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Best Practices for Road Weather Management Version 2.0

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Title:

Motorist Perceptions on the Impact of Rainy Conditions on Driver Behavior and Accident Risk

Abstract:

Adverse weather conditions impact motorist behavior and traffic flow due to reduced visibility and vehicle braking and cornering performance. Previous studies found that wet and rainy conditions reduce speed and roadway capacity and increase accident risk. However, little is known about the effects of rain on motorists. To this end, a motorist survey was conducted to find how rain conditions affect driver behavior. More than 2,000 responses to a web-based survey were analyzed. Drivers recognized a higher accident risk when driving in the rain especially in heavy traffic. Driver perceptions of accident risk were independent of gender, age, driving experience, level of education and car types. Drivers stated that they drove 4.9 percent slower on wet roads and 11.1 percent slower when it was raining. Hawaii drivers, female drivers, older drivers and non-risk-prone drivers reported a significantly larger reduction in speed in the rain. Drivers reduced travel by about 3 percent if rain was forecast. Using binary logit models, it was found that Hawaii drivers, female drivers, non-SUV or pickup truck drivers, and non-risk-prone drivers were more likely to travel less in rainy weather.

Source(s):

84th Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting, University of Hawaii-Manoa. For an electronic copy of this resource, please direct your request to WeatherFeedback@dot.gov.

Date: 2005

Author:

Zhang, Prevedouros

Keywords:


Driver behavior
Speed
Precipitation

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