Recognizing the distinct non-motorist injury severity profiles by crash location (segment or intersection), we propose a joint modeling framework to study crash location type and non-motorist injury severity as two dimensions of the severity process. We employ a copula-based joint framework that ties the crash location type (represented as a binary logit model) and injury severity (represented as a generalized ordered logit model) through a closed form flexible dependency structure to study the injury severity process. The data for our analysis is drawn from the Central Florida region for the years of 2015 to 2021. The model system explicitly accounts for temporal heterogeneity across the two dimensions. A comprehensive set of independent variables including non-motorist user characteristics, driver and vehicle characteristics, roadway attributes, weather and environmental factors, temporal and sociodemographic factors are considered for the analysis. We also conducted an elasticity analysis to show the actual magnitude of the independent variables on non-motorist injury severity at the two locations. The results highlight the importance of examining the effect of various independent variables on non-motorist injury severity outcome by different crash locations.

No description available.

Since before the release of the Highway Safety Manual research has been indicating the need to incorporate mobility and control aspects to road safety analysis. The first part of this work developed and implement in an existing computational engine a signal timing optimization method that considers mobility, safety, and emissions measures simultaneously. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to provide insight on the practical effects and order of relevance of 20 key input variables. Mobility improvement performance usually coincides with emissions improvements, but sometimes at the expense of safety. The second part of this work investigated the relationship between hourly traffic density and crash rates on Brazilian expressways with different characteristics, based on a database containing over 20,000 crashes and more than 35 million traffic volume observations and. The resulting curves for urban expressways follow a U shape, with minimum values associated with LOS B to C, while the relationships for rural expressways were found to be continuously increasing, suggesting that low volume rural roads are safer than the higher volume ones. The analysis of other influencing factors revealed that nighttime conditions, weaving segments and urban multilane highways could be related to higher crash rates. The third part of the project extends the analysis to crash severity modeling, using an ordered response choice model. The framework that better fit this database led to the development of two different models: single-vehicle crashes (SV) and multiple-vehicle crashes (MV), since the factors that explain the severity of crashes varies widely between these models. For instance, guardrails and barriers proved to effectively reduce severity for SV crashes, for which run-offs are the most severe crash type. The unique database used in this study also allowed for an investigation of the influence of prevailing traffic conditions on crash severity, while still controlling for all other factors. The results suggested that multiple-vehicle crash severity is negatively related with traffic density, while single-vehicle crashes are more closely related to speed. The findings of this work have implications to policy and design decisions, and the produced equation could be incorporated to active traffic management (ATM) and HCM reliability analysis. / Desde antes da publicação do Highway Safety Manual, vários pesquisadores indicam a necessidade de se incorporar aspectos de operação de tráfego à análise de segurança viária. A primeira parte deste trabalho desenvolveu e implementou em uma ferramenta computacional existente um método de otimização de tempos semafóricos que considera medidas de desempenho de operação, segurança e emissões simultaneamente. Uma análise de sensibilidade foi realizada para produzir conhecimento sobre os efeitos práticos e a ordem de relevância de 20 variáveis de entrada principais. O desempenho da programação semafórica em termos de redução dos atrasos geralmente coincide com redução das emissões, embora às vezes às custas da segurança. A segunda parte deste trabalho investigou a relação entre a densidade horária de tráfego e as taxas de acidentes em autoestradas e rodovias de pista dupla brasileiras com características diversas, com base em um banco de dados contendo mais de 20.000 registros de acidentes e mais de 35 milhões de observações de tráfego. As curvas resultantes para rodovias urbanas seguem um formato em U, com valores mínimos associados aos níveis de serviço B a C, enquanto que as relações para as rodovias rurais são contínuas e crescentes, sugerindo que rodovias rurais de baixo volume são mais seguras do que as de maior volume. A análise de outros fatores revelou que condições noturnas, segmentos de entrelaçamento e rodovias de pista dupla convencionais urbanas estariam relacionadas a maiores taxas de acidentes. A terceira parte deste projeto amplia a análise para modelagem de severidade dos acidentes, usando um modelo de escolha discreta ordenado. A estrutura que melhor se adequa a esse banco de dados levou ao desenvolvimento de dois modelos diferentes: acidentes com um veículo e acidentes com múltiplos veículos, já que os fatores que explicam a severidade dos acidentes variam muito entre esses modelos. Por exemplo, defensas e barreiras se mostraram efetivas para a redução da severidade de acidentes com um veículo, para as quais a saída de pista é o tipo de acidente mais grave. O amplo banco de dados usado neste estudo também permitiu uma investigação da influência das condições de tráfego na severidade do acidente, em comparação com todos os outros fatores. Os resultados sugeriram que a severidade de acidentes de múltiplos veículos está negativamente relacionada com a densidade de tráfego, enquanto colisões com um único veículo estão mais relacionadas à velocidade. As descobertas deste trabalho têm implicações nas decisões sobre políticas e projetos de transportes, e a equação produzida pode ser incorporada à análise de confiabilidade do gerenciamento ativo do tráfego (ATM) e do Highway Capacity Manual.

