ACCIDENT RATES AND COSTS ON URBAN ARTERIALS AND FREEWAYS

RESULTS OF THE SEVEN YEAR STUDY OF FUEL CONSUMPTION, TRAVEL TIME AND ACCIDENT COSTS INDICATE THAT THE ACCIDENT BENEFITS OF $4.6 MILLION PER YEAR ARE APPROXIMATELY TWELVE TIMES THE MEASURED FUEL BENEFIT AND FIFTEEN PERCENT OF THE TIME SAVINGS BENEFIT. PROPERTY DAMAGE CONSTITUTES APPROXIMATELY SIXTY PERCENT OF THIS ACCIDENT BENEFIT. PAST ACCIDENT COST STUDIES WERE REVIEWED TO EVALUATE POSSIBLE USE OF EXTRACTED STATISTICS. THESE WERE FOUND TO BE UNACCEPTABLE IN THEIR PRESENT FORM, AND NOT TRULY APPLICABLE TO THE LOCAL SITUATION. FREEWAY AND ARTERIAL ACCIDENT RATES AND COSTS ARE EVALUATED TO PROVIDE AN ACCURATE LOCAL DATA BASE FOR BENEFIT CALCULATIONS. COMPARISON OF ESTIMATED AND ACTUAL PROPERTY DAMAGE ACCIDENT COSTS BY BOTH DRIVERS AND INVESTIGATING OFFICERS IS MADE. THE DRIVERS'S ESTIMATE IS FOUND TO BE MORE RELIABLE. A BIAS IN ACCIDENT COST IS INTRODUCED BECAUSE OFFICERS DO INVESTIGATE THE MORE SERIOUS AND COSTLY ACCIDENTS. ACTUAL COST PREDICTIVE EQUATIONS ARE DEVELOPED, BASED UPON COST ESTIMATES BY DRIVERS OR OFFICERS. ACCIDENT RATES ON ARTERIALS AND THE FREEWAY ARE EVALUATED AND FOUND TO BE MARKEDLY DIFFERENT. IN CONTRAST TO THE RESULTS OF OTHERS, NO SIGNIFICANT REDUCTION IN ACCIDENT RATE IS FOUND ON THE ARTERIALS DUE TO FREEWAY TRAFFIC DIVERSION. AVERAGE ACTUAL ACCIDENT COSTS FOR PROPERTY DAMAGE ON THE FREEWAY AND ARTERIAL ARE COMBINED IN CALCULATIONS WITH THE DIVERTED AND GENERATED TRAFFIC VOLUMES TO CALCULATE ANNUAL BENEFIT TO FREEWAY USER. /AUTHOR/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Rr 14b, 31 PP, 5 FIG, 3 TAB, 10 REF, 1 APP
• Corporate Authors:

  University of Washington, Seattle

  Seattle, WA  United States  98195
• Authors:
  • MATTESON, J H
  • Hall, J W
  • SAWHILL, R B
• Publication Date: 1970-1

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Arterial highways; Calculation; Costs; Crash rates; Crashes; Estimates; Freeways; Fuel consumption; Loss and damage; Property; Streets; Traffic volume; Travel time
• Uncontrolled Terms: Computation; Property damage
• Subject Areas: Energy; Finance; Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00221161
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jan 18 1971 12:00AM