1. GSR opening for a distracted driving study @ SafeTREC beginning Spring 2014.
Application deadline: 12/13/2013
Project background: In the past few years, driver distraction from cell phone use has become a hot issue, with many states rushing to pass laws to regulate or ban the use of electronic devices while driving. While cell phone use is known to reduce driver attention and performance, there is limited understanding of the impact that these laws have on roadway safety.
We will be studying distracted driving laws and their effectiveness at reducing traffic injury. The aims of the study are to:
- evaluate the effectiveness at reducing traffic injury of laws targeting handheld phone use, texting, and young drivers;
- evaluate the effectiveness at reducing traffic injury of different fines and enforcement levels of inattentive driving laws; and
- compare the effectiveness at reducing traffic injury of various distracted and inattentive driving laws.
We will conduct a state and local-level evaluation of change in fatal and, where possible, injury collisions before and after the implementation of laws prohibiting driver inattention or limiting electronic device use while driving. Difference-in-differences and synthetic control methods will be used to control for underlying crash trends in this natural experiment. The outcome measure for the natural experiments will be the fatal or injury crash rate, in units of crashes per vehicle miles traveled. The results of this study will inform the design of effective laws to reduce traffic injury from driver inattention.
Student responsibilities: The GSR will work closely with SafeTREC researchers on a variety of tasks, including:
- Conducting an updated literature review on distracted driving
- Managing data collection and database
- Conducting statistical and econometric analyses
Skills and qualifications:
- Good quantitative skills
- Knowledge of statistics and econometrics
- Background in traffic safety
- Ability to conduct individual study
- Strong oral and written communication skills
- Familiarity with Stata or SAS is an advantage
Appointment details: The position will be for one year at 50% starting Spring 2014.
Application information: Please send your resume or any questions about this position to Dr. Offer Grembek, SafeTREC’s Associate Director for Research grembek@berkeley.edu(link sends e-mail).
Link
distracted_driving_gsr_job_description.pdf
2. GSR Opening Spring 2014: Strategies for Monitoring and Reducing Traffic Injury for Pedestrians
Application deadline: 12/13/2013
Project background: The inherent differences between pedestrian and motorized vehicles restrict the opportunities to apply existing vehicle safety practices to pedestrian safety. To date, the dominant road safety management approach to allocate safety resources is the hotspot approach which focuses on identifying and recommending improvements for high collision concentration locations. Another approach is the systemic approach which seeks blanket improvements that can be implemented at similar sites across the network. The systemic approach is valuable for facilities that have relatively low crash densities (e.g., rural roads) and are therefore less likely to be flagged as hotspots and be considered for safety investigations and improvements. Similarly, pedestrian crashes exhibit lower crash densities and accordingly no resources are allocated to conduct site investigation to improve pedestrian safety. In addition to that, pedestrian data is often missing essential elements (e.g., exposure) that are needed for hotspot identification methods.
To address the challenges in pedestrian safety management a systemic approach for identifying potential safety countermeasures and implementing them across groups of locations sharing the same risk characteristics has been developed. The approach was developed as a proof of concept and demonstrated successfully at the corridor level in an earlier study. Crashes along the study sites were counted for specific crash and facility type pairs. The data is assembled in a matrix which provides a snapshot of what types of crashes are occurring on what types of facilities and helps in identifying the “systemic hotpsots.” This approach also provides guidance about the possible set of countermeasures that can be used to reduce the specific type of crashes for each facility type.
Student responsibilities: The GSR will work closely with SafeTREC researchers on a variety of task for this project, including:
- Literature review
- Extract safety data from the Transportation Injury Mapping System http://www.tims.berkeley.edu/
- Manage data collection and database
- Conduct statistical analyses.
Skills and qualifications:
- Good quantitative skills
- Background in traffic safety and pedestrian research
- Ability to conduct individual study
- Strong oral and written communication skills
- Familiarity with GIS software is an advantage
Appointment details: The position will be for one year at 50% starting Spring 2014.
Application information: Please send your resume or any questions about this position to Dr. Offer Grembek, SafeTREC’s Associate Director for Research grembek@berkeley.edu(link sends e-mail).