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Strategic Highway Research Program 2 (SHRP2) > Pages > The SHRP 2 Naturalistic Driving Study
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The SHRP 2 Naturalistic Driving Study (NDS)

Welcome to the hub of information on the SHRP 2 naturalistic driving study (NDS). SHRP 2 has four focus areas: Capacity, Reliability, Renewal, and Safety. The Safety focus area is conducting the NDS. It will allow us to record and study the driving behaviors of a large sample of drivers in their personal vehicles.

To learn about participating in the driving study, please go to www.shrp2.nds.us.

Categories
Click on a category for direct access to a section of the web page. Return to this section by clicking ‘back to top.’

Objective
(objective of SHRP 2 Safety research)
Products
(expected products from the NDS)
Management
(who is managing the NDS)
Duration and Budget
(lifespan of and funding for SHRP 2 and the NDS)
Publications
(briefs and brochures)
Driving Study Websites

Vendors
(looking to participate in the NDS field study)

Objective  
The central goal of SHRP 2 Safety research is to address the role of driver performance and behavior in traffic safety. This includes developing an understanding of how the driver interacts with and adapts to the vehicle, traffic environment, roadway characteristics, traffic control devices, and the environment. It also includes assessing the changes in collision risk associated with each of these factors and interactions. This information will support the development of new and improved countermeasures with greater effectiveness.

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Products  
Data
The resulting data, expected to exceed 1 petabyte in size—about the size of a million 1-gigabyte USB flash drives—will provide a wealth of information regarding driving behavior, lane departures, and intersection activities, which are anticipated to be of interest to transportation safety researchers and others for at least 20 years. It is important to note that all privacy protections promised regarding participants and their data will continue even after the study ends. All future research efforts that seek to use the data collected in the SHRP 2 NDS will require institutional review board (IRB) approval. In addition, researchers must establish a data-sharing agreement that guarantees privacy. The SHRP 2 Data Access Guide includes excerpts from the Consent Form for Primary Drivers and a Sample Data Sharing Agreement. A description of roadway data includes a list of roadway data elements collected, roadway data format, and sign and intersection data format.

Analysis
SHRP 2 will also analyze the data to quantify the contribution of relevant driver, roadway, vehicle, and environmental factors to the research questions selected and assess the countermeasure implications of the findings. The knowledge gleaned from the SHRP 2 analyses, as well as the many additional analyses anticipated to be performed by other researchers, will support public policy, rulemaking, infrastructure improvements, and other—as yet unknown—activities, targeted at reducing the fatalities on our nation’s roadways.

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Management  
The second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) is managed by the Transportation Research Board (TRB) on behalf of the National Research Council (NRC). The program provides for competitive, merit-based selection of research contractors; independent research project oversight; and dissemination of research results. The SHRP 2 Oversight Committee has responsibility for all aspects of the program’s research activities. Additional technical advisory committees were established as necessary to bring experience, expertise, and counsel from academic, government, and other interested parties to SHRP 2. The active committees for SHRP 2 Safety research can be found on the following page. The program is being conducted in close cooperation with the U.S. Department of Transportation and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.

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Duration and Budget  
SHRP 2 was authorized in the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), Section 5210 (Public Law 109-59) through federal fiscal year 2009. Continuing resolutions extended the lifespan of the program to the end of March 2015. Funding for the program has been authorized at $232.5 million, and approximately $48 million has been appropriated for the NDS. The cars in the field will be monitored for a two year period, beginning in 2010.

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Publications  
Development of Analysis Methods Using Recent Driving Study Data (SHRP 2 Report S2-S01A-RW-1)
Posted April 9, 2012

In anticipation of the large volume of data to be collected during the SHRP 2 naturalistic driving study (NDS), several projects were undertaken to demonstrate that it is possible to use existing NDS data and data from other sources to further the understanding of the risk factors associated with road crashes. More specifically, the four projects conducted under the title Development of Analysis Methods Using Recent Data examined the statistical relationship between surrogate measures of collisions (conflicts, critical incidents, near collisions, or roadside encroachment) and actual collisions. SHRP 2 Report S2-S01A-RW-1, Development of Analysis Methods Using Recent Data, presents the results of one of these projects. The primary objective of this work was to establish an analytic foundation for using conflicts and near crashes as surrogate measures. The project introduced a counterfactual analytic approach suggesting that a traffic event qualifies as a crash cause under two conditions: (a) both the event and the crash occurred and (b) had the event in question not occurred, then the crash also would not have occurred. Data from site-based field studies and vehicle studies were used to extend these ideas from a trajectory model to more complicated scenarios. The report introduces an approach to microscopic (i.e., individual event) modeling of crash related events, where driver actions, initial speeds, and vehicle locations are treated as inputs to a physical model describing vehicle motion. SHRP 2 Report S2-S01A-RW-1 is only available as an Adobe PDF.


Integration of Analysis Methods and Development of Analysis Plan (SHRP 2 Report S2-S02-RW-1)
Posted February 23, 2012

The objective of the SHRP 2 Naturalistic Driving Study (NDS) is to reduce traffic injuries and fatalities by preventing or reducing the severity of collisions. Every 1% reduction in crashes can prevent 330 deaths and about $2 billion in annual medical expenses and other losses from these crashes. SHRP 2 Research Report S2-S02-RW-1: Integration of Analysis Methods and Development of Analysis Plan describes the analysis plan for the SHRP 2 NDS. High-priority research questions were identified in Phase I. Phase II identified the critical elements and issues to address in the analysis of the SHRP 2 NDS data and provided sample work plans for five high-priority research questions. The resulting analysis plan will guide the development of the subsequent Safety Project S08, Analysis of In-Vehicle Field Study Data and Countermeasure Implications, and assist researchers planning to use the SHRP 2 NDS data. Report S2-S02-RW-1 is only available as an Adobe PDF.


