A Comprehensive Investigation of Visibility Problems on Highways: Developing Real Time Monitoring and Prediction System for Reduced Visibility and Understanding Traffic and Human Factors Implications

Project Description:

Visibility is one of the most important impacts weather can have on road system; weather-related visibility is often due to fog. Florida is among the top-rated states in the United States with regards to traffic safety problems resulting from adverse visibility conditions caused by fog.
This study plans to validate an alternative low-cost approach that can meet or exceed existing performance of traditional technologies. With supplemental meteorological data sets, the studies will seek to identify the unique characteristics/signature of the “fingerprint” of fog formation. The computer software algorithms will be trained to adapt to micro-local conditions to improve accuracy.

Final Report

Presentations:

"Analysis of the Impact of Fog-related Reduced Visibility on Traffic Parameters", presented at the 94th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C., January 11-15, 2015.
"Examining the Impact of Reduced Visibility on Traffic Parameters using Weather and Traffic Sensors", presented at the 2015 UTC Conference for the Southeastern Region in Birmingham, Alabama, March 26-27, 2015.
Seminar presentation to the Intermodal Freight Technology Working Group in Orlando, FL, 2014.

Project Information Forms:

January 2014

Publications:

Ahmed M., Abdel-Aty M., Shi Q. and Abuzwidah M (2014), Synthesis of State-of-the-Art in Visibility Detection Systems’ Applications and Research, Journal of Safety and Security, Volume 6, Issue 3, pp. 183-206.
Yu R., Abdel-Aty M., Ahmed M. and Wang X. (2014) Utilizing Microscopic Traffic and Weather Data to Analyze Real-Time Crash Patterns in the Context of Active Traffic Management, IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, Volume 15, No. 1. pp. 205-213, Feb 2014. IF:3.064

Describe Implementation of Research Outcomes (or why not implemented) :

This study will develop software algorithms to process and analyze the data from the multi-level arrays of temperature and relative humidity, wind speed/direction, and subsurface moisture in conjunction with measurements from the co-located visibility sensors. This study will alsoconsider the human factors issues relevant to implementing a visibility system on highways. This includes drivers’ responses to different messages in reduced visibility conditions and their preferences.

Impacts/Benefits of Implementation (actual, not anticipated):

Improved roadway safety can result from this project as improved detection and prediction of visibility obstructions can help avoid crashes, improve traffic management from reduced congestion, and save money via more efficient advance deployment of law enforcement or other crews necessary to monitor deteriorating visibility conditions.

Principal Investigator(s):

Principal Investigator(s) Contact Information:

m.aty@ucf.edu

University(ies):

University of Central Florida, Georgia Institute of Technology

Start and End Dates:

11/01/13 - 12/31/15

Topic: