The Texas Transportation Commission approved increasing the speed limit to 75 mph on about 1,500 miles of mostly-rural Interstate highways in the state.  Around the San Antonio area, the following stretches will see 75 mph signs soon:

• I-10 West from Loop 1604 to past Kerrville (where it’s already 80 mph)
• I-10 East from just outside Loop 410 to Waller County west of Houston
• I-35 South from Palo Alto Rd. to the existing 75 mph section south of Devine
• I-37 from just inside Loop 410 to Corpus Christi

I-35 between San Antonio and Austin was not approved for the higher speed limit.

The Legislature approved the higher speed limits last year.

More information

• TxDOT’s 75 mph page – http://www.txdot.gov/safety/speed_limit/75mph.htm

In San Antonio and across Texas, there has been a rash of wrong-way drivers (WWD) over the past few years.  In San Antonio last year, there was a WWD about every other day.  Fortunately, 80% of those drivers caused no accidents.  But sadly, seven people were killed by WWDs last year.  Of no surprise was that the majority of WWDs were intoxicated.

To combat the problem, several agencies formed the San Antonio Wrong Way Driver Task Force in March 2011.  Those agencies include TxDOT, SAPD, City of San Antonio Public Works Department, Bexar County Sherrif’s Office, and Texas Transportation Institute, and the Federal Highway Administration.  The task force worked to determine the extent and characteristics of the local problem, evaluate previous research and countermeasures, and formulate a plan to test and implement countermeasures locally.

After crunching the data, it was determined that the most WWD incidents occurred between midnight and 6am with Saturday night/Sunday morning being the worst by far (nearly twice that of Friday nights, which was the second most dangerous.)

In determining the worst locations, engineers found that it was nearly impossible to ascertain the exit ramp where the WWD entered.  In fact, the wrong way entry point could be identified in just five cases last year.  Furthermore, focusing on specific ramps limited the effectiveness of the evaluation of the issue or any subsequent countermeasure programs.  Therefore, the problem was scoped by corridor.  In that context, the US 281 corridor from downtown to Stone Oak showed the most WWD incidents.

Next, the group evaluated potential countermeasures.  One of the first suggestions made by the general public is the use of wrong-way spike devices like those used in parking lots.  However, previous research and testing has shown that these devices are not the obvious panacea many folks think them to be.  Here are some of the problems noted in the task force’s report:

• Such devices are only designed for low-speed locations (< 10 mph).
• When tested in a high-speed location, even after being modified, the spikes did not cause the tires to deflate quickly enough to prevent the vehicle from entering the freeway and making significant progress.
• During testing in a high-speed location, the spikes often broke, making the device useless for its intended purpose and, furthermore, damaging the tires of vehicles headed in the right direction.
• Many right-way drivers perceived the devices as a hazard and hit their brakes, thus creating a hazardous condition.
• The devices were slippery during wet weather.
• Dirt, debris, and ice build up in the devices, preventing the spikes from folding down properly for right-way drivers.

Not mentioned in the report is the fact that even if spikes worked as intended, that would leave a disabled vehicle in the middle of an exit ramp, most often in the dark, thus presenting a serious traffic hazard for other drivers.

Given all these factors, spike strips are just a bad idea all around.

San Antonio is not the first city to encounter this problem, and therefore other countermeasures were available for evaluation.  One of the first things looked at was enhanced static signing.  TxDOT has already developed a checklist for increasing the visibility of static wrong-way signage and markings and has implemented that scheme on most ramp locations in San Antonio.  They are now considering additional “supplemental” measures including oversized signs as needed.

SAPD currently relies almost exclusively on the public to report WWDs.  All but one of the WWD incidents last year was first reported by the public (the other one was observed by a TransGuide operator.)  To improve the detection of WWDs, various detection devices can be employed.  These can be installed on exit ramps as well as on the main lanes and can alert SAPD and TransGuide dispatchers within seconds of a WWD being detected.

Also evaluated were “active” warning signs that either light-up or flash red borders when activated by a detection device.  These can also be placed on exit ramps and/or the main lanes.

