THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR

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1 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR 2011 Law ley Pub li ca tions. All Rights Re served. VOL 25, NO 9 NO VEM BER 30, 2011 Traffic Accidents Cost Society Nearly Three Times the Cost of Traf fic Con ges tion AAA Calls on Trans por ta tion Lead ers to Increase Empha sis on Traf fic Safety Traf fic acci dents are more than just a per - sonal trag edy. They re cost ing the coun try big money. A study by AAA sug gests that cost-con scious urban trans por ta tion plan - ners should put an empha sis on traf fic safety over traf fic con ges tion. The report result ing from the study Crashes vs. Con ges tion What s the Cost to Soci ety? says the annual soci etal cost of traf fic crashes in 2009 was $300 bil lion, more than three times the $98 bil lion cost of con ges tion. That equates to an annual cost per per son of $1,522 for crashes com - pared to $590 per per son for con ges tion. In human costs, AAA reports that traf fic crashes in 2009 killed 33,308 peo ple in the United States, or nearly four every hour. AAA, North Amer ica s larg est motor - ing and lei sure travel orga ni za tion, con - ducted a sim i lar study in This year s report was designed to revisit results based on the most recent avail able data. The study was con ducted by Cam bridge Please turn to Page 10 Carpoolers Decline and Traf fic Speeds Increase After Toll Change on Bay Bridge San Francisco and Oakland Residents Adjust Travel Plans Following Toll Hike Carpool traf fic across the San Fran - cisco-oak land Bay Bridge has dropped dra mat i cally and travel times have improved as the result of a new toll sys tem put in place last year. That s the find ing of a year-long study by research ers at the Uni - versity of California, Berkeley. The study looked at the effects of the Bay Area Toll Author ity s (BATA) deci - sion to imple ment a more com plex toll struc ture on the bridge last year. Before the new fee struc ture went into place, there was a flat $4 charge to cross the bridge, regard less of the day of the week or time of day. The only excep tion was vehi cles using the carpool lanes, which trav eled for free. After July 1, 2010, vehi cles using the reg u lar lanes dur ing peak week day hours were charged $6, and a new peak period $2.50 carpool toll was put into place. While over all daily traf fic declined just one per cent dur ing the study period, traf fic in carpool lanes was down 26 per cent. Traf fic in the cash/fastrak Lanes increased by three per cent. UC Berke ley research ers say that if all those who aban doned the carpool lanes had become solo driv ers, there would have been about 8,700 more vehi cles on the bridge. How ever, the study found only 3,300 more vehi cles in the cash/fastrak lanes. They con cluded most peo ple did n t aban don their carpools to drive alone, so the ques tion then became, where did they all go? Using a vari ety of sources, the research - ers found some of the carpoolers are now in Please turn to Page 9 Inside Sur veys....page 11 Requests for Pro pos als....page 26 Confer ences...page 27 Traffic congestion at the Bay Bridge toll plaza. (Photo: Courtesy of the BATA)

2 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, NOVEMBER 30, 2011, VOL. 25, NO. 9 Page 2 Poll Finds Con ges tion Charges More Pop u lar Than Tax Hikes Among To ronto Area Com mu ters Faster Com mutes Key to Get ting Com mu ters to Take Pub lic Tran sit A new sur vey sug gests that a ma jor ity of To ronto res i dents would sup port a con- ges tion charge to help im prove trans por - ta tion in the area. Higher taxes and tolls got a big thumbs-down in the poll. The An gus Reid Pub lic Opin ion poll was con ducted in part ner ship with the To - ronto Star and sur veyed a rep re sen ta tive sam ple of 1,001 re spon dents in the Greater To ronto Area (GTA) about trans por ta tion is sues. When asked what should be given pri or ity in fund ing, 56 per cent of the re - spon dents chose pub lic tran sit, while 44 per cent chose roads and bridges. When it came to gen er at ing rev e nue for the pro jects, those sur veyed were asked about im ple ment ing tolls on high ways, au - tho riz ing a one per cent sales tax in crease or en act ing a gas tax of 10 per cent. Sev - enty-four per cent of the re spon dents thought the gas tax was a bad or very bad idea, while just 19 per cent thought the tax was a good or very good idea. The sales tax in crease was deemed bad or very bad by 67 per cent of those re spond ing, with 26 per - cent call ing it a good or very good idea. High way tolls were re jected as bad or very bad by 54 per cent of the re spon dents. Thirty-seven per cent of those re spond ing thought high way tolls were a good or very good idea. A con ges tion charge was a more pop - u lar choice for gen er at ing rev e nue. The GTA res i dents were re minded that Lon - don, Eng land im ple mented a con ges tion charge in 2003 on driv ers who wanted to travel at cer tain times of the day within a spe cific area in Lon - don. The pur pose of the charge was to re - duce con ges tion and raise in vest ment funds for Lon don s trans port sys tem. When asked about a con ges tion charge in To ronto, 55 per cent of the re spon dents said they would mod er - ately or strongly sup - port such a charge. An other 38 per cent said they would mod er ately or strongly op pose a con ges tion charge. Seven percent weren t sure how they felt about it. Res i dents were split over the qual ity of their trans por ta tion sys tem. Just over half of the re spon dents, 54 per cent, rated trans - por ta tion in the GTA as good. Forty per - cent rated it poor. When asked whether trans por ta tion had im proved or wors ened in the area over the past ten years, slightly more re spon dents thought it had im proved. Sixty-five per cent felt there are some good things in the GTA s trans por ta tion sys tem, but many changes are necessary. The poll also asked res i dents how they thought the trans por ta tion sys tem would fare over the next 10 years. More than half, 52 per cent, thought things would stay the same or im prove. An other 38 per cent be - lieved trans por ta tion would get worse, while 10 per cent were not sure what to ex - pect. Re spon dents were not as op ti mis tic when it came to con di tions over the next five years. Those polled who drive to work or school were asked what it would take to get them to switch to pub lic trans por ta tion. If pub lic tran sit could cut 30 min utes from each one-way trip, 65 per cent of the re - spon dents said they would con sider a switch. If pub lic tran sit sub tracted 20 min - utes from each one-way trip, 59 per cent said they might aban don their cars. Peo ple who al ready take pub lic tran sit Street cars and traf fic in down town To ronto. (Photo: Cour tesy of the City of To ronto) to work or school were asked whether lower fares or better ser vice were more im por tant to them, and 63 per cent cited im proved ser vice. When asked to choose two im prove ments they would most like to see, 59 per cent of those sur veyed chose more ex press bus and train ser vice. Cleaner ve hi cles were cited by 25 per cent of the re spon dents. Elec tronic fare pay - ment op tions, heated tran sit shel ters and free Wi-Fi on buses and trains were the next most pop u lar choices, cited by around 20 per cent of the respondents. The poll in di cates that GTA res i dents think gov ern ment mu nic i pal, pro vin - cial and fed eral should pro vide about three-quar ters of trans por ta tion fund ing. The re spon dents said only about 13 per - cent of fund ing should come from driv ers and an other 13 per cent from transit riders. The on line sur vey was con ducted be - tween Oc to ber 28 and Oc to ber 31 and has a mar gin of er ror of +/-3.1 percent. For more in for ma tion, see the full poll re sults at - gus-reid.com/wp-con - tent/uploads/2011/11/ _trans por ta tion_gta.pdf. The Urban Trans por ta tion Mon i tor, ISSN , is pub lished monthly, except dur ing Jan u ary and August (10 issues per year), by Law - ley Pub li ca tions, 6813 Jer e miah Ct., Fairfax Sta - tion, VA 22039, Tel: (703) , Fax: (703) , edi tors@lawleypub lications.com. Sub scrip tions $295 per year. Peri - od i cals post age paid at Fairfax, VA. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to The Urban Trans por ta tion Mon i tor, P.O. Box 12300, Burke, VA The Urban Trans por ta tion Mon i tor pub lishes cur rent news on all modes and aspects related to urban trans por ta tion. Law ley Pub li ca tions is an inde pend ent and pri vately owned orga ni za tion. Copy right 2011, Law ley Pub li ca tions. All Rights Reserved. Repro duc tion, includ ing pho - to copy ing and fac sim ile or elec tronic trans mis - sion, in whole or in part with out writ ten per mis sion from the Edi tor is expressly pro hib ited. Law ley Pub li ca tions assumes no respon si bil ity or lia bil ity of any kind for the accu racy or com - plete ness of the infor ma tion herein, or for addi - tional or changed infor ma tion sub se quent to the date the mate rial was received and/or pub lished. Publisher/Editor: Dan iel B. Rathbone, Ph.D., P.E. Man ag ing Edi tor: Clarissa Reeves, M.Ed. Senior Edi tor/writer: Carol Ochs

3 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, NOVEMBER 30, 2011, VOL. 25 NO. 9 Page 3 Characteristics of Congested Corridors in U.S. Determined New An nual Re port by the Texas Trans por ta tion In sti tute The Texas Trans por ta tion In sti tute s (TTI) 2011 Con gested Cor ri dors Re port is the first nationwide effort to identify reliability prob lems on con gested high ways at dif - fer ent times of day morn ing peak, mid - day and eve ning peak and on week days and week ends. The study was spon sored by the TTI s Trans por ta tion Cen ter for Mo bil ity at Texas A&M Uni ver sity, which ob tained a grant from the U.S. De part ment of Trans por ta tion Uni ver sity Trans por ta - tion Cen ters Pro gram. In ad di tion, the com pany INRIX pro vided speed data in kind. TTI Re search En gi neer Bill Eisele, a co-au thor of the re port re sult ing from the study, says the plan is to make this an an - nual un der tak ing. Co-au thor Da vid Schrank says stop-and-go traf fic was a prob lem along these cor ri dors and pre dict abil ity was, too, so, not only does it take lon ger, com mu - ters and truck ers have a dif fi cult time know ing how much lon ger it will take each time they make the same trip. The au thors looked at the data it self to de ter mine which cor ri dors to in clude in the report. At first, con gested cor ri dors were iden - ti fied. TTI de scribes the pro cess as fol - lows: We in ves ti gated all free ways and high - ways in the United States look ing for traf - fic prob lems. As first ex plored in the 2010 INRIX Na tional Traf fic Score card (2), a short di rec tional road way seg ment (less than 1 mile) with con ges tion for more than 10 hours in a week was the be gin ning of a con gested cor ri dor. ( Con ges tion was hav ing a speed less than half of the free-flow speed). Each di rec tional, ad ja - cent and up stream seg ment of road way that was con gested for four hours per week was in cluded in the cor ri dor. Four hours was cho sen as the thresh old af ter re view - ing the data which showed that many up - stream seg ments had some con ges tion nearly ev ery week day. Since it typ i cally did not con sti tute ev ery day of the week, choos ing four hours al lows one day per week to have a dif fer ent queu ing pat tern. A min i mum cor ri dor length was set at three miles. This re sulted in 328 di rec tional free - way cor ri dors. We com bined traf fic vol - ume in for ma tion from the states with the speed data to com pute the per for mance mea sures along these cor ri dors. Three mea sures were used to re port the level of con ges tion and re li abil ity. Measure 1 The travel time in dex (TTI) is a con ges tion measure that captures average congestion lev els. It com pares travel con di tions in the peak pe riod to travel con di tions dur ing free-flow con di tions. For ex am ple, a TTI of 1.50 means that a trip that takes 20-min utes in light traf fic will take 30 min utes (on av er - age) in the peak pe riod (20 min utes x 1.50 = 30 min utes). Measure 2: The plan ning time in dex (PTI) rep re sents the to tal travel time that you should plan for a trip. It dif fers from the buffer in dex (BI) de fined be low in that it in cludes typ i cal de - lay as well as un ex pected de lay. For ex am - ple, a PTI of 2.25 