01333516

Component

The fatality rate of South Dakota local rural roads is the highest of surrounding states and nearly 50 percent higher than the national average for similar roads. In general, 25 percent of all State highway deaths and 19 percent of all injuries occur on local rural roads. Little effort has been devoted to a systematic assessment of potential safety improvements on local rural roads such as those administered by most counties, some states, and certain federal agencies. Local road agencies need to have the skills to identify, evaluate, and mitigate safety concerns. The limitation of funding will not enable roadway safety practitioners to solve all of the local roadway safety problems. Therefore, it will be important for both state and local governments to stretch the limited funds to gain the maximum benefit and better return on investment. The purpose of this study is to improve the safety performance of local rural roads in South Dakota by analyzing the crash occurrence and potential safety treatments. The study provides some low cost safety improvement strategies to county highway superintendents and other local agencies. Although treatments that are safety effective on higher traffic volume facilities should also improve safety on low-volume roads, they may not be cost-effective. One of the objectives of this study is to develop a Rural Road Safety Index (RRSI), to rank the road network according to the safety features and identify the deficiencies in road sections. This RRSI will also help in solving road safety problems before they contribute to traffic accidents. The use of RRSI will produce a technique to support road safety reviews to quantify the safety gains that could be achieved by addressing the problems identified in the review process. This paper reports on the procedures and the results of the local rural road safety survey and identifies guidelines for enhancing safety on local rural roads. The paper suggests the use of Safety Evaluation Priority Matrix and RRSI to assist decision makers in pursuing their safety program.

01329018

11-3778

English

14p

2011

Transportation Research Board 90th Annual Meeting

DVD

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

Cost effectiveness; Crash injuries; Crashes; Fatalities; Highway safety; Risk assessment; Rural areas; Safety engineering; Safety programs; Traffic crashes

Rural Road Safety Index

South Dakota

Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I84: Personal Injuries

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2011 Paper #11-3778

TRIS, TRB

Feb 17 2011 6:38PM