Safety Warning System--KS
Status: Complete
Description: The Safety Warning System (SWS) takes advantage of the capability of modern radar detectors to decipher a message encoded in a broadcast radar stream and display and/or announce it to the driver. Triggering a drivers radar detector focuses driver attention on the driving task, while the message provides important information, such as work zone ahead: right lane closed. If it can be assumed that radar detectors tend to be used by drivers who choose speeds well above average for the entire driving population, then the SWS also has the advantage of targeting only the fastest drivers, potentially reducing speed variation among drivers. In this test, the SWS did not result in any statistically significant changes in traffic speed characteristics. It is expected that the system would affect driver behavior, but that the installed base is too small for the changes to be detected in traffic stream at large.
Report: www.ctre.iastate.edu/smartwz/reports/MwSWZDI-2000-Meyer-Safety_Warning_System.pdf *126 kb (Published: 2000)
State conducting research: Kansas
Vendor: MPH Industries
Author: Meyer, Eric (University of Kansas)
Related projects
* To read pdf files, you may need to download the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.