Using GIS and Spatial Statistics to Study Crash and Weather Patterns

The implementation of road weather management strategies and countermeasures to mitigate the effects of adverse weather on road safety requires the identification of most critical locations in Wisconsin from weather perspective. The objective of this research was to develop a procedure and identify weather-prone locations in Wisconsin, on a county level for broad scale planning purposes, and road segment level for specific implementation of road weather safety countermeasures. Weather-related crashes were analyzed on a county level through GIS and Spatial Statistical techniques to identify locations of high crash rates. Moreover, all segments of the Wisconsin state trunk highway network system were analyzed for weather-crash patterns using GIS analyses in combination with spatial statistical methods. Continuous weather surfaces were generated for snow and rain data from point locations through Geostatistical interpolation to cover all areas of Wisconsin. The comparison of weather and crash patterns provides a new perspective on the weather-crash safety problem. Locations of high or low crash rates can be analyzed differently depending on the corresponding high or low weather patterns. The results of county level analysis showed consistent patterns of crash locations over the three-year period, which suggests that weather had a significant and consistent role to play at those locations. The comparison of weather-crash patterns with weather data provides crucial insight and help towards deciding the countermeasure strategies to tackle weather safety issues at specific locations. The procedures defined can be used in the future to assess road weather safety on a continuous basis.

• Corporate Authors:

  Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE)

  Washington, DC  United States 
• Authors:
  • Khan, Ghazan
  • Santiago-Chaparro, Kelvin R
  • Noyce, David A
• Conference:
  • ITE 2009 Annual Meeting and Exhibit
  • Location: San Antonio TX, United States
  • Date: 2009-8-9 to 2009-8-12
• Publication Date: 2009

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: CD-ROM
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 33p
• Monograph Title: ITE 2009 Annual Meeting and Exhibit. Compendium of Technical Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crashes; Fog; Geographic information systems; High risk locations; Highway safety; Ice; Rain; Snow; Spatial analysis; Traffic crashes; Weather conditions
• Geographic Terms: Wisconsin
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors; I80: Accident Studies;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01164388
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 30 2010 8:28AM