Center for Advancing Transportation Leadership and Safety

Volume 2, Issue 3 October, 2015

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FROM THE DIRECTOR

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Fall has arrived, classes are in full swing, and many of us are looking forward to the holiday season.

Fall is an exciting season for the ATLAS Center with regard to educating the brightest and best

students. This is the time where we look back over the past year and assess the impact of

educational programs, as well as look ahead to future opportunities. By all accounts, our Summer

Internship Program at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) continues to be a resounding

success. This summer’s program brought together students from four universities who had the

unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience conducting research with professional researchers

and professors at both TTI and the larger Texas A&M University (TAMU) campus. It is our hope

to continue to grow this program and we encourage any safety-related UTC to consider sending

students next summer. Look in future ATLAS Express newsletters for the announcement.

The ATLAS Center is sponsoring a new set of research projects. Each of these projects will support at least one student,

giving them valuable research experience and access to faculty. Details about these projects can be found in this

newsletter. We are also in the process of selecting our 2016 Student of the Year and look forward to supporting the

winner's travel to the CUTC and TRB meetings in January. You can read about student involvement and other educational

opportunities in this newsletter.

We are very excited to announce that Dr. Carol Flannagan, Interim Director of UMTRI, has agreed to serve on the

ATLAS Center Advisory Board. We look forward to benefiting greatly from her experience and knowledge. We also

welcome Ms. Holly Nielson, UMTRI's Business Administrator, to the ATLAS Center team. You can find out more about

each of these individuals in this newsletter.

To find out more about the ATLAS Center and our many activities, I encourage you to visit our website (www.ATLAS-

Center.org) or “like” our Facebook page. The ATLAS Center will continue to bring together researchers and professionals

to share knowledge, plan future research, and make research outcomes accessible to the public and practitioners. You can

read about these activities in this and future issues of the ATLAS Express. If you have questions or feedback about the

ATLAS Center, or if you wish to contribute financially to our activities, please contact me at: ATLAS-

Center@umich.edu.

My Best Regards,

David W. Eby, PhD

Director, ATLAS Center

Center for Advancing Transportation Leadership and Safety

The purpose of the

ATLAS Express is to inform

faculty, students, sponsors,

and other transportation

stakeholders about the ongo-

ing activities of the Center

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Despite stereotypes to the contrary, motorcyclists are among the most vulnerable

groups of road users. In 2013, 4,668 people died in motorcycle crashes in the

United States (US). That year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administra-

tion reported that motorcyclists were 26 times more likely than passenger car oc-

cupants to die in a crash per vehicle mile traveled, and 5 times more likely to be

injured. The higher likelihood of death and injury indicates that special effort

should be made to find ways to improve the safety of motorcyclists.

Without a doubt, the best way for a rider to avoid death or serious injury from a

crash is by wearing an approved motorcycle helmet. Although studies have shown

that helmets reduce the risk of death by 37 to 42 percent, not all riders choose to

wear one and many riders use helmets that have not been approved by the US

Department of Transportation. For that reason, many states have implemented

motorcycle helmet laws, which are highly effective in increasing helmet use, thereby reducing the severi-

ty of head injuries, the likelihood of death, and the overall costs of medical and health care for motorcy-

clists in a crash. Unfortunately, in Michigan, home to the ATLAS Center’s lead institution UMTRI, the

mandatory helmet law was repealed in 2012. UMTRI Associate Research Scientist Lisa Molnar and Re-

search Scientist Lidia Kostyniuk investigated the safety and economic cost of that repeal using 2009

Michigan motorcycle crash and cost data. These researchers estimated that if Michigan’s helmet law had

been repealed in 2009, helmet use would have dropped from 98% to about 50%, fatalities and serious

injuries would have risen 45%, and the average cost per crash-involved motorcyclist would have

increased 48%. After the repeal, UMTRI Associate Research Scientist and UMTRI Interim Director Car-

ol Flannagan analyzed 2012 Michigan crash data and found helmet use dropped from 98% to 74%. She

also found that if the law had not been repealed, there could possibly have been 26 fewer motorcycle

deaths and 49 fewer injuries that year. Both of these analyses clearly demonstrate that if more riders

chose to wear helmets, more lives would be saved.

