The second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) focuses for a short time on a small number of large problems that confront transportation agencies: congestion, crashes, and the need to rebuild aging infrastructure. The mission is to strategically advance innovative ways to plan, renew, operate, and improve safety on the nation’s highways. To achieve this, research focuses on four related areas, including driving behaviour, highway capacity, travel time reliability, and rapid renewal methods. Driver behaviour has been identified as the primary cause of most crashes. To understand how to prevent collisions and reduce their severity, SHRP 2 is conducting the largest study yet undertaken to collect objective data about the driving experience in real world conditions. The intent is to determine what risks are associated with the relationship of a driver’s performance to roadway and vehicle design and to traffic conditions so that effective countermeasures can be developed. Sophisticated and inconspicuous equipment is collecting data on the day-to-day driving of more than 3000 participants in six study sites around the country. The ultimate outcome of this research will be felt in lives saved and injuries prevented for decades to come. Several products of the research will be more immediately useful and they are described in this document. (Author/publisher)
Abstract