DRIVER-BASED CELLULAR/PCS INCIDENT DETECTION SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION PLAN FOR DALLAS

Critical to intelligent transportation systems (ITS) is an efficient form of surveillance on freeways to detect incidents. Traditionally, loop detectors or another form of passive detection have been used to meet this need. Due to the high cost, difficulty of timely installation, and limited funding available to deploy ITS, the traditional system has been slow to develop in the Dallas area. This research assesses the feasibility of substituting driver-based incident detection using cellular phones for traditional passive detection. The study is divided into five major tasks: (1) summary of current cellular incident reporting services; (2) identification of issues and potential effectiveness of cellular incident detection in Dallas; (3) development of an implementation plan for driver-based cellular detection; (4) comparison of traditional and cellular incident detection methods; and (5) identification of potential funding sources for the implementation plan. This document concentrates on reporting on the development of the implementation plan for driver-based cellular detection in Dallas. Based on evaluation of existing driver-based cellular incident detection programs and interviews with local public safety officials, researchers decided to rely on the existing 911 system for incident detection instead of having a new number, such as *999, created. Based on this decision, the implementation plan contained four major components: (1) driver education campaign, (2) deployment of reference location signs on the freeway network, (3) establishment of communication interfaces between local 911 centers and the Texas Department of Transportation's Dallas Traffic Management Center, and (4) expansion of CCTV camera network for incident verification. All of these components combined together will form an effective incident detection and verification system that should allow the deployment of passive detection, such as loop detectors, to be scaled back accordingly.