The Road to Fewer Crashes
A crash is not an accident, as the engineers in the UMass Transportation Center will tell you. Since 1994, the UMTC has worked to reduce car crashes and to improve many other aspects of transportation mobility and safety through innovative research, training, and education. UMTC works closely with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to keep people safer.
Today, the UMTC, housed in the College of Engineering, has expanded its scope to address the newest challenges in transportation, from automated vehicles to drones to the impacts of legalizing recreational marijuana. The intersection between climate change and transportation is also a major concern— whether designing roads and bridges that can withstand more extreme storms or promoting reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from transportation. UMass is also one of the few universities to offer a course on pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure.
Because crashes are predictable results of human actions, not accidents, much of the UMTC’s traffic safety research focuses on human factors, such as driver comprehension. Shannon Roberts, associate professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, is co-director of the center’s Arbella Insurance Human Performance Lab. The lab focuses on understanding driver behavior, identifying factors inside and outside the vehicle that affect safety, and developing training and interfaces to improve driving skills. “A good portion of our research focuses on automated vehicles. As we introduce more automation into cars, our goal is to ensure that fewer people will die in traffic crashes,” she says.
The lab is equipped with a driving simulator, simulator software, and equipment such as eye trackers, head trackers, and portable camera systems used both in the lab and in the field. “The driving simulator has been immensely useful in doing experiments with vulnerable groups and risky driving situations, because it allows for a safe environment to test different vehicle and roadway designs without the risk of a crash,” says Roberts. Risky driving situations that Roberts has studied include instances where automation fails in a car and instances of distraction, such as texting while driving.
In addition, she is currently leading a National Science Foundation REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) Site centered on transportation equity. The project— Research for Inclusivity and Driving Equity (RIDE)—provides undergraduates with an immersive and interdisciplinary research experience aimed at improving transportation for underserved and underrepresented communities.