News Archives

People in the child passenger safety field are some of the most passionate advocates you’ll ever meet. And they infused passion into the virtual 2020 Texas Child Passenger Safety Conference Sept. 9–11, 2020. The fourth annual event had more than 400 attendees, most of whom are child passenger safety technicians (CPSTs). Organized by the Texas […]

The September 2020 issue of Traffic Technology International features Texas A&M Transportation Institute Agency Director Greg Winfree and Assistant Research Scientist Subasish Das. Das was interviewed for a story on using artificial intelligence to predict exactly where and when crashes will occur so that road authorities can prioritize funding for safety improvements in a targeted […]

TTI researchers Tony Voigt, Mike Vickich and Micah Montoya received U.S. patent no. 10,535,262 on Jan. 14, 2020, for an active pedestrian warning system for rail and bus transit routes. Pedestrians distracted near vehicles on the road are at risk for injuries and fatalities in the event of a collision. Both drivers and pedestrians are responsible […]

The German Aerospace Center — Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR) — recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) to encourage international collaboration on transportation research, technology transfer and education. With locations across Germany, DLR is one of the largest aeronautics and space research centers in […]

Mass Transit recently named Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) Graduate Research Assistant Ahmadreza Mahmoudzadeh to the 40 Under 40 list for 2020. Mahmoudzadeh began working in TTI’s Transit Mobility Program in fall 2018 and is a Ph.D. candidate in Texas A&M University’s Zachry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He recently graduated with an M.S. […]

Dr. Vergil Stover, former TTI researcher in the Roadway Safety Program and professor emeritus in Texas A&M’s Zachry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, passed away on Wednesday, July 29, 2020, at age 87. This article recounts Dr. Stover’s extensive career, highlighting his thought leadership in transportation research, particularly in the area of roadway safety […]

Texas A&M Transportation Institute Agency Director Greg Winfree was featured as a contributor in a recently-published story on Bloomberg CityLab. “The Life-Saving Car Technology No One Wants” explores why safety features that would make vehicles far less lethal to pedestrians exist right now, but are not required. Read the full article on Bloomberg CityLab

By Joan Hudson and Ipek Sener Not long after the coronavirus pandemic compelled widespread stay-at-home directives, many cities from coast to coast took steps to restrict motor vehicle traffic on selected streets. With sidewalks too narrow to allow for six-foot personal buffer zones, those moves opened thoroughfares for walking and biking, and aimed to give […]

An Arizona Department of Transportation research study, conducted by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, about pedestrian hybrid beacons received a national award from the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO). The study (external link) evaluated the pedestrian hybrid beacon (external link), which is a traffic control device that increases drivers’ awareness of pedestrians […]

By Bob Brydia Self-driving cars. We’ve been promised for years they were “coming soon.” Most estimates a decade ago thought self-driving cars would be commonplace by now. Yet, here we are in 2020, and self-driving cars — what the industry calls autonomous vehicles (AVs) — still largely exist only in science fiction. So much for […]

The National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA), together with the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) and Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) hosted a webinar on Thursday, July 9, highlighting an in-depth look at the research and outcome of a study done by TTI on how congestion and wait times during the transportation of U.S. agriculture […]

Reformation Austin News highlights the COVID-19 traffic trend of fewer vehicles on Texas roadways but the lack of a commensurate reduction in fatal crashes. TTI’s Center for Transportation Safety Director Robert Wunderlich discusses his analysis of the data behind those findings. Read the Reformation Austin News story

Newest Planning Software Receives Enthusiastic Applause A little known but decades-long relationship between the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) is suddenly and steadily emerging thanks to the development of a travel demand-model application tool. The tool is the Texas Package Suite of Programs (simply known as TexPACK), and […]

The Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) hosted the first ever virtual Traffic Safety Conference June 10–12, 2020. The conference, supported by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), focused on traffic safety issues and forward-looking research aligned with TxDOT’s goal to end all traffic fatalities on Texas roadways by 2050. For more information on the zero […]

By Gregory Winfree and Joe Zietsman, Texas A&M Transportation Institute No sooner did America begin to crave a return to normal than did many of us start thinking that maybe normal wasn’t the best we could do. And that is certainly true when it comes to the issue of how best to move people and […]

A five-minute video celebrating the Transportation Research Board’s (TRB’s) Centennial has been awarded three 2020 Telly Awards. Produced by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI), the video highlights the excitement, challenges, and fulfillment of working in the transportation research field. The video premiered during TRB’s annual conference in Washington, D.C. in early January. TRB is […]

TTI Senior Research Scientist Clifford Spiegelman recently passed away. While at TTI, Spiegelman received numerous awards including the 2007 Jerome Sacks Award for Outstanding Cross-Disciplinary Research and the 2016 Don Owen Award from the San Antonio Chapter of the American Statistical Association. He served as a distinguished professor with the Texas A&M University Department of […]

By Johanna Zmud When will people start vacationing? How many will stick with work-from-home routines? Will online grocery shopping be a fading fad or an enduring trend? The answers to these and other related questions have big implications not only for how Americans live and work after the current crisis, but also for how they […]

Robert Wunderlich, P.E., ITE Fellow and Director of the Center for Transportation Safety at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, discusses the Safe System approach to reducing serious injuries and fatalities on roadways. He highlights the various aspects of the Safe System, including roadway design that reduces user error and lowers impact forces, and explains what […]

TTI Human Factors Program Manager and Senior Research Scientist Michael Manser recently concluded a study in which he partnered with Ranjana Mehta, associate professor in Texas A&M University’s Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering and director of Texas A&M’s NeuroErgonomics Laboratory. The study examined how senior drivers prefer to learn about assistance technologies. Researchers discovered […]