Using Connected Vehicle Trajectory Data to Evaluate the Impact of Automated Work Zone Speed Enforcement

• Main Authors: Bullock, D.M (Author), Landvater, H. (Author), Li, H. (Author), Mathew, J.K (Author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI 2022
• Subjects: automated enforcement; Automated enforcement; Automation; connected vehicle; Connected vehicle; Datapoints; Indiana; Pennsylvania; Speed; speeds; Trajectories; Trajectories datum; trajectory; Transportation agencies; Vehicle trajectories; Vehicles; Work zone safety; Work zones
• Online Access: View Fulltext in Publisher

 Work zone safety is a high priority for transportation agencies across the United States. Enforcing speed compliance in work zones is an important factor for reducing the frequency and severity of crashes. This paper uses connected vehicle trajectory data to evaluate the impact of automated work zone speed enforcement on three work zones in Pennsylvania and two work zones in Indiana. Analysis was conducted on more than 300 million datapoints from over 71 billion records between April and August 2021. Speed distribution and speed compliance studies with and without automated enforcement were conducted along every tenth of a mile, and the results found that overall speed compliance inside the work zones increased with the presence of enforcement. In the three Pennsylvania work zones analyzed, the proportions of vehicles travelling within the allowable 11 mph tolerance were 63%, 75% and 84%. In contrast, in Indiana, a state with no automated enforcement, the proportions of vehicles travelling within the same 11 mph tolerance were found to be 25% and 50%. Shorter work zones (less than 3 miles) were associated with better compliance than longer work zones. Spatial analysis also found that speeds rebounded within 1–2 miles after leaving the enforcement location. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.