Evaluating the Safety Effectiveness of Restricted Crossing U-turn (RCUT) Intersections

The focus of this paper is on evaluating the safety effectiveness of restricted crossing U-turn (RCUT) intersections. Both unsignalized and signalized RCUT intersections were evaluated using the Empirical Bayes (EB) before-after evaluation method. The forty-two RCUT intersections considered in this research were converted from a two-way stop-controlled (TWSC) intersection or signalized intersection in the rural and suburban areas. The results show a 73.27% reduction in the total number of crashes and a 79.42% reduction in the number of fatal and injury crashes at unsignalized stop-controlled RCUTs in the rural area. In the suburban areas, a 64.86% reduction in the total number of crashes and a 73.39% reduction in the number of fatal and injury crashes was observed. Further, a 10.15% and a 31.08% reduction in the total number of crashes, and an 84.26% and 31.13% reduction in the number of fatal and injury crashes was observed at signalized RCUTs in the rural and suburban areas, respectively. Overall, the unsignalized RCUTs in the rural areas with a larger sample size were found to be more safer than was observed by researchers in the past. These findings are useful to researchers and practitioners for making informed decisions and implementing RCUTs from a safety perspective

• Record URL:
  https://annualmeeting.mytrb.org/OnlineProgram/Details/15793
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ACS20 Standing Committee on Safety Performance Analysis.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  ,    
• Authors:
  • Mishra, Raunak
  • Pulugurtha, Srinivas S
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 100th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2021-1-5 to 2021-1-29
• Date: 2021

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 17p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bayes' theorem; Before and after studies; Empirical methods; Evaluation; Rural areas; Signalized intersections; Suburbs; Traffic safety; U turns; Unsignalized intersections
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01764276
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: TRBAM-21-03723
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 4 2021 11:00AM