Rural Roadway Bill to reduce lane departure deaths
March 2022
A new bill aimed at reducing lane departures crashes on rural roads could help save thousands of lives.
The Washington Traffic Safety Commission has identified lane departure problems as one of the top causes of serious injuries, especially in rural areas, but the proposed “Reducing Rural Roadway Lane Departure Safety Program” would give communities access to request highway improvements, including pavement surface treatments, in high-risk areas.
The bill coincides with the nation’s top safety investigator, Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), saying the widely cited government statistic that 94% of serious crashes are solely due to driver error is misleading and that the Transportation Department should stop using it.
She says she’s surprised the wording remains on the department’s website, even as the Biden administration pledges to embark on a broader strategy to stave off crashes through the adoption and implementation of the Safe System Approach.
“You can’t simultaneously say we’re focused on a safe system approach — making sure everybody who shares responsibility for road safety is taking action to eliminate fatalities and serious injuries — and have a 94% number out there, which is not accurate,” she said in recent remarks (“NTSB’s Homendy Calls DOT’s Serious Crash Stat Misleading”).
The rebound in crashes since the coronavirus pandemic, combined with sustained rates of traffic fatalities stemming from those crashes, led the number of U.S. traffic deaths in the first six months of 2021 to its highest level since 2006. The 20,160 fatalities in the first half of 2021 was 18.4% higher than the same period in 2020, prompting the administration to embark on a broader strategy.
The Washington rural roadway bill filed by Rep. Chris Corry targets the “far too common” problem of lane departure crashes, which makes up 48% of traffic-related fatalities in Washington State (“Bill prefiled to drive down injuries and fatalities in rural communities”). Rep. Corry says: “By making proven lane departure safety measures available, we can reduce the risk of vehicle crashes and even the severity of accidents when they occur.”
Among the types of lane departure crash reduction projects called out in the bill, which includes wider, more visible roadway markings, improved lighting, removing objects in the right-of-way, widening shoulders and applying friction-enhancing pavement surface treatments, the use of pavement surface treatments merits particular attention.
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) recently added continuous friction measurement to its list of Proven Safety Countermeasures. It says measuring, monitoring, and maintaining pavement friction can prevent many roadway departure crashes, resulting in fewer serious injuries and fatalities. FHWA goes on to call continuous friction measurement an improvement over traditional spot-based methods of measuring friction and a best practice for targeting “more efficient and effective installations” of friction-enhancing treatments.
A number of U.S. Departments of Transportation, including the Virginia DOT and Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, have invested in continuous friction measurement using SCRIM® technology as part of a data-driven pavement friction management program.
Governor Andy Beshear of Kentucky has said, “Last year, we lost 732 Kentuckians in car accidents – each person was someone’s mother, father, sister, brother, child, or friend. SCRIM® trucks provide us with even more data to prioritize road repairs and treatments. That helps us get better at our number one job: keeping Kentuckians safe.”
In Kentucky, WDM USA’s fleet of SCRIM® vehicles measure the entirety of Kentucky’s State-maintained network annually – data provided by WDM USA are enabling the Commonwealth to begin planning improvements to roadway safety, including those aimed at reducing roadway departure crashes.
WDM USA Vice President Ryland Potter says, “By adopting the Safe System Approach, the US has taken a huge step forward in tackling the toll roadway crashes take on families, communities, and our economy. Pavement friction management using continuous friction measurement is at the center of the Safer Roads element of the Safe System Approach. We couldn’t be prouder of the work we do with our industry-leading SCRIM® technology to help our partners engineer and deliver safer roads.”
Over the past 50 years, WDM has built an unrivaled track record of providing transportation authorities with specialized road condition equipment and survey, consulting, and software services. Every year, transportation authorities in more than 30 countries rely on WDM equipment and engineering expertise to design and maintain safer roads. WDM’s SCRIM® survey vehicles are designed to meet a range of needs, including continuous friction measurement at the project- or network-level. WDM USA has been the leader in providing SCRIM® continuous friction equipment and survey services to the US since 2018.
For more information on WDM USA, continuous friction measurement, or SCRIM® continuous friction measurement services, contact: info@wdm-int.com or visit our website at: www.wdm-int.com.
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