Finally, physical channelization (i.e. the use of traffic islands to shunt traffic in the proper direction) on frontage road driveways was evaluated.

To determine the effectiveness of these devices, TxDOT selected the US 281 corridor from downtown to Stone Oak for a test project.  Wrong-way detection devices and active signage will be placed on each exit ramp in the corridor as well as at four main lane locations: south of Encino Rio, south of Thousand Oaks, south of Loop 410, and north of Hildebrand.  In addition, TxDOT will continue their practice of putting WWD warnings on the TransGuide dynamic message signs.  After the devices are installed, the effectiveness of these measures will be evaluated.  Work has already started and the system is expected to go online in mid February 2012.  Design work on a second corridor– I-35 from US 90 to I-37– is underway.  Because of the unique features of that corridor, including double-decked sections and non-typical exit ramps, different countermeasures may be employed.  Depending on the outcome of these projects, the system may be expanded to the rest of the city’s freeway system.

Hopefully, these countermeasures prove effective at solving a problem that is simply getting out of hand.

More information

• The San Antonio Wrong Way Driver Initiative

Notorious traffic backups and numerous crashes on I-35, especially on the stretch from San Antonio to Austin, have spawned big-ticket projects such as the SH 130 tollway and Lone Star commuter rail. Putting two and two together from such thinking eventually led to the now supposedly defunct Trans Texas Corridor.

But more big plans are in the making.

Four committees, each looking at a segment of I-35, are holding public meetings this month to wrap up draft plans on what to do with the highway, its feeders and parallel roads. Billions of dollars worth of projects are eyed, including this for South and Central Texas:

• Convert one I-35 lane each way into toll/carpool lanes from Buda to Georgetown
• Remove tolls and widen SH 130 to six lanes from Seguin to Georgetown
• Build high-speed passenger rail from San Antonio to Dallas
• Build passenger rail from San Antonio to Laredo
• Widen I-35 from San Antonio to Laredo

The four segment plans will be finalized next month. Then the I-35 Corridor Advisory Committee will consolidate them into the MY 35 plan and deliver it to the Texas Transportation Commission next year. 

The committees for segment 3 and segment 4, which straddle San Antonio, will hold joint public workshops 6-8 p.m.:

• Thursday, Sept. 23, at  the VIA Terry Eskridge Community Room
  1021 San Pedro Ave. in San Antonio
• Tuesday, Sept. 28, at the Live Oak Civic Center’s Rocket Room
  8101 Pat Booker Road in Live Oak
• Wednesday, Sept. 29, at the  Seguin-Guadalupe County Coliseum
  950 S. Austin St. in Seguin

Learn more at www.MY35.org.

San Antonio traffic jam photo from viainfo.net.

A recent study laid out what I found to be an amazing stat.

For every hour driving, U.S. life expectancy decreases by 20 minutes, suggests analysis in a University of Toronto study. The shorter life spans are due to crashes.

An hour a day is about the average two-way San Antonio commute. So the typical driver here loses four days a year, about half a year over a 40-year career. The payoff is a year and a half slogging through traffic to make the bucks.

The finding that drivers lose a minute of life for every three minutes on the road wasn’t even the main point of the study. Authors wanted to consider the risks of driving faster to reduce travel times. They determined that time saved by speeding is far outweighed by shortened lives due to higher chances of crashing.

The conclusion: Americans drive a little too fast and can live longer by driving slower.

Latest radar from National Weather Service.

Hurricane Alex is grinding into a Mexican coast, its tails whipping South Texas and spitting out tornadoes. Winds are blowing more than 100 mph.

Though the brunt of the storm wandered south, it was powerful enough to drive both Texans and Mexicans away from their homes to find safer shelter, the Associated Press reported. A slew of tornado, flooding and wind warnings are in place in South Texas, including a flood watch in Bexar County, the National Weather Service says.

Officials closed the Queen Isabella Memorial Bridge in South Padre Island due to winds and State Highway 87 in Galveston because of flooding, the Texas Department of Transportation announced. More than 100 TxDOT workers and 200 pieces of equipment will move in tomorrow to open roads and fix traffic signals and signs.

