Improving safety education could contribute to the preparation of better professional engineers. Safety topics are not holistically embedded in transportation course curricula. This thesis explores the current state in which safety is being incorporated in transportation course curricula in terms of design and compares the uses of safety data in...
Driving simulation is widely accepted as a safe, effective, and economical alternative for investigating driver behavior in a variety of contexts. However, in order to apply simulator-based research results to real-world settings, the performance measures acquired through simulated driving experiments must first be validated. This research was aimed at validating...
Three-dimensional laser scanning has revolutionized spatial data acquisition and can be completed from a variety of platforms including airborne (ALS), mobile (MLS), and static terrestrial (TLS) laser scanning. MLS is a rapidly evolving technology that provides increases in efficiency and safety over static TLS, while still providing similar levels of...
Increasingly congested surface transportation network in urban areas and grow-ing land values make underground transportation systems more attractive for high-ways (i.e., tunnels) and metro system compared to other options [1]. An underground transportation system can preserve the land above for recreational parks, commer-cial buildings, residential homes, or other purposes while...
The two primary considerations for highway work-zones are its effect on commuter mobility and worker safety which are often spoken of together. However, it must be noted that they often conflict with each other. For example, traffic control plans that reduce travel speed in work-zones improve both commuter and worker...
Social scientists have studied people's responses to disasters for many decades, and behavioral commonalities and variations are summarized in different mental schemes/models in disaster studies. Integrating those findings from social science into evacuation simulation can improve simulation accuracy and eventually better support decision-making and disaster preparedness. However, this kind of...
The first edition of the Highway Safety Manual (HSM) provides a quantitative
approach to predict the safety of transportation facilities based on the recently
developed scientific methods. This approach, known as the predictive method, was
developed for several states in the United States. Due to differences in driver
population, weather...
While riding bicycles has been promoted for its health, economic, and environmental benefits, it also complements other modes to complete a safe, efficient, and reliable transportation system. However, the dramatic increase of bicycle usage in the U.S. is accompanied by a growth of bicycle crashes. The U.S. Department of Transportation,...
The author of the Highway Safety Manual (HSM) Part B developed a predictive method for safety management. A software tool for highway safety system analysis called the SafetyAnalyst is developed basing on HSM Part B. The author describes an effort to evaluate the feasibility of SafetyAnalyst in Oregon. Seven sample...
Roundabouts have become an alternative for traditional intersections due to the safer operational performance. Previous research has provided crash modification factors (CMFs) as a criterion based on before-after studies as to evaluate the safety performance of roundabouts. One drawback of assessment based on crash modification factors, however, is that a...