Kentucky State Police Division of Commercial Vehicle Enforcement in cooperation with Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has started a concentrated education and enforcement campaign in an effort to increase the safety and awareness of drivers around commercial vehicles. The University of Kentucky Transportation Center has evaluated this campaign and reported the effectiveness of this effort. This study is a follow-up to a 2007 study that focused on two high volume, high crash interstate areas: one in northern Kentucky on 1-75, and one in the Louisville area on1-65. This study’s focus was moved to 1-75 around Fayette County (Lexington) and 1-65 around Hardin County (Elizabethtown). Several blitzes (including a media and enforcement component) were conducted throughout the year. This evaluation measured the success of the campaign by analysis of before and after surveys, traffic speed, headway measurements (distance between moving vehicles) and crash data. The blitzes focused on public awareness, driver behavior and roadway safety. Public awareness was measured using phone surveys. The data show that the media (and in someways law enforcement efforts) helped to inform motorists about the campaign as more respondents indicated that they changed their behavior around trucks compared to the data from the pre-evaluation survey. The traffic headway measurements show that larger vehicles leave more space around trucks than smaller vehicles. There were observed decreases in crashes in theTACT corridors, in particular, the original TACT corridors that had two-years of TACT exposure. (Author/publisher)
Abstract