means that for a 20-min - ute trip in light traf fic, 45 min utes should be planned (20 min utes x 2.25 = 45 min utes). Both the TTI and PTI mea sure con ges tion relative to free-flow conditions. Measure 3 The buffer in dex (BI) is a mea sure of trip re li abil ity that ex presses the amount of ex - tra buffer time needed to be on time for 95 per cent of trips (e.g., the time you would need to add to the av er age travel time so that you are only late for one trip out of 20). The BI is ex pressed as a per cent age. For ex am ple, a BI of 50 per cent means that for a trip that usu ally takes 30 min utes, you should plan for an ex tra 15 min utes of buffer time (30 min utes x 50% = 15 min utes). The BI iden ti fies how much ex - tra time you need to add to your av er age trip time. Among the key find ings: The 328 cor ri dors rep re sent six per cent of the na tion s to tal ur ban free way lane-miles but ex pe ri ence 36 per cent of the na tion s ur ban free way con ges tion. The 328 cor ri dors ac com mo date just eight per cent of the na tional ur ban truck ve hi cle miles trav eled, but this truck traffic experiences 33 percent of urban free way truck de lay. It s hard est to pre dict travel times around bridges, tun nels and toll fa cil i - ties be cause there are gen er ally few al - ter na tive routes and small in ci dents can have a big im pact on travel times along the cor ri dor. As travel time vari abil ity in creases, trips be come less pre dict able. Any unpredicted travel dis rup tion leads to slower speeds and in creases the re li - ability measures. For more in for ma tion, see the full re port at: eport-2011.pdf. An Ex cel ver sion of ta - ble is avail able at: stion-data/. Cor ri dors with the High est BI Val ues (Low est Re li abil ity) in the U.S. Area Corridor Lo ca tion in Cor ri dor Buffer In dex Atlanta GA-400 SB Toll Plaza I-85/Exit % Atlanta I-75 SB Mount Zion Pkwy/Exit 231 Hud son Bridge Rd/Exit 224 New York Hutch in son River Pkwy NB Cross County Pkwy/Exit 15 Mamaroneck Rd/Exit 22 New York Norfolk Bronx Whitestone Brg NB Whitestone Expy NB Hampton Roads Belt way/i-64 EB Lin den Pl/Exit 14 Toll Plaza Rip Rap Rd/Exit 265 Hampton Roads Brg Tunl(Hampton) Source: "2011 Con gested Cor ri dors Re port," TTI, Col lege Sta tion, TX 253% 215% 215% 198%

4 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, FEBRUARY 2, 2009, VOL. 23 NO. 1 Page 4 Small Elec tric Ve hi cle Wins Car Chal lenge in Eng land, Beat ing Major Car Manufacturers Least Amount of En ergy Used De ter mines Win ner More than 65 low-emis sion ve hi cles com - peted in the sec ond an nual Brigh ton to Lon don RAC Fu ture Car Chal lenge on No - vem ber 5, and a light weight en try from Gordon Murray De sign (GMD) was named the Best Over all En try. It cov ered the route at a rate equiv a lent to nearly 350 miles per gal lon of gas o line. The event, spon sored by the Royal Au - to mo bile Club, chal lenges the com pet i tors to use the least amount of en ergy to drive the 60-mile course. GMD s T.27 elec tric city car trav eled the dis tance within the al - lo cated time us ing elec tric ity that amounts to about a dol lar s worth of fuel. In terms of gas o line, it would be equiv a lent to.75 li - ters or about 0.2 gallon. At the RAC chal lenge, the T.27 car ried two peo ple and won hon ors as the Most Energy Efficient Small Car (Prototype) and Best Over all Pure Elec tric Ve hi cle, in ad di tion to win ning the Best Over all honor. Last year, GMD won hon ors for fuel econ omy with its T.25 petrol car. De - signer Gordon Murray says the wins clearly dem on strate that light weight is the big gest tool we have for re duc ing emis - sions. He at trib utes the T.27 s suc cess to new tech nol ogy and ground-breaking packaging. Murray s sin gle-speed, rear drive T.27 mea sures 2.5 me ters in length, 1.3 me ters in width and 1.6 me ters in height. Its weight, in clud ing the bat tery, is 680 kg. The body is made of upcycled plas tic pan - els, and the car con tains a num ber of safety fea tures. The pro duc tion model has ABS-ESP Trac tion Con trol and a pas sive safety sys tem that in cludes air bags. The car can carry three peo ple on its 145x70x13 tires and reach a top speed of 105 kph. It takes four hours on a do mes tic The T.27. (Photo: Cour tesy of Gordon Murray Design) Gordon Murray with tro phy for the best over all en try. (Photo: Cour tesy of RAC) socket to charge the 12 kwh Li-Ion bat - tery, and the car can travel more than 100 miles on a charge. The chal lenge at tracted a range of en - tries, in clud ing en thu si asts driv ing their own ve hi cles and ve hi cles from ma jor car man u fac tur ers such as BMW, Chev ro let, Mercedes-Benz, Mini, Renault, smart, Toy ota, Vauxhall, Volks wagen and Land Rover. The mo tor club says many of the ve hi cles won t be on sale for two or more years and have rarely been seen on roads in the United King dom. GMD launched the T.27 in July as The World s Most Ef fi - cient Elec tric Car and chose the RAC chal lenge to be the T.27 s public running debut. The T.27 is the re sult of a 9 mil lion ($14 million) design and development project, which GMD says was made pos si ble through a 4.5 mil lion ($7 mil lion) in vest - ment from the gov ern ment-backed Tech - nol ogy Strat egy Board. Murray says GMD won t man u fac ture the T.25 and T.27, how - ever, it s work ing to ward form ing a con sor - tium that hope fully will build a man u fac tur - ing fa cil ity in the UK. He says the ve hi cles would be on gen eral sale two years af ter the con sor tium is formed. The gas o line pow - ered T.25 will re tail for ap prox i mately 6,500 ($10,000) while the T.27, the elec - tric ver sion of the T.25, will re tail for about 15,000 ($23,000). Murray hopes the cars will even tu ally make it to the U.S. mar ket, too. He says the T.25 and T.27 were de signed and de vel - oped for the UK and Eu ro pean mar ket. Be - fore they can be sold in the U.S., they would have to meet U.S. fed eral crash test cri te ria. He says the T.27 has the edge over smart cars be cause of its multi-pur pose ve - hi cle (MPV) lay out and in creased ef fi - ciency. In ad di tion, it can carry three peo - ple and is 200 kg lighter. For com mu ters, Murray says the T.27 of fers a small foot - print, no emis sions and nose-in parking. The T.27 is the lat est in the GMD line to use its istream man u fac tur ing tech nol - ogy. The com pany says the tech nol ogy is aimed at significantly reducing lifecycle im pacts and en abling low-cost, ef fi cient man u fac tur ing within the UK. The For - mula One tech nol ogy is de signed for the ev ery day mo tor ist and de liv ers ben e fits from light-weight ing along with high lev - els of safety. GMD re ports the T.27 has un der gone a crash test pro gram that set new stan dards in small car safety. It says a re cently com pleted struc tural du ra bil ity test found the T.27 s istream chas sis to be up to 60 times more durable than standard steel structure. Murray praised the RAC Fu ture Car Chal lenge as the only event in the world that dem on strates real cars, in real con di - tions, that is mea sured in de pend ently and in the pub lic eye. For more in for ma tion, visit and

