Traffic Control Device (TCD) Challenge for Students
The Transportation Research Board (TRB) Standing Committee on Traffic Control Devices (AHB50) and the American Traffic Safety Services Association (ATSSA) have joined together to sponsor and conduct an exciting new design competition, the Traffic Control Device (TCD) Challenge, to promote innovation and stimulate ideas in the traffic control devices area with a goal to improve operations and safety.
ATSSA Tuesday Topics Webinar:
This special webinar is open to the general public, including universities, students, and TRB, as well as ATSSA members to promote the TCD Challenge to those interested in the design competition and the roadway safety industry.
Tuesday, May 8, 2018, 2:00 - 2:30 p.m. Eastern
ATSSA-TRB Traffic Control Device Challenge
Speaker: Paul Carlson, Co-Chair, TRB Traffic Control Device Committee
Register Now
This special webinar is open to the general public, including universities, students, and TRB, as well as ATSSA members to promote the TCD Challenge to those interested in the design competition and the roadway safety industry.
Tuesday, May 8, 2018, 2:00 - 2:30 p.m. Eastern
ATSSA-TRB Traffic Control Device Challenge
Speaker: Paul Carlson, Co-Chair, TRB Traffic Control Device Committee
Register Now
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Webinar Description:
Going into its third year, the TCD Challenge is an exciting way to bring engineering students and roadway safety innovation together in a meaningful way. The TCD Challenge is a design competition sponsored by ATSSA and the TRB Standing Committee on Traffic Control Devices (AHB50) to promote innovation and stimulate ideas in the traffic control devices area. The challenge is open to individuals or teams of high school, junior college, and university students with an interest in transportation and traffic control devices. Students in relevant fields, including transportation, human factors, and graphic design-related areas are encouraged to participate. This webinar will provide in-depth information on the TCD Challenge, the collaboration between ATSSA and TRB, why the competition is beneficial for the future of roadway safety and highlighting the winning teams and ideas from it’s first two years. |
2018 TCD Challenge winners (middle) with Paul Carlson (far left), ATSSA Chair Juan Arvizu (left), TRB's Richard Cunard (right), and ATSSA's Brian Watson (far right) at ATSSA's 48th Annual Convention & Traffic Expo in San Antonio, Texas.
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Key Takeaways:
- Understand the scope and background of the TCD Challenge.
- Learn about the partnership between ATSSA and TRB in their effort to foster the next generation of innovation.
- Hear about how the TCD Challenge is beneficial for students and the roadway safety industry.
- Learn about challenge winners and their traffic control device innovations from years past, as new students gear up to participate.
Winners of the 2018 Traffic Control Device (TCD) Challenge
Winners of the 2018 TCD Challenge were chosen during the TRB Annual Meeting, Jan. 7-11, 2018 in Washington, D.C. The winners attended ATSSA's 48th Annual Convention & Traffic Expo in San Antonio, Texas and displayed their posters in booth #448, as well as presented their traffic control devices at the "Traffic Control Device Challenge for Students" Traffic Talk session on Sunday, Jan. 28 and Monday, Jan. 29, 2018 at the ATSSA Pavilion in San Antonio, Texas.
1st Place - Professional Pavement Products
Title: Comprehensive System of Pavement Markings and Signage to Deter Wrong-Way Drivers
Student team: Danielle Berman, Owen Hitchcock, Kristin Kersavage, Lingyu Li, Kan Wu School: Pennsylvania State University |
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2nd Place ($1,000)
Title: In-Roadway Warning Lights for Wrong-Way Detection and Prevention
Student team: Hisham Jashami, Zachary Barlow, Ellen Simpson, Logan Scott-Deeter School: Oregon State University |
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3rd Place ($500)
Title: Audible Warning Device for Wrong Way Drivers
Student team: Elizabeth Farr, Robert Gallup, Katy Harlan, Jacob Kaltenbronn, Kaitlin Windsor School: University of Missouri |
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Guidelines for Participation
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The TCD Challenge is open to individual high school, junior college, college, or university students or teams of students with an interest in transportation and an understanding of traffic control devices. Students in relevant fields such as transportation-, human factors-, and graphic design-related curricula are particularly encouraged to participate.
The TCD Challenge submittals will help to encourage innovation and creative thought in the transportation community. Contest participants will receive the opportunity to vet their designs in a public forum. Three winning teams will receive recognition at national transportation forums. Problem Statement Wrong-way driving can be described as a situation when a vehicle enters a traffic stream travelling in the opposite direction and drives against the on-coming vehicles. These events continue until the operator realizes he/she is in error, leaves the roadway, redirects her/his vehicle to the proper direction, or causes a collision. This behavior results in hundreds of highway fatalities every year. While the development of programs, and specific countermeasures, has been resolute, the problem persists claiming the same number of lives, year in and year out. Therefore, designers or design teams will have to consider how the current system needs to change to prevent this behavior and attendant crashes. What are the traffic control device designs, ideas, enhancements, and/or standards that will stop motorists from entering the wrong roadway and driving the wrong way? How will technology compliment these traffic control device strategies? That is the challenge for you and your teammates. Submission Deadline for the 2018 Challenge: October 1, 2017 (information on the 2019 challenge still to come) |
Awards
*In addition to the opportunity to present the idea in a “Traffic Talk,” the three place winners will be provided a (joint) exhibit booth to display their posters. The placing prize winners will be announced at the ATSSA Convention's Opening General Session. ATSSA will also include an article in their industry magazine, The Signal, the placing winners and, with their agreement, a home town press release.
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