Let me check to make sure I have my driver’s license. Yup, it’s still there. After the experience I had at the Turner Fairbank Highway Research Center in Virginia earlier this spring, I am always just a little bit leery on what their true intentions were on that unseasonably hot and windy day. Not too long into my tour of the facility, I was led into a dark room that housed a Saturn sedan and a large video screen. Was this some sort of federal government interrogation tactic? Were they going to strap me into the four-wheeler and find out if I was truly worthy of holding a U.S. driver’s license?
Fortunately, my sanity was quickly put at ease when I learned it was a simulator used to make sure road designs were safe and efficient. Curiosity was ready to come out and play at that point, and I quickly volunteered my virtual-reality driving skills. Of course, I did notice the rest of the group taking a step back when I raised my hand. Hmmm.
Well, like I said I still have the proper ID to lay rubber on the road, and even though I felt a little wobbly after the whole experience, I left with a deeper appreciation as to what can be done to make sure the best design possible is produced, printed and presented to the contractor.
After shutting the door and strapping on the seat belt, I took in some instructions and cautiously pulled into an animated setting full of traffic circles and interchanges. As long as I looked straight into the screen it almost felt like a time travel machine, only in this case I was taken to a different point in the world instead of a different point on the calendar. I could stop on demand, hit the gas and reach speeds of 100 mph (although I was firmly told to keep it to under 40) and hug tight corners.
Researchers at Turner Fairbank have been using this arcade-like setting to handle some of the most difficult designs crossing American roads. Software and pictures allow them to map out exact coordinates, and just about every detail is colored in. Through test drive after test drive, the simulator can reveal, for example, if another traffic sign is needed, a certain speed is too dangerous for conditions or if a traffic light rather than a stop sign would be better suited. One-dimensional designs do not come close to reaching the same level of benefits.
The beauty part about this technology is it can take care of any situation in any place in the world. So if the city of Los Angeles were puzzled about a history of accidents taking place at a busy intersection, it could run it by the Saturn sedan and come up with a solution.
Every state and city department of transportation needs one of these, because we all know as soon as pavement is dropped, curbs are shaped and striping is applied it is awfully tough to go back. The simulator gets it right the first time—like a true licensed professional.
