Paying the Price

The Cost of Crashes Traffic calming isn’t cheap. Even when choosing competitively priced solutions, slowing cars down can still get expensive. Is it really worth the price? While the cost of life is immeasurable, the economic cost is exorbitant. A study conducted by the NHTSA estimated the annual cost of car crashes at $242 billion. When quality of life was added in, the societal cost in one year rose to a whopping $836 billion. Speed Kills The American Journal of Public Health stated it simply: managing speed is simply the best prevention against accidents and the injuries and fatalities they cause. The NHTSA found that speeding contributes to a third of all fatal crashes. Barring constant round-the-clock police patrol, traffic calming is the only way to ensure that speeds are reduced and lives are saved. Does Traffic Calming Really Help? Children who live in neighborhoods with speed humpshave a 53-60% less chance of being injured or killed in a car accident. A case study on radar signs found that up to 70% of drivers slowed down when their speeds were displayed. Slower cars mean saved lives- studiesshow that a vehicle hitting a pedestrian at 40 mph is 80% likely to cause death while one travelling at 20mph is only 5% likely to. Return on Investment It can be hard to think of something as an investment when there are no dividends visible on a monthly statement. But traffic calming saves lives every day. One pilot program using Traffic Logix SafePace signsin Ecaudor found that 200 lives were saved in a one-year period after solutions were installed. The economic and societal cost of crashes is one that every town, city, and state contends with. Saving those lives is a sound investment.

Safer Roads After Dark

Night Driving Winter is in full swing and while the shortest of its days are behind us, many more lie ahead. Driving in the dark always has its perils but on winter days, people spend even more time driving in the dark. Depth perception, color recognition, and peripheral vision are all compromised when driving at night. Even with well-lit roads, visibility at night is more difficult than during daylight. In rural areas, night time driving is even more challenging with long stretches of road that are often insufficiently lit.  Night Perils  In addition to visibility issues, night driving has additional challenges. Fatigue becomes more common in the dark and dulls concentration and slows reaction time. Crashes are more common at night with a disproportionate number of fatal accidents happening after dark. The National Safety Council (NSC) calls driving in the dark “the most dangerous time to drive,” listing additional factors such as rush hour driving, impaired driving, and particularly poor vision for elderly drivers. With the many added concerns of night time roadways, effective traffic calming becomes more imperative than ever to protect drivers and pedestrians from accidents and injuries. Improving Nighttime Safety Safer night roads begin with well-engineered roads that are designed to protect motorists, pedestrians, and cyclists and keep traffic moving at a safe pace. One of the most important ways to implement safety is to improve visibility and keep drivers alert. At Traffic Logix, our solutions are manufactured to do just that. Our SafePace signs are equipped with highly visible leds, flashing lights, and driver-responsive messaging to keep drivers alert and focused on the roads. All of our rubber traffic calming solutions are molded with highly reflective highway tape for improved nighttime visibility. Educational Tips In addition to better equipped roadways, educating drivers about cautions to take when driving in the dark can go a long way to preventing accidents. Some valuable tips from dmv.org include:  ·Keeping headlights on 1 hour before dusk and after dawn ·Maintain greater than normal distance between you and the next driver ·Focus eyes on the right edge of road to avoid glare ·Stay alert to deer and other wildlife ·Don’t ignore fatigue- make stops and take brisk walks

Healthier Roads in the New Year

New Year’s Resolutions and Your Roadways Health is the cornerstone of wholesome living. Perhaps that’s why the number one New Year’s resolution for 2015 was to lose weight. The goal of a well formulated diet is to achieve optimal health. For cities around the world, road diets take the same approach. They aim to keep roads trim with a wholesome approach- one that keeps all road users in mind including motorists, pedestrians, and bicyclists. What is a Road Diet? A road diet is a healthy overhaul for today’s overweight roads. Road diets reduce the number of travel lanes or the width of roads and often introduce new or expanded spaces for pedestrians and bicyclists to use. Some techniques used in road diets include adding or widening walkways, narrowing roadways with curbing, adding cycle lanes on one or both sides of the street, using landscaping or green areas to limit driving space, or adding a center turn lane. Putting roads on a diet often encourages improved commerce as access to businesses becomes easier and safer for all road users. Why the need for diets? With the wide use of motor vehicles for transportation, many roadways across the country were designed with only the needs of motorists in mind. In recent decades, as bicycling and walking have become more popular and healthier modes of local travel, people have been discovering that roads are often not friendly to these users. In addition, on roads where speeding and accidents  are concerns, implementing road diets lowers driver speeds and reduces crash rates. In fact, researchers have found that road diets reduce crash frequency by 19-43%. Beyond Diets Road diets, while beneficial on some roadways, are not the solution for all streets. Some streets can’t be narrowed, while for others a road diet is simply not enough to solve the problem. Just as simply dieting is not always enough for a better lifestyle, roadways too can benefit from a more holistic approach. Complete streets are another initiative that can help cities to create streets that are healthier and more livable. Complete streets often integrate traffic calming measures such as speed humps, staggered parking, lower speed limits, radar signs, pedestrian crosswalks, bike lanes, and the like.