Accident data indicates that drowsiness play a substantial role in single-vehicle run-off-road accidents. Shoulder rumble strips were chosen on a concurrent research project as a means of alerting a drowsy driver of incipient departure from the roadway. The concurrent project provided three different types of rumble strips at four locations. Results indicated that paving asphalt-aggregate ribs produced the greatest arousal of a drowsy driver. However, in any case arousal did not last longer than about five minutes. Average angle of departure from the travelled way was about three degrees. All of these results are discussed relative to the run-off-road accident problem together with the use of different shoulder treatments as potential countermeasures.
Abstract