5 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, NOVEMBER 30, 2011, VOL. 25 NO. 9 Page 5 Transportation Tort Liability: Case in Review Decisions Requiring the Exercise of Professional Engineering Judgment: Operational or Policy Decisions? A re cent case in the Ar i zona Court of Ap - peals re sulted in a ver dict with a dis sent ing opin ion on the ques tion of what type of de ci - sions would qual ify for stat u tory im mu nity. The case arose from a wrong ful death suit against the City of Tuc son, Az., af ter a 12 year old girl was killed in a cross walk de signed and main tained by the city. Plain - tiff al leged the city was li a ble based on the neg li gent de sign and main te nance of the cross walk. City filed a mo tion for sum - mary judg ment, as sert ing there was no is - sue of ma te rial fact re gard ing its negligence. The cross walk has a school on one side and a city park on the other. Dur ing the week, the school pro vides cross ing guards and por ta ble warn ing signs, but the ac ci - dent oc curred on a Sat ur day when school was not in session. The city-pro vided traf fic con trol de - vices were the yel low marked cross walk; school cross walk warn ing signs on both sides of the road 400 feet be fore the cross - walk and at the cross walk it self; and a bro - ken white line de mar cat ing the traf fic lanes lead ing up to the crosswalk. Ap prox i mately six months be fore the ac ci dent, some city of fi cials had ap plied to the Re gional Trans por ta tion Au thor ity (RTA) for fund ing to in stall HAWK traf fic lights at the cross walk, but these were not in place at the time of the accident. The trial court in ter preted this ac tion the de ci sion to ap ply for fund ing as a pol - icy de ci sion which ren dered it immune. It also noted that the city s de ci sion to in stall a Hawk light to the ex clu sion of other traf fic con trol mea sures, such as flash ing lights or four way stop signs, was also pro tected un der the statute. The ap peal was based on ap pel lant s contention that the city s application for fund ing had been re jected by the RTA in De cem ber 2007, and there fore, its gov ern - men tal im mu nity did not con tinue un til March 2008 when the accident occurred. The find ings of the trial court were af - firmed by a ma jor ity of the Court of Ap - peals on the ba sis that the de ci sion to seek fund ing from the RTA was a de ter mi na - tion of fun da men tal gov ern men tal pol icy un der the stat ute, since it would in volve the An ae rial image of the pedestrian crosswalk. (Image, Google, Inc.) ex pen di ture of sub stan tial sums of money and co or di na tion with other agencies. It noted that had the HAWK light been installed negligently, resulting in damage, that op er a tional-level de ci sion would not be immune. It also ruled that the ev i dence showed the HAWK light at this in ter sec tion was rec om mended for de nial, not that it was de - nied. It stated that the stat ute does not nul - lify im mu nity merely be cause the out come of a city s de ci sion to seek fund ing is uncertain. Fi nally, it found that the de ci sion about which in ter sec tions to pro tect with a HAWK light was akin to a pre ce dent-set - ting de ci sion in an ear lier case con cern ing which prop er ties to pro tect dur ing a flood, which the court had found immune. The Court of Ap peals, there fore, af - firmed the trial court s grant ing of sum - mary judg ment to the city. How ever, the dis sent ing opin ion pro - posed that de ter min ing whether an in ter sec - tion re quires en hanced safety fea tures, and selecting the specific features, necessarily re quires the ex er cise of pro fes sional en gi - neer ing judg ment and thus con sti tutes an operational decision. Fur ther, it claims that fac tual ad mis sion does not sup port im mu nity. It con tends that the ma jor ity of the Court did not an a lyze whether the city s de ci sion con sti tuted a de ter mi na tion of a fun da men tal gov ern - men tal pol icy, as de fined by case law, but re lied on plain tiff/ap pel lant s ad mis - sion that the city made an af fir ma tive decision. It argues that plaintiff/appel - lant merely did not dis pute facts (that fund ing was ap plied for) but that these facts cannot be considered a judicial admission. It fur ther ar gues that op er a tional de ci - sions for im ple ment ing mu nic i pal pol icy in clude de ci sions re quir ing the ex er cise of pro fes sional en gi neer ing judg ment. It notes that the stat ute im mu nizes a mu nic i - pal ity s pro mul ga tion of rules and reg u la - tions, but not its op er a tional decisions within a regulatory scheme. The dis sent ing opin ion noted that the re cord dem on strated that at least one city em ployee be lieved it would have been de sir able to have HAWK lights at ev - ery one of the 15 mile-an-hour zones on arterials and collectors, including at the ac ci dent site, and a few city em ploy ees picked a batch of school cross ings for the ap pli ca tion to the RTA. It claimed these ac tions were op er a - tional and not a de ter mi na tion of a fun da - men tal gov ern men tal pol icy un der the stat ute. They failed to in volve the ex er cise of sig nif i cant dis cre tion as in the pro - mul ga tion of rules and regulations. For these rea sons, the dis sent ing opin - ion would re quire the court to re con sider the is sues.

