Category: Journal Article

New Publication: Safe Interactions Between Vehicles and Bicyclists

Posted on September 9th, 2020
Truck passing a bicyclist on a rural highway

The Journal of Safety Research has published an article that examines the influence of traffic safety culture on a driver’s behavior when interacting with bicyclists on the roadway.

“Traffic safety culture and prosocial driver behavior for safer vehicle-bicyclist interactions” is based on a research collaboration between the Center for Health and Safety Culture (CHSC) and the Small Urban and Rural Livability Center (SURLC) at WTI.  Authors include CHSC researchers Nic Ward, Kari Finley and Jay Otto of CHSC, and David Kack, Rebecca Gleason, and Taylor Lonsdale of SURLC.

Bicyclist safety is a growing concern as more adults use this form of transportation for recreation, exercise, and mobility. Most bicyclist fatalities result from a crash with a vehicle, and the behaviors of the driver are often responsible for the crash.  The researchers conducted a survey study of Montana and North Dakota residents and found that prosocial driver behavior was most common and appeared to be intentional. They also found that this intention was increased by positive attitudes, normative perceptions, and perceived control. The findings can be used to develop strategies to increase prosocial intentions and driver behavior, thereby increasing bicyclist safety.

CITATION: Ward, N. J., Finley, K., Otto, J., Kack, D., Gleason, R., & Lonsdale, T. (2020). Traffic safety culture and prosocial driver behavior for safer vehicle-bicyclist interactions. Journal of Safety Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2020.07.003

NEW PUBLICATION: Idaho Barn Owl Study Explores High Rates of Road Mortality

Posted on May 7th, 2019

Ibis, an international journal of avian science, has published an article based on a WTI Road Ecology project in Idaho.  “Spatial, road geometric and biotic factors associated with Barn Owl mortality along an interstate highway” studied the high rates of collisions between Barn Owls and vehicles on Interstate 84 in Southern Idaho.  It stems from a WTI project on potential mitigation options for reducing vehicle collisions with barn owls, which was a collaborative research effort among WTI, Boise State University, Murdock Charitable Trust, Federal Highway Administration, Idaho Transportation Department and Idaho EPSCoR.  Angela Kociolek served as the Principal Investigator.

Citation: Arnold, E. M., Hanser, S. E., Regan, T. , Thompson, J. , Lowe, M. , Kociolek, A. and Belthoff, J. R. (2019), Spatial, road geometric and biotic factors associated with Barn Owl mortality along an interstate highway. Ibis, 161: 147-161. doi:10.1111/ibi.12593

Aviation Journal Highlights Aviation Weather Portal project

Posted on April 29th, 2019

The State Aviation Journal recently published a feature article on the benefits of an aviation weather and travel tool developed by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and WTI.  “Caltrans Continues to Emphasize Value of Aviation Weather and Travel Portal” describes the Aviation Weather Information (AWI) portal, which links dozens of commonly used (official) aviation weather websites into one location, providing easy access to key flight-related weather conditions (such as wind speed and visibility), pilot reports and airport data. The article mentions how the portal has been very useful to emergency services agencies in California during earthquake and mudslide events.  The tool grew out of a multi-phase research collaboration between Caltrans and WTI, dating back to 2007 and led by Principal Investigator, Doug Galarus.  More information about the project is available on the Caltrans AWI website or on WTI’s Integration of Aviation AWOS with RWIS project webpage.

New Publication: Arctic Grayling Research featured in Journal of Ecohydraulics

Posted on April 15th, 2019

Installing effective fish passage structures that provide connectivity for Arctic grayling is a promising conservation strategy for imperiled populations. The Journal of Ecohydraulics has published a study by Road Ecology researcher Matt Blank and several colleagues, which examined the swimming behavior of grayling from Montana in an open-channel flume.  The results “provide some of the first published information on swimming abilities of grayling from the Missouri River basin.”

The research is a collaboration among WTI, the MSU Department of Civil Engineering, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Forest Service, and Wild Rivers Consulting, and one of several projects the partners have conducted together at the Bozeman Fish Technology Center. More information about grayling research is available on the WTI website, and more information about the collaborative research program is available on the MSU Fish Passage webpage.

Citation: David R. Dockery, Erin Ryan, Kevin M. Kappenman & Matt Blank (2019): Swimming performance of Arctic grayling (Thymallusarcticus Pallas) in an open-channel flume, Journal of Ecohydraulics, DOI: 10.1080/24705357.2019.1599306

New Publication: Study Estimates Costs of Animal-Vehicle Collisions in Brazil

Posted on April 15th, 2019

Animal-vehicle collisions (AVCs) are a threat to both humans and wildlife, and they have an economic cost to society. PLOS ONE has published a study by WTI researcher Marcel Huijser and his international research partners that documents the impacts of AVCs in São Paulo State, Brazil.  Based on the findings, the research team estimates that there are 2611 AVCs each year, and more than 18% of them result in human injuries or fatalities. The total annual cost to society is approximately $25 million. The study also includes policy and management recommendations for reducing AVCs and enhancing safety.

 

Citation: Abra F.D., B.M. Granziera, M.P. Huijser, K.M.P.M.d.B. Ferraz, C.M. Haddad, R.M. Paolino. 2019. Pay or prevent? Human safety, costs to society and legal perspectives on animal-vehicle collisions in São Paulo state, Brazil. PLoSONE 14(4):e0215152. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0215152

New Publication: How effective are flashing beacons at crosswalks?

