The fifth annual 2021 Texas Child Passenger Safety Conference was held virtually June 29–July 1, 2021. Sponsored by the Texas Department of Transportation, the conference was organized by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) and the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. With 384 attendees this year, the conference helped child passenger safety technicians (CPSTs) stay […]
safety
Guo-Led Team Advances as Finalist in ITE Vision Zero Design Sandbox Competition
Led by Xiaoyu “Sky” Guo, Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) engineering graduate student worker, the Aggie Vision team is one of two student finalists for the second annual Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Vision Zero Design Sandbox Competition. The team includes Sruthi Ashraf, TTI engineering graduate student worker; Zihao Li, TTI graduate research assistant; Chaolun […]
TTI’s Khodadadi Publishes Article on Safety Performance Functions for Non-Federal Aid System Roads
Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) Graduate Research Assistant Ali Khodadadi recently published the article “Application of Different Negative Binominal Parameterizations to Develop Safety Performance Functions for Non-Federal Aid System Roads” in volume 156 (June 2021) of Accident Analysis & Prevention. The authors also include Subasish Das, TTI assistant research scientist; Yingfeng Li, Virginia Tech Transportation Institute […]
TTI Researchers Study Phone Use Behavior on Roadways
Researchers at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute and Texas A&M University investigated the relationship between phone use behavior and road geometrics determining that using a phone while driving is more than just a self-choice. The combination and presence of a shoulder, median, higher speed limit and extra lanes could encourage more phone use while driving. […]
Teens in the Driver Seat® Holds 12th Annual Summit: Month-Long Gathering Honors Student Leaders Advocating Teen Driver Safety
The Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s (TTI’s) award-winning Teens in the Driver Seat® (TDS) program recognized teen advocates as champions of young driver safety at the 2021 TDS Safe Driving Summit held in May. Second only to teen suicide, car crashes kill more teens in the United States aged 15 to 18 than any other cause. […]
Shaking Up the System: Safe-D Looks at How Disruptive Technologies Can Improve Roadway Safety
Funded through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s University Transportation Center (UTC) Program, the Safety through Disruption (Safe-D) UTC is led by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI). In partnership with San Diego State University and the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI), center researchers endeavor to maximize the potential safety benefits of disruptive technologies through targeted […]
TTI Study Produces Insights on the Use of Automated License Plate Readers for Traffic Safety Purposes
The National Highway Safety Administration published a Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) report, State of Knowledge and Practice for Using Automated License Plate Readers for Traffic Safety Purposes, Apr. 1, 2021, in the National Transportation Library. The authors include TTI Associate Research Scientist Ben Ettelman, TTI Associate Research Scientist Laura Higgins, TTI Center for Alcohol […]
Wunderlich Briefs Texas House Committee on Pedestrian Safety
Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) Senior Research Engineer Robert Wunderlich briefed the Texas House Committee on Transportation Mar. 30, 2021 on pedestrian fatality statistics as background for House Bill 443. Wunderlich, director of TTI’s Center for Transportation Safety, briefed lawmakers on the increase in Texas pedestrian fatalities since 2011 and the characteristics associated with them. […]
TTI’s Dadashova Leads Safety Evaluation of On-Street Bicycle Facility Designs
Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) Assistant Research Scientist Bahar Dadashova is the team lead on a recently contracted project evaluating the safety of on-street bicycle facility design features. Funded primarily by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program, the effort also includes support from Portland State University, Toole Design Group and Safe Streets Research and Consulting. […]
TTI’s Xiaoqiang “Jack” Kong Published Research Paper on Phone Usage and Distracted Driving
Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) Graduate Research Assistant Xiaoqiang “Jack” Kong recently published the research paper “Characterizing phone usage while driving: Safety impact from road and operational perspectives using factor analysis” in Accident Analysis & Prevention. The paper’s authors also include Subasish Das, assistant research scientist in TTI’s Roadway Safety Division; Hongmin “Tracy” Zhou, associate […]
TTI Crash Analytics Experts Publish Highway Safety Analytics and Modeling
Two crash analytics and modeling group members in the Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s (TTI’s) Center for Transportation Safety published the 1st edition of Highway Safety Analytics and Modeling Feb. 25, 2021, on Elsevier’s publisher platform. Texas A&M University Zachry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor and TTI-affiliated Dominique Lord and TTI Research Engineer Srinivas […]
From Space Travel to Roadway Safety: LiDAR Helps Identify Pavement Sections Prone to Hydroplaning
A technology once focused on aerospace applications half a century ago is finding new utility to improve the safety of driving surfaces in Texas thanks to evolving research at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI). The effort employs LiDAR — or light detection and ranging — which calculates distances by transmitting a laser beam to […]
TTI Researchers Publish Paper on Speed-Crash Relationship for City Streets
Estimating the speed-crash relationship has long been a focus area of interest in roadway safety analysis. Because of many confounding factors that may influence both speeds and crashes, the relationship cannot be appropriately established without considering the corresponding roadway characteristics and accounting for their effects on speeds and crashes. Texas A&M Transportation Institute researchers Eun […]
Implementation of Bicycle and Pedestrian Monitoring Equipment
As the number of bicyclists on our roadways grows, so does the desire to accurately count how many there are and where they are traveling. TxDOT teamed up with Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) researchers to evaluate the best bicycle monitoring equipment and to produce a user-friendly database for public use. The TTI video production […]
TTI’s Teens in the Driver Seat® Launches New App to Encourage Safety in Young Drivers
Car crashes account for nearly one-third of all teen deaths in America each year. As a part of National Teen Driver Safety Week Oct. 18–24, teen advocates of the Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s (TTI’s) Teens in the Driver Seat® (TDS) program launched its You in the Driver Seat (YDS) smartphone app, aimed at encouraging safer […]
FCC Radio Spectrum Reallocation Could Impair Vehicle Safety
By Gretchen Stoeltje and Greg Winfree If you’ve been designing or building roads in recent years, you are probably familiar with the anticipated safety benefits of connected vehicles and the technology that will be required to make them work. You probably know that in order for connected vehicles to communicate with one another and with […]
Data From High-Tech Cars Can Help Pinpoint Road Safety Improvements and Prevent Crashes
Using the data produced by connected cars can improve safety for all of us. By Eva Shipp and Shawn Turner A growing number of higher-tech cars and trucks on the road are talking to us. And if we pay attention to what they’re saying, we could prevent a lot of crashes and save a lot […]
TTI Proving Grounds Crew Nearly Beats Crash Test Record, Despite COVID-19
Despite a worldwide pandemic that shut down businesses and kept most workers at home through the spring and much of the summer, 37 Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) researchers, technicians and support staff in the Roadside Safety and Physical Security Division have been working nonstop conducting a near-record number of crash tests for clients across […]
National School Bus Safety Week Recognizes Challenges, Best Practices in Difficult Times
National School Bus Safety Week (Oct. 19–23, 2020) recognizes the importance of school bus safety with various activities aimed at teaching students how to be safer in and around school buses. The week also highlights ways roadway users can practice safer behaviors whenever they encounter buses on the roadway, helping to keep our children safer. […]
College Students, Traffic Safety Professionals Attend Virtual 2020 U in the Driver Seat Symposium
The Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s (TTI’s) U in the Driver Seat (UDS) education and outreach program held its virtual 2020 UDS Symposium Oct. 7–9. Now in its eighth year, the symposium raises awareness about the leading cause of death for young adults ages 18–25 — traffic crashes. This year’s theme was “recharge to save lives […]