Effects of Truck Traffic on Crash Injury Severity on Rural Highways in Wyoming Using Bayesian Binary Logit Models

Roadway safety is an integral part of a functioning infrastructure. A major use of the highway system is the transport of goods. The United States has experienced constant growth in the amount of freight transported by truck in the last few years. Wyoming is experiencing a large increase in truck traffic on some of its local and county roads due to an increase in oil and gas production. This study explores the involvement of heavy trucks in crashes and their significance as a predictor of crash severity and addresses the effect that large truck traffic is having on the safety of roadways for various road classifications. Studies have been done on the factors involved in and the causation of heavy truck crashes, but none address the causation and effect of roadway classifications on truck crashes. Binary Logit Models (BLM) with Bayesian inferences were utilized to classify heavy truck involvement in severe and non-severe crashes using ten years (2002-2011) of historical crash data in the State of Wyoming. From the final main effects model, various interactions proved to be significant in predicting the severity of crashes and varied depending on the roadway classification. The results indicated the odds of a severe crash increase to 2.3 and 4.5 times when a heavy truck is involved on state and interstate highways respectively. The severity of crashes is significantly increased when road conditions were not clear, icy, and during snowy weather conditions. .

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• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ANB70 Truck and Bus Safety.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Franke, Rebecca
  • Shinstine, Debbie S
  • Ahmed, Mohamed M
  • Ksaibati, Khaled
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 94th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2015-1-11 to 2015-1-15
• Date: 2015

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: 19p
• Monograph Title: TRB 94th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash injuries; Crash severity; Freight transportation; Heavy duty trucks; Injury severity; Logits; Rural highways; Traffic crashes; Truck traffic
• Geographic Terms: Wyoming
• Subject Areas: Highways; Motor Carriers; Safety and Human Factors; I82: Accidents and Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01551798
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 15-1833
• Files: PRP, TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Jan 27 2015 11:24AM