Willow Springs, Mo. - As you travel through Missouri you can see the emphasis the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) has placed on roadway safety. Through safety engineering, MoDOT and local partners in the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety have made numerous safety improvements on Missouri highways.
The Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety works from a "blueprint", which contains detailed, comprehensive, and focused strategies for reducing fatalities and disabling injuries on Missouri roads. This blueprint focuses heavily on the four "Es:" Education, Enforcement, Engineering and Emergency Medical Services.
Safety engineering focuses on improving roadway safety through engineering solutions. According to the South Central Traffic Operations Engineer Jennifer Atkinson, MoDOT uses data, observations and input from local residents to determine where safety engineering can be applied to improve safety within the South Central District. "We continuously evaluate areas where safety can be enhanced through the use of specific countermeasures," Atkinson said.
Examples of these safety improvements can be found across the state, including: the addition of median guard cable, edgeline and centerline rumble strips, improved curve recognition, increased roadway visibility, and the installation and maintenance of shoulders. These improvements are included in the Missouri Blueprint to ARRIVE ALIVE "Targeted 10," emphasis areas, because of their life-saving and injury reduction potential.
Median guard cable has been installed on nearly 600 miles of highway throughout the state since 2004. Guard cable is used to help prevent vehicles from crossing the median into opposing traffic. According to Missouri's Blueprint to ARRIVE ALIVE, cross-median fatalities on interstates 70 and 44 have been reduced by 96 percent since three-strand cable was installation on both interstates. Median guard cable can be found on many interstates in Missouri including Interstate 44 in the South Central District.
Approximately 1,500 miles of edgeline rumble strips were installed on major roadways throughout the state as part of the Smooth Roads Initiative in 2005 and 2006. These rumble stripes alert inattentive drivers by sound and vibration when they travel outside of the travel lane.
According to the Missouri Blueprint to ARRIVE ALIVE, 34 percent of all fatalities, and 28 percent of all disabling injuries in the past three years, occurred along road curves. MoDOT is improving curve recognition for motorists with better stripes, signs and delineation. Over the next ten years, chevron signs and florescent yellow sheeting is being installed on thousands of curves throughout the state in order to reduce curve-related crashes.
Better, brighter stripes and signs have also been installed as part of the Better Roads, Brighter Future program that focuses on bringing 85 percent of Missouri's busiest highway miles up to good condition by 2011. Increased roadway visibility allows motorists to better identify their driving lane in rain, sleet, sun and fog.
Another component of the Better Roads, Brighter Future, is the installation and maintenance of shoulders and clear zones. Four-foot shoulder minimums are being added to the most heavily traveled roads in the state. Installing and maintaining shoulders with rumble stripes is a strategy to help keep vehicles in their driving lane and provide an opportunity for the driver to recover if they do leave their lane.
Safety engineering is just one of the four focus areas in the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety Blueprint to ARRIVE ALIVE, but in conjunction with safety education, enforcement and emergency medical services the goal of 850 fewer fatalities by 2012 can be a reality.
To learn more about the Missouri Coalition for Roadway safety or Missouri's Blueprint to ARRIVE ALIVE visit www.saveMOlives.com.
For additional information regarding transportation-related topics, call the MoDOT Customer Service Center, toll free, at 1-888-ASK MoDOT (275-6636). Customers also may email the center at d9csc@modot.mo.gov. Transportation information is available online at www.modot.org/southcentral.
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