Description

This course aims to increase awareness of the benefits to be gained through the deployment of ITS for highway safety applications. Following a brief introduction, Lesson 2 provides an overview of safety challenges currently facing transportation engineers with particular focus on ten areas in which these challenges can be mitigated using a variety of ITS applications. Discussion of these applications includes a presentation of the nine USDOT ITS Initiatives and their impact on safety. In Lesson 3 deployment of ITS for safety is further illustrated through a case-study (The Big-I Work Zone) in which we see how ITS can be used to produce sound safety benefits in a common hazard. Lesson 4 is focused on fusing the traditional and ITS approaches to develop countermeasures to address safety challenges. Finally Lesson 5 describes the Safety strategic planning process and identifies the basic requirements of the FHWA Rule/FTA Policy for ITS project implementation and a system engineering approach for deploying ITS. Throughout the course a series of “hands on” activities leads participants from identification and prioritization of highway safety priority areas to formulation of organization- and individual-level actions to mitigate the challenges at hand.

What is an Instructor-led, Web-based course?

A “blended” course combines the best features of both instructor-led and web-based instruction. These features include:

• Live discussions with the instructor through the use of conference calls,
• Convenient, flexible web-based learning,
• A specific time schedule in which to complete the course, and
• Interaction with other students through the use of class problems posted on a discussion board.

Objectives

Upon completion of the course, participants will be able to:

• Describe current status of highway safety, safety challenges and four formal means to identify them.
• Exemplify uses of ITS that help improve highway safety.
• Discuss the nine USDOT ITS Initiatives.
• Explain how ITS can contribute to improved highway safety and traffic operations through a work zone.
• Differentiate between the concepts of nominative and substantive safety.
• Identify and discuss ITS-supported countermeasures that can be employed to address highway safety priority areas identified in the participants’ jurisdictions.
• Identify and discuss organizational and individual-level actions to encourage collaboration between the ITS and Safety areas.

Audience

This course is intended for a variety of professionals in both the highway safety community and ITS community, such as:

• State, Federal and local transportation engineers, planners, operators, designers and maintenance personnel
• Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) personnel
• Public safety responders (enforcement, fire, EMS , towing, public works)
• IT personnel
• Consultants and contractors
• ITS (and even non-traditional ITS) vendors
• Practitioners in ITS-related fields, such as financial, marketing, media and others who are increasingly valued ITS partners

Length

Approximately eight hours.  

Outline of Web-based Course Content

Numbers in parentheses refer to pages.

Lesson 1: Course Introduction

1. Highway Safety Overview
2. Course Topics and Learning Outcomes

Lesson 2: Highway Safety Challenges and Uses of ITS to Improve Safety

1. Lesson Introduction and Learning Outcomes
2. How Critical is Highway Safety?
• Sample Safety Goals
• How to Identify Safety problems
• Statewide Safety Planning
• Some Local Statistics
3. Group Activity 1: Safety-Related Issues for ITS and Safety Professionals
4. Applying ITS to Improve Safety
5. Ten areas in which to Improve Safety
• Intersections & Interchanges
• Pedestrians & Bicycles
• Highway-Rail Grade Crossings
• Road Weather
• Other Adverse Roadway Conditions
• Speed Management
• Work Zones
• Incident Response & Mitigation
• Public Transportation
• Archived Information Management
6. US DOT Initiatives
• Nine USDOT Initatives
• Example: Vehicle Infrastructure Integration Initiative
7. Quiz
8. Group Activity 2: Identifying Four Highway Safety Priority Areas

Lesson 3: Work Zone Case Study

1. Lesson Introduction and Learning Outcomes
2. Work Zone Safety Issues
• Safety Challenges
• Performance Measures/Data Requirements
• ITS Functions and Work Zone Safety
3. Big-I Project Background and Characteristics
• Safety Challenges
• Performance Measures
4. Big-I Project Planning
• Identification of Stakeholders
• Traffic Flow Analysis
• Identification of Necessary ITS
• Institutional Considerations
5. Big-I Implementation
• Concept of Operations
• ITS Functions
• ITS Applications
• Big-I Benefits
• Data Collection
6. Quiz

Lesson 4: Developing Countermeasures for Safety Priority Areas

1. Lesson Introduction and Learning Outcomes
2. Safety Performance Measurement
• Direct and Indirect Measures
• Data Requirements
3. Traditional Approach to Safety
• Applications in the Traditional Approach to Safety
• Highway Safety Status Quo
• Status Quo: Nominal Highway Safety
4. Another Approach: Substantive Safety
• What is Substantive Safety?
• How does ITS Relate to Substantive Safety?
• Substantive Safety Example – Early Warning System
5. Moving Towards Substantive Safety
   1. ITS and Safety
   2. ITS Safety Approaches
   3. How ITS Supports Safety Countermeasures
6. Group Activity 3: Identify and discuss ITS-supported countermeasures
7. Quiz

Lesson 5: Safety Strategic Planning & ITS Project Deployment Process Collaboration

1. Lesson Introduction and Learning Outcomes
2. Strategic Planning Overview
• Definitions
• Key Aspects of Strategic Planning
3. Safety Strategic Planning
• Safety Strategic Planning Process
• Essential Elements of a Safety Strategic Plan
• Benefits of a Strategic Highway Safety Plan
4. ITS Project Deployment Process
• Step 1: Develop a Regional ITS Architecture
• Step 2: Develop an ITS Strategic Plan
• Step 3: Execute a Systems Engineering Analysis
5. Collaboration and Coordination Between Safety and ITS areas
6. Group Activity 4: Strategic Planning
7. Quiz

Course Syllabus

>See Course Syllabus