6 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, NOVEMBER 30, 2011, VOL. 25 NO. 9 Page 6 De spite Eco nomic Hard Times, Vot ers Con tinue to Fa vor Tran sit Mea sures; Road Mea sures Less Suc cess ful No vem ber 8 Bal lot Mea sures Tracked Tran sit is sues con tin ued their win ning streak when the fi nal votes were counted on the No vem ber 8 bal lot. Of 11 mea sures on Elec tion Day that re lated to tran sit fi - nance, con struc tion or op er a tions, vot ers ap proved eight. How ever, road-re lated mea sures were less suc cess ful. Of six of these mea sures, only three were passed. The mea sures are de scribed in more de tail be low and in the ta ble. Tran sit Mea sures: Cen ter for Trans por ta tion Ex cel lence (CFTE) Di rec tor Ja son Jor dan says, In spite of deep, con tin u ing eco nomic anx i - eties, vot ers con tinue to sup port rais ing lo - cal rev e nue to in vest in tran sit. De spite con ven tional wis dom say ing peo ple won t sup port higher taxes, Jor dan says when trans por ta tion and eco nomic ben e fits are clear, vot ers strongly choose to in vest in transit. Ac cord ing to CFTE, this year s re sults con tinue a de cade-long trend of over - whelm ing sup port for trans por ta tion in - vest ments with lo cal tax dol lars. The or - ga ni za tion fol lowed 28 trans por ta tion-re - lated bal lot mea sures in It re corded a 77 per cent suc cess rate in 2010, with a suc - cess rate av er age since 2000 of 70 percent. Vot ers ap proved close to $30 mil lion dol lars in an nual tran sit fund ing on the No - vem ber 8 bal lot. The mea sures in cluded the re newal of trans por ta tion lev ies in four Mich i gan com mu ni ties Alpena, Corunna, Grand Tra verse County and Leelanau County. Vot ers in Dur ham County, North Carolina, ap proved a half-cent sales tax to sup port a 25 per cent boost in bus ser vice in the first three years and to help launch com mu ter trains by 2018 and light rail by In Clark County, Wash ing ton, vot ers ap proved a 0.2 per cent sales tax in crease to sup port the Clark County Pub lic Trans por ta tion Ben e - fit Area Authority, which runs C-TRAN. Cincinnati vot ers nar rowly re jected a mea sure that could have de railed the city s plans for street car ser vice. By an other nar - row mar gin, vot ers in Wash ing ton re jected a bal lot mea sure that would have re quired the state leg is la ture not the state Trans - por ta tion Com mis sion to set tolls, man - date that a toll on a par tic u lar road or bridge be used only to build, op er ate or main tain the pro ject and pre vent light rail from run - ning on the I-90 floating bridge. A pro posed prop erty tax in crease to fund a countywide bus sys tem in Montcalm County, Mich i gan was de - feated. Vot ers in Trumbull County, Ohio, re jected a pro posed 0.5-mill, five-year levy to sup port the Niles Trumbull Tran sit Sys tem, and Se at tle res i dents voted down a $60 car-tab fee for trans por ta tion in vest - ment. The $204 mil lion that mea sure was ex pected to raise would have been shared with 49 per cent go ing to tran sit, 29 per cent to road main te nance and safety and 22 per - cent to bike/pedestrian infrastructure. For the year, CFTE re ports that Mich i - gan had by far the most mea sures on the 2011 bal lots with 16 prop erty tax re new als or in creases. Wash ing ton came in sec ond with five transportation ballot issues this year. Road Mea sures: In ad di tion to the tran sit mea sures tracked by CFTE, vot ers cast bal lots on sev eral other is sues re lated to trans por ta tion. Vot - ers in Ar kan sas over whelm ingly ap proved a $575 mil lion bond to be used to sup port high way re pairs. The state wide mea sure al lows the Ar kan sas high way com mis sion Please turn to Page 7 Asian Cit ies Lead the World in Internet Ac cess on Un der ground Metro Sys tems It does n t seem so long ago that dropped cell phone calls and un avail able Internet con nec tions were a rou tine part of a daily sub way com mute, but times are chang ing. A new sur vey of sub way sys tems around the world finds that most trav el ers can now ac cess the wire less Internet even when trav el ing un der ground. How ever, your odds of get ting on line are much better in some ar eas than oth ers. The New Cit ies Foun da tion sur veyed sub way sys tems in 121 global cit ies of 750,000 or more in hab it ants. It found that Internet ac cess was avail able on 100 per - cent of the sub ways in China and South Ko rea but only 41.2 per cent of the sub - ways in the United States and Can ada. Ac - cess was low est in Eu rope and Cen tral Asia at just 25 percent. Over all, when asked whether com mu - ters could ac cess the Internet on a city sub - way sys tem, 59.5 per cent of the re spon - dents an swered yes and 40.5 per cent an - swered no. Internet ac cess was de fined as the pos si bil ity to con nect to the Internet, through a smartphone for ex am ple, in most of the un der ground sub way sys tem. That in cluded the plat forms, tunnels and stations. Mathieu Lefevre, Executive Director of the NCF, says, This study helps paint a new map of the world, where tech no log i cal di vides are not where you think. He points out that Asian com mu ters can check their and read the news in more than 80 per cent of the re gion s sub way sys tems com pared to just half that in North America. Ac cord ing to the sur vey, Internet ac cess is avail able in 84.4 per cent of the sub ways in Asia, with 87.5 per cent ac cess in Ja pan. In the Mid dle East, the sur vey found a 66.7 per cent ac cess rate. In Latin Amer ica, com mu ters can ac cess the Internet on 57.1 per cent of the un der ground sub way or metro systems. The Internet ac cess rate for Eu ro pean Un ion mem bers and Nor way is 56.3 per - cent, ac cord ing to the sur vey. Only a quar - ter of the sub way sys tems in Eu rope and Cen tral Asia pro vided Internet ac cess. That group in cludes cit ies from Rus sia, Geor gia, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Ar me nia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. The New Cit ies Foun da tion is a Swiss non-profit in sti tu tion. Its aim is to be the premier high-level platform for innovation and ex change on the fu ture of ur ban iza tion. For more in for ma tion, see the sur vey at: derground_2.pdf.

