Safety Evaluation of Diamond-Grade Vs. High-Intensity Retroreflective Sheeting on Work Zone Drums
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Safety Evaluation of Diamond-grade vs. High-intensity Retroreflective Sheeting on Work Zone Drums: A Field Study and Driving Simulator Validation Study A thesis presented to the faculty of the Russ College of Engineering and Technology of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Science Stephen G. Busam March 2011 © 2011 Stephen G. Busam. All Rights Reserved. 2 This thesis titled Safety Evaluation of Diamond-grade vs. High-intensity Retroreflective Sheeting on Work Zone Drums: A Field Study and Driving Simulator Validation Study by STEPHEN G. BUSAM has been approved for the Department of Civil Engineering and the Russ College of Engineering and Technology by Deborah S. McAvoy Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering Dennis Irwin Dean, Russ College of Engineering and Technology 3 ABSTRACT1 BUSAM, STEPHEN G., M.S., March 2011, Civil Engineering Safety Evaluation of Diamond-grade vs. High-intensity Retroreflective Sheeting on Work Zone Drums: A Field Study and Driving Simulator Validation (172 pp.) Director of Thesis: Deborah S. McAvoy New developments and technologies have paved the way for the creation of diamond-grade sheeting, ASTM Type IX, a new, more retroreflective sheeting which is 6 to 14 times brighter than engineering-grade sheeting, ASTM Type I, and is widely required for use on work zone signs. However, the ASTM Type IX sheeting is not widely required for use on channelizing drums due to the increased cost and concern that the increased retroreflectivity of the sheeting may actually decrease the safety of the work zone when used on closely spaced construction drums. A comparative parallel study was conducted to compare the safety impacts of the diamond-grade sheeting, ASTM Type IX, with high-intensity sheeting, ASTM Type III, the current MUTCD standard. Driver behavior within the work zone was analyzed in terms of lane placement and traveled speed with respect to the posted speed limit. These data were collected and analyzed to determine the extent to which the behaviors differed between the two traffic control treatments. The results indicate that drivers traveling through work zones with ASTM Type IX sheeting position their vehicle further away from the work zone and abide closer to the posted speed limits when compared to those traveling through work zones with ASTM Type III sheeting on the construction drums. 1 This abstract contains adapted writing directly from a report written by the thesis author, Stephen Busam, “Determination of Traffic Control Device Selection for Nighttime Maintenance of Traffic” [1]. 4 The second portion of this thesis research involved a simulator study to determine if the simulated environment could adequately reproduce sheeting on construction drums. To determine this, the lane placement and difference in travelled speed from the posted speed limit were compared between sheeting types to determine if the effects in the simulated environment mimicked the responses in the field study. The results of the simulator study indicate that the simulator can reproduce the retroreflectivity of the sheeting, but does not adequately reproduce the fluorescence. The final portion of this research was a validation study of the O.R.I.T.E. Safety and Human Factors Facility’s driving simulator for speed and lateral lane placement research. This study was performed by comparing the results of the field study with data collected from subjects driving through a similar, simulated work zones with drums utilizing simulated ASTM Type IX and ASTM Type III sheeting. Validation was checked on three levels, absolute validation, relative validation and interactive-relative validation. The results of the lane placement validation indicate the simulator failed to validate at any of the three levels. The speed study indicated that absolute validity was achieved for daytime ASTM Type III work zones as vehicles entered and progressed through the middle of the work zone. Interactive-relative validity was achieved for every time of day and sheeting combination in this study. Approved: _____________________________________________________________ Deborah S. McAvoy Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering 5 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Deborah McAvoy, for her support and encouragement through my Masters of Science program. Without her help and guidance I would not have succeeded in my graduate studies. I would also like to thank my committee members Dr. Lloyd Herman, Dr. Munir Nazzal, and Dr. Wei Lin for their time and help with the completion of my thesis research. Finally I would like to thank my family and friends and for their love and support through all of my endeavors. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract ....................................................................................................................3 Acknowledgments....................................................................................................5 List of Tables ...........................................................................................................9 List of Figures ........................................................................................................11 Chapter 1: Introduction ..........................................................................................12 Chapter 2: Background ..........................................................................................15 2.1 Retroreflectivity .......................................................................................................15 2.2 Types of Retroreflective Sheeting ...........................................................................16 2.3 Previous Research on the Effects of Different Sheeting Types ...............................18 2.4 Need for Work Zone Visibility ................................................................................21 2.5 Past Research on Driving Simulator Validation ......................................................24 2.5.1 Speed Data Validation ......................................................................................25 2.5.2 Simulator Lane Placement Validation ..............................................................30 2.6 Current State-of-the-Practices ..................................................................................32 2.6.1 Current State-of-the-Practices Results ..............................................................34 Chapter 3: Field Study Site Descriptions ...............................................................37 3.1 ASTM Type III Data Collection Sites .....................................................................37 3.2 ASTM Type IX Sheeting Data Collection Site .......................................................42 3.3 Field Study Site Summary .......................................................................................44 Chapter 4: Field Study Data Collection .................................................................46 4.1 Lane Placement ........................................................................................................46 4.1.1 Lane Placement Data Extraction .......................................................................47 4.2 Speed ........................................................................................................................49 4.3 Sample Size Determination .....................................................................................49 Chapter 5: Simulator Study ....................................................................................55 5.1 Internal Review Board .............................................................................................55 5.2 Simulator Scenario Setup .........................................................................................56 5.3 Simulator Study Methodology .................................................................................60 7 5.4 Simulator Adaptation ...............................................................................................61 5.5 Simulator Study Participants ...................................................................................65 5.5 Simulator Study Data Collection .............................................................................66 Chapter 6: Simulator Validation Theory ................................................................68 Chapter 7: Statistical Methodology .......................................................................70 7.1 Parametric Tests .......................................................................................................71 7.1.1 Normality and Homogeneous Variance ............................................................71 7.1.2 Student’s t-test ..................................................................................................75 7.1.3 One Way ANOVA ............................................................................................77 7.1.4 One-Sample t-test ..............................................................................................83 7.1.5 Paired-samples t-test .........................................................................................85 7.2 Non-Parametric Tests ..............................................................................................87 7.2.1 Mann-Whitney U ..............................................................................................88 7.2.2 Kruskal-Wallis ..................................................................................................90