Recipient: Toole Design
Grant: $105,000
Completion: 2023
Project Summary: 32
Background and Need
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reports 40,000+ fatalities and 2.5 million injury crashes annually in the US. Understanding collision factors is crucial for prevention. Vehicle speed is the main risk, with slower speeds offering safety benefits like better control, shorter stopping distances, and wider fields-of-view. Projects like streetscaping and traffic calming projects aim to create safer environments, utilizing measures such as narrow lane widths, lateral shifts, raised intersections, street trees, and attractive and textured paving materials. This research focused on how concrete pavers affect motor vehicle speeds, amidst various traffic calming efforts. Toole Design’s study analyzes field data, controls for other measures, and conducts statistical analyses to quantify speed differences between concrete pavers and asphalt streets.