The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has identified secondary crashes (SCs) on United States (US) highways as one of the core transportation issues that needs to be addressed. These crashes contribute to increased property damage, injuries, and fatalities and a decline in traffic flow conditions on freeways and adjacent arterials. The purpose of this study was to 1) propose a communication plan that leverages connected vehicle (CV) technologies to increase awareness to road users to target the mitigation of SCs, and 2) to evaluate the potential benefits of the proposed communication plan with CV technologies in alleviating SCs.
This study used VISSIM microscopic software to model a freeway road segment on Floridaโs Turnpike system and Lyons Road, a parallel arterial. The software was used to replicate the proposed communication plan and CV applications to issue advisories, such as speed, lane-change, or detour advisory to drivers during an incident. A safety evaluation was performed using the Surrogate Safety Assessment Model (SSAM) software by importing trajectory files from VISSIM to analyze generated traffic conflicts. The change in the number of simulated conflicts was used to evaluate the mitigation of SCs.
The results showed significant safety benefits using the proposed communication plan with CV technologies. A conflict reduction of up to 98% was observed with full penetration of CVs at low traffic volume. Statistical analysis indicated that different penetration rates of CVs were required to achieve significant safety benefits depending on the analyzed scenario, i.e., traffic volume, number of lanes closed, side of the road the lane is closed, and dissemination of detour advisory
