Best Practices for Road Weather Management Version 2.0
Title:
Wet and Wild: Developing and Evaluating an Automated Wet Pavement Motorist Warning System
Abstract:
This study demonstrates the evaluation of a fully automated motorist warning system developed for wet pavement conditions. The demonstration occurred on one expressway interchange ramp located in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida where the site previously witnessed 69 percent of crashes as "run-off" crashes rate during wet pavement conditions. The potential solution was to develop an automated motorist warning system in a dynamic manner to attract attention to the advisory speed limit signs, and thus reduce vehicle speed. A pavement sensor embedded in the roadway activated two flashing beacons located above the signs whenever moisture was detected. In total over 27,000 "before" and "after" vehicle speeds were compared during wet pavement surface conditions. The demonstration observed a 10-mph (16-kmh) average reduction in travel speed during in heavy rain and a 5-mph (8-kmh) average reduction during light rain. Reductions in standard deviation for vehicle speed were also observed after system activation. Only the first week of evaluation witnessed any reported "run-off" crashes during this relatively short time period. No crashes were reported at the site during the remaining evaluation time period.
Source(s):
80th Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting; Kimley-Horn and Associates and University of South Florida, Center for Urban Transportation . For an electronic copy of this resource, please direct your request to WeatherFeedback@dot.gov.
Date: 2001
Author:
Collins, Pietrzyk
Keywords:
Pavement condition
Crashes
Speed
Safety
Motorist warning system
Traveler information
Precipitation
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