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Title:

MEDIAN OPENINGS ON DIVIDED HIGHWAYS: THEIR EFFECT ON ACCIDENT RATES AND LEVEL OF SERVICE

Accession Number:

00219935

Record Type:

Component

Abstract:

THE PURPOSE OF THIS INVESTIGATION WAS TO ATTEMPT TO DETERMINE QUANTITATIVELY THE OPTIMUM MEDIAN OPENING SPACING ON MULTILANE DIVIDED HIGHWAYS WITHOUT ACCESS CONTROL WHEN SAFETY, LEVEL OF SERVICE, AND ROADSIDE ACCESS REQUIREMENTS WERE EXAMINED SIMULTANEOUSLY. THE EFFECT OF CERTAIN ROADWAY CHARACTERISTICS ON THE ACCIDENT RATE AND LEVEL OF SERVICE FOR EVERY SECTION OF MULTILANE DIVIDED HIGHWAY (WITHOUT ACCESS CONTROL AND WITH NON-CROSSABLE MEDIANS) IN NORTH CAROLINA WERE CONSIDERED. DATA WERE COLLECTED FOR 92 STUDY SITES, AND ACCIDENT RECORDS OF OVER 6,000 ACCIDENTS THAT OCCURRED ON THESE SITES DURING A 21-MONTH PERIOD IN 1963 AND 1964 WERE RELATED BY A DISTANCE MEASUREMENT TO A MEDIAN OPENING AND EVALUATED. DATA WERE STRATIFIED BY ACCIDENT TYPE AND LOCATION TYPE AND WERE ANALYZED BY MULTIPLE REGRESSION TECHNIQUES. PREDICTION EQUATIONS WERE ALSO DEVELOPED TO ESTIMATE THE ACCIDENT RATE AND LEVEL OF SERVICE FOR SPECIFIC LOCATIONS ON MULTILANE HIGHWAYS. FINDINGS OF THIS INVESTIGATION INDICATE THAT MEDIAN OPENINGS, PER SE, ARE NOT NECESSARILY ACCIDENT PRONE UNDER CONDITIONS OF LOW VOLUMES, WIDE MEDIANS, AND LIGHT ROADSIDE DEVELOPMENT. HOWEVER, AS VOLUMES INCREASE AND DEVELOPMENT INCREASES COMMENSURATELY, THE FREQUENCY OF MEDIAN OPENINGS DOES HAVE A SIGNIFICANT EFFECT ON ACCIDENT POTENTIAL. /AUTHOR/

Supplemental Notes:

Paper sponsored by Committee on Operational Effects of Geometrics and presented at the 46th Annual Meeting. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved

Monograph Title:

Traffic accident research

Monograph Accession #:

01410138

Report/Paper Numbers:

HS-000 708

Authors:

Cribbins, P D
Horn, J W
Beeson, F V
TAYLOR, R D

Pagination:

pp 140-157

Publication Date:

1967

Serial:

Highway Research Record

Issue Number: 188
Publisher: Highway Research Board

Media Type:

Print

Features:

Figures (1) ; References (12) ; Tables (4)

Uncontrolled Terms:

Access control

Subject Areas:

Data and Information Technology; Highways; Safety and Human Factors

Files:

TRIS, TRB

Created Date:

Dec 29 1994 12:00AM

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