01504341

Component

http://onlinepubs.trb.org...s/2011/RSS/2/Andreen,B.pdf

A comprehensive safety study is being preformed to compare crash statistics, human factors, roadway geometry, and safety features between Wyoming and North Dakota. Over the past ten years, the rate of fatal crashes in North Dakota has been approximately 30% less than the rate of fatal crashes in Wyoming. Because Wyoming and North Dakota are similar in terms of terrain, weather, motor vehicle miles traveled, and population, these two states initiated this study to attempt to determine the source behind the lower fatalities in North Dakota and apply those findings to Wyoming roadways. Some aspects being investigated in that study are: the level of enforcement, traffic safety laws, specific highway improvements, and miles of highway by functional classification. In the course of that study, it was found that North Dakota experienced a sharp gain in fatal crashes in 2009. It is thought that this is attributed to the increase in drilling and mining activities that have begun in the western part of the state over the past two years. Because Wyoming employment is very much dependent upon mining and drilling exploration and extraction, it is thought that the reason for the higher fatal crash number could be due to the number of migrant workers employed in these fields. This paper investigates the relationship between areas of employment and crashes in Wyoming. Certain Wyoming counties were identified as having large amounts of mining and drilling activities while others have been selected because of low levels of employment in this industry. This study compares the employment rate in the fields of Mining and Construction to the number of Fatal, Injury, Serious, PDO, and Total crashes in Wyoming counties. This comparison shows that where there is high mining and construction related employment, there are a larger number of crashes. The findings in this paper also suggest that Wyoming is experiencing high fatality rates because of high employment in these areas. Using the results of this paper, Wyoming will be able to focus efforts for further safety initiatives.

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01501394

English

15p

2011

3rd International Conference on Road Safety and Simulation

Digital/other

Figures; References; Tables

Construction and maintenance personnel; Crash data; Employment; Fatalities; Human factors in crashes; Mining and extractive industries; Traffic crashes

North Dakota; Wyoming

Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I80: Accident Studies

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Jan 22 2014 1:11PM