Session 6A: HSM Safety for Future Generations
Session Description: The objective of this session is to provide updates on the development of the 2nd edition of the Highway Safety Manual (HSM). Several research and development efforts are underway, which will expand the profession’s opportunity to apply the HSM predictive and evaluation methods in the project development process. The three presentations included in this session describe the projects related to updating existing crash modification factors, estimating predictive models for various crash types and severity outcomes, and safety prediction models for six-lane and one-way urban and suburban arterials.
Moderator: Eric Donnell, Ph.D., PE, Professor of Civil Engineering, Director, Larson Transportation Institute, Penn State
- Safety Prediction Models for Six-Lane and One-Way Urban and Suburban Arterials, Mike Pratt, Texas A&M Transportation Institute
- Update of Crash Modification Factors for the Highway Safety Manual, Raghavan Srinivasan, University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center
- Improved Prediction Models for Crash Types and Crash Severities, Raghavan Srinivasan, University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center
Speaker Bios:
Michael P. Pratt is an assistant research engineer with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI). He received his bachelor’s degree from UCLA and his master’s degree from Texas A&M University, both in civil engineering, and he has 13 years of research experience. His areas of interest include traffic operations, geometric design, signal timing, and safety. Michael has helped develop spreadsheet-based tools to aid practitioners with road safety assessment, curve signing and paving, and signal timing. He has also presented workshops to train practitioners in using these tools. He is an active friend of several TRB committees, including the Highway Safety Performance Committee.
Dr. Raghavan Srinivasan is a senior transportation research engineer and associate director of engineering and data sciences at UNC’s Highway Safety Research Center. He has more than 20 years of experience in conducting research in highway safety. Srinivasan has conducted projects for several federal agencies, including NCHRP, FHWA, and NHTSA, and state agencies including Virginia, California, New York, New Jersey, and North Carolina. Srinivasan is currently the PI for an AASHTO/FHWA/NCDOT project that is evaluating driving performance associated with horizontal and vertical alignment using data from the SHRP2 naturalistic driving study (NDS). Srinivasan is also the PI for NCHRP Project 17-72, which will develop the crash modification factors (CMFs) for the 2nd edition of the HSM. He has served as the lead analysis for many before-after evaluations for FHWA and other agencies. Srinivasan has a Ph.D. in transportation from the University of California, Davis, and a master’s in transportation from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. Srinivasan is a recipient of TRB’s 2008 D. Grant Mickle Award. He is a member of the Editorial Board for Journal of Safety Research.
