Modeling Effect of Road Surface Friction on Accident Rate of Urban Unsignalized Intersections

Urban intersections are among the most accident prone locations. There are many factors affecting intersection safety such as traffic, environmental and behavioral conditions, and geometric design. Road surface characteristics, particularly skid resistance of surface, play a major role in the accident rate of intersections. The main objective of this paper was to identify the relationship between rate of accidents at intersections and the road surface skid resistance based on an experimental approach. Field studies were conducted on a selected sample of unsignalized intersections to gather the needed data including road surface skid resistance, and speed and volume of traffic at major and minor streets which were supposed to be the main affecting variables in the model. Nearly 200 crashes occurring at these intersections in wet conditions were analyzed. Data analysis indicated that skid resistance was at the lowest level in intersections with the highest accident rate. To obtain a relationship between skid resistance and accident rate, a log-linear regression model was developed and validated. According to the model it is expected that for each 1% increase in surface skid resistance, a 7.5% reduction in rate of accidents could be achieved. The model may be used as a predictive tool of safety performance for unsignalized intersections.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AFD90 Surface Properties - Vehicle Interaction. Alternate title: Modeling the Effect of Road Surface Friction on the Accident Rate of Urban Un-Signalized Intersections.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Amini, Behnam
  • Beigi, Hamid Haji Ali
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 94th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2015-1-11 to 2015-1-15
• Date: 2015

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 13p
• Monograph Title: TRB 94th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash rates; Field studies; Mathematical models; Regression analysis; Skid resistance; Unsignalized intersections; Urban areas; Wet weather
• Uncontrolled Terms: Safety performance
• Subject Areas: Highways; Pavements; Safety and Human Factors; I23: Properties of Road Surfaces; I82: Accidents and Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01550351
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 15-2823
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Jan 21 2015 11:29AM