摘要: |
Road safety has a been a concern for years in the United States relative to a rise in highway fatalities.2 According to Treat et al., 27 percent of fatalities are a result of the inconsistent or poor communication between the road infrastructure-user errors (IUE) often called human factor errors (HFE).8 One-half million fatalities from 1975 to 2017, using Treat's 27-peercent infrastructure-user fatalities, could have been prevented. In the United States, ITE and others have been instrumental in promoting and explaining the virtue and safety goals of VZ starting about 20 years ago. To eliminate all highway crashes is a huge goal, but eliminating the IUE is more easily achieved than deliberate user behavioral decisions and habits, i.e. driving while intoxicated, cell phone distractions, etc. In 2020 the highway fatalities are estimated to be 42,000 in United States making the problem even worse.9 The goal of this article was to put together examples of VZ and IUE issues that can be easily and quickly eliminated at a minimum expense. Addressing such problems also reduces agency liability exposure. Our examples, are not exhaustive but hopefully they will encourage engineers and support staff, regardless of their professional position, to identify similar safety issues and to have them removed so the path to zero fatalities can be obtained. The authors suggest ITE promote VZ and the elimination of HFE by offering annual recognition awards for the best, inexpensive safety projects. |