Enhancing Safety in Work Zones: The Influence of Speed Feedback on Driving Behavior

Introduction: Work zones play a vital role in maintaining and enhancing road infrastructure to meet growing transportation needs. However, work zones have been identified as hot spots of crashes, with rear-end crashes being a significant one. The activity area of a work zone, where most of the construction and/or maintenance takes place, is the riskiest segment with a higher number of crashes. Among different risk factors, speed has been identified as the major contributor to crashes. Therefore, a study of driving behavior, especially speeding behavior in the activity region of the work zone, is necessary. This study examines speeding behavior in the activity area of a work zone, focusing on drivers’ compliance with posted speed limits under different feedback mechanisms. Method: Using a generalized ordered logit model, this study analyzed speed violations in the activity area of a work zone on an 8-mile stretch of interstate (I-65) in Robertson County, Tennessee, where one additional lane was being added. Vehicle speeds were continuously monitored using computer vision-based tracking using YOLO and ByteTrack algorithms. Results: Findings indicate that over 75% of drivers exceeded the posted speed limit while traversing the work zones in the absence of any feedback mechanisms. Speed limit violations are more prominent in the inner lane and during weekends and sunny weather. Among the different feedback mechanisms tested, a dynamic speed feedback system was found to be the most effective solution to discourage speeding driving behavior, and it decreases the likelihood of higher-order speed violations by 51%. Practical applications: The findings from this study underscore the importance of feedback systems in discouraging speeding behaviors.