Helpful links:

• National Weather Service
• Weather Channel
• Statewide road conditions, or call (800) 452-9292
• TxDOT hurricane page

Of course, the first question folks ask is if anyone was hurt.  Fortunately, everyone was fine– in fact, the airbags didn’t even deploy.  So the next question, then, is what happened?

What happened to me has probably happened to most motorists at one time or another.  I was making a right turn and there was a vehicle stopped in front of me waiting for a gap in the traffic.  A gap came along and the vehicle in front of me started moving forward, so I started looking back for a gap to merge into.  When a break came along a few seconds later, I started to accelerate only to realize that the car in front of me didn’t actually go when I thought they did.  I hit the brakes hard but it was already too late.  BAM!

Of course, the way to avoid this is to always look forward again at where you’re going before you start to accelerate, not only to make sure the preceding vehicle has cleared, but also to make sure that another previously unseen vehicle, pedestrian, bicyclist, UFO, or whatnot hasn’t suddenly appeared in your path.  I usually do this, but this time I was in a hurry and, as a result, was a little careless. 

So hopefully my story will help someone else avoid this all-too-common traffic mistake and the unfortunate results it can bring.

Yes, it does, according to safety officials. And that’s just one of a half dozen habits that distract motorists.

Drivers are considered distracted when they:

• Talk to passengers
• Smoke
• Eat
• Fiddle with dashboard controls
• Reach for something
• Talk or text on a cell phone

OK, so some of these, especially the last one, aren’t surprises. And it’s the last one that Oprah Winfrey is targeting with her “No Phone Zone” Day, which is tomorrow.

Agencies across the nation, including the Texas Department of Transportation, have joined Oprah’s campaign. Tomorrow, electronic highway signs will flash, “Make Your Vehicle a No Phone Zone,” or “Drive Now. Text or Talk Later.”

Motorists using hand-held devices are four times more likely to be in a crash, TxDOT says. All distractions caused 103,526 accidents and 524 deaths in Texas in 2008.

Nationwide, distractions led to 5,870 deaths and 515,000 injuries, statistics show.

Young people are especially vulnerable. Almost half of teens use phones while driving, a Texas Transportation Institute study found.

More information:

• Distraction.gov
• Oprah’s No Phone Zone

No worries about the revelry cranking up. It will. But before joining the fun, here are some things to check on:

PARKING: Even tested downtown drivers can lose a little focus when Fiesta fills up parking lots and kicks up parking fees. The Express-News has a decent map of parking lots, but alas, doesn’t include fees. MAP

EXPRESS BUSES: Avoid parking altogether by hopping on special Fiesta express buses. VIA set up an event page with details, which includes reroutes of regular services due to street closures. FIESTA BUSES

DRINKING: If you drink, have a drinking and NOT driving plan. The easiest thing to do is assign a designated driver. In a pinch, Yellow Cab will provide up to 700 free rides for certain events, thanks to a state grant. Of course, you can always fork out your own $25 for a cab, and it’ll be a lot cheaper than a $17,000 DWI fine. CALL 222-2222

TRAFFIC: Make it easy on yourself. Just a few minutes checking TransGuide’s site for wrecks and slowdowns can save you an hour on the highway. TRANSGUIDE

WEATHER: Nuff said on that. FORECAST

Now go have a great time. And be safe. 

More links:

• Express-News Fiesta page
• Official Fiesta site

“What the heck is that?!”

That seems to be a common reaction of local motorists as they first encounter one of the flashing yellow arrow (FYA) traffic signals that have popped-up at San Antonio intersections over the past year or so.  What began as an experiment in late 2008 at a couple dozen intersections along Wurzbach Rd. and San Pedro Ave. has now spread to about 40 or so intersections across the city and will now become a standard, not just here in San Antonio, but nationally as mandated by the federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD).  As often happens in these cases, there has been some second-guessing amongst the general public as to the necessity of this newfangled signal, but understanding the research that went into it and why it’s beneficial generally allays those knee-jerk criticisms.

