USF Researchers to Quiz Motorists on Hurricane Evacuation Plans

TAMPA, Fla. (June 30, 2009) – More than a dozen student researchers from the University of South Florida will spend Friday , July 3 - the first day of the busy Fourth of July travel weekend -  interviewing motorists about their hurricane evacuation planning, or lack thereof , as part of a new pilot study.

The group of students led by Jennifer Collins, an assistant professor in USF Department of Geography;  Robin Ersing, an associate professor in the School of Social Work; and consultant Beverly Ward of BGW Associates, will interview motorists beginning at 9 a.m. at the rest area on northbound Interstate 75 at the Pasco County rest area between Exits 275 and 279.  The research is being conducted with financial support from USF’s Honors College, through its National Science Foundation-funded Hurricane Research Experience for Undergraduates.

Motorists will be asked questions about their intended hurricane evacuation plans. Later, if an actual hurricane evacuation occurs, the team will go to the location of a hurricane evacuation and examine people’s actual evacuation behavior, Collins said. The later portion of the project would be funded by a Quick Response Grant from the Natural Hazards Center in Boulder, Colo.

“This is truly an interdisciplinary project with researchers and students from different fields and expertise all focusing on the common question of how people’s differing social ties affect their evacuation behavior,” she said.

The team also will be handing out hurricane preparedness guides from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Weather Service and coloring/sticker books courtesy of BayNews 9.