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Bicycle-Friendly
Rumble Strip Policies | Bicycle-Friendly
Rumble Strips in Alaska
Transportation
Research Board Paper on Rumble Strips and Cycling
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 Cyclists
and Rumble Strips
"Not
a single (bicycle) rider reported any tendency to lose
control at any speed or any angle even when not holding
on to the handle bars... there is absolutely no danger
if a bicyclist by mistake gets into the rumble area, or
has to swerve into it to avoid broken glass."
–
Per Garder, University of Maine
Transportation Research Board paper no. 95 02 31
Rumble
Strips or Not Along Wide Shoulders Designated for Bicycle
Traffic?
Presented at the 1995 Annual Meeting of the Transportation
Research Board.
Drivers
drifting off the road not only put the lives of themselves
and those inside their car in serious jeopardy, but also
the lives of bicyclists riding along the shoulder. An estimated
90% of all cycling fatalities each year are the result of
a collision with a car. Rumble strips can go a long way
toward protecting cyclists from drifting drivers.
Despite the safety benefits of rumble strips for cyclists,
cycling groups in some states have opposed rumble strips
claiming that they are uncomfortable, or even dangerous
to cyclists who cross them. Fortunately, no state using
the 7-inch milled rumble strips have shown that cyclists
are at risk riding along highway shoulders fitted with rumble
strips.
A Transportation Research Board study estimates that a cyclist
traveling at only 10 mph for a one-hour ride along a road
with moderate traffic (1,000 cars/hour) has a 7.8% chance
of encountering a driver dozing off behind the wheel. Should
one of those dozing drivers drift off the road at 50 mph
and hit a cyclist, the chance of a cyclist fatality is 98%.
And drowsy driving is only one of various causes that result
in a run-off-the-road (ROTR) crash.
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| Bicycle-Friendly
Rumble Strip Policies |
Even though shoulder rumble strips have proven safe for cyclists,
highway authorities should not ignore protests from cycling
advocates who claim the rumble strip is a safety liability.
To do so could discourage cyclists from using the very roads
that rumble strips have helped make a safe place to ride.
Other states have gone too far in the opposite direction to
appease cyclists. Some states have all but abandoned the use
of shoulder rumble strips, allowing thousands of preventable
fatalities and injuries to occur every year along untreated
highways. In other instances, states have weakened the effectiveness
of the rumble strips by making the cuts shallower, or reducing
their length and width to provide a "more comfortable"
ride for cyclists. Rumble strip were never meant to provide
a comfortable ride, and any rumble strip that does, isn't
working.
SPT has worked with most state and federal highway agencies
addressing the issue of cyclists and rumble strips. We often
network different state department of transportation offices
addressing similar issues, and we can provide your office
a thorough background on these issues and present you with
the most effective solutions thus far.
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| Bicycle-Friendly
Rumble Strips in Alaska |
The Alaskan highway system claims some of the most beautiful
bicycling routes in the nation. Locals and tourists by the
thousands flock to Alaska each year to bike along their roadways.
But drift-off-the-road crashes also claim the largest category
of its fatal and injury accidents. Clearly, Alaska needed
to develop a rumble strip policy that not only saved the lives
of motorists, but also protected cyclists from drivers drifting
off the road.
The Alaska Department of Transportation was unwilling to sacrifice
the safety interests of motorists or cyclists in developing
their rumble strip policy, but they also wanted to ensure
their roads remained popular for cycling. Alaska DOT engineers
researched bicycle-friendly rumble strip policies throughout
the United States, and formulated perhaps the most responsive
and safest bicycle-friendly rumble strip policy in the nation.
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Rumble
Strip Policy Background
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Alaska
DOT/PF Policy on Rumble Strip Installation
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| Transportation
Research Board Paper on Rumble Strips and Cycling |
The Transportation Research Board has published the work of
Per Garder, professor of engineering, University of Maine.
Through field studies and statistical analysis, Professor
Garder examined the possible safety benefits and liabilities
for cyclists of using rumble strips along highway shoulders.
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Highlights
of the University of Maine TRB Report
Associate Professor Per Garder, Department of Civil
& Environmental Engineering, University of Maine
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Rumble
Strips or Not Along Wide Shoulders Designated for Bicycle
Traffic?
Associate Professor Per Garder, Department of Civil
& Environmental Engineering, University of Maine
Transportation Research Board, 74th Annual Meeting, January
22-28 1995, Washington, D.C.
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