Safety Evaluation of the Safety Edge Treatment

Between periods of maintenance, pavement-edge drop-offs can form along the edge of highways. When a driver runs off the roadway, such drop-offs can hinder reentry and may lead to driver overcorrection, loss of control, or overturning on the roadway or roadside. The safety edge is a treatment that is implemented in conjunction with pavement resurfacing and is intended to help minimize drop-off-related crashes. This report examines the safety effects, costs, and benefits of this low-cost treatment for two-lane and multilane rural highways. The safety research was conducted as an observational before-after evaluation of treated sites using the empirical Bayes method. The economic appraisal consisted of a benefit-cost analysis. The safety evaluation found that the safety edge treatment appears to have a small positive crash reduction effect. The best effectiveness measure for the safety edge treatment was a 5.7 percent reduction in total crashes on rural two-lane highways. However, this result was not statistically significant. The economic analysis showed that the treatment is very inexpensive and that its application is highly cost-effective for a broad range of conditions on two-lane highways. Inconsistent results were found for rural multilane highways due to a small data sample.

• Record URL:
  http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/11024/11024.pdf
• Record URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/37856
• Corporate Authors:

  MRIGlobal

  425 Volker Boulevard
  Kansas City, MO  United States  64110

  Federal Highway Administration

  Office of Safety Research and Development
  6300 Georgetown Pike
  McLean, VA  United States  22101-2296
• Authors:
  • Graham, J L
  • Richard, K R
  • O'Laughlin, M K
  • Harwood, D W
• Publication Date: 2011-3

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Appendices; Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 100p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Before and after studies; Benefit cost analysis; Cost effectiveness; Dropoffs (Pavements); Multilane highways; Ran off road crashes; Resurfacing; Rural highways; Two lane highways
• Uncontrolled Terms: Empirical Bayes method; Safety edge (Pavement safety feature); Safety evaluation
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Pavements; Safety and Human Factors; I22: Design of Pavements, Railways and Guideways; I82: Accidents and Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01343103
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: FHWA-HRT-11-024, Report No. 110495.1.001
• Contract Numbers: DTFH61-06-C-00013
• Files: NTL, TRIS, ATRI, USDOT
• Created Date: Jun 28 2011 7:54AM