- OVER 33,000 PEOPLE DIE
AND ROUGHLY 2.4 MILLION MORE ARE INJURED
IN MOTOR VEHICLE CRASHES
EACH YEAR ON OUR NATION'S ROADWAYS.
ROUGHLY HALF OF THOSE CRASHES
OCCUR AT ROADWAY CURVES OR INTERSECTIONS.
EXCESSIVE SPEED AND DRIVER INATTENTION
OFTEN CREATE AN ENVIRONMENT WHERE FRICTION DEMAND
IS HIGHER THAN WHAT CAN BE COUNTERED
WITH STANDARD PAVEMENT SURFACES,
RESULTING IN A LOSS OF CONTROL.
VEHICLE FRICTION DEMAND IS THE LEVEL OF FRICTION NEEDED
TO SAFELY PERFORM BRAKING, STEERING,
AND ACCELERATION MANEUVERS.
HIGH FRICTION SURFACE TREATMENT, OR HFST,
ADDRESSES THIS PROBLEM BY PROVIDING ENHANCED TRACTION.
WHEN APPLIED AS A SPOT TREATMENT AT HIGH-RISK AREAS,
HFST SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCES CRASHES,
ULTIMATELY SAVING LIVES AND AVOIDING INJURIES.
HIGH FRICTION SURFACING SERVES
AS AN EXCELLENT SPEED CRASH REDUCTION COUNTERMEASURE.
UNLIKE RECONSTRUCTION, HFST CAN BE INSTALLED IMMEDIATELY
ON WELL-MAINTAINED PAVEMENT SURFACES.
IT DOES NOT REQUIRE YEARS OF DELAYS FOR DESIGN,
RIGHT-OF-WAY ACQUISITION, PERMITTING,
AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROCESSES OR RESULT
IN LONG CONSTRUCTION-RELATED CORRIDOR IMPACTS.
MOST INSTALLATIONS ARE COMPLETED IN JUST A FEW HOURS.
THESE LOW-COST, LOCATION-SPECIFIC TREATMENTS
DRAMATICALLY REDUCE RISK FACTORS,
PROVIDING A COST-EFFECTIVE SOLUTION.
HFST UTILIZES A LIQUID POLYMER RESIN BINDER
ONTO WHICH CALCINED BAUXITE AGGREGATE
IS PLACED OR SPRAYED.
ONCE APPLIED, SURFACE FRICTION IS SIGNIFICANTLY ENHANCED
WHEN COMPARED TO TRADITIONAL PAVEMENT TREATMENTS.
AS PAVEMENT FRICTION INCREASES,
MOTORISTS ARE PROVIDED ADDITIONAL TIME
TO ADJUST SPEED BACK WITHIN SAFE PARAMETERS.
HFST PROVIDES THIS ENHANCED SAFETY
IN A MANNER USUALLY OBTAINED
ONLY THROUGH EXPENSIVE AND DISRUPTIVE RECONSTRUCTION
DESIGNED AT REDUCING FRICTION DEMAND.
HFST IS A PROVEN SAFETY COUNTERMEASURE.
UTILIZED SINCE THE EARLY 1970s IN EUROPE, MEXICO,
SOUTH AMERICA, AND ASIA, THIS TECHNOLOGY
IS NOW BEING AGGRESSIVELY APPLIED IN THE UNITED STATES,
RESULTING IN DRAMATIC CRASH REDUCTIONS.
MORE IMPORTANTLY, SPEED-RELATED RISK FACTORS ARE REDUCED
WITHOUT DEPENDING ON CHANGES IN DRIVER BEHAVIOR.
EACH YEAR, MORE THAN 28% OF ALL HIGHWAY FATALITIES
OCCUR AT OR NEAR HORIZONTAL CURVES.
INCREASING SURFACE FRICTION AT THESE CRITICAL LOCATIONS
SAVES LIVES AND REDUCES CRASHES.
CRASH DATA COLLECTED TO DATE DEMONSTRATES
SIGNIFICANT CRASH-REDUCTION BENEFITS
WITH THE INSTALLATION OF HIGH FRICTION SURFACES
IN THE UNITED STATES AND AROUND THE WORLD.
IN MILWAUKEE, FOR EXAMPLE, HFST WAS INSTALLED ON A RAMP
THAT HAD BEEN THE SITE OF 87 CRASHES IN JUST ONE YEAR.
IN OCTOBER OF 2011, HFST WAS INSTALLED.
SINCE THAT TIME, ONLY TWO CRASHES HAVE OCCURRED.
IN OLDHAM COUNTY, KENTUCKY, THERE WAS A HORIZONTAL CURVE
THAT RECORDED 53 WET AND THREE DRY CRASHES
OVER A THREE-YEAR PERIOD.
AFTER TREATMENT, THOSE STATISTICS DROPPED
TO FIVE WET AND ZERO DRY CRASHES OVER THE NEXT THREE YEARS.
THERE ARE SIMILAR STORIES FOUND ALL AROUND THE COUNTRY.
HIGH FRICTION SURFACING IS VALUABLE
AS A NEW SPEED CRASH REDUCTION TOOL.
WHEN COMPARED TO EXPENSIVE AND TIME-CONSUMING GEOMETRIC FIXES,
HIGH FRICTION SURFACING IS A LOW-COST COUNTERMEASURE,
HELPING TO REDUCE ROADWAY DEPARTURE CRASHES
AND TO SAVE LIVES.
THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION CAN HELP YOU LEARN MORE
ABOUT HIGH FRICTION SURFACE TREATMENT INSTALLATION
AND PAVEMENT FRICTION MANAGEMENT.