef fec tive ap proach. They ig nored the data.

· At the ru ral county level, one is for tu nate if high way per son nel have high school di plo mas and suf fi cient funds.

· I do not want more fed eral rules.

· Yes, but can al ways be im proved. And the level of fund ing to build trans por ta tion to a much safer and for giv ing level should be in -creased.

· En gi neer ing may not be the so lu tion to traf fic fa tal i ties caused by hu man er ror or reck less ness.

· In Mary land I do. If lo cal gov ern ments do not have the traf fic ex per tise then the State pro vides lim ited as sis tance. We have done thismany, many times.

· Many small com mu ni ties rely on con sul tants who pro vide that ex per tise.

· There are di verg ing paths for the fu ture of con ven tional traf fic en gi neer ing skills. The paths will shift into man age ment by pol icy of au -ton o mous ve hi cle tech nol ogy and man ag ing the lev els of con trol that change for the driver and lo ca tion of op er a tion (coun try sideversus and connected city).

· Uti lize state and fed eral pro grams to roll out pro grams.

· Prob a bly not too bad though; over all do a good job for what can be con trolled. Hu man er ror will al ways oc cur.

· The amount of ex per tise is al most enough, the tools are al most fully re fined, and the fund ing is al most ad e quate.

· Of course not. Re write the ques tion to “Do you be lieve the level of traf fic safety ex per tise at many lo cal ju ris dic tions are suf fi cient to ap -ply cost-ef fec tive traf fic en gi neer ing mea sures to re duce traf fic fa tal i ties?” I could answer yes.

· The safety knowl edge might be suf fi cient but there might not be po lit i cal back bone to sup port and im ple ment ini tia tives.

· Most town ships, vil lages, small cit ies and even most coun ties have very lim ited ex per tise in traf fic en gi neer ing safety coun ter mea sure.They typ i cally need to hire con sul tants for this type of anal y sis and design.

· In MN, I be lieve this is true. It is the po lit i cal pres sure that of ten stops good safety pro jects.

· This ques tion is too broad. Yes, for some lo cal ju ris dic tions, no for oth ers. Some states have pro grams to as sist small lo cal ju ris dic -tions in safety plan ning which could mit i gate a lot of those prob lems with ex per tise. Also, lots of states and lo cals have the ex per tise toknow what kind of mea sures are cost ef fec tive but can’t ap ply them be cause of fund ing lim i ta tions or political roadblocks.


Yes 22%

No 78%



Any fur ther com ments?

· MUTCD should be uni form. Lo cal vari a tions are too great and cre ate un safe con di tions for trav el ling public.

· Fund ing for im prove ments is nec es sary and a shift to re-al lo cate ca pac ity in creas ing pro jects for safety and main te nance.

· Ed u ca tion about proven safety en gi neer ing coun ter mea sures by lo cal agen cies is a par tic u larly acute prob lem in the de sire to re duceroad way fa tal i ties. ITE is work ing to solve this by mak ing in for ma tion on these coun ter mea sures more ac ces si ble through its Vi sionZero Task Force, and the as so ci ated Vi sion Zero Tool box to launch in late 2016/early 2017.

· En gi neer ing, En force ment & Ed u ca tion. Red light cam era should be a use ful tool with rig or ous en force ment with the ex cep tion of “turn -ing right on red” un less pro hib ited by a in stalled sign “No Turn on Red.”

· Al though I’m sure there are dis sent ing opin ions on the ques tions and their mea sures for im prov ing safety, even if ev ery one could agreethat they would have a tan gi ble ef fect on sav ing lives, their im ple men ta tion would still have to over come fund ing con straints and political pres sures.

· Some states still have lower speed lim its for trucks on ru ral free ways. On those road ways, each truck is ef fec tively a roll ing lane clo sure. Auto traf fic then must jockey for po si tion in the left lane, pass the truck and then fan out to uti lize both lanes, un til com ing upon an othertruck. Ca pac ity is lost and the po ten tial for rear end and side swipe crashes is higher.

· De spite ad vances in tech nol ogy and in cer tain driver be hav iors, e.g. man da tory seat belt use, chil dren seats, air bags, anti-lock brakes,and as sisted ve hi cle sys tems, U.S. an nual high way fa tal i ties re main be tween 30,000 and 40,000. Other tech nol o gies and be hav iorscan in crease traf fic crashes such as texting while driv ing and dash board dis plays that dis tract driv ers. In other words, tech nol ogy is a“dou ble edged sword” by im prov ing and wors en ing traf fic safety. Be fore tech nol ogy is ap plied in the field, it must be thor oughly re -searched with adequate, independent, research funding.