Evaluation of Data Needs, Crash Surrogates, and Analysis Methods to Address Lane Departure Research Questions Using Naturalistic Driving Study Data (SHRP 2 Report S2-S01E-RW-1)

Posted October 13, 2011

A large component of the safety research undertaken in SHRP 2 is aimed at reducing injuries and fatalities that result from highway crashes. Through a naturalistic driving study (NDS) involving more than 3,000 volunteer drivers, SHRP 2 expects to learn more about the interactions among driving behavior and vehicle and roadway characteristics. In anticipation of the large volume of data to be collected during the SHRP 2 NDS, several projects were conducted to demonstrate that it is possible to use existing NDS data and data from other sources to further the understanding of the risk factors associated with road crashes. More specifically, the four projects conducted under the title Development of Analysis Methods Using Recent Data examined the statistical relationship between surrogate measures of collisions (conflicts, critical incidents, near collisions, or roadside encroachment) and actual collisions. SHRP 2 Report S2-S01E-RW-1: Evaluation of Data Needs, Crash Surrogates, and Analysis Methods to Address Lane Departure Research Questions Using Naturalistic Driving Study Data presents the results of one of these projects. Report S2-S01E-RW-1 is only available as an Adobe PDF.


Roadway Measurement System Evaluation (Research Report S2-S03-RW-01)

Posted August 18, 2011

SHRP 2 Research Report S2-S03-RW-01: Roadway Measurement System Evaluation documents the evaluation of automated/mobile data-collection services to provide data on roadway features and characteristics considered important for safety analysis, especially analysis of data from the SHRP 2 Naturalistic Driving Study (NDS). The Safety research program requires data on roadway features and characteristics to support analysis of the NDS data. To obtain these roadway data, SHRP 2 set out to procure the services of a vendor to collect data at highway speed. However, at the time, no validation of vendors’ capabilities to collect these data was publicly available. As a result, SHRP 2 conducted its own evaluation—the rodeo. The objectives of the rodeo were to determine the capabilities of the industry (as represented by 10 participating vendors) and to prequalify a list of vendors to bid on the project that would collect new roadway data in the six NDS sites throughout the United States. Report S2-S03-RW-01 is available as an Adobe PDF.


A Foundation for Safer Driving: A Safety Brief Summarizing Research Preliminary to the SHRP 2 Naturalistic Driving Study

Posted May 4, 2011

A new project brief,
A Foundation for Safer Driving, summarizes the progress of preliminary research for the SHRP 2 Naturalistic Driving Study (NDS) as of April 2011. Driver behavior is the primary cause of most crashes, and the SHRP 2 NDS will be the largest study of driving behavior ever conducted. Although the SHRP 2 NDS is a complex endeavor, the research plan is driven by a few straightforward questions: How can we significantly improve safety? What questions should we investigate and which are most important? What data do we need to answer the questions? How do we collect the data? What’s the best way to analyze the data? What happens next? This brief describes how these questions are being addressed in the SHRP 2 Safety research projects, setting the foundation for safer roads ahead.

Design of the In-Vehicle Driving Behavior and Crash Risk Study: In Support of the SHRP 2 Naturalistic Driving Study (Research Report S2-S05-RR-1)
Posted March 30, 2011

SHRP 2 Report S2-S05-RR-1: Design of the In-Vehicle Driving Behavior and Crash Risk Study provides a summary of the key aspects of the planning effort supporting the SHRP 2 Naturalistic Driving Study (NDS). SHRP 2 Safety Project S05: Design of the In-Vehicle Driving Behavior and Crash Risk Study (Study Design) designed the SHRP 2 NDS, which will collect data—on the order of 1 petabyte (1,000 terabytes)—on “naturalistic,” or real-world, driving behavior over a 2-year period beginning in fall 2010. The resulting data will provide a wealth of information regarding driving behavior, lane departures, and intersection activities, which is anticipated to be of interest to transportation safety researchers and others for at least 20 years. The report is available online as an
Adobe PDF document and in hardcopy through the TRB bookstore. An e-book of the report is available in the Google eBookstore.

Project Brief: Design of the In-Vehicle Driving Behavior and Crash Risk Study: The SHRP 2 Naturalistic Driving Study
October 22, 2010

SHRP 2 has released a project brief that summarizes SHRP 2 Safety project S05. The objective of this project was to design the in-vehicle driving behavior and crash risk study, also known as the SHRP 2 naturalistic driving study (NDS), which will collect real-world driving behavior for a two-year period beginning in 2010. The SHRP 2 NDS represents a large-scale effort to collect data to better understand how drivers interact with and adapt to an extensive array of factors (e.g., the vehicle, traffic environment, roadway characteristics, traffic control devices, and the natural environment), and assess the differences in collision risk associated with each of these factors and interactions.


Brochure Answers Frequently Asked Questions about the SHRP 2 Naturalistic Driving Study
December 1, 2009

Safety research in SHRP 2 aims to reduce crash risk, injuries, and fatalities by understanding driver behavior. The centerpiece of the research is a naturalistic driving study of 3000 volunteer drivers. This brochure answers questions about the study.

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Driving Study Websites  
Website for SHRP 2 NDS Participants
A website from the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) provides information for potential participants of the SHRP 2 NDS. The site includes information on the installation of the monitoring system, driver assessments, risks and benefits of participating, and more.

The SHRP 2 NDS Data Website
This website from VTTI includes data dictionaries for datasets from the SHPR2 NDS, sample data sets of SHRP 2 NDS pilot test data, and a matlab reader for viewing data.

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Vendors  
The study is now under way and all decisions regarding technologies, test methods, and the conduct of the study have been completed. We appreciate your interest in the program and hope that it continues.

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