The purpose of this entry is to exhibit research conducted by the On Road Creative Inquiry team from the Psychology Department. This research was conducted for Clemson University’s Parking Services, who required an assessment of traffic speeds and volumes on inner campus roads. The team identified eleven locations on the west side of campus and eight on the east. Traffic monitoring devices, called Hi-Stars, were placed in these strategic locations to record driver behaviors. After calibrating to the earth’s magnetic field, the six by six-inch device measures disturbances in its electromagnetic loop detecting vehicles and logging the time they passed over the device, as well as the vehicle’s speed and length. The image is from the cover of a technical report for Parking Services, which captures one of the locations in the study, Calhoun Drive, from the street level of a Hi-Star device. This study is the first documented assessment of a university’s traffic behavior and applies an innovative technology and data analysis technique in an effort to ensure safety on Clemson’s campus.

Funding Sources:
15-101-7202-1355-130-1501047; 15-201-7202-1355-130-1501111; Clemson University Creative Inquiry Initiative; Parking Services