· With more states le gal iz ing mar i juana, im paired driv ing by pot us ers will in crease traf fic crashes and fa tal i ties.

· Smaller gov ern ment is good. Big gov ern ment is bad. I want my po lice of fi cers spend ing their time track ing down rob bers and mur ders,not hand ing out speed ing tick ets. Mod el ling the US af ter Eu rope is a ter ri ble con cept re gard less of the agency.

· The adop tion of rec re ation mar i juana in the States is go ing to be a prob lem in the im me di ate future.

· Sev eral of the ques tions im ply that gov ern ment should put tighter reg u la tions on the be hav iors that con trib ute to some fa tal ac ci dents. Check points and re duc ing the BAC level leads to au thor i tar i an ism and does noth ing for the greater ma jor ity of crashes due to poordriver de ci sions. We can en gi neer our way out of a ma jor ity of crashes through in no va tion and mov ing more quickly to au ton o mous and connected vehicles.

· Sim ply re plac ing many sig nals with round abouts would save 60-70% of in ju ries and even higher per cent age of fa tal i ties, as is done inFrance, UK, Bel gium, etc. Un for tu nately there has been no ef fec tive sup port from FHWA or other agencies.

· What? No ques tion about trans por ta tion fund ing?! Other coun tries spend much more pro por tion on trans por ta tion. Also, seat belts. The US lacks seat belt pri mary laws and en force ment. Dis tracted driving?

· Speed en force ment in the U.S. has got ten too re laxed. As such, driv ers sim ply re gard speed lim its with con tempt. In ad di tion, thereseems to be no pub lic out cry over high way fa tal i ties that range from 30-40 thou sand deaths per year. It is in com pre hen si ble that there is so lit tle con cern ex pressed about such lev els of highway fatalities.

· Part of the prob lem is the em pha sis on per sonal rights and free doms in the US, at the ex pense of the rights of other mem bers of thecom mu nity that may be in fringed be cause of poor de ci sions by in di vid u als. This is a very dif fi cult po lit i cal and so cial is sue, and the bal -ance var ies widely from state to state. E.g., seat belts are ac knowl edged as very ben e fi cial, but some states do not al low en force ment of seat belt laws as a pri mary of fence, only in ci den tal to an other of fence. Sim i larly, many states are in creas ing speed lim its in re sponse topres sure from mo tor ists who be lieve they should be the best judge of what is a safe speed, but this is a self ish and unsupportable claimthat is only true if there are no other road us ers (driv ers, pe des tri ans, cy clists) pres ent (per haps un seen) who may not cor rectly judgethe speed of an approaching high-speed vehicle.

· Ul ti mately, con nected ve hi cle tech nol ogy may be the best so lu tion.

· Fund ing for fa tal ity re duc tion pro grams is a state by state is sue. When a state bor ders three other states and have three in ter state high -ways car ry ing out-of-state trav el ers, the ma jor ity of fa tal ac ci dents in volve out of state trav el ers. The other states can be ques tionedabout the em pha sis put on safety by other states. It may not be a high pri or ity or even get suf fi cient fund ing to have any im pact. We allneed to move to ward Zero Deaths goal. The ITE has this as a national emphasis.

· There is too much hope in the abil ity for hu mans to not be hu man. Un til we take the hu man out of the loop, we will not see sig nif i cant re -duc tions in fa tal i ties. We have made better road side safety im prove ments, sign ing im prove ments, ITS ap pli ca tions, in cred i ble changes in ve hi cle safety, but yet, we still can not build a better hu man. All the ed u ca tion in the world does not stop a hu man from need ing to getpast their ad o les cent im ma tu rity of in vin ci bil ity, and grad u ate them to the wise, cau tious re spon si ble cit i zen that still takes med i ca tions,gets drowsy, and gets dis tracted. As we tran si tion to aged driv ing abil i ties, we strug gle with true abil i ties to safely op er ate a ve hi cle. Thehu man is too pli able and ever evolv ing, for good and or bad. That does not make for a fatality free transportation system.

· The in fringe ment of the 4th amend ment needs to be part of any con ver sa tion when it co mes to en force ment of any traf fic laws. Theends can not jus tify the means.

THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, OCTOBER 28, 2016, VOL. 30 NO. 8

REQUESTS FOR PROPOSALS

PUBLIC AGENCIES — RFP notices arepublished here FREE OF CHARGE — call(703)764-0512 for details and deadline.

1. Saugatuck Center Transit OrientedDevelopment PlanAgency:Town of Westport, CTDeadline:December 15, 2016, 4:00 PM Contact:Rich Kotchko, email:[email protected]:http://www.westportct.gov/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=10210 Description:The Town invites proposals from consultantsand/or firms having expertise in transit oriented development planning, facilitating publicparticipation, website design, transportationplanning/engineering, architecture, design andcivil engineering, economic analysis, and landuse. The consulting firm or team must have allthe skills and experience to conduct the totalrange of planning and engineering required

2. Sharing and Utilizing Traffic Signal Datato Support Automated Vehicle and OtherApplications Agency:North Central Texas Council of Governments,TXDeadline:December 16, 2016 by 5:00 p.m.Contact:All questions regarding this RFP shall bedirected in writing by email [email protected] by 5:00 pm on Friday,November 18, 2016Website:http://www.nctcog.org/trans/admin/rfp/documents/RFPTrafficSignalData_Final.pdfDescription:After consultation with industry experts andrepresentatives of partner public agencies inthe North Central Texas region (partneragencies) the North Central Texas Council ofGovernments (NCTCOG) believes thattransportation-related data generated bypartner agencies in the course of operatingstreets and highways may support thedevelopment and deployment of automatedvehicles, improving the efficiency and safety of the highway system. The focus of this Requestfor Partners (RFP) is on one type of such data,namely, traffic signal data (TSD).The purpose of this RFP is to identify potentialpartners from the private sector, such as autoanufacturers, commonly known as OriginalEquipment Manufacturers (OEMs), and otherparties developing automated vehicles,application developers and travel navigationservices, who might use TSD to build productsand services that will serve the residents andbusinesses of North Central Texas and improve

the operation of the transportation system in the region. This RFP extends to products andservices for vehicles at all levels of automationand is not limited to fully automated vehicles,and includes other applications using TSD thatwill benefit the North Texas region. All questions regarding this RFP shall bedirected in writing by email [email protected] by 5:00 pm on Friday,November 18, 2016.

3. Proposed Macro-Level Safety PlanningAnalysis Chapter for the Highway SafetyManualAgency:Transportation Research BoardDeadline:1/3/2017Contact:Mark S. Bush, tel. (202) 334-1646, email:[email protected]:http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4200Description:The idea of predicting crashes within a givenarea, such as census tracts or traffic analysiszones (TAZs), allows agencies to identifysafety concerns that may not be apparent byexamining crash patterns at an intersection orsegment scale. This could potentially allowplanners to address safety concerns prior totheir full materialization. For example, amacro-level model may indicate that changingdemographics could result in a sharp uptick infatalities among the older driver population in a particular section of a city. As a result, agencies could implement wider lane striping and largersign lettering in that area, or work to improvetransit service to older populations. Moreover,macro-level models would help quantify thatuptick such that a robust cost benefit analysiscould be used to justify one or several of theseinvestments in response to this changingdemographic. The ability to analyze andrespond to these types of concerns is notcurrently accounted for in the HSM PredictiveMethods.The objectives of this research are to developvalidated and demonstrated quantitativemacro-level safety prediction models and aquantitative safety planning chapter for theAASHTO HSM intended for use bytransportation practitioners at all levels. Thisincludes a guidance document on thedevelopment and application of these models,methods to integrate the model results intoplanning procedures, and electronic analysistools for applying the models in practice. Theresearch results are intended as a new chapterfor inclusion in a future edition of the HSM. The results should address a broad range of

safety planning level issues related tomacro-level models such as, but not limited to,geography, demographics, transportationmodes and modal interaction, existing orplanned land-use and/or transportationprojects, model transferability, calibrationneeds, and associated data limitations.

