While the positive relationship between traffic crashes and extreme summer conditions is certainly not unheard of, it is rarely used in practice when designing policies or issuing roadway safety warnings. A recent study in Accident Analysis and Prevention shows that heat waves have a significant effect on the frequency of traffic crash fatalities. With climate change resulting in extreme temperatures all around the world, these studies highlight a pressing need for policy and safety interventions to adapt to changing conditions.
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Saving lives, money and time—with corn?
Standing corn row windbreaks, used in northern Midwest and Plains states, are part of a larger program supporting living snow fences. These windbreaks benefit DOTs and communities by reducing winter road closures and the associated costs, decreasing crashes, and reducing the use of salt and sand, which also helps budgets and the environment. Many states in the “snow belt” employ this as part of a broader living snow fence technique.
Different results for New York and New Jersey transit highlight storm preparations
A new study of the preparations for and recovery from Superstorm Sandy outlines why New York City’s transit system was able to resume operations so quickly. The report from the Rudin Center for Transportation at NYU also points out the benefits of the city’s many transportation alternatives, which allowed residents other ways to get to work and other daily destinations following the storm.