Summary

Statistics by the FHWA indicate that in 2001, there were nearly 218,000 Red-Light Running (RLR) crashes in the United States, which resulted in 181,000 injuries and 880 fatalities, estimated economic loss is over $14 billion. Many transportation and safety agencies and organizations are developing plans and programs to address the red light running problem. This research proposes to conduct a study on the development and implementation of innovative signal timing strategies to prevent and reduce RLR and associates crashes at traffic signals. The research will be conducted in a four step-forward approaches:

1. data collection and analysis from a real-life arterial corridor for in-depth understanding of red light running,
2. investigation and development of "passive" signal timing strategies to increase platoon ratio and decrease number of arrivals during yellow and all-red interval,
3. develop "adaptive" red light running collision avoidance algorithm which is able to react to predicted RLR collision in real time, identify surveillance requirements, hardware/software requirements, and communication requirements in implementation of the developed control philosophy, and
4. develop and implement a demonstration system, assess effectiveness through microscopic simulation and field test and document guideline for application and possible statewide deployment.