Vehicles are more protective than ever before. The roadway environment is far more forgiving. Traffic laws have evolved and become more effective over time. By almost any measure, roadway safety has advanced remarkably in a relatively short time, but engineering and enforcement will take us only part of the way. To move forward, meaningful safety […]
Archives for 2011
TTI Research Makes the Roadside Safer
The Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) has acquired a computer-modeling scanning system that ensures the Institute’s stature as one of the premier crash-testing facilities in the world.
It’s Confirmed: Driving’s a Full-Time Job — How Texting Impairs Driving Performance
Researchers and safety advocates have known for years that driving performance worsens when the driver is texting. Now we know just how much worse.
TTI Studies Increased Crash Rates Along the DFW Connector
Take a dynamic work zone that can change daily. Add distracted drivers. What do you get?
Texas’ Click It or Ticket Campaign Turns 10
Texas’ Click It or Ticket (CIOT) campaign achieved a significant milestone this year — 10 years of success. Since the campaign began, safety-belt use in Texas has reached record levels.
Safety Is No Laughing Matter
Volume 47, Number 3 (2011) Adobe PDF version Inside This Issue: Editorial Envisioning a Traffic Safety Culture Safety Culture Making Safety a Cultural Priority Safety Comes of Age Center for Transportation Safety Celebrates 10 Years of Helping to Save Lives Texas’ Click It or Ticket Campaign Turns 10 Driver Awareness TTI Studies Increased Crash Rates […]
Texas’ Click It or Ticket Campaign Celebrates 10 Years of Success
Safety belts save lives and help prevent serious injuries from automobile crashes. Law enforcement officers nationwide spend two weeks around Memorial Day targeting drivers and passengers not wearing their safety belts. Violators can face up to a $250 fine. Texas’ Click It or Ticket (CIOT) campaign achieved a significant milestone this year — 10 years […]
TTI Researchers receive awards at annual ITE meeting
The Traffic Engineering Council Technical Committee on Pavement Marking Patterns Used at Uncontrolled Pedestrian Crossings: An Informational Report was selected to receive the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE’s) 2011 Coordinating Council Best Project Award. Kay Fitzpatrick, research engineer at the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI), chaired the committee, and TTI Assistant Research Engineer Marcus Brewer was […]
Crash Survivor Credits TTI’s Technology for Saving His Life
If you drive much around Texas or around the country, there is no doubt you have seen the ET-2000 in use on guardrails. Watch this testimonial of a roadside crash survivor, Donny Ohana, and one of the inventors of this TTI-developed technology, Hayes Ross, that Ohana says saved his life. For more information about TTI’s […]
Freight Pioneer Inducted into Texas Transportation Hall of Honor
The founder of Central Freight Lines, Inc., William Woody Callan, was inducted into the Texas Transportation Hall of Honor July 27 in conjunction with the annual conference of the Texas Motor Transportation Association (TMTA). John Esparza, president and CEO of TMTA, introduced Robert Babbitt, Hall of Honor board member and president and CEO of McDonald […]
TTI study underscores safety benefits of red light cameras
New research suggests that red light cameras help to reduce the number of crashes at intersections where they are installed. The study, although limited to Texas, is one of the most extensive thus far in the nation, and researchers say the findings demonstrate that the automated enforcement method offers an effective means of preventing crash-related […]
State Farm Grant Coincides with Deadliest Month for Teenage Drivers
State Farm has awarded a $100,000 grant to TTI’s Teens in the Driver Seat (TDS), making the company the largest corporate sponsor of the growing peer-based safety program for young drivers. The funding will go toward supporting the program in Texas. State Farm made its announcement on the eve of what is typically the deadliest […]
Christiansen Elected to ITS America Board
Texas Transportation Institute Director Dennis Christiansen was elected to a three-year term on the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) board and joined the board at the organization’s June board meeting. He will also serve on the ITS America Policy and Business Council, which focuses on transportation policy, business leadership, and government and international […]
TTI Freight Shuttle, New Guardrail Highlighted at Patent Luncheon
Eight employees of the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) were recognized at the Patent and Innovation Awards Luncheon recently, which was held at the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center at the George Bush Presidential Library. Steve Roop, Leslie Olson and Curtis Morgan were honored for their patent, described simply as a freight transportation system and method. The […]
TTI Leads Mileage-Based User Fee Conference
Some 115 federal, state and local government representatives, transportation system users, private-sector representatives and transportation researchers attended the Symposium on Mileage-Based User Fees (MBUF) in Colorado, June 13-14. That represents a 60 percent increase over last year’s attendance. MBUFs, also known as vehicle miles traveled (VMT) fees, would raise funds based on how many miles […]
Road User Fees: The Right Solution for America?
Experts, Researchers Examine the Issues during Symposium Declining revenue generated from fuel taxes is contributing to the nation’s road construction and maintenance funding crisis. A two-day Symposium on Mileage-Based User Fees (MBUF) will begin Monday, June 13 in Breckenridge, Colorado, to find solutions. MBUF, also known as vehicle miles traveled (VMT) fees, would raise funds […]
Dollars and Sense: TTI, Transportation and the Economy
Volume 47, Number 2 (2011) Adobe PDF version Inside This Issue: Editorial Bringing Balance to Transportation Finance Planning Valuing Research Assessing Customer Satisfaction Pavement Preservation Pavement 2.0 PANDA Model Predicts Pavement Damage, Helps Build Better Pavements Driving Smarter Drive Smarter, Pay Less Eco-driving Means Driving Smarter Finance Providing a Viable Financing Option TTI Helps Texas […]
Eco-driving Means Driving Smarter
For motorists across the country, it feels like history is repeating itself. Recently, average gasoline prices hovered around $4.00 per gallon, just like they did in 2008. And some predictions have prices at the pump heading to $5.00 in 2012. As a result, commuters are once again contemplating changes in what, or how, they drive. […]
Drive Smarter, Pay Less
Answers from the Expert: Understanding Fuel Prices from the Inside Out Dave Ellis is the Texas Transportation Institute’s resident expert on economic trends associated with fuel prices and driving behavior. Recently we asked him some questions about why gas prices rise and fall so dramatically from time to time. Here’s what he had to say. […]
PANDA Model Predicts Pavement Damage, Helps Build Better Pavements
Improving pavement performance has been a primary goal of the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) since its founding in 1950. And we’re not done yet. The latest innovation is a mechanistic method of simulating pavement behavior and predicting pavement damage that can help produce longer-lasting, distress-resistant pavements. “There has been a continuing effort to replace empirical […]