If helmets and other safety gear save lives, why doesn’t everyone wear them? Texas, home to the

ATLAS Center partner TTI, has one of the highest motorcycle crash rates in the US, with 467

motorcyclists killed in 2012. Of those killed, 52 percent were not wearing proper protective gear at the

time of the crash. Researchers at TTI wanted to understand the reasons for this, and identify a way to

promote the use of motorcycle safety gear. TTI Senior Research Scientist Michael Manser led a project,

funded by TxDOT, that included a survey of riders age 18 and over to find out why Texans do and do not

wear proper safety gear, and to determine how to use that information to promote safety gear use. The

results showed that riders wanted detailed information about the specific ways that safety gear prevented

or reduced injuries, and that messages from family/friends to wear more protective gear could be

powerful in convincing riders to wear safety gear.

Researchers at the ATLAS Center partner institutions recognize motorcyclists’ vulnerability and will

continue work to increase their safety when sharing the road with other motor vehicles. One clear

message coming out of this research program is that if you are a rider, you should wear a helmet and

other protective gear. If you are a family member or a friend of a rider, you should encourage him/her to

wear the appropriate safety gear. This gear includes: a helmet, padded jacket, eyewear, gloves, padded

riding pants and riding boots.

Feature — Motorcycle Safety

2

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Dr. Carol Flannagan is Interim Director of the University of Michigan Transportation Research

Institute (UMTRI), co-Director of UMTRI’s da-ta center, and an Associate Research Scientist in the Biosciences group. She earned an MA in

Statistics and a PhD in Mathematical Psycholo-gy from the University of Michigan.

Dr. Flannagan’s work in transportation research

encompasses analysis of a wide variety of transportation-related data, including natural-istic driving, field operational test, crash, and

injury outcome data. She has developed innova-tive approaches to data and information integra-

tion, including linking analysis of driving and crash datasets, as well as linking crash and medi-

cal outcome data. In her free time, Carol likes to walk the dog while simultaneously playing Fris-bee and football with her husband and three

mostly-grown children.

Holly Nielsen is the Business Administrator for UMTRI. In this role, Holly is responsible for

developing and administering the financial, busi-ness information, human resource, and facilities functions of UMTRI. Holly earned a BA from

U-M, majoring in Economics and German. Her studies included a semester abroad at the

University of Heidelberg in Germany. She also earned an MBA from the U-M Ross School of

Business. Prior to joining UMTRI, Holly had a variety of

positions at U-M with increasing responsibil-ity. She worked in the Ross School of Business

Administration; Office of the President, Academic Affairs, and Office of Budget and

Planning; University Information Systems; College of Literature, Science, and the Arts; the M-Pathways Project, and Information Technol-

ogy Services. In her free time she likes to exercise, eat good food, and spend time with her

husband and three children.

Meet the ATLAS Center Team

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Identifying the Potential of Improved Heavy Truck Crashworthiness to Reduce Death

and Injury for Truck Drivers, a project by Chiara Silvestri Dobrovolny (TTI), Daniel Blower

(UMTRI), Marco Benedetti (UMTRI) and Nathan D. Schulz (TTI), has been completed. This project examined heavy truck crashes that would still occur if all tractor-semitrailers were

equipped with all available crash-avoidance technologies, and developed a methodology using fi-nite element analysis and simulation to address occupant safety in such crashes. The final report

one-page research brief, and web briefing video can be found on our website at the links below.

Final Report: http://www.atlas-center.org/technology-transfer/reports/ Research Brief: http://www.atlas-center.org/technology-transfer/research-briefs/ Web Briefing Video: http://www.atlas-center.org/technology-transfer/web-briefings/

Eight proposals were received for this year’s Research

Excellence Program. These proposals were carefully

reviewed by invited technical experts, and three projects

were awarded funding. These projects began on September 1st and will continue for 8

months.