The purpose of the FYA signals is to indicate that left-turning vehicles must yield to oncoming traffic.  Previously, the solid green circular signal (“green ball”) was used, typically in a five-section cluster signal arrangement known colloquially to traffic engineers as the “dog house” display.  However, studies around the nation showed that this signal was often misconstrued by motorists to mean that they had the right-of-way.  This was especially true when it was used as part of so-called “Dallas phasing”, which extends the permissive left-turn time at an intersection by de-coupling that left turn movement from the adjacent through movement.  In other words, the left turn lane could have a green ball while the adjacent through-traffic lanes could have a red light.  A few Dallas-phased signals were installed in San Antonio in the Medical Center area, and I can tell you from experience that many drivers are quite confused by them.  However, Dallas phasing provides a big benefit in the form of more efficient intersection flow because left turns can be made at any time during the phase (when traffic is clear, of course) instead of only when adjacent through traffic also has a green, thus allowing more vehicles to get through during each cycle and reducing delays for left-turning drivers.  Dallas phasing also solves the problem of the “yellow trap” that occurs when a circular yellow light is displayed to traffic waiting to make a permissive left turn while, at the same time, opposing through traffic still has a green light.  This usually causes those left-turning motorists to presume oncoming traffic is about to stop and that it is safe to complete their left turn when in fact it is not.

So, to capture the benefits of Dallas phasing without the inherent safety issue involved with using a green ball signal for permissive lefts, engineers across the country tried a variety of other displays and several studies were done.  The one display that had the greatest inherent understanding was the FYA.  More importantly, the FYA had the lowest “fail-critical” rate, which means that drivers were less likely to do the “wrong” thing if they didn’t understand what the signal meant.  In other words, drivers that see a FYA and don’t understand it are more likely to yield whereas drivers who see a green ball are more likely to proceed.  The reason for this is easy to explain: people inherently understand a flashing yellow light to mean “caution” while we instinctively interpret a green light to mean “go”.  It’s also worth noting that the FYA indication has been used successfully in parts of Europe for many years.

As a result of these outcomes, the Federal Highway Administration has designated the FYA as the standard signal display for protected/permissive left turn signals in the latest release of the MUTCD, which was promulgated last December.  Additionally, no signal displays with a solid green ball signal can be placed to the left of the lane line between the left turn lane and the adjacent through traffic lane.  In other words, left turn lanes cannot have a dedicated signal that has a green ball display.  Of course, it will take quite some time to retrofit existing signals to meet the new standards, and the MUTCD has set no target date for full replacement.  However, all new signals and refurbishments of existing signals will have to be compliant going forward.

Additional reading:

• Interim Approval for Optional Use of Flashing Yellow Arrow for Permissive Left Turns
• Evaluation of Traffic Signal Displays for Protected/Permitted Left-Turn Control (NCHRP 3-54 Research Project)
• 2009 Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices
• Google search for “flashing yellow arrow”

This tragedy serves as a tragic reminder of two important traffic laws, both of which have been a focus of the initial investigation.  Firstly, drivers entering a freeway must yield to traffic already on the freeway.  Inexplicably, I’ll get an e-mail from time-to-time from someone who firmly believes that traffic entering the freeway has the right-of-way unless there’s a yield sign (which is fairly rare.)  However, traffic entering a freeway is considered to be changing lanes, and you must always yield to traffic already in a lane into which you’re merging.

Secondly, all drivers have a fundamental duty to do everything they reasonably can to avoid an accident.  I can’t count how many times I’ve seen drivers forcibly assert their right-of-way and nearly cause an accident.  Please understand that I’m not saying that’s what happened in this case, but the initial accident report did proffer that as a possible cause, and even if it’s moot, it still offers a reminder that’s it’s entirely possible to be “dead right.”

It has recently been reported that Trevino was texting or otherwise using his cell phone at the time of the accident.  The dangers of this are obvious, and again, this case offers yet another reminder.  If not, take a look at the new AT&T ads about texting while driving:

http://fastlane.dot.gov/2010/03/new-antitexting-campaign-breaks-hearts-and-unsafe-habits.html