Details:

Creators:
Brown, Henry ; Sun, Carlos ; Cope, Tim
Brown, Henry ; Sun, Carlos ; Cope, Tim Less -
Corporate Creators:
University of Missouri--Columbia. Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Subject/TRT Terms:
[+]
Alarm Systems Driver Distraction Evaluation Field Tests Merging Traffic Traffic Accidents Traffic Speed Truck Mounted Attenuators Work Zone Safety
Publication/ Report Number:
cmr 15-011
Resource Type:
Tech Report
Geographical Coverage:
Missouri
Corporate Publisher:
Missouri. Dept. of Transportation. Research, Development and Technology Division
Abstract:
Maintenance of highways often involves mobile work zones for various types of low speed moving operations such as

striping and sweeping. The speed differential between the moving operation and traffic, and the increasing problem of

distracted driving can lead to potential collisions between approaching vehicles and the truck-mounted attenuator (TMA)

protecting the mobile work zone. One potential solution to this problem involves the use of a mobile work zone alarm

system. This report describes the field evaluation of two types of mobile work zone alarm devices: an Alarm Device and a

Directional Audio System (DAS). Three modes of operation were tested: continuous, manual, and actuated. The

components of the evaluation included sound level testing, analysis of merging distances and speeds, and observations of

driving behavior. The sound level results indicated that the sound levels from both systems fall within national noise

standards. All of the tested configurations increased the merging distance of vehicles except for the Alarm Actuated setup.

The DAS Continuous setup also reduced vehicle merging speeds and the standard deviation of merging distance. In some

instances, undesirable driving behaviors were observed for some of these configurations, but it is unclear whether these

driving behaviors were due to the presence of the mobile work zone alarm device. Analysis of alarm activations indicated

that factors such as horizontal curves and movement of the TMA vehicle created false alarms and false negatives. The

research demonstrated that mobile work zone alarms have the potential to be an effective tool in improving safety by

providing audible warnings. Further refinements to the systems, such as modifications to the alarm sound and warning

message, could improve system effectiveness.


Format:
PDF
Funding:
TR201412
Collection(s):
US Transportation Collection
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:e88bbfca6a0ac3fcdfc89794cd76002440f9c9ba49bf5485b0c690aa80d1471c
Download URL:
https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/29134/dot_29134_DS1.pdf
File Type:

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