LOW COST INTERSECTION IMPROVEMENTS REDUCE CRASHES FOR SENIOR DRIVERS

The American Automobile Association (AAA) Road Improvement Demonstration Program (RIDP) is a public/private partnership, which is designed to reduce the frequency and severity of traffic crashes at high-risk urban intersections. Since 1996, AAA Michigan* has been working directly with communities to make low-cost road-safety improvements such as installing larger traffic signal lenses, re-striping dedicated left-turn lanes, re-timing traffic signals to include all-red intervals and left-turn phasing. While the improvements implemented as part of the AAA RIDP were not specifically targeted at senior drivers, they had a significant positive affect on this group of high-risk drivers. The goal of this project was to determine whether the low-cost improvements implemented at urban intersections as part of the AAA RIDP had a greater safety impact on higher risk senior drivers. A before/after with control group study was performed to compare this higher risk age group to a control group of 25-64 year old adult drivers. Results of the analyses indicated that total and injury crashes significantly decreased when compared to the control group. Additionally, significant angle crash reductions were identified where traffic signal visibility enhancements were made. Left-turn head-on crashes also significantly decreased for senior drivers when protected/permissive left-turn phasing was implemented. This study concludes that these low-cost road-safety countermeasures are an effective method of reducing crashes and injuries for senior drivers.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0935403876
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Full conference proceedings available on CD-ROM.
• Corporate Authors:

  Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE)

  Washington, DC  United States 
• Authors:
  • Bagdade, J S
• Conference:
  • ITE 2004 Annual Meeting and Exhibit
  • Location: Lake Buena Vista, Florida
  • Date: 2004-8-1 to 2004-8-4
• Publication Date: 2004

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Appendices; Figures; Tables;
• Pagination: 12p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aged drivers; Cost effectiveness; Crash injuries; High risk drivers; Improvements; Intersection elements; Left turn lanes; Public private partnerships; Traffic safety; Traffic signal timing; Traffic signals; Urban areas; Visibility
• Geographic Terms: Michigan
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00981506
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0935403876
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Nov 3 2004 12:00AM