R

esea

rch

Ex

cell

ence

Pro

gra

m

Research News

Effects of Clinical Obesity on Seat Belt

Fit

Principal Investigator: Monica

L.H. Jones, PhD,

Assistant Research Scientist, UMTRI

Co-Investigators: K. Han Kim, UMTRI;, Matthew

P. Reed, UMTRI; Oliver A. Varban, U-M Health

System; and Bruce Bradtmiller, Anthrotech

Cooperative Research Program

Circadian Timing, Drowsy Driving, and

Health Risk Behavior in Novice Adolescent

Drivers

Principal Investigator: Daniel Keating,

M.D. Professor of Psychology,

Psychiatry, and Pediatrics; Research Professor, U-M Institute of Social Research (ISR)

Co-Investigators: Todd Arendt, U-M Medical

School; Edward Huntley, U-M ISR; and Bruce

Simons-Morton, University of New South Wales,

Sydney, Australia

Improving the Safety of Older Heavy-Vehicle Drivers: Developing a

Framework for Moving Forward

Principal Investigator: Lisa J.

Molnar, Associate Research Scientist, UMTRI

Co-Investigators: David W. Eby,

UMTRI; Daniel Blower, UMTRI;

Sharon Newnam, Monash University, Australia; and Sjaan

Koppel, Monash University,

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Our six student interns completed their summer internships in Au-gust and presented their research with their TTI mentors at the

TTI Undergraduate Poster Competition. The interns kept busy throughout the summer as they worked on their respective traffic

safety research projects, watching a crash test demonstration at TTI-Riverside, attending TTI brown

bag lunch sessions, and enjoying the entertainment and nightlife in Texas. On August 31, the U-M interns visited

UMTRI to discuss their research and overall experience with ATLAS

Center staff and other transportation researchers. All of the interns remarked that they thoroughly enjoyed their time in Texas this past

summer.

Garrett Ackner: Analysis of Crashes Involving

Emergency Vehicles in Emergency Calls

Lolivone de la Rosa-León: Safety Analysis of a Work

Zone Queue Warning System

Marci Early: Operational Performance at Two-Way

Stop Controlled Intersections

George Gillette: The Effect of Distractions on a

Pedestrian’s Waiting Behavior at Traffic Signals: An Ob-

servational Study

Marielle Saunders: The Perception of Neighborhood

Safety Among Older Adults: Influential Factors

Zach Snyder: Development of a Smartphone

Application to Evaluate Older Driver Fitness

Summer Internship Research

As part of the ATLAS Center Symposium Series, UMTRI hosted Dr. Sue Chrysler, Human Factors Psychologist and Senior Research Scientist from

TTI on September 29th. Dr. Chrysler gave a talk titled, Using Driving Simula-tion vs. Naturalistic Driving Data to Examine Driver Behavior: Can’t We Just Get

Along?, discussing appropriate research platforms for transportation human

factors work. While at UMTRI, Dr. Chrysler met with many researchers, toured the facilities, and was hosted by Dr. Paul Green for a researcher din-

ner at a local Ann Arbor restaurant. Please take a look at our website for the video presentation and her PowerPoint slides at www.atlas-center.org/educationworkforce-development/atlas-symposium-

series-program/sue-chrysler/.

Symposium Program Series

Educational News

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Educational News (cont’d)

6

Symposium Program Series (con’t)

The 2015 Transportation Safety Research Symposium sponsored by

UMTRI and the ATLAS Center was held on the campus of the University of Michigan, October 15, 2015. The full-day event featured panels that focused on the impact that UMTRI research has made

in the field of transportation safety. ATLAS Center Director, David W. Eby, presented longitudinal research on aging drivers; Lidia Kostyniuk, ATLAS Center Research Coordinator, presented her

work on driving behaviors in early stage dementia, and Lisa Molnar, ATLAS Center Associate Director, presented work on the implications of automated vehicles for older drivers.

Nearly 40 students entered the poster session, sponsored by ATLAS Center and the Toyota Collaborative Safety Research Center (CSRC). Posters were evaluated by a panel of judges on

quality, presentation and the significant of their work in the field of transportation safety. Tanaz Rahimzadeh, PhD candidate, Mechanical Engineering won first place with her poster, A Safety

Helmet Design Strategy for Optimal Impact Mitigation to Minimize the Risk of

Brain Injuries. Ding Zhao, PhD student, Mechanical Engineering received

second place for his poster, Accelerated Evaluation of Automated Vehicles,

and Steven Vozar, research fellow, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science received third place for his poster, Minimum Effort Avoidance for

Autonomous Vehicle Safety Evaluation.

