HIGHWAY ACCIDENTS AND
COUNTERMEASURES
Unexpected, unplanned occurrence of an event resulting
in damage or harm
In Road accidents
worldwide
More than 1.2 million
people are killed every
year.
One child is killed every
three minutes.
50 million people are
injured each year
(statistics by world bank & WHO)
Total worldwide death toll of Tsunami of 2004 was about
2,30,000.
The annual death toll of Road Accidents is 12,00,000 !
more than five times the Tsunami toll
2
TYPES OF ROAD ACCIDENT
o Total of All Vehicle Accidents.
o Single Vehicle Accident (overturn, Fixed
Objects, etc).
o Pedestrian Accidents.
o Collision with Bicycles.
o Collision between Motor Vehicles.
o Collision at Railroad Crossing
o Collisions caused by Other factors.
ACCIDENT SEVERITY
o Fatality.
o Nonfatal Disabling (serious) Injury.
o Minor Injury Accidents
o Damage Only Crash.
ROAD ACCIDENT PATTERNS
o Head-on
o Right-turn, Head-on
o Right-angle
o Rear-end
o Sideswipe
o Run-off-the-road
o
o
o
o
o
o
Fixed object
Pedestrian
Bicycle
Parked Vehicle
Animal
Other
ACCIDENTS- BY ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS
Rain
Fog
Sand/Dust Storm
Darkness
Construction
POSSIBLE CAUSES OF ACCIDENT
Inadequate Road Design.
Roadside Features.
Restricted Sight Distance.
High Approach Speed.
Inadequate Signal Timings.
Inadequate Signal Phasing.
Inadequate Signs, Pavement Markings, and
Guardrails.
Inadequate Lighting.
Sharp Crossing Angle.
Slippery Pavement.
Lack of Crossing Opportunity.
Narrow Roadways.
Black spots
Black spots are road locations that have a
record of large numbers of crashes. There are
often common problems at these sites which
can be treated with engineering methods.
Component of
the Highway
Safety
Improvement
Program (HSIP)
by Federal
Highway
Administration
FHWA
Need estimates of the
effectiveness of safety
design features
Conducting Engineering Studies
In-depth study of the accident data obtained for
the study site
Conduct a field review of the study site
List possible accident (contributory) causes
Determine specific safety deficiencies at the site
Develop general countermeasures
Conduct an economic analysis
Recommend a list of countermeasure actions
Site analysis Draw a condition diagram
Purposes:
To identify contributing causes
To develop site specific improvements
Two types of info:
Accident data
Environment &
physical condition data
The first thing you
do is visit the site and
prepare a condition
diagram of the site.
Site analysis (cont)
Prepare a collision
diagrams
Site analysis (cont) Questions to ask
Group accidents by type and answer the following 3
questions, which will lead you to possible countermeasures.
What driver actions led to the occurrence of such an accident?
What conditions existing at the location could contribute to
drivers taking such actions
What changes can be made to reduce the chance of such actions
occurring in the future?
Rear-end collisions:
Driver: Sudden stop & Tailgating
Environment: Too many accesses and interactions with vehicles in/out of the
accesses (drive ways), bad sight distance, short/long yellow interval, inappropriate
location of stop lines (against driver expectancy), etc.
POSSIBLE COUNTERMEASURES OF
ACCIDENT
Prohibit Turn.
Remove Sight Obstruction.
Reduce Speed Limit.
Improve Roadway Lighting
Prohibit Parking.
Remove Fixed Objects.
Increase Signs.
Install Guardrail.
Install Advance Guide Sign.
Crash reduction capabilities
Used to estimate the expected reduction in crashes that will occur
during a given period as a result of implementing a proposed
countermeasure.
CR= crash reduction (CR) factors are used to indicate potential crash
reduction capabilities.
ADT _ after _ period
Crashes _ prevented N CR
ADT _ before _ period
N = expected number of crashes if countermeasure is not
implemented and if the traffic volume remains the same.
Problem
CR = 0.3, ADT before = 7850, ADT after = 9000, No. of specific types of
crash occurring per year = 12, 14, 13 for the same 3 years where ADT
average values were computed.
Procedure to determine Crash reduction factor (CR)
When multiple countermeasures are selected
CR CR1 (1 CR1 )CR2 (1 CR1 )(1 CR2 )CR3 ...
(1 CR1 )...(1 CRm1 )CRm
CR = overall crash reduction factor for multiple mutually exclusive
improvements at a single site
CRi = crash reduction factor for a specific countermeasure i
m = number of countermeasures at the site
Problem
CR1 = 0.40, CR2 = 0.28, and CR3 = 0.2. Determine the overall CR
factor.
Countermeasures are ordered in the descending order of their
accident reduction factor values.
Effectiveness of safety design features
(1) access control, (2) alignment, (3) cross sections, (4) intersections, and (5)
pedestrian and bicyclist facilities might affect the overall safety of roadways.
Among these cross section related factors are used as an example to compute
CP values.
Access Control: Defined as some combination of at-grade
intersections, business and private driveways, and median
crossovers
More access control Less accidents
e.g. interstates
Streets
Access control
More access,
higher crash rates
Some methods to reduce
crashes by controlling
access:
Remove access points
(remove median openings)
Provide frontage roads
for business access
Provide special turning
lanes
Warn motorists of
changing conditions along
the roadway using proper
traffic control devices
Alignment
Vertical alignment Most important factors include sight distance
(especially crest vertical curves) and the vertical curve length.
Improvements to safety of horizontal curves include:
Use a less sharp curve
Widen lanes and shoulders
Add spiral transition curves
Increase the amount of super elevation
Increase the clear roadside recovery distance
Assure adequate pavement surface drainage
Provide increased skid resistance
Cross sections (CR values)
Clearance
(CR values)
Cross sections (cont)
(CR values) for shoulders
(Combined effects)
(AR values)
Cross sections (cont)
(CR values)
Table 5.11 is slightly different from other tables. It does not give CR
values. It gives % or cross-section related crashes (RC values) including
run-off-road, head-on, and opposite- and same-direction sideswipe.
Table 5.11 Ratio of Cross Section Related Crashes to Total Crashes on Two-Lane Rural
Roads
Auxiliary lanes can reduce crashes (because they
provide safer passing opportunities.
An auxiliary lane is a lane other than a through lane, used to separate
entering, exiting or turning traffic from the through traffic.
F = fatal accidents
I = injury accidents
(CR
values)
Example
Given:
Improvement options:
A two-lane two-way
highway in mountainous
terrain
Widen 10-ft lane to 12-ft
lane (2 ft increase)
53 crashes per year (3 year
average)
Widen unpaved 2-ft
shoulder to paved 6-ft
shoulder
Currently 10-ft wide lane, 2ft unpaved shoulder
A combination of the two
options
ADT = 4000 vpd
Find the expected number of accidents reduced:
RC = 53 x 0.61 = 32 related crashes (Tab 5.11)
a. Crashes prevented (CP) by lane widening = 32*0.23 = 7
accidents/yr (Tab 5.8)
b. CP by shoulder widening = 32*0.29 = 9 accidents/yr (Tab 5.9)
c. CP by the combination = 32*0.46 = 15 accidents/yr (Tab 5.10)
