A lot of time when studies look at ways to reduce collisions and traffic jams, they look at ways to help people merge more smoothly, study carpool lanes and things like ramp meters that only let a set number of cars get onto a freeway or highway at one time. In Florida, they are looking at a different contributor to fender benders that cause congestion- fog.
According to the Tampa Bay Business Journal, Florida Polytechnic University has won a $1.5 million grant from the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) to study better prediction methods for alerting drivers of potentially fog-heavy locations.
According to FDOT officials, flog is a major issue on Florida roads, causing several major accidents in the past decade, including one in 2012 that killed ten people and injured 18 in a massive pileup outside of Gainesville.
The grant will help fund data collection, analysis and engineering of fog monitoring software.
According to a 2016 report by GPS company TomTom, the Tampa Bay region ranked No. 15 for the worst traffic congestion in the nation.