Since before the release of the Highway Safety Manual research has been indicating the need to incorporate mobility and control aspects to road safety analysis. The first part of this work developed and implement in an existing computational engine a signal timing optimization method that considers mobility, safety, and emissions measures simultaneously. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to provide insight on the practical effects and order of relevance of 20 key input variables. Mobility improvement performance usually coincides with emissions improvements, but sometimes at the expense of safety. The second part of this work investigated the relationship between hourly traffic density and crash rates on Brazilian expressways with different characteristics, based on a database containing over 20,000 crashes and more than 35 million traffic volume observations and. The resulting curves for urban expressways follow a U shape, with minimum values associated with LOS B to C, while the relationships for rural expressways were found to be continuously increasing, suggesting that low volume rural roads are safer than the higher volume ones. The analysis of other influencing factors revealed that nighttime conditions, weaving segments and urban multilane highways could be related to higher crash rates. The third part of the project extends the analysis to crash severity modeling, using an ordered response choice model. The framework that better fit this database led to the development of two different models: single-vehicle crashes (SV) and multiple-vehicle crashes (MV), since the factors that explain the severity of crashes varies widely between these models. For instance, guardrails and barriers proved to effectively reduce severity for SV crashes, for which run-offs are the most severe crash type. The unique database used in this study also allowed for an investigation of the influence of prevailing traffic conditions on crash severity, while still controlling for all other factors. The results suggested that multiple-vehicle crash severity is negatively related with traffic density, while single-vehicle crashes are more closely related to speed. The findings of this work have implications to policy and design decisions, and the produced equation could be incorporated to active traffic management (ATM) and HCM reliability analysis. / Desde antes da publicação do Highway Safety Manual, vários pesquisadores indicam a necessidade de se incorporar aspectos de operação de tráfego à análise de segurança viária. A primeira parte deste trabalho desenvolveu e implementou em uma ferramenta computacional existente um método de otimização de tempos semafóricos que considera medidas de desempenho de operação, segurança e emissões simultaneamente. Uma análise de sensibilidade foi realizada para produzir conhecimento sobre os efeitos práticos e a ordem de relevância de 20 variáveis de entrada principais. O desempenho da programação semafórica em termos de redução dos atrasos geralmente coincide com redução das emissões, embora às vezes às custas da segurança. A segunda parte deste trabalho investigou a relação entre a densidade horária de tráfego e as taxas de acidentes em autoestradas e rodovias de pista dupla brasileiras com características diversas, com base em um banco de dados contendo mais de 20.000 registros de acidentes e mais de 35 milhões de observações de tráfego. As curvas resultantes para rodovias urbanas seguem um formato em U, com valores mínimos associados aos níveis de serviço B a C, enquanto que as relações para as rodovias rurais são contínuas e crescentes, sugerindo que rodovias rurais de baixo volume são mais seguras do que as de maior volume. A análise de outros fatores revelou que condições noturnas, segmentos de entrelaçamento e rodovias de pista dupla convencionais urbanas estariam relacionadas a maiores taxas de acidentes. A terceira parte deste projeto amplia a análise para modelagem de severidade dos acidentes, usando um modelo de escolha discreta ordenado. A estrutura que melhor se adequa a esse banco de dados levou ao desenvolvimento de dois modelos diferentes: acidentes com um veículo e acidentes com múltiplos veículos, já que os fatores que explicam a severidade dos acidentes variam muito entre esses modelos. Por exemplo, defensas e barreiras se mostraram efetivas para a redução da severidade de acidentes com um veículo, para as quais a saída de pista é o tipo de acidente mais grave. O amplo banco de dados usado neste estudo também permitiu uma investigação da influência das condições de tráfego na severidade do acidente, em comparação com todos os outros fatores. Os resultados sugeriram que a severidade de acidentes de múltiplos veículos está negativamente relacionada com a densidade de tráfego, enquanto colisões com um único veículo estão mais relacionadas à velocidade. As descobertas deste trabalho têm implicações nas decisões sobre políticas e projetos de transportes, e a equação produzida pode ser incorporada à análise de confiabilidade do gerenciamento ativo do tráfego (ATM) e do Highway Capacity Manual.