7 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, NOVEMBER 30, 2011, VOL. 25 NO. 9 Page 7 Continued from Page 6 De spite Eco nomic Hard Times, Vot ers Con tinue to Fa vor Tran sit to bor row money to be re paid with fed eral funds and an ex ist ing four-cent levy on each gal lon of die sel fuel sold in the state. Vot ers in three Col o rado com mu ni ties cast ballots on transportation-related measures. Res i dents of Lo gan County voted to main tain the cur rent sales tax rate, of which 0.1 per cent is used to help sup port the South Platte Val ley Re gional Trans - por ta tion Au thor ity. Res i dents of Fort Lupton ap proved an ex ten sion of the 0.5 per cent street sales tax for con struc tion and re pairs of lo cal streets. Vot ers in the town of Calhan re jected a one per cent in crease in the cur rent tran sit sales tax for the next two years to pay for road and bridge repairs and operation costs. A $200 mil lion road mea sure in Mont - gom ery County, Texas, also was de feated. If passed, the mea sure would have al lowed the county to is sue road bonds for the con - struc tion, main te nance and op er a tion of roads and turnpikes. For more in for ma tion, con tact Allison Leach at aleach@cfte.org. For a com - plete list ing of CFTE mon i tored elec tion results, visit: Measures.asp State City Type Is sue Votes AK Statewide Re newal of Bond ing Pro gram Re new the state s 1999 In ter state Re ha bil i ta tion Pro gram that was pre vi ously passed and would main - tain the state s die sel tax at 22.5 cents. The pro gram would also al low the Ar kan sas High way Com - mis sion to is sue up to $575 mil lion in GARVEE Bonds fi nanced by fu ture fed eral funds, state high - way match ing funds and the ex ist ing state 4 per cent diesel tax passed in CO Lo gan County Sales Tax Ex ten sion To main tain the cur rent sales tax rate. Since 2007, a 0.1 per cent por tion of the sales tax has been used to help sup port the South Platte Val ley Re gional Trans por ta tion Au thor ity. The tax sub si dizes Prai rie Ex press, which is a fixed route bus ser vice based in the city of Sterling. CO Fort Lupton Sales Tax Ex ten sion Is sue 2A will ex tend the 0.5 per cent street sales tax through The sales and use tax pro vides spe - cial cap i tal im prove ment funds to be used for the con struc tion and re pairs of streets. If de feated, the tax will ex pire at the end of CO Town of Calhan Sales Tax Ex ten sion Also named Is sue 2A, this mea sure will in crease the cur rent tran sit sales tax by 1% for the next two years. The rev e nue will be used to pay for road and bridge re pairs and op er a tion costs. MI Hayes Town ship Property Tax The bal lot mea sure will re new a road mill age that ex pired in De cem ber Will re es tab lish col lec - tion of 1 mill, which amounts to $1 per $1,000 of tax able value of a home, for five years. The rev e nue will be used for road re pairs and main te nance in the township. MI Bay City Property Tax To in crease the cur rent street levy by a rate of $2 per $1,000 of as sessed prop erty value. The five year, 2mill tax in crease would be ap plied for lo cal street re con struc tion and repair. MI City of Alpena Property Tax A re newal of the cur rent 0.65 mill levy for the Thun der Bay Trans por ta tion Au thor ity's Dial-A-Ride ser vice. The mill age is ex pected to gen er ate $161,000 in its first year. MI City of Corunna Property Tax A re newal of a 0.25 mill levy used to sup port the Shiawassee Area Trans por ta tion Agency. It is es ti - mated that the mill age would gen er ate $14,000 in first year. MI Grand Tra verse County Property Tax A re newal of the 0.35 mill levy that is ap plied in this county and Leelanau County to sup port the op er - a tions of the Bay Area Trans por ta tion Au thor ity (BATA). In its first year, the mill age is ex pected to gen er ate $2,305,190. MI Leelanau County Property Tax A re newal of the 0.35 mill levy that is ap plied in this county and Grand Tra verse County to sup port the op er a tions of the Bay Area Trans por ta tion Au thor ity (BATA). In its first year, the mill age is ex - pected to gen er ate $2,305,190. MI Montcalm County Property Tax Montcalm County vot ers, ex cept for the city of Greenville, will vote on a pro posed 0.3-mill prop erty tax in crease to fund a countywide bus sys tem. NC Dur ham Sales Tax Lo cal of fi cials in Dur ham have voted to place a half-cent sales tax on the No vem ber bal lot. It would gen er ate an es ti mated $18.3 mil lion an nu ally to sup port a 25% boost in bus ser vice within the first 3 years, and to help launch com mu ter trains by 2018 and light rail by OH Cincinnati Charter Amendment Cincinnati vot ers will go to the bal lot for the sec ond time in two years this No vem ber to de cide whether the city should con tinue with its plans for a street car. OH Trumbull County Property Tax A 0.5-mill, five-year levy to sup port Niles-Trumbull Tran sit. The sys tem will ei ther cease to ex ist as of Jan u ary 1 or the fees will be re placed by the levy. The tax in crease is ex pected to raise $1.7 mil lion annually. TX Mont gom ery County Road Bonds Tran sit and Road Bal lot Re sults (No vem ber 8, 2011) Will al low the is su ance of road bonds for the pur pose of the con struc tion, main te nance and op er a tion of mac ad am ized, grav eled or paved roads and turn pikes, or in aid thereof, and the levy ing of a tax in payment thereof. WA Clark County Sales Tax Prop o si tion 1 is a 0.2% sales tax in crease to sup port the Clark County Pub lic Trans por ta tion Ben e fit Area Au thor ity, which runs C-TRAN. If the mea sure fails ser vice is ex pected to be cut by about 35%. C-TRAN cur rently re ceives 0.5 per cent sales tax, but an in crease to 0.7 per cent would pro vide an ad - di tional $8 to $9 million in revenue. WA Se at tle Ve hi cle Fee A $60 car-tab fee for trans por ta tion in vest ment. Of the $204 mil lion ex pected to be raised, 49% would go to tran sit, 29% to road main te nance and safety and 22% to bike/ped in fra struc ture. WA State wide Toll ing Ini tia tive 1125 would re quire the Leg is la ture (not the state Trans por ta tion Com mis sion) to set tolls, man date that a toll on a par tic u lar road or bridge be used only to build, op er ate or main tain that pro - ject, pre vent light rail from run ning on the I-90 floating bridge. Passed 81%-19% Passed 69%-31% Passed 68%-32% Failed 43%-57% Passed 66%-34% Failed 39%-61% Passed 79%-21% Passed 73%-27% Passed 73%-27% Passed 75%-25% Failed 39%-61% Passed 60%-40% Failed 49%-51% Failed 36%-64% Failed 47%-53% Passed 54%-46% Failed 40%-60% Failed 48%-52%

8 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, NOVEMBER 30, 2011, VOL. 25 NO. 9 Page 8 Product and Industry News Google Con tin ues Work on Car That Can Drive It self Automated Cars Log More Than 180,000 Miles Over Challenging Roadways Google went pub lic just over a year ago about what had been a se cret pro gram to de velop a self-driv ing car. High way miles con tinue to add up for the cut ting edge ve - hi cles, but Google still is n t spec u lat ing about where the pro gram is headed. The in no va tive car was back in the news in Oc to ber when Google co-founder Sergey Brin spoke about it with re port ers at the Web 2.0 Sum mit in San Fran cisco. Brin an nounced his teams have driven a chal leng ing course of more than 1,000 miles with out the need for a driver to man - u ally take con trol of the ve hi cle. In a vid eo - taped in ter view with Tim O Reilly, founder and CEO of O Reilly Me dia, Inc., Brin said Google con tin ues to pur sue the pro ject be cause, At a high level, we re do - ing it be cause we can, and I think it ll re ally af fect the world dramatically. Google has cited a num ber of ways in which the tech nol ogy can make a dif fer - ence. Brin told O Reilly that self-driv ing cars could help the dis abled or those too young or too old to drive. In The Of fi cial Google Blog, the com pany