Second strategic highway research program naturalistic driving study methods

Collecting detailed, objective pre-crash information has been a challenge for the transportation community. While simulator studies, crash databases, and police accident reports/investigations help provide data that contribute to our overall understanding of crash risk, such studies are limited in that they cannot provide accurate information about the seconds and factors immediately preceding a crash or near-crash as such events occur in the real world. The naturalistic driving study method helps to fill this knowledge gap, with participants' personal vehicles equipped with discreet instrumentation that includes cameras and sensors that continually collect kinematic, environmental, and behavioral data as drivers go about their normal driving routines. The naturalistic driving study of the Second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) constitutes the largest such study with video to date. It captured more than 1900 light-vehicle crashes and 6900 near-crashes, making it a robust resource for researchers who wish to find solutions that help mitigate the occurrence of safety-critical events on national highways. The study database comprises more than 32 million miles of continuous data from over 3500 drivers across six data collection sites in the United States, allowing also for the study of traffic operations and management. The methods used to design this large-scale study, recruit participants, and highlights of the collected data are included; overall management of the study and its strengths and weakness are also discussed.