Quantifying the Safety Benefits of Traffic Control Devices: Benefit-Cost Analysis of Traffic Sign Upgrades

Every traffic professional has a goal of making the system safer for all drivers. However, finding new money is difficult, and existing funding sources are stretched to the limits. Combine that with most public agencies’ other priorities and the safety upgrades, while valued, do not measure up to the economic development projects or other high-profile expenditures. Traffic control devices have long been understood to be some of the most cost-effective methods for addressing safety problems and hazard locations. Typically, this is framed in new installations where the signs are providing new or additional information. In 2004, the author completed a study that identified four separate locations that had completed sign upgrades. Each location changed signs from ASTM Type 1 to ASTM Type 3 or 9. The reasoning and circumstances were different in each case but all showed positive results in their crash experience when compared to a period before the changes. Since the differences between the applications varied greatly, as did the readily available before and after information, it was difficult to identify with any certainty the crash-benefit analysis for a practitioner trying to sell a similar project to financial decision makers. This research studies the upgrade programs implemented by Sioux City, IA, Mendocino, CA, Putnam County, NY, and the Insurance Institute of British Columbia, Canada, and identifies other projects that upgraded sign materials. The research evaluates each implementation practice and examines the crash results, including crash types, sign locations in relation to the crashes, time of day, light vs. dark, weather, and other factors that may have influenced the signs’ effectiveness. In addition, state and/or national baseline crash information for the same time periods will help establish trends. The purpose of the research is to establish and document a benefit-cost ratio that can be used by practitioners to anticipate the safety benefits compared to the costs incurred by a signing system upgrade. This information is intended to be especially useful when comparing various safety programs while evaluating the numerous demands on the financial resources of a public agency.

• Record URL:
  • http://www.ctre.iastate.edu/pubs/midcon2005/index.htm
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/9780965231084
• Corporate Authors:

  Iowa State University, Ames

  Center for Transportation Research and Education
  2711 South Loop Drive, Suite 4700
  Ames, IA  United States  50010-8664
• Authors:
  • Ripley, Douglas A
• Conference:
  • The 2005 Mid-Continent Transportation Research Symposium
  • Location: Ames Iowa, United States
  • Date: 2005-8-18 to 2005-8-19
• Publication Date: 2005

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 10p
• Monograph Title: Proceedings of the 2005 Mid-Continent Transportation Research Symposium

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Benefit cost analysis; Economic development; Hazard evaluation; High risk locations; Highway safety; Road improvements; Safety; Signs; Traffic control devices; Traffic signs
• Subject Areas: Economics; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01004250
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 9780965231084
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Sep 28 2005 9:55AM