Title: Relating roadside collisions to highway clear zone width
Abstract: The provision of a hazard-free ‘clear zone’ adjacent to roadways has been standard design practice for many years aimed at reducing the severity of run-off-the-road collisions. Nevertheless, collisions between vehicles and various elements along the roadside are still responsible for approximately one-third of all fatalities and account for approximately $80 billion in annual costs in the United States [1]. In New Brunswick, the problem is even more acute given that 55 percent of road fatalities were roadside collisions in 2002 [2]. The width of clear zone provided for a highway has a profound impact on the final cost of the project. Unfortunately, the tools that planners and designers currently use are based on very dated observations and relationships. This study provides a quantification of the relationship between clear zone width and collision reduction that should provide key input into the process of selecting highway design standards. This study evaluated 70 highway sections in New Brunswick in order to determine how much singlevehicle run-off-road (SVROR) collision rates varied when controlling for the clear zone provided. The data used were drawn from eleven years of motor vehicle collision reports provided by the New Brunswick Department of Transportation. The results of this study show that SVROR collision rates are reduced by approximately 40% when the clear zone provided is extended from a Category ‘A’ (<6m) to Category ‘B’ (6 – 10m). Similarly, collision rates are reduced by over 60% when the clear zone provided is extended to Category ‘C’ (10+m).
Publication Year: 2007
Publication Date: 2007-06-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 2
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