Safety

Static speed limit signs are conventionally used in the U.S. to assist motorists in safe selection of speeds. Although appropriate to use under near ideal conditions, such signs fail to provide accurate information on speed selection when traffic and environmental conditions are less than ideal. This paper documents the findings from a state-of-the-practice review on variable speed limit systems. Such systems dynamically update posted speed limits to better reflect prevailing traffic and environmental conditions. The paper reviews and compares characteristics of variable speed limit systems, and discusses potential benefits and limitations associated with their deployment. Examples of domestic and international applications of variable speed limit systems are presented, together with an assessment of their potential capabilities towards enhancement of traffic operations.

Michigan State University

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

Minnesota has supported rural intersection research regarding crashes and their causality for
the past several years. The Minnesota Department of Transportation initiated research
through the University of Minnesota and CH2MHill to identify the most prevalent type and
most likely causes of crashes at rural intersections. Right angle crashes at rural thru-stop
intersections were identified as most common, and the greatest cause of these right angle
crashes was failure of drivers to recognize unsafe gaps in the traffic stream they were hoping
to enter or cross. As additional data has been collected in Minnesota and eight other states,
the methodology for identifying problem intersections, collecting macroscopic driver gap
rejection behavior, and conclusions about gap acceptance and rejection have been validated
and support the need for Cooperative Intersection Collision Avoidance Systems.

Minnesota Department of Transportation

University of Minnesota – ITS Institute

Presented at the ITS America Annual Conference and Exposition, November 16-20, 2008, New York, New York

Coastal areas in many parts of the world are vulnerable to impact by hurricanes and tropical storms. The transportation systems of those areas can be taxed heavily by storm related evacuations, and the after effects can last for days, weeks and even months. Coastal urbanized areas that have Intelligent Transportation System equipment deployed for management of the transportation facilities recognize the power of ITS technologies and strategies to handle both recurring and non-recurring transportation congestion. The primary purpose of this paper is to evaluate the potential real-time use of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) technologies to improve safety and efficiency during hurricane evacuations. A secondary use of ITS for post evacuation evaluation and preparedness planning is also addressed. The highway system in Florida serves as the backdrop for this evaluation. Hurricane evacuation is a serious business, and the government and private sector decision makers who bear responsible charge for public safety have a solemn task. The technologies of ITS cannot create a system that will completely eliminate traffic congestion during evacuations, but they can provide managers and operators with the best tools to get the job done quickly and safely. Of the immediately available technologies, those that have the greatest potential are motorist information devices, closed circuit video cameras for monitoring, robust communications systems for sharing of information, and traffic data collection devices that aid in the decision making activities both during the event, and after the event in planning for future storms. Transportation management centers in nearby locals that are safe haven zones for evacuees also may utilize ITS to manage the evacuating traffic, provide information to those seeking shelter, and even remotely operate devices in areas that are undergoing an evacuation.

PB Farradyne, A Division of Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas, Inc.

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

Motivated by the proliferation of Smartphone devices, we present a system architecture to
enable the delivery and exchange of ITS messages to Smartphones on the road. The purpose
is to provide an ITS situation awareness system architecture that would enable application
developers to build Smartphone applications for ITS mobility and safety. We present a “Slow
Traffic Ahead” application as a means to validate the architecture and perform a field
experiment in the San Francisco Bay Area comprised of 30 users to test the performance of
the system. We conclude our paper with the data analysis and recommendations for
improving the configurable parameters of the system architecture to provide better user
experience and more accurate timing of alerts.

University of California, Berkeley

California PATH, UC Berkeley

Presented at the ITS America Annual Conference and Exposition, May 3-5, 2010, Houston, Texas

In Göteborg The Swedish Road Administration (SRA) currently has 3 major tunnel systems in
operation, a 4:th is under construction and a 5:th is currently being planned. These are the
Gnistängstunnel, the Tingstadstunnel and the Lundbytunnel. In 2006 the new Götatunnel will
also begin operation. This new tunnel will stretch under large parts of central Göteborg. Some
300 000 vehicles will then pass through these systems every day, much of it heavy vehicles.
The Traffic Control Center (TIC) in Göteborg run by the SRA monitors the tunnel systems
twenty-four hours a day. Training and exercises are carried out continuously to ensure both staff
competence and the operational security and stability of the technical system.
One important element in this training are live fire exercises and another is a tunnel simulator
developed over a couple of years and put in use during 2004. The simulator is used continuously
in training TIC staff as an integrated part of their daily job. Live fire exercises, due to their
complexity, are carried out once a year rotating through all the tunnels.

Swedish Road Administration

Presented at the 12th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems, November 6-10, 2005, San Francisco, California