THE RELATION OF HIGHWAY LIGHTING TO HIGHWAY ACCIDENTS
FOLLOWING A BRIEF DISCUSSION OF MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENT EXPERIENCE AND THE PART THAT HIGHWAY FACILITIES PLAY IN THE ACCIDENT PROBLEM, THE NEW JERSEY ACCIDENT RECORDS FOR 1933 ARE ANALYZED FROM THE STANDPOINT OF COMPARATIVE FREQUNCY DURING DAYLIGHT AND DARK. THERE WERE 33,803 ACCIDENTS RECOREDED, OF WHICH 44 PERCENT WERE AT NIGHT OR WHEN TRAFFIC WAS ABOUT 20 PERCENT OF THE 24-HOUR TOTAL. THESE DATA ARE ANALYZED BY SEGREGATING THE DAY AND NIGHT GROUPS OF ACCIDENTS BY TYPES, KINDS OF VEHICLES, WEATHER AND ROAD CONDITIONS. ACCIDENTS INVOLVING FIXED OBJECTS, PASSENGER CARS, AND UNFAVORABLE WEATHER CONDITIONS APPEAR TO SHOW LARGER PERCENTAGES OF NIGHT ACCIDENTS THAN OF DAYTIME ACCIDENTS. ANALYSIS OF ACCIDENT EXPERIENCE IN 1933 ALONG THE UNLIGHTED HIGHWAY FROM THE NEWARK AIRPORT TO TRENTON SHOWED THAT APPROXIMATELY ONE HALF OF THE TOTAL ACCIDENTS AND 63.4 OF THE FATAL ACCIDENTS OCCURED AT NIGHT. ON COMPARING THIS UNLIGHTED SECTION WITH THE LIGHTED SECTION OF THIS SAME ROAD FROM NEWARK AIRPORT TO THE HOLLAND TUNNEL IT WAS FOUND THAT ON THE UNLIGHTED SECTION THOSE TYPES OF ACCIDENTS THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN CAUSED BY INSUFFICIENT VISIBILITY WERE MORE PREVALENT AT NIGHT, BUT ON THE LIGHTED ROAD ACCIDENTS OF ALL KINDS OCCURRED MORE OFTEN IN DAYLIGHT. THESE STUDIES TOGETHER WITH THOSE REPORTED BY OTHER INVESTIGATORS SHOW THE VALUE OF STREET AND HIGHWAY LIGHTING. IT IS CONCLUDED THAT THERE IS A DEFINITE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HIGHWAY LIGHTING AND HIGHWAY ACCIDENTS AND THAT IN GENERAL WHERE ADEQUATE LIGHTING IS PROVIDED THERE IS A SUBSTANTIAL REDUCTION IN NIGHT ACCIDENTS. /AUTHOR/
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Supplemental Notes:
- Vol 14, ParT I, PP 429-441, 5 TAB. 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.
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Authors:
- Vey, A H
- Pope, C S
- Publication Date: 1935
Media Info
- Media Type: Digital/other
- Monograph Title: Proceedings of the Fourteenth Annual Meeting of the Highway Research Board Held at Washington, D.C. December 6-7, 1934. Part I
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Serial:
- Highway Research Board Proceedings
- Volume: 14
- Publisher: Highway Research Board
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Fatalities; Night; Night visibility; Street lighting; Traffic crashes
- Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 00221007
- Record Type: Publication
- Files: TRIS, TRB
- Created Date: Aug 15 1971 12:00AM