01334485

Component

Using new state-level data our research shows that young (<19) and older (65+) drivers are significantly overrepresented in crashes during winter road conditions. Drivers in Maine are, on average, involved in 93 crashes per day, about one crash per 10,000 drivers. The daily number of crashes varies with many factors, including two that are the focus of this study: temperature and snowfall. Winter-maintenance activities also influence safety and mobility and are costly. Maine spent $98 million in 2008-2009 on winter road maintenance efforts to improve safety and mobility. In order to efficiently allocate winter road maintenance resources, managers and policy makers need to understand the relationship between road safety and varying levels of adverse winter weather. Our analysis improves on past studies by exploring the relationship between winter weather and vehicle crashes for different age groups on a state level rather than a national level where it is more difficult to control for confounding variables. The methodology advances past efforts by employing a model allowing for greater heterogeneity and using more detailed weather, traffic volume and crash data. Results indicate that young drivers have the highest crash risk with below freezing temperature and mid-levels of daily snowfall amongst all age groups. Crash risk is also shown to increase for young drivers by 13% on Fridays with trace amounts of snowfall.

01329018

11-1397

English

0000-0002-4793-8499

16p

2011

Transportation Research Board 90th Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures (2) ; References; Tables (2)

Age groups; Costs; Crash causes; High risk drivers; Mathematical models; Mobility; Safety; Snow; Snow cover; Traffic crashes; Traffic volume; Weekdays; Weekends; Winter; Winter maintenance

Maine

Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; Safety and Human Factors; I81: Accident Statistics

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2011 Paper #11-1397

TRIS, TRB

Feb 17 2011 5:47PM