Posted on February 19th, 2019

Pedestrians utilize rectangular rapid flashing beacons (RRFB) at busy road crossing.WTI Program Manager Ahmed Al-Kaisy is the lead author of “Motorists’ voluntary yielding of right of way at uncontrolled midblock crosswalks with rectangular rapid flashing beacons,” recently published in the Journal of Transportation Safety and Security. This article presents an investigation into the motorists’ voluntary yielding behavior to bicycles and pedestrians. Two study sites in the state of Montana with light emitting diode (LED) rectangular rapid flashing beacons (RRFB) warning devices were used in this investigation.

 

Citation: Ahmed Al-Kaisy, Guilherme T. Miyake, Joey Staszcuk & Danielle Scharf (2018) Motorists’ voluntary yielding of right of way at uncontrolled midblock crosswalks with rectangular rapid flashing beacons, Journal of Transportation Safety & Security, 10:4, 303-317, DOI: 10.1080/19439962.2016.1267827

New Publication: Testing the swimming capabilities of Arctic Grayling

Posted on February 19th, 2019

Northwest Science has published the journal article “Swimming Capabilities of Artic Grayling.” The article, authored by Joel Cahoon, Audrey Jones, and Kathryn Plymesser of MSU’s Civil Engineering Department; Kevin Kappenman and Erin Ryan of the US Fish and Wildlife Service; and Matt Blank of WTI highlights research to study the swimming ability of arctic grayling and to examine the effect of repeated trials using the same fish.  The research is a collaboration among WTI, the MSU Department of Ecology, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and one of several projects the partners have conducted together at the Bozeman Fish Technology Center.  More information about the sturgeon project is available on the WTI website, and more information about the collaborative research program is available on the MSU Fish Passage webpage.

 

Citation: Joel Cahoon, Kevin Kappenman, Erin Ryan, Audrey Jones, Kathryn Plymesser and Matt Blank. “Swimming Capabilities of Arctic Grayling,” Northwest Science 92(3), (1 October 2018). https://doi.org/10.3955/046.092.0309

New Publication: The role of social capital in traffic safety citizenship

Posted on February 19th, 2019

Traffic safety citizenship is an emerging approach to reduce serious injuries and fatalities on our roadways. The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Civic and Political Studies recently published “The Role of Social Capital in Traffic Safety Citizenship” by Kari Finley, Jay Otto, and Nic Ward of the Center for Health and Safety Culture. The journal article describes their study to develop a model to identify beliefs and values associated with intention to engage in traffic safety citizenship behaviors with strangers and to explore the role of an individual’s perception of social capital in this model. This study focused on two safety citizenship behaviors: intervening as a driver to ask a passenger to wear a seat belt and intervening as a passenger to ask a driver to stop reading or typing on a cell phone while driving.

 

Citation: Finley, Kari, Jay Otto, and Nicholas Ward. 2018. “The Role of Social Capital in Traffic Safety Citizenship.” The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Civic and Political Studies 13 (2): 29-41. doi:10.18848/2327-0071/CGP/v13i02/29-41.

New Publications Released on Traffic Safety Culture and Traffic Safety Citizenship

Posted on October 30th, 2018

A Strategic Approach to Transforming Traffic Safety Culture to Reduce Deaths and Injuries

The Transportation Research Board’s (TRB’s) National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) has released the results of a national study on traffic safety culture, led by P.I. Nic Ward of the Center for Health and Safety Culture and Cambridge Systematics. “A Strategic Approach to Transforming Traffic Safety Culture to Reduce Deaths and Injuries” provides guidance to state transportation agencies on how to transform the traffic safety culture of road users and stakeholders, with the long-term goal of sustaining improvements in traffic safety for all road users. Background information is available on the project webpage. The report is available at http://nap.edu/25286

Citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. A Strategic Approach to Transforming Traffic Safety Culture to Reduce Deaths and Injuries. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25286.

The Role of Social Capital in Traffic Safety Citizenship

Kari Finley Ph.D., Jay Otto M.S., and Nic Ward Ph.D. with the Center for Health and Safety Culture (CHSC) at Montana State University have published an article in the International Journal of Interdisciplinary Civic and Political Studies. The article titled “The Role of Social Capital in Traffic Safety Citizenship” focuses on two traffic safety citizenship behaviors: asking a passenger to wear a seat belt and asking a driver to stop texting on a cell phone while driving and explores the role of social capital to facilitate engagement in these behaviors with strangers. Results indicate that social capital may influence engagement in traffic safety citizenship behaviors. This project was conducted in cooperation with the US Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration and the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT), as part of a Traffic Safety Culture Pooled Fund. The article is available through Open Access and can be found at The Role of Social Capital in Traffic Safety Citizenship or at https://cgscholar.com/bookstore/works/the-role-of-social-capital-in-traffic-safety-citizenship.

Citation- Finley, K., Otto, J. & Ward, N.J. (2018). The Role of Social Capital in Traffic Safety Citizenship. The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Civic and Political Studies 13:2, 29-41. doi:10.18848/2327-0071/CGP/v13i02/29-41.