GEORGIA STUDY CONFIRMS THE CONTINUING SAFETY ADVANTAGE OF RAISED MEDIANS OVER TWO-WAY LEFT-TURN LANES

The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) recently completed a large study of the crash statistics for all of the divided highways on the State Highway System for the period 1995 through 1998. The highway sections had either four or six through lanes and were classified by type of median into either a) Two-Way Left-Turn Lanes (TWLTL) or b) a non-traversable center strip consisting of either a raised median with concrete curbing or else a depressed grass median and referred to simply as "raised median" or RM. It was found that the RM design is much safer than TWLTL. A striking result was that overall (intersections plus mid-block locations), RM had 78 percent fewer pedestrian fatalities per 100 miles of road, no doubt due to the relatively safe refuge area provided pedestrians by RM. A similar study performed six years earlier by the GDOT indicates that the safety gap between RM and TWLTL is widening with time. It may be that drivers increasingly distracted and inattentive to the driving task are increasingly in need of a more-structured and disciplined highway environment such as that provided by non-traversable medians.

• Record URL:
  • http://www.teachamerica.com/accessmanagement.info/pdf/AM00PAPR.pdf
• 
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Parsonson, P S
  • Waters III, M G
  • Fincher, J S
• Conference:
  • Fourth National Access Management Conference
  • Location: Portland, Oregon
  • Date: 2000-8-13 to 2000-8-16
• Publication Date: 2000

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 23p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash data; Divided highways; Fatalities; Highway safety; Medians; Pedestrian safety; Pedestrian vehicle crashes; Traffic crashes; Traffic safety; Two way left turn lanes
• Uncontrolled Terms: Raised medians
• Geographic Terms: Georgia
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors; I73: Traffic Control; I82: Accidents and Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00935938
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Dec 30 2003 12:00AM