PROGRAM FOR DETERMINATION OF HIGH ACCIDENT LOCATIONS

OREGON STATE LAW REQUIRES ALL ACCIDENTS INVOLVING ANY PROPERTY DAMAGE, PERSONAL INJURY, OR DEATH TO BE REPORTED. FROM THESE DATA THE OREGON STATE HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT HAS COMPILED MOTOR VEHICLE TRAFFIC ACCIDENT DATA, CODED ON MACHINE CARDS, IN THE FORM OF INDIVIDUAL DETAIL RECORDS CONTAINING PERTINENT INFORMATION TAKEN FROM OFFICIAL ACCIDENT REPORTS. THE USEFULNESS OF THESE DATA WAS LIMITED BECAUSE THE INTERSECTIONAL ACCIDENT SUMMARIES DID NOT INCLUDE A MEASUREMENT OF EXPOSURE AND THE SUMMARIES WERE TOO LONG TO PINPOINT HIGH-ACCIDENT LOCATIONS CLOSELY ENOUGH SO THAT CORRECTIVE MEASURES COULD BE DETERMINED. IN 1962, A SERIES OF IBM 1401 COMPUTER PROGRAMS WAS DEVELOPED USING THE FOLLOWING CRITERIA' /1/ THE ANALYSIS WOULD BE DEVELOPED USING BASIC DATA IN THE AVAILABLE FORMAT, /2/ AN ACCIDENT- RATE CALCULATION WOULD BE INCLUDED TO EVALUATE ACCIDENT EXPERIENCE IN TERMS OF AN EXPOSURE FACTOR AS WELL AS TOTAL NUMBER OF ACCIDENTS, /3/ THE DATA MUST BE AVAILABLE FOR SECTIONS SUFFICIENTLY SHORT TO PERMIT PINPOINTING OF HAZARDOUS LOCATIONS IN ORDER TO LOCATE PROBABLE CAUSES OF HIGH ACCIDENT RATES WITH REASONABLE CERTAINTY, AND /4/ THE TABULATION COULD BE USED DIRECTLY BY ENGINEERING STAFFS WITHOUT ADDITIONAL DECODING OR INTERPRETATIVE ANALYSIS.

• Record URL:
  • http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/hrr/1965/79/79-005.pdf
• Supplemental Notes:
  • 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.
• Authors:
  • Edwards, Tom
• Publication Date: 1965

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures;
• Pagination: pp 45-50
• Monograph Title: Highway safety: 1963 and 1964
• Serial:
  • Highway Research Record
  • Issue Number: 79
  • Publisher: Highway Research Board

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Computer programs; Computers; Crash causes; Crash investigation; Crash rates; Data collection; Fatalities; Highways; Injuries; Location; Loss and damage; Property; Traffic crashes
• Uncontrolled Terms: Highway location; Property damage
• Geographic Terms: Oregon
• Old TRIS Terms: Data recording; Ibm 1401
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00219557
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Dec 12 1994 12:00AM