noted that the World Health Or ga ni za tion re ports that more than 1.2 mil lion lives are lost each year due to road traf fic ac ci dents. Google hopes its tech nol ogy could cut that num ber by as much as half. Other ben e fits cited are that self-driv ing cars could in crease car shar ing, cut en ergy con sump tion and im prove driver ef fi - ciency. The Google blog points out that the U.S. De part ment of Trans por ta tion es ti - mates peo ple spend an av er age of 52 min - utes each work ing day com mut ing. Google imag ines a self-driv ing car as a way to give peo ple more time to be pro duc tive. Brin also sug gests that if you can t find a place to park, a self-driv ing car might even be able to drop you off rather than hav ing to be parked and take up space. A Google spokes per son says the com - pany s self-driv ing cars have now logged over 180,000 miles, but en gi neers are still hard at work de vel op ing the tech nol ogy. In the O Reilly in ter view, Brin said, It s a hard tech ni cal prob lem that re quires A Google self-driv ing test car. (Photo: Cour tesy, Google, Inc.) some long-term in vest ment and de vel op - ment. How ever, Brin noted, We al ready feel quite con fi dent we can do it. Google says its au to mated cars use video cam eras, ra dar sen sors and a la ser range finder to see other traf fic, as well as de tailed maps (which we col lect us ing man - u ally driven ve hi cles) to nav i gate the road ahead. The com pany cred its the Google data cen ters for mak ing the self-driv ing car pos si ble by pro cess ing the enor mous amounts of in for ma tion that are gath ered when the cars are mapping the terrain. Google has mod i fied some Toy ota Prius cars for the ex per i ment. The cars fea ture a lidar sen sor on the roof. The lidar is a ro tat - ing sen sor that scans more than 200 feet in all di rec tions to gen er ate a three-di men - sional map of the car s sur round ings. A video cam era mounted on the rear-view mir ror is used to de tect traf fic sig nals and help the car s onboard com puter rec og nize mov ing ob sta cles, such as a pe des tri ans and bi cy clists. Ra dar sen sors in the car s front and rear are used to de ter mine the lo ca tion of dis tant ob jects. Other mod i fi ca tions in - clude a po si tion es ti ma tor on the rear left wheel, a GPS receiver and an inertial motion sensor. The Google cars, which the com pany says al ways carry a trained op er a tor, have driven from Google s Moun tain View cam pus to its Santa Monica of fice and on to Hol ly wood Bou le vard. The au to mated cars have driven down Lombard Street, crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, nav i - gated the Pa cific Coast High way and cir - cled Lake Tahoe. Google stresses that safety is our first pri or ity and trained driv ers are al ways be hind the wheel who can take over as eas ily as one dis en gages cruise con trol. A trained soft ware op er a tor rides in the pas sen ger seat to keep tabs on the soft - ware. Lo cal po lice are briefed on the ex - perimental rides. A Google spokes per son says that if a soft ware bug oc curs, all the test cars are grounded while the prob lem is in ves ti - gated. Only the pro ject lead may give the go-ahead to re sume op er a tions af ter all steps are completed. For more in for ma tion, see The Of fi - cial Google Blog at /what-were-driving-at.html.

9 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, NOVEMBER 30, 2011, VOL. 25 NO. 9 Page 9 Product and Industry News (continued) BlueCompass Us ing Bluetooth Tech nol ogy to An a lyze Traf fic Data In cludes Mea sure ment of In ter sec tion De lay per Ap proach Acyclica is pro mot ing its BlueCompass traf fic anal y sis sys tem as more than a sim - ple or i gin/des ti na tion track ing de vice. It says the new tech nol ogy will al low us ers to sam ple traf fic data across en tire net works, rather than just traf fic cor ri dors. BlueCompass works by tak ing ad van - tage of Bluetooth tech nol ogy. It anon y - mously scans and col lects iden ti fi ers from Bluetooth-en abled de vices and matches them from point to point. The com pany says that al lows BlueCompass to pro vide highly stable, accurate and reliable travel times, along with the abil ity to an a lyze traf fic flows at an un prec e dented level of detail. Acylclica says the tech nol ogy can be used to: Measure intersection delay per approach Mon i tor traf fic con di tions in con gested re gions Map traf fic flows in des ig nated ar eas Mon i tor traf fic pat terns in ar eas around schools or workplaces Per form or i gin/des ti na tion stud ies Calculate travel times Iden tify traf fic pat terns by sea son, weather or spe cial events. The de vices are small, mea sur ing 3 x 4 x 2 to al low for easy de ploy ment. BlueCompass is also Wifi en abled, which means no ca bles are needed for in stal la - tion, as long as the de vice is within range of a wire less net work. The com pany is cur rently of fer ing a Pay Once, Play For ever pro gram in which cus tom ers pay a fixed, one-time free to get data ser vice for the life time of the BlueCompass de vice. It s ad ver tis ing a $1,000 price for a lim ited time. For more in for ma tion, visit: 625bBM_1_luecompass.pdf. Con tin ued from Page 1 Carpoolers De cline and Traf fic Speeds In crease Af ter Toll Change two-per son carpools, which can not use the HOV-3 lanes. Some peo ple are us ing tran - sit or trav el ing at off-peak hours. Oth ers are con sol i dat ing trips and shop ping and din ing closer to home. The re search ers say some trav el ers noted that the new carpool toll and a per ceived in crease in wait times at carpool sites made carpooling look less attractive. Sur veys and fo cus groups re vealed that many trav el ers looked on the toll in crease with re signed ac cep tance. Most peo ple were not aware of the rea sons for the toll hike or how the charges re lated to trans - port costs and fi nanc ing. Some carpoolers in di cated that the mere pres ence of the toll, not just the amount, led them to re think their travel plans as carpoolers had to fig - ure out for the first time how to share tolls. Gas prices and em ploy ment sit u a tions also af fected the carpooling decisions. The study found the tolls did n t have much im pact on lo cal tran sit. It says BART ridership is up, WestCAT has new transbay ser vices and AC tran sit transbay ser vices are hold ing steady. In ad di tion, busi ness groups re ported lit tle change in their prac tices fol low ing the toll increase. The UC Berke ley re search ers also looked at travel times, lane by lane and hour by hour. They found sig nif i cant im - prove ments in travel times for some times of day and some of the ap proaches fol low - The Bay Bridge toll plaza with the ex ist ing and new bridge in the background. (Photo: Cour tesy of BATA, 2011 Noah Berger) ing the toll in crease. Changes were less sig - nif i cant at other times. The data did re veal some driv ers changed their travel plans to move from peak hours to off-peak hours. Researchers acknowledged a variety of fac tors come into play when it co mes to changes in traf fic pat terns, but their mod els in di cated the HOV toll was re spon si ble for over half the re duc tion in peak pe riod us age in the carpool lanes. Other fac tors that came into play in cluded gas price in creases, un em ploy ment lev els and the avail abil ity of competitive transit services. In terms of rev e nue, BATA says the toll fare increases generated toll revenues that were on tar get with es ti mates for the first year un der the new toll rate sched ule. It es ti mated new toll rev e nues of $129 mil - lion from July of 2010 to June of this year. Ac tual rev e nues were re ported at $132.7 mil lion. The in crease was in tolls for the full fare lanes. For more in for ma tion, see fi nal re ports at: documents/agenda_1764/3_toll_evalua tion_llee.pdf and documents/agenda_1764/bay_bridge_t oll_evaluation_final_report_final.pdf.

