Advanced Technologies for Improving Large-Truck Safety on Two-lane Secondary Roads

About the report:

The use of large trucks has steadily increased since the passage of the Surface Transportation Assistance Act to the point where they now account for over 50% of vehicle traffic on some highways in Virginia. Projections now forecast that large-truck travel will grow at twice the rate of personal vehicle travel in the near future. Although several studies have been conducted to determine the effects of large trucks on safety on multilane primary and interstate highway systems, the effects on two-lane secondary roads have been largely ignored. This study identified the causal factors and predominant types of large-truck crashes on two-lane secondary roads in Virginia and compared the large-truck crash rates for two-lane secondary roads and two-lane primary roads. The study also identified advanced technologies associated with intelligent transportation systems (ITS) that can be used to minimize the causal factors of large-truck crashes on these roads. The results showed that large-truck crash rates are significantly higher on two-lane secondary roads than on two-lane primary roads, with the predominant types of crashes being angle, rear end, sideswipe same direction, and sideswipe opposite direction. The study identified several ITS technologies that can be used to mitigate the predominant causal factors and recommends a pilot study to test the effectiveness of one such system.

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