00640005

Component

Traffic safety is an important concept in the evaluation of a transportation system and its impact on public health. Using reported crash rates as an indicator of safety of a freeway facility has many drawbacks, such as errors in the reporting and recording of crashes, inaccuracies in the way in which the exposure measure is derived, and the wait involved for a sufficient sample size to materialize. Conflict rates provide an alternative to crash rates as an indicator of safety. Benefits of their use include the ease and accuracy with which conflict rates at ramp weaves can be obtained and the high frequency at which they occur with no physical harm to the public. Computer subroutines were added to the Integrated Traffic Simulation (INTRAS) to count conflicts, and freeway traffic was simulated at 10 modeled ramp weaves on Interstate 294 (Interstate 294 serves as a quasi-beltway for the Chicago metropolitan area). The resulting conflict rates were then noted. Volume, geometric, and crash data for the 10 sites were provided by the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority and on-site visits. The conflict rates at the sites were applied in a test of their ability to identify the known hazardous ramp weaves, and the relationship between conflict and crash rates was examined.

This paper appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1401, Highway and Traffic Safety and Accident Research, Management, and Issues.

English

p. 61-69

1993

Transportation Research Record

0309054745

Figures (3) ; References (8) ; Tables (5)

Accident rates; Accuracy; Computer programs; Freeways; Ramps (Interchanges); Research; Safety; Traffic safety; Traffic simulation; Weaving sections

Chicago (Illinois)

Chicago (Illinois)

Highways; Research; Safety and Human Factors; I81: Accident Statistics; I82: Accidents and Transport Infrastructure

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Dec 28 1993 12:00AM

• ACCIDENT PREDICTION MODELS FOR FREEWAYS
• ASSESSMENT OF RISK MANAGEMENT PROCEDURES AND OBJECTIVES IN STATE DEPARTMENTS OF TRANSPORTATION
• ASSOCIATION OF MEDIAN WIDTH AND HIGHWAY ACCIDENT RATES (WITH DISCUSSION AND CLOSURE)
• COMPARISON OF ACCIDENT RATES USING THE LIKELIHOOD RATIO TESTING TECHNIQUE
• COST-EFFECTIVE DRIVER IMPROVEMENT TREATMENT IN PENNSYLVANIA
• ESTIMATION OF SAFETY AT TWO-WAY STOP-CONTROLLED INTERSECTIONS ON RURAL HIGHWAYS
• EVALUATION OF A NATIONAL TRAFFIC POLICE FORCE
• EVALUATION OF SAFETY IMPACT OF HIGHWAY PROJECTS
• HYDROPLANING AND ROADWAY TORT LIABILITY
• INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE VIRGINIA HABITUAL OFFENDER ACT
• ON THE USE OF ACCIDENT OR CONVICTION COUNTS TO TRIGGER ACTION (WITH DISCUSSION AND CLOSURE)
• REMOVING THE "HIGH" FROM THE HIGHWAYS: THE IMPACT OF VIRGINIA'S EFFORTS TO COMBAT DRUG-RELATED DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE
• STATISTICAL METHODS TO SUPPORT INDUCED EXPOSURE ANALYSES OF TRAFFIC ACCIDENT DATA
• TESTING THE SOCIAL-STRESS PREVENTION MODEL IN AN INNER-CITY DAY CAMP
• TORT LIABILITY RELATED TO UTILITY POLE ACCIDENTS IN FLORIDA