Part 1: This includes an Excel spreadsheet that performs specific calculations.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, IIHSLinks to an external site., states on their site that “Providing adequate yellow signal time is important and can reduce crashes. Studies have shown that increasing yellow timing to values associated with guidelines published by the Institute of Transportation Engineers can significantly decrease the frequency of red light violations and reduce the risk of total crashes, injury crashes and right-angle crashes (Bonneson & Zimmerman, 2004Links to an external site.; Retting & Greene, 1997Links to an external site.; Van Der Horst, 1988Links to an external site.; McGee et al., 2012Links to an external site.)._
You will design an Excel spreadsheet that calculates the allowable yellow light interval before changing to red and the red clearance interval based on the Virginia Beach Signal Timing Information. Links to an external site.
The equations that you will implement in your Excel spreadsheet calculator are available on slide 5 of the Signal Timing information.
Your Excel Spreadsheet should show the following:
- Posted Speed Limit
- Adjusted Speed limit
- Intersection width
- Vehicle Length
- Yellow Change Interval
- Red Clearance Interval
- Total interval to come to a stop
You will create charts showing the change in the Yellow change interval, Red clearance Interval, and the total Change time for each posted speed used. You will discuss in Part 2 of your project your conclusion based on those results.
You can investigate in your Excel spreadsheet with different reaction times, deceleration rates, and vehicle length.
Part 2: This includes the development of a PowerPoint presentation showcasing the project enhancement as well as the Excel spreadsheet you designed.
You will design a PowerPoint presentation that details the added functionality of the traffic light system you designed as well as the results of your Excel spreadsheet calculations and comparison charts completed. This portion of the course project is worth 30% of the total project grade.
PowerPoint Presentation Requirements
- No more than five (5) slides.
- Must have a title slide.
- Must have transitions of your choice between slides.
- Must include an animation of bulleted points.
