Worker Safety During Operations with Mobile Attenuators

While most transportation agencies are very familiar with truck-mounted attenuators, trailer-mounted attenuators are increasing in popularity. There is a concern for the level of protection that attenuators provide for workers when they are mounted on trailers compared to trucks. This research evaluated and compared the level of protection provided to workers by truck-mounted and trailer-mounted attenuators. No crash testing was conducted; instead, the researchers used existing crash test report data for the comparison. The researchers found that the use of heavier support vehicles for these mobile attenuators provided better protection for workers and recommend that TxDOT maintains the current policy of requiring 20,000 lb support vehicles, regardless of attenuator type. In addition, the researchers found that the concern of trailermounted attenuators swinging around may not be justified, given that post-impact trajectories of the impacting vehicles are similar to those reported during truck-mounted attenuator impact testing.

• Record URL:
  • http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6707-1.pdf
• Summary URL:
  • https://library.ctr.utexas.edu/dbtw-wpd/exec/dbtwpub.dll?AC=QUERY&TN=catalog&RL=1&RF=.Detail&DF=.Detail&BU=http%3A%2F%2Flibrary.ctr.utexas.edu%2Fcatalog&QY=find+ID+%3D+31516&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NewestTxdotResearch+%28New+TxDOT+Research+Publications+%28Feed%29%29
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Project Title: Compare Trailer-Mounted Attenuators vs Truck-Mounted Attenuators Protection for Workers
• Corporate Authors:

  Texas A&M Transportation Institute

  Texas A&M University System
  3135 TAMU
  College Station, TX  United States  77843-3135

  Texas Department of Transportation

  Research and Technology Implementation Office, P.O. Box 5080
  Austin, TX  United States  78763-5080

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Theiss, LuAnn
  • Bligh, Roger
• Publication Date: 2013-5

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Edition: Technical Report
• Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 70p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash cushions; Crash tests; Temporary barriers; Trailer swing; Trailers; Truck mounted attenuators; Work zone safety; Work zones
• Geographic Terms: Texas
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment; I85: Safety Devices used in Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01482128
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: FHWA/TX-13/0-6707-1, 0-6707-1
• Contract Numbers: 0-6707
• Files: TRIS, ATRI, USDOT, STATEDOT
• Created Date: May 23 2013 2:54PM