01099192

Component

Highway work zones constitute a major safety concern for government agencies, legislatures, the highway industry, and the traveling public. Each year, hundreds of people lose their lives and many more are injured due to vehicle crashes in work zones on the national highway system. Over the years, temporary traffic control (TCC) measures have been developed and deployed in work zones. To continuously improve the safety, there is a need to identify the traffic control deficiencies in work zones by evaluating the effectiveness of existing TTC measures based on the real crash cases. In this study, researchers evaluated the effectiveness of several commonly used TTC methods using logistic regression technique and various chi-square statistics. These TTC methods included flagger/officer, stop sign/signal, flasher, no passing zone control, and pavement center/edge lines. A total of 655 severe crashes in Kansas highway work zones between January 2003 and December 2004 were used for the evaluation, which included 29 fatal crashes and 626 injury crashes. The results indicated that flagger, flasher, and pavement center/edge lines were effective in reducing the probability of work zone fatal crashes. In addition, using these devices can prevent some common human errors, such as “disregarded traffic control,” “inattentive driving,” “followed too closely,” and “exceeded speed limit or too fast for condition,” from causing severe crashes.

01084478

08-1248

English

13p

2008

Transportation Research Board 87th Annual Meeting

DVD

References (16) ; Tables (6)

Crash injuries; Edge lines; Fatalities; Highway traffic control; Operations; Speed limits; Temporary structures; Traffic control; Work zone safety; Work zone traffic control

Kansas

Administration and Management; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors; Terminals and Facilities; I73: Traffic Control; I80: Accident Studies

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2008 Paper #08-1248

TRIS, TRB

Jan 29 2008 3:36PM