Work Zones VS. Non-Work Zones: Risk factors leading to Rear-End and Sideswipe Collisions
Tens of thousands of vehicular collisions occur annually in work zones. The likelihood of a fatality resulting from one of these collisions is almost double the likelihood of a fatality resulting from all collisions (work zone and non-work zone). Due to this increase of fatality risk the objective of this paper is to investigate the possible causes of work zone collisions. After reviewing previous studies, the authors looked into the influence of environmental factors (time of collision, atmospheric conditions) and factors related to the roadway geometry (speed limit, number of lanes, road alignment) on collision type for both work zones and non-work zones. Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) database was used for the years 2010 and 2011. In order to analyze the data, negative binomial (NB) regression and multinomial logit (MNL) models were employed. Furthermore, a binary probit model was used to directly compare work zone and non-work zone data. Results show that rear-end and sideswipe collisions are more probable to cause fatalities in work zones compared to non-work zones. Additionally, clear conditions, daylight, and straight roads increase the likelihood of these two types of collisions. These findings suggest that Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) countermeasures should be investigated to encourage safer car-following (related to rear-end collisions) and lane-changing (related to sideswipe collisions) behaviors rather than to mitigate work-zone related infrastructure challenges. It is recommended that future research looks into these countermeasures including speed harmonization and vehicle-to-vehicle communications.
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Supplemental Notes:
- This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AHB55 Work Zone Traffic Control. Alternate title: Work Zones Versus Nonwork Zones: Risk Factors Leading to Rear-End and Sideswipe Collisions.
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Corporate Authors:
500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC United States 20001 -
Authors:
- Silverstein, Claire
- Schorr, Justin
- Hamdar, Samer H
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Conference:
- Transportation Research Board 93rd Annual Meeting
- Location: Washington DC
- Date: 2014-1-12 to 2014-1-16
- Date: 2014
Language
- English
Media Info
- Media Type: Digital/other
- Features: References; Tables;
- Pagination: 17p
- Monograph Title: TRB 93rd Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Crash causes; Fatalities; Rear end crashes; Side crashes; Statistical analysis; Work zone safety; Work zones
- Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors; I73: Traffic Control; I82: Accidents and Transport Infrastructure;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01518677
- Record Type: Publication
- Report/Paper Numbers: 14-3840
- Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
- Created Date: Mar 20 2014 1:39PM