About Dr. David Hurwitz

Dr. David S. Hurwitz is a Professor of transportation engineering, Director of the Kiewit Center for Infrastructure and Transportation Research, and Director of the Driving and Bicycling Research Laboratory in the School of Civil and Construction Engineering at Oregon State University (OSU). David also serves as the Associate Director at OSU for the Pacific Northwest Transportation Consortium (PacTrans). David conducts research in the areas of transportation safety, human factors, traffic control devices, bicyclists and pedestrians, and commercial motor vehicles. In particular Dr. Hurwitz is interested in the consideration of user behavior in the design and innovation of transportation systems. David teaches graduate and undergraduate classes covering topics such as: Highway Engineering, Traffic Engineering, Signalized Intersections, and Driving Simulation. David has published over 150 peer reviewed journal articles, conference papers, and technical reports and has been awarded over $6 million dollars in external funding. His work has been supported by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety (AAA FTS), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), MJ Murdock Charitable Trust, National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), National Science Foundation (NSF), Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium (OTREC), Pacific NW Transportation Consortium (PacTrans), the Portland Bureau of Transportation, Travel Oregon, and Washington County. Additionally, Dr. Hurwitz serves as the Chair of the ITE Education Council, Immediate Past Chair of the Pacific Northwest Section of ASEE, and as Chair of the Transportation Research Board’s  Standing Committee on Road User Measurement and Evaluation (ACH50). Dr. Hurwitz is also an Associate Editor of the Transportation Research Record.

Current Research Topics

  • Signalized Intersection Safety
    • Mixed mode (e.g., bike-truck, car-pedestrian, etc.) crash causality
    • Evaluation of passive pedestrian detection technology
    • Detection technology and predictive algorithms
  • Driver, Bicyclist, and Pedestrian Behavior
    • Ability of drivers to detect pedestrians in school zones
    • Situational awareness of drivers in crash likely scenarios
    • GSR data to evaluate the stress of bicyclists on different roadways
  • Traffic Control Devices
    • Blue light bicycle detection feedback systems
    • Signal displays for permitted left and right turns
    • Bicycle traffic signals
  • Connected and Autonomous Vehicles
    • Development and usability of automated vehicle display interfaces
    • Takeover control during secondary tasks
    • Connected bicycle interfaces and infrastructure solutions
  • Roadway Design
    • Evaluation of quieter shoulder rumble strip alternatives
    • Treatments to mitigate vehicle-bicycle conflicts
    • Rendering of simulator environments from dense point clouds