Exploring the Safety Impact of Rumble Strips on Prevention of Lane Departure Crashes in Maine

Details

• Creators:
  Shirazi, Mohammadali ; Garder, Per ; Gil-Marin, Jhan ; Sawtelle, Alainie
• Corporate Creators:
  University of Maine. Transportation Infrastructure Durability Center (TIDC)
• Corporate Contributors:
  Maine. Department of Transportation ; United States. Department of Transportation. University Transportation Centers (UTC) Program ; United States. Department of Transportation. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Bayes' Theorem Benefit Cost Analysis Center Lines Countermeasures Crash Modification Factors Empirical Methods Exploration Highway Safety Lane Lines Rumble Strips Rural Highways Traffic Crashes Two Lane Highways

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• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States ; Maine
• Edition:
  Final Report
• Corporate Publisher:
  University of Maine. Transportation Infrastructure Durability Center (TIDC)
• Abstract:
  Among all traffic collisions, lane departure crashes are the leading type of serious traffic crashes in Maine, comprising 73% of statewide traffic fatalities. To reduce these crashes, the Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT) installed shoulder and centerline rumble strips on roadways to prevent lane departure crashes. Specifically, 511 miles of centerline rumble strips were installed on undivided bidirectional rural two-lane roadways to prevent head-on collisions. Given the severity of head-on collisions, coupled with significant investment in rumble strip installation, there is a need to understand the impact of rumble strips in reducing lane departure crashes. This study uses observational before-and-after studies with two methods: comparison group, and empirical Bayes (EB) comparison group to explore the effectiveness of centerline rumble strips in reducing head-on and opposite sideswipe crashes for rural two-lane roadways and compute crash modification factors (CMFs) in Maine. The evaluation investigated the impact of centerline rumble strips on reducing the total as well as fatal and injury head-on and sideswipe collisions on rural two-lane roadways. The economic benefits of using rumble strips are also explored by using a benefit-cost analysis. Results: This study finds that the installations of centerline rumble strips are associated with reductions of 28%-48% of head-on and opposite sideswipe collisions on rural two-lane roads. In addition, the benefits of the rumble strips installations are at least 14 times the cost. the centerline rumble strips are cost-effective countermeasures to reduce head-on collisions on rural two-lane roadways in Maine. This study provides a quantification of the safety effectiveness, and economic benefits of the centerline rumble strips, as one of key road safety countermeasures to prevent head-on collisions, installed on rural two-lane roadways in Maine.
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  69A3551847101
• Collection(s):
  University Transportation Centers
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:13334d3b298e67ea0f5f2a02472ae894faa5a184e3642a4aff9839312122222336e8f28b415918ad264f8f33b9911ab0ea85f8cbb470479fe301b2bdb9076085
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/88727/dot_88727_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 3.57 MB ]