What your traffic engineer can do for you...

[ACtrafficengr]

I've been asked to speak on this topic at a highway safety conference this fall. I'd say the attendence is roughly 45% traffic enforcement, 45% traffic safety educators/advocates, and maybe 10% engineers. The description they are putting in the program is:

[blue]What Your Traffic Engineer Can Do for You
Historically, there has been a divide between engineering and the other sections of highway safety. This presentation discusses the capabilities and limitations of highway safety engineering as well as what enforcement and safety advocates can do to help. Some of the tools and techniques that engineers can apply to a problem will be discussed, as well as myths and realities that engineers face on a regular basis.[/blue]

Anybody have suggestions, pet peeves, war stories, etc, they'd like to share?



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"Come to think of it, there are already a million monkeys typing on a million typewriters, and the Usenet is NOTHING like Shakespeare.

- Blair Houghton

 

[teeman]

My pet peeve is the setting of unrealistic speed limits in the name of "safety". I would ask if anyone in the audience knows how speed limits are supposed to be set. and why?

 

[francesca]

My pet peeve is making traffic slow down to 20mph around schools and colleges. (Seriously: if you haven't mastered road crossing, you probably shouldn't be in college.) Are we trying to condition a nation of people who step out in front of traffic? Wouldn't a simple fence and controled crossing be cheaper and less intrusive?

 

[ACtrafficengr]

Innapropriate use of traffic control devices is on my short list of topics. Things like stop signs for speed control, children at paly signs, etc.

I also want to talk baout what we can do, like analyzing crash patterns to find contributing factors, curve signs to guide traffic around curves and reduce run-off-road crashes, signal retiming for safety and operations benefits, etc.

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"Come to think of it, there are already a million monkeys typing on a million typewriters, and the Usenet is NOTHING like Shakespeare.

- Blair Houghton

 

[francesca]

When I was in Australia, I briefly worked in an engineering firm that specialized in accident analysis. Their clients were primarily insurance companies who were seeking to assign blame for the wrecks and mitigate their pay-outs. The engineers would perform site visits and analyze the wrecks, attributing blame to things like excessive driver speed; insufficient intersection lighting; bad road design; etc.

I've always considered this to be a fundamentally good idea, and something that, by reducing insurance payouts (through making other people liable for the expenses), something that can benefit a broad spectrum of society.

 

[roncity]

Mention that Traffic Engineers can help design and recommend roadway improvements that will reduce accidents if accident reports are complete and accurately filled out.

mention that traffic engineers can advise on the suitability of designs for parking lots, loading docks, fire truck access , driveways, school pedestrian routes, and school pickup zones.

mention that traffic engineers can get a traffic light fixed faster if given specific information when reporting a traffic signal problem ( time of day, direction , color & location of light, etc)

mention that speed humps are not a suitable solution to speeding