Toll Facility Safety Study Report to Congress - About

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Toll Facility Safety Study Report to Congress vehicle. While such incidents are relatively rare, 7 they have occurred, and the potential certainly exists for them to occur again. Among the factors that have contributed to such incidents in the past (or to more recent close calls) are the introduction of ETC lanes, the uncertainty of driver actions in mixed-use lanes, the inability of operators of large trucks to see someone crossing directly in front of them, the dangers associated with closing a lane, and worker complacency. To improve the safety of these crossings and/or to reduce exposure of workers to traffic, agencies are using a number of strategies as discussed in the following sections. 4.1.2.1 Direct Access to Toll Booths for Workers The most aggressive mitigation strategy to protect workers from vehicular traffic is to provide workers access to booths without requiring them to cross active traffic by-pass toll lanes. This can be accomplished with the use of tunnels or bridges (example shown in Figure 4-6). Approximately half of the agencies visited by the study team have built such structures for their larger plazas. However, these structures rarely prevent workers from being in the roadway altogether. Most of the structures do not have entrances for each and every lane; consequently workers are typically required to cross two to three lanes. Even if collectors can avoid crossing a lane by using the structure, they still sometimes find themselves in live traffic – whether to pick up dropped money, to assist customers having problems with their Figure 4-6. Tunnels Provide Access to Booths without Exposure to Traffic ETC transponders, or to close a lane. Further, the use of such structures by collectors is typically not mandated (even when present), and many of the agencies that have them report that the use of the tunnels/bridges remains quite low. The reasons for this are varied – workers avoid bridges without elevators because of the need to climb stairs, tunnels are often dank and the entrances slippery, and using a tunnel or bridge can take more time than simply crossing a lane. Another strategy for minimizing the number of lanes that a worker must cross is to provide break areas on either side of the plaza. Some agencies with plazas or with staffed lanes at either end of the plaza (with ETC lanes in the middle rather than on the far lanes) have placed break rooms on either side of the plaza to minimize the number of lanes that workers must cross. These are found to be effective where they have been implemented, but they can be costly and they are often simply impractical given space limitations and lack of right-of-way. Two final design strategies for minimizing worker exposure include: Locating all high-speed ETC lanes to the left of the facility (i.e., toward the middle of the roadway) and prohibiting employees from crossing these high-speed lanes. 7 The accident and injury data obtained through this study did not include any fatalities and the project team learned of only one fatality from the agency interviews. Findings – Factors Affecting Safety at Toll Plazas Page 24
Toll Facility Safety Study Report to Congress Eliminating all mixed-mode lanes, relying instead on dedicated ETC and cash lanes. 4.1.2.2 Policies and Procedures for Crossing For those cases where workers must still cross travel lanes (either because a tunnel or bridge does not have an entrance to every lane, or because such a structure is not present), agencies have implemented a variety of different crossing procedures, both formal and informal. As an example, nearly all agencies require workers to make eye contact with vehicles before crossing. However, this is the only procedure that was common to all agencies visited and interviewed. Other crossing procedures include the following: Most agencies require safety vests to be worn by workers at all times (or at least at all times when outside the booth). A number of agencies strictly prohibit workers from crossing high-speed ETC lanes. Some agencies only allow supervisors to cross these lanes. Two agencies reported that employees are never allowed to cross active lanes of traffic – if an employee needs to cross a lane, it must first be shut down. Owing to an earlier incident that resulted in a fatality, one agency has a policy that workers are not allowed to cross in front of vehicles larger than a sport utility vehicle, fearing that commercial vehicle operators simply cannot see a person immediately in front of their vehicle. Nearly all agencies require their workers to signal their intent to cross to drivers and to wait for confirmation from the driver. A number of agencies do not allow their workers to cross behind vehicles as vehicles frequently back up at plazas. Employees of one agency are issued a small personal “stop paddle” (as shown in Figure 4-7) that is utilized by both the employee crossing an active lane of traffic and by the collector working in the adjacent toll booth. Figure 4-7. Handheld Stop Sign Aids Collector in Crossing Travel Lanes Figure 4-8. Clear Plastic Shoulder Bag for Collectors to Use when Crossing Some workers reported that they have taken to providing verbal cues to motorists (e.g., yelling “I’m crossing!”). Findings – Factors Affecting Safety at Toll Plazas Page 25
Page 1 and 2: Toll Facilities Workplace Safety St
Page 3 and 4: Toll Facility Safety Study Report t
Page 35: Toll Facility Safety Study Report t
Page 87 and 88:
Toll Facility Safety Study Report t
Page 89 and 90:
Page 91 and 92:
Page 93 and 94:
Page 95 and 96:
Page 97 and 98:
Page 99 and 100:
Page 101 and 102:
Page 103 and 104:
Page 105 and 106:
Page 107 and 108:
Page 109 and 110:
Page 111 and 112:
Page 113 and 114:
Page 115 and 116:
Page 117 and 118:
Page 119 and 120:
Page 121 and 122:
show all

Toll Facility Safety Study Report to Congress - About

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?