ATSSA: Improving Driver Behavior with Infrastructure Safety Countermeasures

16 Improving Driver Behavior with Infrastructure Safety Countermeasures CASE 10: Wrong-Way-Driving Incident Detection W rong-way driving may be caused by a variety of factors including distraction, confusion, and impaired driving. Wrong-way driving incidents are more likely to occur at night by younger drivers that are speeding or by motorists impaired by drugs, alcohol, or a combination of both. Occasionally, older drivers may be confused by lack of signing or pavement markings and inadvertently proceed on a roadway in the wrong direction. Wrong-way driving may be reduced or eliminated—or the frequency and severity of associated crashes may be minimized—through the installation of infrastructure treatments aimed at preventing driver error or correcting an error once it has occurred. Intelligent transportation system (ITS) technologies can effectively detect a wrong-way driver and warn both the wrong-way driver and other motorists about the presence of an errant vehicle. Figure 27. Conceptual rendering of the New York Thruway Wrong-Way Entry ITS Warning System (Image: Fiberdyne Labs Inc. and Herkimer Industries) Figure 28. Wrong-Way Entry ITS Warning System on the New York Thruway (Images: New York State Media Services Center) These detection systems provide the ability to determine exactly where vehicles are entering the roadway in the wrong direction. Once detected, drivers are alerted through the use of in-pavement warning lights, flashing Wrong Way signs, vertically mounted warning lights, and dynamic message signs displaying messages such as “Wrong Way Driver Ahead” or “All Traffic Move to Shoulder and Stop.” The Harris County Toll RoadAuthority (HCTRA) in Texas also dispatches law enforcement personnel to intercept errant drivers. Law enforcement officers there have successfully intervened in 19 of the 30 wrong-way-driving incidents detected by HCTRA in 2012, preventing collisions. ■