THE SAFETY IMPLICATIONS OF GEOMETRIC STANDARD

The information available to assess safety-effectiveness at the levels of network policy decisions, specification of standards, and detail design is reviewed. It is concluded that there is sufficient information available to assess the relative safety-effectiveness of different road types, particularly comparing freeways with conventional roads. It should also be possible to assess the safety performance of conventional roads classified according to overall geometric standard. Studies of accident rates related to pavement width suggest that the most safety-effective pavement width standard is about 6.8 M. The relationships between accident rates and standards for other individual geometric elements are not clear, and the consistency of alignment standard appears to be as important as the standards adopted for individual alignment elemnts. There is an apparent lack of information at the detailed level which can be used by designers to assess the safety implications of detail design decisions. It is suggested that safety benefits may be obtained by recognising, and designing to re-inforce, the relationship between driver behaviour and perceived overall standard. (Author/TRRL)

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Parers from Workshop on the Economics of Road Design Standards, Canberra, May 18-20, 1980.
• Corporate Authors:

  Bureau of Transport Economics, Australia

  Allara Street
  Canberra City, A.C.T. 2601,   Australia 
• Authors:
  • McLean, J R
• Publication Date: 1980-5

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References;
• Pagination: 12 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alternatives analysis; Behavior; Benefits; Crash rates; Drivers; Freeways; Geometric design; Highway design; Highway safety; Highways; Pavements; Standards; Traffic crashes; Transportation policy; Width
• Old TRIS Terms: Pavement width
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Pavements; Policy; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00330380
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL)
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 9 1981 12:00AM