CSCRS selects 13 new transportation safety research projects
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (May 16, 2018) — The Collaborative Sciences Center for Road Safety selected 13 new research projects to explore a range of transportation safety topics including autonomous vehicles, shared mobility, Vision Zero and linking crash data.
Each project contributes to realizing the CSCRS mission to create and exchange knowledge to advance transportation safety through a multidisciplinary, Safe Systems approach, and will be conducted by researchers across the Center’s five consortium campuses (University of California, Berkeley; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Duke University; Florida Atlantic University; and University of Tennessee, Knoxville).
“CSCRS is excited to fund these new projects, which offer a strong potential to accelerate improvements in transportation safety and advance our understanding of the ways that systems science and integrated safety programs can be effectively applied to solve complex transportation problems,” said Laura Sandt, director of the Center. “Through these and other efforts, we will continue our role in uniting diverse perspectives to help solve the problems faced by transportation, public health and related professions.”
This is the second slate of research projects selected by the Center since UNC-Chapel Hill received the U.S. Department of Transportation National University Transportation Center grant in November 2016, bringing the total number of CSCRS funded research projects to 21. The new research projects, selected through a rigorous peer-review process, represent $1,046,462 in funding.
The 13 new CSCRS research projects include:
- “Concept of Operations for an Autonomous Vehicle Dispatch Center” (led by Missy Cummings, Duke)
- “Creating a CSCRS Clearinghouse for Bicyclist and Pedestrian Safety-Related Data, Phase I: Inventory & Framework” (led by Krista Nordback, UNC-Chapel Hill)
- “Developing a Taxonomy of Human Errors & Violations that Lead to Crashes” (led by Asad Khattak, UTK)
- “Examining Potential Safety Risks Associated with the Introduction of Light Rail Transit” (led by Eric Dumbaugh, FAU)
- “Explaining the Rise in Pedestrian Fatalities: A Systems Approach” (led by Sandt, UNC-Chapel Hill)
- “Integrating Spatial Safety Data into Transportation Planning Processes” (led by Chris Cherry, UTK)
- “Investigating the Vulnerability of Motorcyclists to Crashes and Injury” (led by Khattak, UTK)
- “Linking Crash and Post-Crash Data” (led by David Ragland, UCB)
- “Machine Learning Tools for Informing Transportation Technology Design” (led by Cummings, Duke)
- “Opioids at the Health and Transportation Safety Nexus” (led by Cherry, UTK)
- “Shared Mobility Services and Their Connection to Roadway Fatalities” (led by Noreen McDonald, UNC-Chapel Hill)
- “Strengthening Existing and Facilitating New Vision Zero Plans” (led by Kelly Evenson, UNC-Chapel Hill)
- “Understanding Crash Risk Exposure of Low Income Neighborhoods and Households” (led by Yanmei Li, FAU)
To learn more about all CSCRS research projects and activities, visit roadsafety.unc.edu/research.
###
CSCRS is a National University Transportation Center supporting the FAST Act research priority of promoting safety; it is one of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s five National UTCs announced December 2016. CSCRS accelerates progress in reducing transport injuries and fatalities by utilizing a systems approach to bring perspectives from planning, engineering, public health, data science and robotics to the road safety field.
CSCRS contact: Jennifer Palcher-Silliman, 919-843-4859, silliman@hsrc.unc.edu
