THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GEOMETRIC DESIGN STANDARDS AND SAFETY

Geometric design standards are mainly based on logically derived relationships and engineering judgements which are seldom validated by accident studies. Consequently, it is difficult to assess the likely safety consequences of departures from standards. This paper compares the results of studies in different countries and summarizes current international knowledge of the relationships between safety and the principal non-intersection geometric design parameters. In general, there is broad international agreement on these relationships. Many studies have attempted to relate geometric elements and accident rates, but only a limited amount of reliable information is available and quantifying the safety impact of marginal changes in the values of geometric design parameters is difficult. It appears that significant changes in the value of many geometric design standard elements are unlikely to result in large increases in accident rates and it is concluded that the available international information provides a good indication of the differences in accidents which would result from departures from design standards or from alternative route alignments.

• Record URL:
  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/circulars/ec003/toc.pdf
• 
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/00978515
• Supplemental Notes:
  • The proceedings have been edited by the Texas Transportation Institute, Texas A&M University System, College Station, Texas. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • O'Cinneide, D
• Conference:
  • International Symposium on Highway Geometric Design Practices
  • Location: Boston, Massachusetts
  • Date: 1995-8-30 to 1995-9-1
• Publication Date: 1998-1

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 44:1-7
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Circular
  • Issue Number: E-C003
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0097-8515

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alignment; Crash rates; Design standards; Geometric design; Highway design; Highway safety; International; Studies
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors; I21: Planning of Transport Infrastructure; I82: Accidents and Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00794701
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: E-C003
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Jun 13 2000 12:00AM