01478726

Component

In Costa Rica, the traffic accident database is still under development. Due to the limited quantity of information it is very difficult for the department of transportation to the accurately locate the road sections with significant concentration of accidents, also known as “blackspots”. The National Laboratory of Materials and Structural Models of the University of Costa Rica (LanammeUCR) has developed a methodology that initially assesses the potential risk of accidents associated with a combination of four different parameters related to road infrastructure and the environment. The study was performed in four of the country’s main highways, for a study length of over 1,000 km of roads. The parameters considered in the methodology were: pavement friction, retroreflectivity of the road marking, geometrical and topographical alignment of the roadway and climatic factors. The experimental parameters associated with each category were measured directly based on NDT testing. The climatic factors were based on current and historical weather station information. The proposed methodology consists of a combination of values for each individual parameter, which finally result in a susceptibility profile for the road, which is related to the risk that an accident will occur. All of the data was plotted in geo-referenced maps to be available for road users and the government. Finally, the results were correlated with accident data to verify for the sensitivity of the method.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ANB20 Safety Data, Analysis and Evaluation.

01470560

13-2286

English

15p

2013

Transportation Research Board 92nd Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; References; Tables

Crash risk forecasting; High risk locations; Highway factors in crashes; Methodology

Costa Rica

Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I82: Accidents and Transport Infrastructure

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2013 Paper #13-2286

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Feb 5 2013 12:30PM