Warrants, Design, and Safety of Road Ranger Service Patrols

This research project created a decision support system for managers who must decide if a roadway “warrants” the addition of the Safety Service Patrol (SSP). Meetings with Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) service patrol program managers and a survey of national state points of contact for service patrols provided insight into critical factors that might contribute to guidelines. Historical incidents from Florida fed models that predict incidents and crashes on candidate roadways, using proven negative-binomial regression models like those found in the Highway Safety Manual. Qualitative and quantitative thresholds for critical factors were established in the form of rules in decision tables that when evaluated, render recommended actions for SSP decisions. A computer tool was developed to facilitate the input of critical information about roadway segments necessary for the analysis. Where warranted, the tool also provides guidance on beat configuration and number of trucks recommended. While the safety benefits of SSP have been researched, this research is among the first to evaluate safety of SSP operations, based on crash data and operator surveys. A set of concrete recommendations to improve SSP safety and/or additional research are important products of this project.

• Record URL:
  https://fdotwww.blob.core.windows.net/sitefinity/docs/default-source/research/reports/fdot-bdv31-977-52-rpt.pdf
• 
• Summary URL:
  https://fdotwww.blob.core.windows.net/sitefinity/docs/default-source/research/reports/fdot-bdv31-977-52-sum.pdf
• Corporate Authors:

  University of Florida, Gainesville

  Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering
  Gainesville, FL  United States  32611-6580

  Florida Department of Transportation

  Research Center
  605 Suwannee Street MS-30
  Tallahassee, FL  United States  32399-0450
• Authors:
  • Srinivasan, Sivaramakrishnan
  • Carrick, Grady
  • Yin, Yafeng
  • Jermprapai, Khajonsak
  • Sun, Xiaotong
  • Shirmohammadi, Nima
  • Shahabi, Mehrdad
• Publication Date: 2016-11

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Appendices; Figures; Maps; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 143p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash data; Decision support systems; Freeway service patrols; Guidelines; Recommendations; Regression analysis; Safety; Surveys
• Geographic Terms: Florida
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01626512
• Record Type: Publication
• Contract Numbers: BDV31-977-52; UF Project 00125501
• Files: TRIS, ATRI, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Feb 27 2017 9:25AM