10 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, NOVEMBER 30, 2011, VOL. 25 NO. 9 Page 10 Con tin ued from Page 1 Traffic Accidents Cost Society More Sys tem at ics, Inc., and the crash costs are based on the Fed eral High way Ad min is tra - tion s (FHWA) com pre hen sive costs for traffic fatalities and injuries. Crash costs were cal cu lated for the same 101 met ro - pol i tan ar eas cov ered by the an nual Ur ban Mobility Report con ducted by the Texas Trans por ta tion In sti tute. Crash costs ex ceeded the cost of con - ges tion across the board, from very small to very large met ro pol i tan ar eas. In ar eas where the pop u la tion ex ceeds three mil lion peo ple, crash costs were nearly dou ble the cost of con ges tion. In smaller ur ban ar eas, with pop u la tions less than 500,000 and less traf fic con ges tion, the cost of traf fic crashes was nearly six times as great as the cost of congestion. The FHWA cost fig ures are based on 11 cost com po nents: lost earn ings; lost house - hold pro duc tion (non-mar ket ac tiv i ties oc - cur ring in the home); med i cal costs; emer - gency ser vices; travel de lay; vo ca tional re - habilitation; workplace costs; administra - tive costs; le gal costs; and pain and lost qual ity of life. In 2009 dol lars, the FHWA put the cost of a sin gle mo tor ve hi cle fa tal - ity at $6 mil lion. The 2009 cost of an in jury was es ti mated at $126,000. Con ges tion costs in the Ur ban Mo bil ity Re port were based on de lay es ti mates combined with value of time and fuel costs. While peo ple are quick to com plain about traf fic con ges tion, AAA con cludes that complacency regarding safety con - tin ues to be a sig nif i cant chal lenge. It says new ap proaches are needed to en hance pub lic sup port for in creased fund ing and to help trans por ta tion plan ners fo cus on ar eas with the great est po ten tial for improving safety. In re leas ing the re port, AAA Pres i dent and CEO Rob ert L. Darbelnet said, The bur dens as so ci ated with con ges tion are top of mind for many Amer i cans as they travel to and from work each day. Traf fic fa tal i - ties have been on the de cline in re cent years, but Darbelnet said the re ported fa tal - ity rate of 635 peo ple per week is unacceptable. The re port rec om mends pub lic lead ers: Make safety a na tional pri or ity and in te - gral part of trans por ta tion plan ning. In crease in vest ment in proven safety countermeasures to demonstrate measur able re sults and show a mean ing ful re turn on these in vest ments. Pass good laws, such as pri mary safety belt re quire ments, im paired driv ing countermeasures and graduated licens - ing sys tems, and then en force those laws. En sure im ple men ta tion and eval u a tion of state high way safety plans. Make zero fa tal i ties a na tional goal. In ad di tion, AAA calls for in creased com - mu ni ca tion and sup port be tween the fed - eral agen cies that are re spon si ble for trans - por ta tion safety. It says the pub lic needs a better un der stand ing of the im pact of traf - fic crashes, and AAA also calls for in - creased collaboration among traffic safety, pub lic health and health com mu ni ca tions pro fes sion als. Fi nally, the AAA re port calls for an in - crease in fund ing for test ing and eval u a - tion of safety in ter ven tions with pro grams based on sound sci en tific prin ci ples rather than con ven tional wis dom. It says the em pha sis in plan ning should be per for - mance-based, and there should be an in - crease in fund ing for data collection systems. AAA says its study and rec om men da - tions for im prove ments are de signed to Met ro pol i tan Ar eas with the High est and Low est Cost of Crashes give elected of fi cials, fed eral, state and lo - cal agencies road safety responsibilities. The re port is also de signed to give the pub - lic a better un der stand ing of the high costs of traf fic ac ci dents vs. congestion. The re port notes that mo tor ve hi cle crashes re main the lead ing cause of death among those ages 5 to 34 in the U.S. In terms of years of life lost, crashes are third be hind only can cer and heart dis ease. The in for ma tion in the ta ble be low was ob tained from the AAA re port. As can be seen, there is a sig nif i cant dif fer ence be - tween the high est rates and low est rates among the 101 met ro pol i tan ar eas in ves ti - gated. The Ur ban Trans por ta tion Mon i tor fur ther com pared the traf fic safety mea - sures ap plied by the states where met ro pol - i tan ar eas with the high est and the low est cost of crashes were lo cated. Us ing re ports from the Gov er nors High way Safety As so - ci a tion, it was found that there is some in di - ca tion that the states which ap plied a lower num ber of safety mea sures have the higher crash cost per per son. For more in for ma tion, see the full re port at: oads/2011/11/2011_aaa_crashvcongu pd.pdf or con tact Troy Green, Man ager, AAA Pub lic Re la tions, at (202) or tgreen@national.aaa.com. Met ro pol i tan Ar eas with the High est and Low est Traf fic Crash Cost Met ro pol i tan Ar eas with High est Cost To tal Cost of Crashes Per Per son Per Year Ba ton Rouge, LA $3,747 Beau mont-port Ar thur, TX $2,787 Raleigh-Cary, Durham, NC $2,694 Lit tle Rock-North Lit tle Rock, AK $2,511 New Or leans-metairie-kenner, LA $2,502 Metropolitan Areas with Lowest Cost Den ver-au rora-broom field, CO $614 Col o rado Springs, CO $618 Boul der, CO $670 San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA $757 San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA $796 Source: "Crashes vs. Con ges tion - What's the Cost to So ci ety?" pre pared for AAA by Cam bridge Sys tem at ics, Inc., November 2011