The nation is focused on highway safety now more than ever. Many hear safety and think signals, pedestrian improvements, and other very important concerns. What is often missing is rural safety.
Textbook solutions just don’t always apply to rural road safety. These byways demand a fundamentally different approach that starts by understanding the unique challenges of the countryside. The beautiful mountains of West Virginia are a great example. They provide different breathtaking views through all four seasons, but beneath that scenic veneer lies an unforgiving reality. The picturesque terrain provides drivers little room for quick, decisive action. And in these remote areas, necessary post-crash care can be more than an hour away.
To improve safety, we must be aware of the constraints of this environment. Only then can we engineer countermeasures truly fit for purpose. The stakes are high, but the way forward is clear: we must tailor our solutions to the realities of the road.
Rural road safety requires a multifaceted approach. Road departure is the number one cause of crashes in our rural areas. Other concerns, such as driving while under the influence, wildlife, speeding, and aggressive driving, are compounded when combined with the narrow, curvy roads in mountainous territory. Statistics show that most drivers who crash in the countryside are either very young, between 15 and 19 years old, or much older, over 65. Younger drivers do not have the experience to perform evasive maneuvers, and older drivers can lack adequate perception/reaction time.
To develop countermeasures for these two groups, rural safety engineers need to understand psychology as much as they do engineering. You must first accept that drivers aren’t going to make textbook decisions, so textbook solutions won’t work. You want to keep the vehicle on the roadway as much as possible, and if that fails you must reduce the consequences of leaving the roadway.
Installing Speed Reduction Measures
Keeping vehicles on the roadway while maneuvering through ice, snow, fog, and rain can be difficult. Unfortunately, areas that would benefit from better pavement marking may also be logging or coal routes with high truck traffic that use abrasive measures to remove ice and have clear road policies for their plow operations. All of these can result in significant damage to pavement markings. To keep stripes and reflectors on the road, you must embed them below the road surface. Recessed pavement markings, inlaid striping, and rumble stripes help drivers navigate the roadway while maximizing the life of these devices.
Improving Surface Friction on Pavement
Many rural areas have extensive foliage growth and natural springs nearby. This leads to water or ice on the roadway, and vehicles lose traction with the surface. Calcined bauxite has made the greatest improvements to this issue. High friction surface treatment (HFST) combines the bauxite with a polymer to adhere to the roadway once placed. The HFST not only increases the available friction but can buy an additional two degrees before it freezes and maintains friction values far above standard pavement for seven years.
Though crash reduction with HFST is great, it is also costly to place over long stretches of roadways. It is reserved for known crash sites and usually limited to curves or bridge decks. West Virginia Division of Highways is currently testing the addition of bauxite to their pavement mix for a cheaper solution to improve friction.
Investing in Recovery Solutions
Despite our best efforts, there will still be vehicles that leave the roadway. The last best effort to give them a safe recovery as they drop off the pavement and try to return is SafetyEdge. SafetyEdge is an extremely simple solution that allows drivers who have drifted from the roadway to return to the travel lane. It is a strong 30-degree-angle transition that is placed along the pavement’s edge when paving to help mitigate pavement edge drop-off and improve pavement durability. The shoe and extra material needed are estimated to cost less than 1% of the project’s paving cost.
Reducing Fallout in Emergency Situations
In addition to all efforts to keep vehicles on the roadway, we must also reduce the consequences for those who do not course-correct after veering off the road. This is particularly challenging in mountainous areas. Most highways were carved into the side of a mountain with rock formations on one side and raging rivers on the other. The clear zone concept is rarely attainable and usually requires shielding of the hazard. Barriers are by nature considered a hazard when placed along the highway. However, they may be the only solution in many areas. Extensive crash testing has led to the safest barrier systems ever developed. The key is picking the correct system for the problem at hand. Over the coming months we will discuss barriers in more detail.
Rural road safety is difficult, and one size will not fit all. If we want to save lives, we must use the right tools and realize that the perfect solution doesn’t exist because one method won’t solve all problems. It will be a combination of engineering, education, EMS, and enforcement that gets us where we need to be, reaching the only acceptable goal of zero fatalities. Safety may cost more and take longer, but it will also get everyone home for dinner.