4. Dynamic Passenger Assignment Research Guidance ProjectAgency:Metropolitan Transportation Commission,Bay Area, CADeadline:December 2, 2016Contact:N/AWebsite:http://procurements.mtc.ca.gov/Solicitations/solicitation-list.htmlDescription:MTC, in partnership with the San FranciscoCounty Transportation Authority (SFCTA)and the Puget Sound Regional Council(PSRC), received a grant in 2014 via theFederal Highway Administration’s (FHWA)second Strategic Highway Research Program(SHRP2) Implementation Assistance Programto improve the way in which transitaccessibility and passenger behavior isrepresented in each agency’s travel model. Specifically, the grant strives to develop,implement, and integrate (within anactivity-based travel model) a dynamicpassenger assignment procedure.As MTC and our partners endeavored toimplement a practical dynamic passengerassignment procedure, we encountered severalissues for which there are no well-documentedand useful solutions. The purpose of thisproject is to formally engage the researchcommunity to first develop a commonunderstanding of the problems and to thenformulate a robust researchThe Request for Qualifications (RFQ)documents for this project are available fordownload on the MTC website athttps://mtc.bonfirehub.com. Proposers areresponsible for checking the website for anyAddenda to this RFQ. Responses should besubmitted in accordance with the instructionsset forth in the RFQ.


N/A = Not Available; m = member; nm = non-member. To list your transportation conferences here FREE, send all information as above to: The UTM Conference Dept., P.O. Box 12300, Burke, VA 22009-2300, or call (703) 764-0512, or fax (703) 764-0516, or email: [email protected].

CONFERENCES

DATES CONFERENCE AND SPONSOR

CITY VENUE MAIN TOPICS WEBSITE /CONTACT INFO

2016

Nov. 16-19 National League of Cities City Summit

Pittsburgh, PA

David L Lawrence Convention Center

Smart cities, drones, autonomous vehicles http://citysummit.nlc.org/

Dec. 1-2 10th University Transportation Centers Spotlight Conference: Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety

Washington, DC

Keck Center The subject of the 10th University Transportation Centers Spotlight Conference is Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety. Each year, pedestrian and bicycle fatalities comprise over 12 percent of all traffic fatalities. Conditions for safe bicycling and walking have wide-ranging impacts related to accessing public transportation, commuting to school and work, accessing local services, and improving general health. This conference will promote synergies among diverse transportation research and practitioner groups in order to understand and address the unique issues involved with pedestrian and bicycle safety; to spotlight recently completed and ongoing research; and to identify existing knowledge gaps in current research and related activities.

http://www.cvent.com/events/10th-university-transportation-centers-spotlight-conference-pedestrian-and-bicycle-safety/event-summary-135944f6ddfb451fa41a9e0ab6c8c839.aspx

2017

Jan. 8-12 TRB 96th Annual Meeting

Washington, DC

Walter E. Washington Convention Center,

The meeting program will cover all transportation modes, with more than 5,000 presentations in nearly 750 sessions and workshops,

http://www.trb.org/AnnualMeeting/AnnualMeeting.aspx

March 12-14 APTA Legislative Conference

Washington, DC

JW Marriott Hotel

The Legislative Conference educates members on important federal legislation and policy initiatives; provides members with the opportunity to shape future industry positions and federal transportation policy; provides direction on the industry’s legislative strategy and advocacy efforts with the U.S. Congress and Administration executives; and offers sessions with key members of Congress, Hill staff, Administration officials, and Washington opinion makers.

http://www.apta.com/mc/legislative/Pages/default.aspx

April 10-12 International Congress on Transport Infrastructure and Systems (AIIT, the Italian Association for Traffic and Transport Engineering)

Rome, Italy N/A The objective of the AIIT International Congress TIS Rome 2017 is to promote transport as a growing industry, and its current significance. The Congress provides a forum for discussion, interactions and exchange among researchers, scientists and engineers whose fields of interest are transport and infrastructure engineering. The congress is organized by the Italian Association for Traffic and Transport Engineering AIIT founded in 1957. The meeting program will cover all transportation modes, with more than 100 presentations in sessions and workshops, addressing topics of interest to policy makers, administrators, practitioners, researchers, and representatives of government, industry, and academic institutions.

http://tisroma.aiit.it/

May 7-10 2017 Bus & Paratransit Conference (APTA)

Reno, NV Grand Sierra Hotel

This technical, educational program covers operations and maintenance, accessibility and paratransit, integrated mobility and transformative technology, first- and last-mile transportation, safety and security, planning and sustainability, funding and finance, capital programs, procurement, and workforce development. Participate in the Maintenance Managers Workshop and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Tuesday, DBE Academy Training, National Transit Institute training courses, Bus Display, Products & Services Showcase, and technical tours.

http://www.apta.com/mc/bus/Pages/default.aspx

http://citysummit.nlc.org/











http://tisroma.aiit.it/




N/A = Not Available; m = member; nm = non-member. To list your transportation conferences here FREE send all information as above to: The UTM Conference Dept., P.O. Box 12300, Burke, VA 22009-2300, or call (703) 764-0512, or fax (703) 764-0516, or email: [email protected].

