Recognizing the importance of increasing awareness of the safety dangers at highway–rail grade crossings (also known as level crossings), the International Union of Railways (UIC) began the International Level Crossing Awareness Day (ILCAD) in 2009. Level crossing safety remains a major safety concern — especially regarding the dangers of trespassing on rail rights-of-way. In the […]
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Episode 35. Building by the Numbers: How economic indicators guide road construction.
Some statistics like population growth and the price of crude oil are directly linked to transportation planning in Texas. But others—like commercial airline boardings and home sales—play a role, too. Collectively, the numbers paint a picture that informs how we fund our transportation system.
Episode 34. When the Workplace Is Behind the Wheel: Improving occupational safety for truckers (and the rest of us).
Close to half of all workplace deaths result from transportation incidents, including crashes that involve large trucks. Drivers of those trucks are at higher risk than workers in other jobs. And to the degree that we share road space with truckers, the risk extends to the rest of us, too. Evolving policies resulting from new […]
TTI Data Analytics
TTI’s Das Publishes Book on Artificial Intelligence in Highway Safety
Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) Associate Research Scientist Subasish Das will publish the book Artificial Intelligence in Highway Safety (1st edition) September 29, 2022, with CRC Press/Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group. In this book, Das discusses advances in the highway safety field that involve artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. He specifically addresses how […]
Bridging Technology and Roadway Safety
Volume 58, Number 2 (2022) Adobe PDF version Inside This Issue: Seeing the Road Seeing the Road in Low-Visibility Conditions Traffic Signal Technologies Improve Pedestrian, Bicyclist Safety in Texas Evaluating Road Types Improves Safety, Mobility in Rural Areas Car Makers Join Researchers to Aid Flow through Traffic Signals TTI Facilities Research Road Safety Devices, Technologies […]
Seeing the Road
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 […]
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 […]
TTI Develops Educational Materials for Pedestrians, Bicyclists
Approximately two pedestrians and/or bicyclists are killed every day in crashes involving a large truck or bus. In these crashes, failure to yield right-of-way is a leading contributing factor at intersections and mid-blocks. Simply put, pedestrians and bicyclists may not be aware that large trucks and buses have larger blind spots, wider turning radii and […]
TTI’s Field Demonstration of Connected Intersection in Houston
Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) researchers conducted a field demonstration of the Traffic Optimization for Signalized Corridors (TOSCo) project March 30–April 1 in Houston, Texas. Participants in the demonstration included the U.S. Department of Transportation, the National Transportation Safety Board, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation […]
Episode 33. Cars Can Track Our Driving Habits: Who owns that data, and what’s being done with it?
The newest cars on the road today generate huge amounts of data, telling us much about our driving habits and helping us build and operate our roadways. How safely and efficiently we travel in the future will depend in part on how wisely stakeholders use that data.