Research for AASHTO Standing Committee on Highways. Task 358. Reducing Risks to Worker Safety in Work Zones Due to Distracted Drivers

Work zones are complex and often hazardous places to work.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports several hundreds of worker fatalities in the transportation industry every calendar year.  Seventy percent of these transportation incidents involve a pedestrian worker struck by a vehicle.  Workers in work zones report an increasing concern of distracted drivers resulting in near misses, and vehicles hitting pedestrians and/or equipment in work zones.  In the past, driver distractions in the vehicle were limited to people, for example, eating, reading a map or applying makeup while operating the vehicle.  However, now technology allows drivers to e-mail, text, and make extended phone calls while driving.  An increasing need exists to determine what transportation agencies are doing to minimize or mitigate the intrusion of vehicles of distracted drivers into work zones and areas. A significant amount of research has investigated how distracted driving impacts an individual’s ability to drive or the impact of technology use on driver performance.  The primary focus though has been on enforcement, education, and advocacy to reduce or eliminate use of technology while driving or operating a vehicle.  Little research has been performed to investigate what states are doing to alert workers or distracted drivers of approaching hazards prior to the distracted driver’s vehicle entering work areas. The primary goal of this project is to develop a set of recommendations for the use of identified best practices used by transportation agencies (including the contracting community) to: (1) alert distracted drivers to the presence of a work zone or maintenance moving operation; and (2) prevent them for hitting a moving work vehicle or intruding into a work zone. 

• Record URL:
  http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3738

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $100000
• Contract Numbers:

  Project 20-07, Task

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590

  American Association of State Highway & Transportation Officials (AASHTO)

  444 North Capitol Street, NW, Suite 225
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  National Cooperative Highway Research Program

  Transportation Research Board
  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Project Managers:

  Jared, David

• Performing Organizations:

  Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI)

  400 Harvey Mitchell Parkway South
  Suite 300
  College Station, TX  United States  77845-4375
• Principal Investigators:

  Theiss, LuAnn

• Start Date: 20210301
• Expected Completion Date: 20220901
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• Source Data: RiP Project 38173

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Best practices; Distraction; Occupational safety; Risk assessment; Road construction workers; Slow moving vehicles; Warning systems; Work zone safety; Work zone traffic control
• Subject Areas: Construction; Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01547410
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
• Contract Numbers: Project 20-07, Task
• Files: TRB, RIP
• Created Date: Dec 9 2014 1:01AM