THE EFFECT OF SALT ON THE NUMBER OF WINTER ACCIDENTS

THE USE OF SALT FOR MELTING ICE WAS CORRELATED TO THE ACCIDENT RATES RECORDED IN TWO FILES WHICH ARE CODED BY SEASON AND WEATHER CONDITIONS. TWO APPARENTLY CONTRADICTORY RESULTS WERE FOUND. LINEAR REGRESSION ANALYSIS SHOWED THAT THE PERCENTAGE OF ACCIDENTS ON ICY ROADS DECREASED WITH SALT USAGE, BUT THE DECREASE IN THE NUMBER OF ACCIDENTS BECAME SMALLER WITH INCREASED SALT USAGE. THE DATA IN THE SECOND FILE INDICATED THAT SALT REDUCES ACCIDENTS ON ICE BUT SEEMS TO INCREASE THE OVERALL ACCIDENT RATE. IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO DRAW A CONCLUSION FROM THE RESULTS. /HSL/

• Corporate Authors:

  Hit Lab Reports

  Hudson Parkway & Baxter Road
  Ann Arbor, MI  United States 
• Authors:
  • Arvai, E S
• Publication Date: 1971-1

Media Info

• Pagination: p. 9-11

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash investigation; Crash rates; Frost damage; Regression analysis; Salts; Snow and ice control
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00221771
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Highway Safety Literature
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Aug 20 1972 12:00AM