Road Weather Management Program
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Best Practices for Road Weather Management Version 2.0

Title:

Describing the Evolution in the Number of Highway Deaths by a Decomposition in Exposure, Accident Risk and Fatal Risk

Abstract:

The purpose of this research was to improve insight in road safety on Belgian highways by means of a layered model. In this study, the monthly number of persons killed on highways in Belgium was decomposed in three parts, namely exposure, accident risk and fatal risk. Researchers studied the impact of meteorological, socioeconomic, legislative and calendar factors on exposure, accident risk and fatality risk. Precipitation and snow enhance accident risk while temperature plays a significant role for exposure. Fatal highway risk decreases in case of an extra day with precipitation and was significantly affected by the child restraint law. Researchers concluded that the monthly number of days with precipitation influences both highway accident and fatality risk. A higher monthly percentage of days with precipitation contributes, for a given exposure, to more accidents but less fatal accidents. A slippery surface, lower visibility, the treacherous feeling of getting used to constant rainy weather and need for more concentration are possible reasons for the higher accident risk. This study found a positive relationship between snow and accident risk. Third, the results show that exposure is significantly higher in case of an increase in average temperature. A rise of one degree in the average temperature increases exposure by 0.98 percent.

Source(s):

85th Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting, Hasselt University, Transportation Research Institute (Belgium)

Date: 2006

Author:

Hermans, Wets, Van den Bossche

Keywords:


Crashes
Pavement condition
Pavement friction
Precipitation
Rain
Safety
Snow
Visibility

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