WEATHER CONDITIONS AND ROAD ACCIDENTS

EXAMINATION OF WEATHER STATISTICS ALONE SHOWED THAT RAINFALL IS ASSOCIATED WITH LOW TEMPERATURE AND ODDLY ENOUGH, WEATHER CONDITIONS HAD TO BE DESCRIBED IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE DAY OF THE WEEK. USING A NONLINEAR REPRESENTATION FOR WEATHER CONDITIONS A HIGHLY SIGNIFICANT ASSOCIATION BETWEEN THE WEATHER AND ACCIDENT STATISTICS WAS FOUND. ON THE AVERAGE, DRY- BULB AND WET-BULB TEMPERATURE AT 3:00 P. M. SEEMS A BETTER PREDICTOR OF ACCIDENTS THAN DAILY RAINFALL OR TIME OF SUNSET. IT IS ESTIMATED THAT THE PREVAILING WEATHER COULD AFFECT THE YEARLY NUMBER OF ACCIDENTS BY ABOUT PLUS OR MINUS 5 PERCENT. THE LOWEST ACCIDENT RATES OCCUR ON MILD DAYS WITH 3:00 P.M. DRY-BULB AIR TEMPERATURE BETWEEN 70 AND 79 F. ACCIDENT RATES INCREASE ON DAYS WITH DRY-BULB TEMPERATURES ABOVE OR BELOW THIS INTERVAL. THE INTERPRETATION OF THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN ACCIDENT RATES AND WET-BULB TEMPERATURE,PARTICULARLY ON MILD DAYS, IS UNCERTAIN. /AUTHOR

• Record URL:
  • http://arrbknowledge.com
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Vol 5 Part 3, PAPER NO 725, PP 190-208, 1 FIG, 10 TAB,
• Corporate Authors:

  ARRB

  Melbourne, Victoria  Australia 
• Authors:
  • Welch, J A
  • Vaughan, R J
  • Andreassend, D C
  • FOLDVARY, L A
• Conference:
  • Australian Road Research Board Conference Proc
• Publication Date: 1970

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash rates; Traffic crashes; Weather
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00226199
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, ATRI
• Created Date: Mar 20 1972 12:00AM