DATES CONFERENCE AND SPONSOR

CITY VENUE MAIN TOPICS WEBSITE /CONTACT INFO

May 8-10 5th International Conference on Roundabouts (Sponsored by TRB and hosted by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and the University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Green Bay. WI

N/A The International Roundabout Conference brings hundreds of transportation professionals together as a community of roundabout proponents and practitioners. This triennial conference provides a forum for the exchange of technical, policy, planning, operational, and administrative information on all aspects of roundabouts, including the safety and operational performance that this unique intersection provides for all modes.


May 14-18 16th TRB National Transportation Planning Applications Conference

Raleigh,NC Sheraton Hotel, Downtown Raleigh

Conference provides opportunities to showcase new transportation planning techniques and methods emphasizing practical, innovative, and timely technical and policy approaches to transportation planning. Presentations, workshops, discussion sessions and tutorials are all expected to be a part of the 2017 program, continuing the focus on practical, innovative and timely techniques for solving planning problems. As with past conferences, we anticipate hundreds of planners and engineers to gather in Raleigh to discuss, share and network with their peers.

http://www.trbappcon.org/index.aspx

May 15-17 Global Public Transport Summit (UITP)

Montreal Palais des congrès de Montréal

A unique global platform for public transport professionals to take the lead in urban mobility. The Global Public Transport Summit is a unique event that covers all urban and regional transport modes. It combines a full program of congress sessions with an exhibition of the latest solutions, innovations and products in public transport and urban mobility.

http://www.uitp.org/events/global-public-transport-summit

May 21-24 5th Urban Street Symposium (TRB)

Raleigh, NC N/A The symposium will explore improvements in suburban and urban street design practices, foster discussions on alternative street design practices, examine alternative street designs, and facilitate the transfer of urban street research findings to state agencies and to local governments.

http://www.trb.org/Calendar/Blurbs/174674.aspx

June 11-14 2017 Rail Conference

Baltimore, MD

Hilton Baltimore Hotel

For all rail modes – urban, commuter, high-speed, and intercity – this technical conference features sessions on technology, operations, maintenance, safety & security, planning, finance, capital projects, workforce development, and more. Experience the latest industry advances at the Products & Services Showcase and join the technical tours.

http://www.apta.com/mc/rail/Pages/default.aspx

June 12-15 First International Roadside Safety Conference: “Safer Roads, Saving Lives, Saving Money” (TRB)

San Francisco, CA

Holiday Inn Golden Gateway

The First International Roadside Safety Conference (IRSC) will provide a global forum to explore current roadside safety problems and practices and disseminate research results related to a full range of roadside safety issues, including: administration, planning, design, construction, operations, and maintenance. The conference theme is “Safer Roads, Saving Lives, & Saving Money.” It is also the goal to highlight technological advancements and innovations involving new research as well as proven practices related to the theme

http://www.cvent.com/events/trb-first-international-roadside-safety-conference/event-summary-ce287b3b93704997822c0a96c2beb455.aspx

July 16-18 Joint Symposium on Managed Lanes and All Electronic Tolling (IBTTA, TRB)

Dallas, TX Hilton Anatole Dallas

The symposium will explore the latest research, policies, and innovative practices found on toll roads and tolled managed lanes to stimulate continued project development, adoption of the latest technology, and operational practice. Technical sessions and local tours will emphasize the role that the latest practices in innovative project delivery and system planning play in managed lane implementation. While TRB has hosted 16 prior managed lane conferences from 1988 through 2016, this is the first one to focus on innovative project delivery experiences that are becoming common in the profession.

http://ibtta.org/events/joint-symposium-aet-managed-lanes

July 24-26 22nd International Symposium on Transportation and Traffic Theory (TRB, Northwestern University)

Evanston, IL Northwestern University

Covers all scientific aspects of transportation and traffic, spanning all modes of transport—public and private—including freight, air, and maritime modes

http://sites.northwestern.edu/isttt/







http://www.trbappcon.org/index.aspx














http://sites.northwestern.edu/isttt/

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