INVESTIGATION OF ACCIDENTS ON ALABAMA BRIDGE APPROACHES

As part of a research project to examine bridge accidents in Alabama, an investigation was conducted to ascertain the effects of the approach roadway on bridge accident rate. The objective of this study was to determine whether the accident rate increased near bridges, and if it did, to determine whether the increase could be described by a standard statistical distribution. A sample of approach accidents was prepared by matching county, highway, and milepoint numbers from Alabama's bridge inventory and accident files. This difficult matching process was necessary because state accident-investigation forms do not record structure numbers for bridges that are involved in collisions. More than 24,000 accidents on state-route highways between 1972 and 1979 were used in the study. A unique distribution of accidents was observed at bridge ends. The average accident rate doubled over a 0.35-mile distance at the approach to a structure. This increase could not be identified as any standard statistical distribution, primarily because of investigating officers' preference for recording accidents to the closest one-tenth milepoint. Tenth-milepoint locations dominated the data and masked the true distribution. An examination of accident codes revealed that many Alabama bridge accidents are apparently investigated incompletely, identified improperly, recorded erroneously, or ignored due to limited space on the investigation forms. (Authors)

• Record URL:
  • http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1982/847/847-001.pdf
• Record URL:
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• Supplemental Notes:
  • Publication of this paper sponsored by Task Force on Highway Accident Statistics. 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

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• Authors:
  • Turner, Daniel S
  • Rowan, Neilon J
• Conference:
  • 61st Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board
  • Location: Washington District of Columbia, United States
  • Date: 1982-1-18 to 1982-1-22
• Publication Date: 1982

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 1-6
• Monograph Title: ANALYSIS OF HIGHWAY ACCIDENTS, PEDESTRIAN BEHAVIOR, AND BICYCLE PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 847
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Accuracy; Bridge approaches; Crash investigation; Crash rates; Crash reports; Distance; Forms (Documents); Physical distribution; Statistical analysis
• Geographic Terms: Alabama
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Freight Transportation; Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I82: Accidents and Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00368146
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309033500
• Report/Paper Numbers: HS-033 760
• Files: HSL, TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Dec 30 1983 12:00AM