Effectiveness of Temporary Rumble Strips in Alerting Motorists in Short-Term Surveying Work Zones
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 141, Issue 10
Abstract
Many surveyors who work in/near live traffic encounter unique safety challenges as they are frequently exposed to fast moving vehicles. Unlike traditional work zones, safety countermeasures at surveying sites are usually limited to advanced-warning signs, traffic cones and reflective safety vests. As a result, motorists may not be well alerted for the presence of surveyors. Because of the unique safety challenges encountered by surveyors and the motorists, this study aims to quantify the effectiveness of using temporary rumble strips, as a potential safety countermeasure in enhancing safety at surveying work sites. A type of portable plastic rumble strip (PPRS) was tested at eight land surveying sites in New Jersey. The effectiveness of PPRS was evaluated based on selected surrogate measures of effectiveness (SMOE) that were extracted from the video data recorded during the 2-h field test at each site. Statistically significant reductions in driving speed and speeding proportion, and increases in braking rate were found when the rumble strips were deployed during the field tests. These observed changes suggest that the deployment of PPRS can be a useful countermeasure to increase motorists’ awareness at land surveying sites. The findings can serve as a reference for practitioners when deploying temporary and portable traffic control device in these unique short-term work zones.
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Acknowledgments
The authors thank the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) for coordinating the field tests with their survey crews. The authors also appreciate Dr. Eren Erman Ozguven, Florida A&M University-Florida State University; Mr. Ender Faruk Morgul, New York University; Dr. Jian Li, Tongji University, and Mr. Hassan Hashmi, New Jersey Institute of Technology who helped with the collection and processing of field data at various stages of this study. The contents of this paper reflect views of the authors who are responsible for the facts and accuracy of the data presented herein. The contents of the paper do not necessarily reflect the official views or policies of the sponsoring agencies. The authors also appreciate the valuable comments and suggestions of the anonymous reviewers and the journal editors that greatly helped improve the paper.
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Information & Authors
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Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 141 • Issue 10 • October 2015
Copyright
© 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 21, 2014
Accepted: Apr 10, 2015
Published online: Jun 10, 2015
Published in print: Oct 1, 2015
Discussion open until: Nov 10, 2015
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