Impact of Monetary Penalty Driver er Feedback on Work Zone Speed

摘要

Nationally, one work zone fatality occurs every 10 hours (about 2.3 a day) and one injury every13 minutes (110 a day). Speed limit compliance in and around work zones is of concern totransportation agencies because of the correlation of excessive speeds as a primary causationfactor for work zone crashes. Potentially up to 25% of fatal crashes in work zones involved highspeeds.Research was conducted using a changeable message sign with radar (CMSR) at one work zonelocation on a four-lane, divided highway in Arizona. The CMSR provided feedback to driversabout the amount of their potential traffic fine, which was triggered by the radar captured speedas their vehicles approached the CMSR. This type of feedback has had only limited studyaccording to the authors’ literature search. The CMSR alternated a speed feedback message(YOUR SPEED XX MPH) with the message “POSSIBLE FINE $XXX,” wherein the dollaramount varied depending on the speed of the vehicle. As the vehicle slowed (or accelerated) thesign message changed to reflect their new speed and any resulting change in the amount of fine.The findings indicate that coupling the speeding fine feedback with alternating vehicle speedprovided an important observed performance in reducing speeds in the tested work zone.Reductions in mean speeds was modest, approximately 4 mph. However, the impact onexcessive speeders was significant. The number of speeders traveling at or greater than 5 and 10mph above the speed limit, were both reduced by one fourth. At the extreme speeds of 15, 20,and 25 mph over the speed limit, the number of speeding vehicles was reduced in each case byhalf.