Comparative Safety Evaluation of SCATS and Pre-Timed Control System

Utpal Dutta, Sujay Bodke and Brian Dara

No 207245, 51st Annual Transportation Research Forum, Arlington, Virginia, March 11-13, 2010 from Transportation Research Forum

Abstract: Since 1992, traffic signals in Oakland County and a portion of Macomb and Wayne Counties of Michigan have been converted to the Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System (SCATS). County traffic engineers have been adjusting various SCATS parameters to improve its effectiveness in terms of delay, traffic flow, queue length, and crash and injury occurrences. In 2008, a study was conducted to evaluate the performance of the SCATS system on M-59, between Pontiac Lake East to Pontiac lake West in Waterford Township, Michigan, in terms of delay, flow, queue length and Fuel consumption and Emission. As a part of this study various performance parameters of SCATS system were compared with the Pre-timed signal system. Performance of the SCATS system was found to be superior for several of the performance measures during each Peak period. When compared to Pre-Timed signal, installation and maintenance cost of SCATS system is almost two times greater. Therefore, there is a need to determine the added related benefits of SCATS system. In this context, determination of crash benefit of SCATS can play a significant role. If we can combine congestion and crash related benefits, then it is most likely combined benefits will overweigh the cost. Crash data from 1999 to 2008 of two corridors, one controlled by the SCATS and other by the Pre-timed signal system were examined to determine the effectiveness of SCATS system. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of SCATS signal system, intersections as well as segment crash data before and after the installation of SCATS signal were compared. In addition, a series of statistical tests were performed to compare safety performance of SCATS and pre-timed signal systems. It was observed that there was shift in severity types A and B to C, which is noteworthy. However, statistical tests were not able to identify any difference of significant at 95 percent confidence level. Finally, cost related information for both SCATS as well as pre-timed was also computed and compared.

Keywords: Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; Research Methods/Statistical Methods; Resource/Energy Economics and Policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010-03
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:ndtr10:207245

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.207245

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