Evaluation of Safety Enhancements in School Zones with Familiar and Unfamiliar Drivers

Traffic crashes in suburban school zones pose a serious safety concern due to a higher presence of school-age pedestrians and cyclists as well as potential speeding issues. A study that investigated speed selection and driver behavior in school zones was carried out using two populations from different topographical and cultural settings: Puerto Rico and Massachusetts. A school zone from Puerto Rico was recreated in driver simulation scenarios, and local drivers who were familiar with the environment were used as subjects. The Puerto Rico school simulation scenarios were replicated with subjects from Massachusetts to analyze the impact of drivers’ familiarity on the school-roadway environment. Twenty-four scenarios were built with pedestrians, on-street parked vehicles, and traffic flow used as simulation variables in the experiment. Results are presented in terms of speed behavior, reaction to the presence of pedestrians, speed compliance, mean reduction in speeds, and eye tracker analysis for both familiar and unfamiliar drivers.

• Dataset URL:
  https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/HTNPCP
• Record URL:
  http://safersim.nads-sc.uiowa.edu/final_reports/C 1 Y2 report_Final.pdf
• 
• Dataset URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/49454
• Record URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/48829
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This document was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation, University Transportation Centers Program. Supporting datasets available at: https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/HTNPCP; https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/49454
• Corporate Authors:

  University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez

  Department of Civil Engineering and Surveying
  Mayaguez, Puerto Rico  United States 

  University of Massachusetts, Amherst

  Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
  130 Natural Resources Road
  Amherst, MA  United States  01003

  Safety Research Using Simulation University Transportation Center (SaferSim)

  University of Iowa
  Iowa City, IA  United States  52242

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Díaz, Didier M Valdés
  • 0000-0003-1915-3464
  • Knodler, Michael
  • 0000-0002-6517-4066
  • Ríos, Benjamin Colucci
  • 0000-0002-8857-8442
  • Medina, Alberto M Figueroa
  • 0000-0002-2635-4988
  • Ibarra, María Rojas
  • 0000-0002-8033-3192
  • Torres, Enid Colón
  • 0000-0002-9400-6141
  • Rosario, Ricardo García
  • 0000-0001-5808-6175
  • Campbell, Nicholas
  • 0000-0001-7076-6835
  • Tainter, Francis
  • 0000-0003-0180-6113
• Publication Date: 2019-5

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Appendices; Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 47p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Behavior; Compliance; Drivers; Driving simulators; Eye movements; Operating speed; Pedestrian safety; Schools; Speed zones; Traffic safety
• Geographic Terms: Massachusetts; Puerto Rico
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01712413
• Record Type: Publication
• Contract Numbers: 69A3551747131
• Files: UTC, NTL, TRIS, ATRI, USDOT
• Created Date: Jul 24 2019 10:35PM