No description available.

Major crossroads are designed to facilitate the conflicting movements of numerous vehicles in a manner that is both safe and efficient. Accesses located within the functional areas of major crossroads add complication to intersection activity due to additional conflicts arising from ingressing and egressing movements at the accesses. In this research, the impact of accesses on crashes within major crossroad functional areas was analyzed. Specifically, the effects of access spacing within functional areas and access setback from intersections were addressed. In order to conduct the analysis, the functional areas of 159 signalized major arterial crossroads across the state of Utah were examined. A database was built containing the frequency, type, and severity of functional area crashes as well as the intersection and roadway characteristics within the functional area. Statistical analyses were conducted to determine the influence of accesses in intersection functional areas on functional area crashes. The statistical analyses show that the existence of accesses within the functional areas was correlated with increased crashes and crash severity costs. In particular, an increase in commercial access density was associated with increases in crash totals, crash rates, and rear end crashes in intersection functional areas. The analyses also showed that study site intersections meeting Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) corner clearance standards exhibited fewer right angle crashes and lower crash severity costs. Finally, intersections that prohibited all unsignalized access had lower crash totals, crash rates, right angle crash totals, and rear end crash totals than intersections that allowed some unsignalized access.

As a result of high crash frequencies on roadways, transportation safety has become a high priority for the United States Department of Transportation and the Utah Department of Transportation. A large percentage of fatal and injury crashes on roadways occur at intersections and traffic signals have been implemented to reduce these severe crashes. There is a need to evaluate the effectiveness of the traffic signal improvements through the development of Crash Modification Factors (CMFs). Recent research has shown that traditional safety evaluation methods have been inadequate in developing CMFs. In recent years, Bayesian statistical methods have been utilized in traffic safety studies to more accurately analyze the effectiveness of safety improvements. The hierarchical Bayesian method is an advanced statistical technique that has the capability to account for the shortcomings of traditional methods and to more fully reflect the effectiveness of safety improvements. This report uses a hierarchical Bayesian model to analyze the effectiveness of new traffic signal installations and modified traffic signals. CMFs were developed for multiple scenarios for both new and modified traffic signals. A benefit-to-cost (B/C) analysis was also performed for each improvement to determine how long it would take to recover the cost of installation. The results showed that there was an increase in overall crashes for both new signal installations and modifications to existing signals. The severe crash analysis revealed that there was an increase in non-severe crashes and a reduction in severe crashes; the improvements are effectively reducing severe crashes and improving safety at intersections. The B/C analyses indicate that there is a safety benefit to both improvements and that new signal installation costs can be recovered in approximately 5 years while the installation of a left-turn signal modification can be recovered in approximately 9 weeks.

