Toll Facility Safety Study Report to Congress - About

Toll Facility Safety Study Report to Congress
5 Summary
This report described a study to investigate issues surrounding worker and motorist safety in the
vicinity of toll collection facilities. The study was undertaken in direct response to Section 1403
of SAFETEA-LU legislation, and is focused on accomplishing two main objectives:
(1) To study the incidence of accidents and injuries in the vicinity of highway toll
collection facilities.
(2) To study the safety of toll collection facilities for workers and motorists – and to
document strategies for improving toll plaza safety.
The study involved a review of existing literature, a survey of toll operators, site visits to 7
agencies, interviews with 21 agencies, a workshop with representatives from 20 agencies, and an
analysis of available worker injury and motorist crash data.
To address the first goal of the study, the team analyzed available data on accidents and injuries
occurring in the vicinity of toll booths. While the team examined several trends in the data, the
data obtained was not broad enough or consistent enough to allow national conclusions to be
drawn or to fully examine trends.
The data did show that approximately one-quarter of workplace injuries occurring at toll plazas
are the result of general falls, slips, and trips (28 percent). Other common injuries are those
resulting from being struck by an object (11 percent), and from pulling, lifting, or pushing an
object (9 percent). In terms of the types of injuries that occur most frequently, the most common
injury types reflected in the data obtained were cuts, scrapes, and abrasions (22 percent), strains
(18 percent), pains (11 percent), and sprains (11 percent).
The accident data showed that of 406 crashes where the location was reported, approximately
half (52 percent) occurred at the plaza. Of the remaining crashes, approximately 37 percent
occurred upstream of the plaza, and approximately 11 percent occurred downstream of the plaza.
It is important to note that the study did not find evidence to suggest that toll collector fatalities
are a frequent occurrence at toll plazas. The extensive accident and injury records obtained
through this study did not include any fatalities, and the project team learned of only one fatality
through agency interviews.In order to compare data across toll facilities to make industry-wide
observations and conclusions, the study team recommends that standardized reporting
procedures be implemented for accident and injury data, and that a centralized database be
created and maintained to store this data and organize it in a searchable format. In addition, the
team recommends that a field be added to the FARS to denote whether a crash occurred within
the vicinity of a toll plaza.
To address the second goal of the study, the team gathered information though a survey,
telephone interviews, and site visits. These activities revealed information about a number of
safety challenges that toll authorities face across the United States. These activities also revealed
that authorities across the country are implementing a wide range of safety strategies with
success, and that many of these strategies could be effective for other agencies.
These strategies, which span a wide range of issues, and tackle a wide range of safety challenges,
were vetted with representatives from 20 of the Nation’s toll agencies in a facilitated workshop
setting in order to obtain feedback from individuals in the field on the perceived effectiveness of
each strategy and of any concerns and/or constraints that they may see or have with any
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