Though highway striping technologies have evolved in the past 80 years, one constant has remained the same: Clear and highly visible highway markings ensure safety for drivers. Driving is a visual activity, and as we make our way down a road, we all look at a wide range of visual inputs — the roadway, the […]
Volume 58, Number 2
Seeing the Road in Low-Visibility Conditions
Seeing the road is an essential component of safe driving. Drivers depend on a continuous flow of information as they move along the roadway to properly position their vehicle. Centerline and edge-line markings delineate the vehicle lane for drivers, while other markings such as stop bars and railway crossings provide key safety information and alert […]
Traffic Signal Technologies Improve Pedestrian, Bicyclist Safety in Texas
The Lone Star State has experienced an increase in the number of pedestrians and bicyclists who have lost their lives in roadway crashes. Within the last decade, pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities rose by 69 percent in Texas. These statistics — but, even more so, the real people behind the numbers — present a safety concern […]
Evaluating Road Types Improves Safety, Mobility in Rural Areas
Rural roadways often have a high number of crashes, especially severe crashes. To help decrease that number, researchers have focused safety and mobility studies on rural areas that experience increased truck traffic and road usage during certain economic booms — like oil booms. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) Odessa District experienced an oil boom […]
Car Makers Join Researchers to Aid Flow through Traffic Signals
In theory, the best way to maximize traffic flow along busy urban streets is to coordinate the series of traffic signals that drivers encounter. In practice, that’s far easier said than done. But with the completion of recent research supported by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI), traffic engineers are a big step closer to […]
TTI Facilities Research Road Safety Devices, Technologies
The Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s (TTI’s) Visibility Research Laboratory and smart intersection explore how improvements in road markings, signals and equipment can keep road users safe. Through the Eyes of the Visibility Research Laboratory Researchers in TTI’s Visibility Research Laboratory evaluate retroreflective materials, lights, coatings and other technologies designed to provide nighttime visibility. The lab […]
Preventing Roadway Crashes before They Occur
Roadway departure crashes make up a significant number of the crashes on Texas roadways each year. In 2016 alone, Texas roads experienced 61,973 roadway departure crashes, most of which occurred on two-way two-lane (TWTL) highways (92 percent). These numbers — especially in a state that just saw its second-deadliest year on record for road fatalities […]
Proper Friction Equals Safer Roads
The correct amount of pavement friction is critical for motorist safety, especially during wet weather. The Wet Surface Crash Reduction Program guidelines from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) Traffic Safety Division provide engineers with a framework for identifying existing pavement friction and the tools for specifying new pavement surfaces that will meet project-specific friction […]
TTI News
Tooley Honored with University of Arkansas College of Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award Melissa Tooley, TTI director of external initiatives, received a Distinguished Alumni award April 9 at the University of Arkansas College of Engineering Alumni Awards Banquet. The Department of Civil Engineering chose Tooley as its award recipient, one of the highest honors given to […]
Thinking Transportation Podcasts
Download, listen, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Every other week, we interview a TTI expert or special guest on a wide range of transportation topics and discuss how those topics impact the average person. When a Crash Is Not an Accident Staging roadside collisions to make them more survivable. Episode 31 Sometimes vehicle […]
The Last Stop with Greg Winfree: Can’t You Read the Sign?
In 1971, the Five Man Electrical Band, a crew of Canadian rockers, released the song “Signs,” which vented the songwriter’s disdain for certain examples of visual forewarning that he encountered. In the chorus, the singer belts out, “Do this, don’t do that! Can’t you read the sign?” My colleagues and I at the Texas A&M […]