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Best Practices for Road Weather Management Version 2.0

Best Practices > Publications > Publication Titles

Title:

U.S. Highway Crashes in Adverse Road Weather Conditions

Abstract:

Weather-related crashes are those that occur in the presence of rain, sleet, snow, fog, wet pavement, snowy/slushy pavement, and/or icy pavement. Twenty-four percent of all crashes are weather-related. Each year, nearly 7,400 people are killed and over 673,000 people are injured in these crashes. This paper examines driver behavior and crash risk in inclement weather; addresses weather exposure and severity; and presents statistics on weather-related crashes, injuries, and fatalities on U.S. roads from 1995 to 2005. The paper also discusses regional variance in weather-related crash types and rates, fatal weather-related crashes involving commercial vehicles, and the economic impact of weather-related crashes. The paper concludes with a discussion of documented crash mitigation strategies that have safety benefits, as well as research needs to better understand the nature of the problem and explore improved strategies.

Source(s):

88th American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting; FHWA, Noblis and RITA

http://ams.confex.com/ams/pdfpapers/133554.pdf

Date: 2008

Author:

Pisano, Goodwin, Rossetti

Keywords:


Costs
Crashes
Driver behavior
Mobility
Pavement condition
Safety
Speed
Volume

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