Safety

Safety at passive Highway-Railroad Intersections (HRIs) – those without any active warning devices such as flashing lights, gates and bells – has been under particular scrutiny in recent years. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has found that more crashes occur at passive crossings than active crossings, for the amount of vehicle and train traffic that passive crossings carry. Minnesota has had an aggressive program for HRI safety, but tools to improve safety at the more than 5,000low-volume passive crossings have been too expensive for wide spread implementation. Recommendations issued by NTSB encourage the U.S. Department of Transportation to explore further how ITS technologies could be used improve safety at passive crossings.

Minnesota DOT

C3 Trans Systems LLC

Presented at the ITS America Annual Conference and Exposition, May 19-22, 2003 Minneapolis, Minnesota

The advent of Telematics equipment installed in vehicles to detect an emergency situation opens a new window for handling of these calls. It is critical that, when handling these types of emergency calls, they be delivered to the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) having jurisdiction over the incident. It is even more critical that these types of calls appear to the PSAP as a native 9-1-1 call. Native 9-1-1 call treatment ensures that the emergency will be handled in the most expedient manner possible, and the native 9-1-1 delivery of location and important crash data ensures the prompt dispatch of the correct emergency services to the correct location. This paper describes an emergency call solution that meets these requirements and that was demonstrated at the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) National Conference, 6/17-6/20/2002, in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Intrado Inc.

Presented at the ITS America Annual Conference and Exposition, May 19-22, 2003 Minneapolis, Minnesota

This paper investigates challenges to the deployment of effective Emergency Response and Management Systems (ERS/EMS) in rural areas. Based on the national system architecture, researchers built a framework for investigating ERS/EMS in rural Minnesota. Key technology concerns include slow systems upgrades and coverage gaps, protracted integration of wireless communications to existing infrastructures, and competing (and expensive) standards for deployments. Underlying these constraints was the need for an integrating policy framework, including a more strategic approach to devising and funding new systems. Recommendations are made on the need to: 1) assess adequacy of rural wireless coverage, 2) execute a comprehensive socio-technical approach to ERS/EMS and ITS deployment in small communities 3) integrate emergency management systems into local and statewide planning processes, and 4) enhance understanding of ERS/EMS benefits at the local level.

University of Minnesota

Claremont Graduate University

Presented at the ITS America Annual Conference and Exposition, May 19-22, 2003 Minneapolis, Minnesota

An innovative technology is demonstrated where streaming digital video images and several hundred channels of multi-mode sensing are integrated, viewed, controlled and managed over the Internet in real-time. Phenomena that are sensed include the weather, traffic and structural parameters. Designed and developed for demonstrating the paradigm of health-monitoring (HM) on the Commodore Barry Bridge, the system has been useful for a first-time, sufficiently long-term observation and quantitative measurement of how weather, live-loads and long-term environmental-climate related intrinsic movements and stresses govern different aspects of the bridge’s serviceability, safety and operational performance. In addition, many intrinsic promises of the real-time imaging-sensing-communication-computing and control system for enhancing operations, security and structural preservation in an integrated manner are recognized as discussed in this paper.

Drexel University

Presented at the ITS America Annual Conference and Exposition, May 19-22, 2003 Minneapolis, Minnesota

Even with exponential growth in cellular phone use, not everyone owns a cellular phone. Many motorists still need a means of requesting emergency assistance on the roadway if they do not have cellular phones or do not have cellular coverage, particularly in rural areas.

The Georgia Department of Transportation installed its first Emergency Motorist Aid Call Box Pilot Project in May 1999, installing 147 cellular / solar powered call boxes on I-185, a rural Georgia interstate. This report includes results of the pilot project evaluation, which determined the benefits and effectiveness of call boxes and provided future deployment recommendations based on experience from the first year of operation.

TransCore

Georgia Department of Transportation

Presented at the 11th ITS Annual Conference and Exposition, June 4-7, 2001 Miami Beach, Florida