The Relationship between Intersection Density and Vehicular Crash Rate on the Kansas State Highway System

The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) and Kansas University (KU) have undertaken a study to investigate the relationship between vehicular crash rate (crashes per million vehicle miles) and highway operational factors such as Average Daily Traffic (ADT), posted speed (miles per hour), and intersection density (points per mile). The study was designed to examine each of the highway factors as independent variables against crash rate as dependent variable in order to determine the coefficient of correlation (R-square) in each case. In conducting this study the Kansas State Highway System was divided into classifications by cross-section. The classifications included 2-lane undivided, 4-lane undivided, 4-lane divided, and five lane. Each classification was further subdivided into rural and urban sections except for the 5-lane section which was limited to urban sections only. Fully access controlled sections were eliminated from the sample. Statistical analysis was performed on the data sets using the Minitab 2.0 software package. From these analyses, several conclusions were drawn. It was found that ADT, though a factor in the calculation of crash rate, showed low correlation. The relationship between posted speed and crash rate was shown to be inverse in each category, indicating that when speeds decrease crash rates generally increase. Intersection density and crash rate were shown to have a direct relationship and there is indication that entering volumes from intersections may also affect the strength of correlation. Thus, there is a clear nexus between management of access and protection of the public safety.

• Record URL:
  http://accessmanagement.info/sites/default/files/AM02%20paper.pdf
• 
• Corporate Authors:

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Huffman, Chris
  • Poplin, Justin
• Conference:
  • Fifth National Conference on Access Management
  • Location: Austin Texas, United States
  • Date: 2002-6-23 to 2002-6-26
• Publication Date: 2002

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: Figures; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 110-132
• Monograph Title: Fifth National Conference on Access Management, June 23-26, 2002, Austin, Texas

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Access control (Transportation); Average daily traffic; Crash rates; Highway safety; Intersections; Rural areas; Speed limits; Urban areas
• Uncontrolled Terms: Highway classification; Intersection density
• Geographic Terms: Kansas
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning; I73: Traffic Control;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01046226
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Apr 17 2007 2:45PM