Connected Vehicle Infrastructure University Transportation Center
In 2010, 249 buses were involved in fatal crashes, and approximately 12,000 buses were involved in crashes that resulted in injuries. The total number of buses involved in crashes with other motor vehicles, pedestrians, or objects was approximately 54,000 in the United States[1]. Of the 249 fatal crashes reported above, 114 involved school buses, 37 involved cross-country/intercity buses, 83 involved transit buses, and 15 involved other or unknown bus types. Buses are particularly susceptible to rear-end conflicts due to their frequent decelerating and stopping behaviors in traffic. Statistics indicate that the rear of the bus is the most frequent initial point of impact during a crash (approximately 28% of the 54,000 crashes[1]). The rear-end collisions that occurred during 2010 resulted in 35 fatalities, 2,000 injuries, and 13,000 incidents of property damage. Fatalities resulting from collisions with passenger buses are often the light-vehicle motorists[1,2]. When analyzing Buses Involved in Fatal Accidents (BIFA) data, Blower et al.[3] found that driver error leading to the crash was more likely to have occurred in the striking vehicle than the vehicle being struck. Therefore, rear-end collisions with buses are a concern for the entire motoring public. Blower et al.[3] stated that the high proportion of rear-end crashes during which the bus was struck suggested that improved conspicuity and increased awareness of the stopped bus could enhance the safety of the situation. While today’s vehicles are equipped with safety technologies (e.g., collision warning systems, forward collision warnings [FCW], adaptive cruise control), it is recognized[4,5] that these current safety technologies have limitations around curves and over hills. For instance, when an FCW-equipped vehicle is traversing a sharp curve, the stopped vehicle may not be within the system’s sensor range due to its limited azimuthal coverage. The same can be said for situations during which an FCW-equipped vehicle crests a hill, at which point the FCW sensor coverage is aimed above the descending roadway on the other side. Connected-vehicle (CV) communications, particularly dedicated short-range communications (DSRC), could be used to provide following traffic with in-vehicle notifications of a stopped bus, especially when the bus is stopped over a hill or around a blind curve. DSRC provides an “extended information horizon” and lets the drivers “see over hills and around curves.”[6] This project will provide a novel opportunity to apply this enhanced capability designed to facilitate increased awareness of stopped buses during moments when they are obscured from the flow of traffic.
Although CV communications (e.g., DSRC, cellular, WiFi) could be applied to all passenger bus types (e.g., transit, school, motorcoach), this work will focus on school buses engaged in pupil transportation.
School bus drivers face unique safety concerns as professional drivers. They carry what is perhaps the nation’s most precious cargo: our children. Every school day, more than 25 million school-aged children are transported to and from school on nearly 480,000 school buses. This annually equates to approximately 20 billion boardings and de-boardings of school buses throughout the United States[2]. Many of these boardings and de-boardings result in school buses stopped in the roadway. This scenario is considered one of the most dangerous situations for a school bus and its student riders. CV technology could be the solution for improving bus conspicuity and increasing awareness among other roadway users of a stopped school bus.
The objectives of this 12-month study are threefold. First, the research team will develop a Concept of Operations (ConOps) for the connected school bus. Second, the research team will develop a prototype, in-vehicle message display for following vehicles to alert them of a stopped school bus. Finally, the team will conduct preliminary testing of the prototype driver-vehicle interface (DVI) on the Virginia International Raceway (VIR) in southern Virginia.
Research and Innovative Technology Administration
University Transportation Centers Program
Department of Transportation
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
USA
Harwood, Leslie
Phone: 540-231-9530
Email: lharwood@vtti.vt.edu
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg
Virginia Tech Transportation Institute
3500 Transportation Research Plaza
Blacksburg, Virginia 24061
USA
Krum, Andrew
RiP URL
Project Poster
TriD Format