Teamwork and Technology Transfer in Low-Volume Road Safety

Abstract

The roles of teams and technology transfer in enhancing safety on low-volume roads are addressed. Roadway safety is a multidisciplinary science involving several elements: ( a) the three components of the roadway system—people, vehicle, and roadway; ( b) the agencies and groups that plan, design, build, and use roads and promote roadway safety; and ( c) the public health and safety communities that are concerned with injury prevention, response, treatment, and rehabilitation. Often the people working within these separate elements are characterized by interests, methods, and means limited by the boundaries, real or perceived, of their disciplines, organizations, and cultures. The application of technology transfer and teamwork enhances the efficacy of efforts to focus these elements on issues and problems related to roadway safety. Three broad topics are discussed. First, the importance of integrating the efforts of technical and nontechnical people and organizations through the development and management of multidisciplinary working groups and teams is explained. An associated topic is the conflict and ambiguity expected with expertise roles, boundary roles, and culture. Second, the importance of technology transfer in establishing and maintaining roadway systems used by motor vehicles, nonmotorized vehicles, and pedestrians and in educating and training engineers, engineering technicians, and the general population to design, build, maintain, and use roads safely is highlighted. Third, the importance of existing agencies in providing an organizational infrastructure that may either facilitate or hinder roadway safety planning and operations is described.

Safety Performance Functions for Low-Volume Roads

“…Roadway safety is a multidisciplinary science involving several elements: (a) the components of the roadway system -people, vehicles, and the roadways themselves, (b) the agencies and groups that plan, design, build, and use roads and promote roadway safety, and (c) the public health and safety communities that are concerned with injury prevention, response, treatment, and rehabilitation (Chobya et al 1999). While vehicle characteristics can contribute to traffic accidents (e.g., the lack of regular maintenance or vehicle overloading) human error is the most frequently cited factor contributing to both fatal and non-fatal injuries in motor vehicle accidents.…”