T3 Webinar Overview

Vulnerable Road User Safety: Making Travel Safer Using Pedestrian Safety Technologies

The U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Joint Program Office (JPO) Professional Capacity Building (PCB) Program invites you to view the Talking Technology and Transportation Webinar that took place on March 6, 2019.

Date: Wednesday, March 6, 2019
Time: 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM ET
Cost: All T3 and T3e webinars are free of charge.
PDH: 1.5 View PDH Policy

View Webinar: link to this webinar's archive materials

The Talking Technology and Transportation (T3) and T3e Webinars are brought to you by the ITS PCB Program of U.S. DOT’s ITS JPO. References in this webinar to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm, or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the public, and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the U.S. DOT.

Background

A major safety concern among transportation professionals across the United States is the growing number of traffic fatalities involving pedestrians and bicyclists, the vulnerable road users. Recent data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration showed that 6,827 pedestrians and bicyclists were killed in traffic crashes in 2016, constituting roughly 18 percent of all traffic-related deaths. This fatality rate was a 10.3 percent increase from 2015. The recent surge of connected vehicle technology has led to the development of vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) communication systems aimed at improving the safety and mobility of vulnerable road users. Given that V2P systems are new to the roadway environment and involve communication technologies that can take many forms, the U.S. DOT is interested in assessing how these emerging safety applications might function in the real world and impact safety for vulnerable road users.

As part of the V2P Test Bed project, the research team conducted a technology scan of the V2P systems available to date, either in the final stages of development or available in the market. A V2P Test Bed was established at the Federal Highway Administration’s Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center (TFHRC) to assess the safety effectiveness of a few selected market-ready V2P systems. This presentation will discuss the results of the V2P Technology Scan and development of an Assessment Plan, as well as present preliminary results from the safety effectiveness evaluation performed on multiple market-ready V2P systems. Research outcomes identifying the strengths and weaknesses of existing V2P technologies will be presented, which can be used to guide the development of future pedestrian safety applications to maximize road user safety and mobility.

Target Audience

State and local governments and public-private sector partners.
Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), technology developers, technology suppliers, transportation network companies (TNCs), associations, and Connected Vehicle (CV) stakeholders.
People working in policy and planning, digital infrastructure and data, multimodal safety and infrastructure design, operations, and pedestrian safety related to the use of automated vehicles on the nation’s roadways.
Departments and organizations that support vulnerable road users.

Agenda

Discuss current trends in pedestrian crashes and the importance of pedestrian safety applications.
Provide an overview of V2P systems and the establishment of the TFHRC V2P Test Bed.
Present preliminary results from the safety effectiveness evaluation of market-ready V2P systems.
Share an overall assessment of the evaluated V2P technologies and discuss future directions.
Solicit feedback from stakeholders.

Host

Karen Timpone, ITS and Connected Vehicle Program, U.S. DOT, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Washington, D.C.
Karen Timpone has worked in the transportation engineering field for more than 25 years. Her experience ranges from transportation safety to the marketing and operations of traffic management systems. Her initial experience was in the area of highway safety research for the Federal Highway Administration and planning and development for the Road Commission for Oakland County, Michigan.

Ms. Timpone has extensive experience in the technical design, development, project management, and marketing of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). She also worked for Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) from 1997-2007 as a transportation consultant providing program management and technical support for numerous ITS projects for the U.S. DOT JPO.

Ms. Timpone currently works for the FHWA, Office of Safety Technologies as the ITS Safety Program Manager. Her duties include the identification, development, and delivery of all ITS safety programs; Vehicle to Infrastructure (V2I); and Connected Vehicle (CV) and Automated Vehicle (AV) applications and technologies for State, local and tribal governments to reduce the number and severity of highway crashes on U.S. roadways.

Presenters

Mafruhatul Jannat, Ph.D., Saxton Lab Manager/Transportation Research Engineer, Leidos, McLean, VA
Dr. Mafruhatul Jannat is the Lab Manager for FHWA’s Saxton Transportation Operations Lab (STOL) and a Transportation Research Engineer with Leidos’ STOL team in FHWA’s Office of Safety Research and Development at McLean, VA. She has more than eight years of experience working on various transportation projects with multiple funding agencies, including FHWA and Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT). She provides project management and technical support for multiple FHWA-funded projects on Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAV), Vehicle to Infrastructure (V2I), and Vehicle to Pedestrian (V2P) applications. Dr. Jannat received her Master of Science and Doctorate of Philosophy in Transportation Engineering from Oregon State University.

Stephanie Roldan, Ph.D., Human Factors Research Specialist, Leidos, McLean, VA
Dr. Stephanie Roldan is a human factors researcher with the Leidos Human Factors Team in FHWA’s Office of Safety Research and Development. She conducts pedestrian and driver behavior research for a variety of projects, including interactions with automated and connected technology. Dr. Roldan received her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Christopher Newport University and her Master of Science and Doctorate of Philosophy from Virginia Tech.