EVALUATION OF A LOW-COST PROGRAM OF ROAD SYSTEM TRAFFIC SAFETY REVIEWS FOR COUNTY HIGHWAYS

Mendocino County is a large rural county in northern California with more than 1,000 centerline miles of county-maintained roads. The terrain is mountainous, with a few small inland valleys. During the 1990s, the Mendocino County Department of Transportation developed a program of road system traffic safety reviews to improve signing and markings on the arterials and collectors in the system. The effectiveness of the program was measured by comparing accident data for the reviewed roads with data for roads not included in, or influenced by, the reviews. To control for different groups of factors, two sets of control roads were selected--county-maintained roads not reviewed and state highways within the county. Over two consecutive 3-year review cycles, the number of accidents on the reviewed roads fell by 42.1%, while on the county-maintained roads not reviewed they increased by 26.5%, and on the state highways they fell by 3.3%. The total cost to conduct the reviews and implement the recommended changes was $79,300. The accident histories of the control roads were used to define the limits of the range of probable benefits. On the basis of average accident costs provided by the California Department of Transportation, calculated savings ranged from $12.58 million to $23.73 million, yielding a costs-to-benefits ratio between 1:159 and 1:299. The county is expanding the road system traffic safety review program to cover its entire maintained road system.

• Record URL:
  • https://doi.org/10.3141/1819a-34
• Summary URL:
  • http://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=EVALUATION+OF+A+LOW-COST+PROGRAM+OF+ROAD+SYSTEM+TRAFFIC+SAFETY+REVIEWS+FOR+COUNTY+HIGHWAYS&author=S.+Ford&author=E.+Calvert&publication_year=2003
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0309077486
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1819, Volume 1, Eighth International Conference on Low-Volume Roads 2003.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Ford, S H
  • Calvert, E C
• Conference:
  • Eighth International Conference on Low-Volume Roads
  • Location: Reno, Nevada
  • Date: 2003-6-22 to 2003-6-25
• Publication Date: 2003

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 231-236
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 1819
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Benefit cost analysis; Counties; Crash data; Improvements; Low volume roads; Road markings; Rural highways; Safety audits; Traffic signs
• Geographic Terms: Mendocino County (California)
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors; I21: Planning of Transport Infrastructure; I81: Accident Statistics;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00942493
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309077486
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: May 9 2003 12:00AM