The aim of this thesis is to investigate the effect of environmental and traffic-related factors on the frequency and severity of highway crashes with a focus on different age groups including the aging populations. Existing studies in the traffic safety have not specifically focused on aging driver-involved crashes. Aging drivers are more vulnerable to the roadway crashes than other adult age groups due to their cognitive, physical and health limitations. This problem becomes more challenging due to the drastic variation in the traffic patterns that especially happen on the major highways. In this thesis, several data sets from different sources, such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Florida Automated Weather Network (FAWN), the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and the United States Naval Observatory (USNO), are collected, refined and combined. With the aid of statistical correlation analysis and logistic regression, a top down analysis is performed in order to analyze the occurrence of crashes via a case study application on the I-95 highway corridor in the State of Florida. Using logit curves, a sensitivity analysis is carried out to quantify the effect of traffic volume on the crash frequency. In addition to the crash frequency analysis, factors influencing the crash severity are also analyzed in an integrated manner for two metropolitan areas in the City of Jacksonville and Miami, Florida. Both frequency- and severity-focused analyses have led to several important conclusions. Results suggest that the variation in the hourly traffic volume significantly affects the crash occurrences for both aging and non-aging drivers depending on the geographical location; however, the crash occurrence for aging drivers is less sensitive to the flow than other age groups in congested locations. Results indicate that crash severity for all other age groups decrease on roadways with narrower shoulders and at night unlike those of aging drivers. Furthermore, driving at night on I-95 in Jacksonville seems to be problematic for both age classes whereas that risk is less for Miami locations. Higher roadway surface width also appears to increase the chance of having a severe crash for aging drivers. The DUI-influenced crashes have also been detected considerably high on the I-95 highway corridor in the City of Miami, Florida. This problem seems critical both in terms of crash frequency and severity. The proposed methodology can help transportation officials to understand the nature of the aging driver-involved crashes, and formulate better safety-oriented decisions. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Summer Semester 2016. / July 12, 2016. / Aging Populations, Crash Analysis, Logistic Regression, Safety Modeling, Vehicle Accident / Includes bibliographical references. / O. Arda Vanli, Professor Co-Directing Thesis; Eren Erman Ozguven, Professor Co-Directing Thesis; Abhishek K. Shrivastava, Committee Member; Chiwoo Park, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_366104 |
| Contributors | Omidvar, Aschkan (authoraut), Vanli, Omer Arda, 1976- (professor co-directing thesis), Ozguven, Eren Erman (professor co-directing thesis), Shrivastava, Abhishek Kumar (committee member), Park, Chiwoo (committee member), Florida State University (degree granting institution), FAMU-FSU College of Engineering (degree granting college), Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering (degree granting department) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource (83 pages), computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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