Since its inception in 1965, the Level-of-Service (LOS) has proved to be an important and practical "quality of service" indicator for transportation facilities around the world, widely used in the transportation and planning fields. The LOS rates these facilities' traffic operating conditions through the following delay-based indicators (ordered from best to worst conditions): A, B, C, D, E and F. This LOS rating has its foundation on quantifiable measures of effectiveness (MOEs) and on road users' perceptions; altogether, these measures define a LOS based on acceptable traffic operating conditions for the road user, implying that traffic safety is inherent to this definition. However, since 1994 safety has been excluded from the LOS definition since it cannot be quantified nor explicitly defined. The latter has been the motivation for research based on the LOS-Safety relationship, conducted at the University of Central Florida (UCF). Using data from two of the most studied transportation facility types within the field of traffic safety, signalized intersections and multilane high-speed arterial corridors, the research conducted has the following main objectives: to incorporate the LOS as a parameter in several traffic safety models, to extend the methodology adopted in previous studies to the subject matter, and to provide a platform for future transportation-related research on the LOS-Safety relationship. A meticulous data collection and preparation process was performed for the two LOS-Safety studies comprising this research. Apart from signalized intersections' and multilane-high speed arterial corridors' data, the other required types of information corresponded to crashes and road features, both obtained from FDOT's respective databases. In addition, the Highway Capacity Software (HCS) and the ArcGIS software package were extensively used for the data preparation. The result was a representative and robust dataset for each LOS-Safety study, to be later tested and analyzed with appropriate statistical methods. Regarding the LOS-Safety study for signalized intersections, two statistical techniques were used. The Generalized Estimating Equations (GEEs), the first technique, was used for the analyses considering all periods of a regular weekday (i.e. Monday through Friday): Early Morning, A.M. Peak, Midday, P.M. Peak and Late Evening; the second technique considered was the Negative Binomial, which was used for performing an individual analysis per period of the day. On the other hand, the LOS-Safety study for multilane high-speed arterial corridors made exclusive use of the Negative Binomial technique. An appropriate variable selection process was required for the respective model building and calibration procedures; the resulting models were built upon the six following response variables: total crashes, severe crashes, as well as rear-end, sideswipe, head-on and angle plus left-turn crashes. The final results proved to be meaningful for the understanding of traffic congestion effects on road safety, and on how they could be useful within the transportation planning scope. Overall, it was found that the risk for crash occurrence at signalized intersections and multilane high-speed arterial corridors is quite high between stable and unacceptable operating conditions; it was also found that this risk increases as it becomes later in the day. Among the significant factors within the signalized intersection-related models were LOS for the intersection as a whole, cycle length, lighting conditions, land use, traffic volume (major and minor roads), left-turn traffic volume (major road only), posted speed limit (major and minor roads), total number of through lanes (major and minor roads), overall total and total number of left-turn lanes (major road only), as well as county and period of the day (dummy variables). For multilane-high speed arterial corridors, the final models included LOS for the road section, average daily traffic (ADT), total number of through lanes in a single direction, total length of the road section, pavement surface type, as well as median and inside shoulder widths. A summary of the overall results per study, model implications and each LOS indicator is presented. Some of the final recommendations are to develop models for other crash types, to perform a LOS-Safety analysis at the approach-level for signalized intersections, as well as one that incorporates intersections within the arterial corridors' framework.

No description available.

Southeastern states have about 26 percent of the nations total fatalities, and are about 24 percent above the national mean over recent years. Descriptive statistics, graphs, and figures are used to illustrate and quantify the crash trends, which depict a comprehensive picture of status and trends of the fatal crashes in southeastern states. The severity of crashes is studied as a function of characteristics of the person involved in the crash, vehicle, traffic condition, physical road geometry, and environmental factors. Detailed geometric feature data were collected for this study, which makes it possible to investigate the relationship between geometric features and crash severity. This study identifies causal factors contributing to the high fatality rate in southeastern states, and sheds light on the differences and similarities among these states for reducing the severity of fatal crashes, by developing multinomial logit models to explain the severity and type of fatal crashes.