Transportation Safety

Objectives Introduce students to the TDL Career Cluster: Transportation Systems/Infrastructure Planning, Management, and Regulation –Civil Engineering (Transportation Engineering) (Content Standard #1) Introduce Students to Transportation Safety Concepts (Content Standard #2 and #3)

Transportation Case Study The objective of this study: –Analyze the current speed compliance ratio of traffic. How many people do not comply with the speed limit on this stretch of road? –Generate a viable solution targeted to slowing down traffic and making this stretch of road safer for drivers and pedestrians. Are current traffic speeds unsafe? If they are unsafe, what can we do to slow down traffic in a safe way?

Transportation Safety Background More than 3 million transportation-related injuries a year (nationwide) Societal cost: $231 billion a year Loss to Nebraska: $2 billion a year Motor vehicle crashes account for 40% of all year old deaths in the US.

Transportation Safety Background In Nebraska, 256 people were fatally injured in traffic accidents in Downward Trend

Transportation Safety Background As of July 3 rd, Fatalities –84 in Rural Areas –14 in Urban Areas Compared to the average –Fatalities are down 23% so far this year in Nebraska

Transportation Case Study We are going to do a case study on a stretch of road just west of Bryan HS 48th street between Glasgow Ave and Giles Road

Transportation Case Study STEP 1 DATA COLLECTION Using a stopwatch, time the cars as they pass between the two landmarks. –Landmarks will be given on next slide Record your times for each car on the worksheet provided. (Speed Conversion Worksheet)

Transportation Case Study STEP 1 The land marks are: –The pine tree just to the right of the house –The sign by the white building

TREESIGN

What Time Did You Get? Time between the two landmarks: –2.45 Seconds

Transportation Case Study STEP 2 CALCULATE THE SPEED Now that we have our data, we need to find the speed of the cars in Miles per Hour. Use the equation for speed Speed = Distance (Miles) / Time (Hours) The distance the cars travel The time it takes for the cars to travel that distance

Transportation Case Study STEP 2 We need to convert FEET per SECOND to MILES per HOUR –There are 5,280 feet in a mile –There are 3,600 seconds in 1 hour

Transportation Case Study STEP 2 First, find the distance the car has traveled in miles: 1 foot = miles (1 / 5,280) Number of feet the car traveled x = Distance

Transportation Case Study STEP 2 Landmark Distance 163 Feet Distance = 163 x Distance = Miles

Transportation Case Study STEP 2 Now that you have converted the distance from feet to miles, let’s convert the time from seconds to hours: Insert the time you recorded in seconds into the equation Number of seconds over 3,600 Number of Seconds 3, Seconds / 3,600 = Hours =TIME (in hours)

Transportation Case Study STEP 2 Now let’s insert the TIME and DISTANCE into the Speed Equation: DISTANCE TIME =Speed (MPH)

Transportation Case Study STEP 2 TIME = Hours DISTANCE = Miles Miles Hours = MPH Speed Limit = 35 MPH

Transportation Case Study STEP 3 You and a partner will spend 20 minutes collecting data on this stretch of road. You will time 10 different cars and calculate their speeds –Use worksheet provided

Transportation Case Study STEP 3 Once finished: calculate the Compliance Ratio –Give the percent of vehicles going faster than the posted speed limit (35 MPH) –(# of speeders / 10) x 100 = percent of speeding vehicles (Compliance Ratio)

Transportation Case Study STEP 4 Do we have a problem on this stretch of road? DISCUSSON –W–What are the traffic laws in this area? Speed Limit during SCHOOL? –W–What is or is not located on or around this stretch of road that may increase traffic speed? –D–Do you think that the low speed limit through here is important or should it be increased?

Using the internet, you and your partner will research possible solutions to slow down the traffic. –S–Stop Light –T–Traffic Calming Device –M–More Enforcement –S–Speed Bumps Create a power point presentation to showcase your solution.

Career Pathway  Transportation, Distribution, and Logistics  Transportation Systems/Infrastructure Planning, Management, and Regulation  Civil Engineering  Transportation Engineering

Civil Engineering Video… Nebraska Career Connections –Civil Engineering Career Video

Bear Tracks Bear Tracks is a Bryan High TDL newsletter dedicated to increasing our student’ knowledge of high demand and high wage jobs in the Transportation, Distribution, and Logistics Career pathway.