Event

The

Workforce Intelligence Network (WIN) completed the first part of their ATLAS Center

funded research, and gave an overview of their work to Center staff in July. WIN’s staff, including former ATLAS Center summer intern Meg Mulhall,

completed an analysis and profile of the current transportation safety work-force in Michigan. WIN separated occupations into three clusters: engineering & design, operations and planning, and investigated the demand for further

transportation safety workers and those workers’ educational needs.

Our next symposium will be held at TTI. Dr. Robert Hampshire,

Assistant Research Professor at UMTRI, will be visiting both Austin and College Station, Texas from November 18-19, 2015. His

symposium talk will be Is the Curb 80% Full or 20% Empty? Assessing the Impacts of San Francisco’s Parking Pricing Experiment.

Workforce Development

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A biannual report is being produced to highlight Center activities and accomplishments during its first 2 years of operation. The report will be

available in December on our website, with a limited supply of hard copies.

Technology Transfer

Biannual Report

Renée St. Louis served as lead technician for a Child Passenger Safety Certification course in Grand Blanc, Michigan on August

12-15 in which 15 people became newly certified child passenger safety technicians. The four-day course culminated with a child

safety seat check event at the Grand Blanc Township Police Department. Over 20 families were provided with education and

hands-on assistance with the proper use of child restraint systems and seat belts.

Lidia Kostyniuk was invited to

attend the TRB Committee on Alcohol, Other Drugs, and

Transportation Midyear Meeting in Woods Hole, MA on August 23 and 24 to

present, Perceptions of Lowering the BAC Standard

in the US.

Activities

Lisa Molnar served as an invited member on the panel

“Vulnerable Road Users: How Can Automated Vehicle Systems Help Keep Them Safe and Mobile?” as part of the

Automated Vehicles Symposium held in Ypsilanti, Michigan July 20-23. As part of the panel, she gave a presentation on Implications of Automated Vehicles for Older Drivers.

David W. Eby gave an invited presentation at the 7th The Eye, the Brain,

and the Auto World Research Congress on

September 9 titled, An Overview of the

LongROAD Project.

In August, Lisa Molnar and Lidia Kostyniuk attended the Human Computer Interface

International Conference 2015. Lisa served on the program board for the conference and moderated a session entitled “Emerging IT for Older Drivers: Boon or Bane.” She

also presented The Progression Toward Automated Vehicles: Implications for Older Drivers. As

part of the same session, Lidia presented Use of Emerging IT to Advance Understanding of

Older Driver Behavior, work that she had done with coauthors Shan Bao (UMTRI) and

Ruifeng Zheng (visiting scholar at UMTRI from Hunan University in China).

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Advancing Transportation Leadership & Safety

The ATLAS Center is a collaboration between the

University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) and the

Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI)

2901 Baxter Rd.

Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2150

Phone: (734) 764-6240

Fax: (734) 936-1081

E-mail: ATLAS-Center@umich.edu

Website: www.ATLAS-Center.org

Enjoy the

Fall Season!

David, Lisa, Robert,

Melissa, Lidia,

Renée, Nicole,

Barb, and Beth

Front Cover Photo: U-M Law Quad — Dustin_j_Williams, Law Quad

with Bike, Flickr.com

Inside Photos: Motorcycles —TAMU Media; U-M Researchers & Facul-

ty—U-M Media; Jumping Interns —TAMU Media; Interns at BBQ—

Marci Early; U-M Interns—Nicole Zanier; Sue Chrysler—UMTRI

Marketing; Child Passenger Safety Certification class —Anonymous;

Research Symposium Poster Session winner —U-M Media

Back Cover Photo: TTI Campus—TAMU Media

If you would like to unsubscribe to this newsletter or contact the ATLAS Center, please

email us at ATLAS-Center@umich.edu or call (734) 764-4778.