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NEWS |
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Improved road safety call for US
August 11, 2008 08:38 AM
The US Federal Highway Administration is calling for improvements in highway safety and is urging state Departments of Transportation to adopt more co-ordinated, system-wide approaches to reduce crashes. Each year, nearly 43,000 people – motorists, passengers and pedestrians die in road accidents in the US. Though the current fatality rate, 1.41/160 million vehicle kilometres travelled, is the lowest in the nation`s history, the number of fatalities has hovered at about the same point for nearly five years.
The FHWA is making a new effort to improve roadway safety and is recommending the better use of nine tools to reduce roadway fatalities each year. State DOTs should formalise the use of Roadway Safety Audits, which are comprehensive evaluations of existing or planned roads or intersections to identify potential safety improvements.
Rumble strips and rumble stripes should be used in centreline and shoulders as these have shown demonstrable improvement in warning drivers of lane departure, reducing by 14% head-on collisions and opposite-direction sideswipe crashes. Shoulder rumble strips and stripes have shown a 38% reduction in run-off-road crashes on freeways, and between 13-18% on rural roads. Median barriers should be used to separate opposing traffic on divided highways as they can reduce cross-median collisions. States are encouraged to consider using cable median barriers where appropriate to further heighten roadway safety. Using a safety edge paving technique gives a 30-35º slope to the road`s edge and reduces the risk to drivers if the tyre inadvertently falls over an otherwise near-vertical road-edge, which can lead to loss of vehicle control and rollover crashes. Roundabouts have demonstrated a 60- 87% reduction in crashes. At intersections with significant turning volume, turning lanes for right- and left-turns on major road approaches can dramatically reduce crashes – in some cases, by as much as 55%. Red-light running crashes at intersections, which too frequently result in fatalities, can be reduced by properly setting yellow-light signals. Studies show a one-second increase in the yellow signal interval can reduce red-light violations by as much as 50%.Raised medians or pedestrian refuge areas at pedestrian crossings at marked crosswalks have shown a 46% reduction in pedestrian crashes. FHWA recommends that medians be between 1.22-2.44m wide to improve pedestrian safety. Ensuring a sidewalk or pathway exists near a roadway can reduce pedestrian fatalities by as much 88%. The FHWA recommends a pathway of at least 1.22m wide of stabilised or paved surface in areas routinely used by pedestrians. |
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