Title: Accident rates on rural roads in the Western Cape
Abstract: For the proper management of rural roads it is essential to know the number, severity and costs of accidents on roads with different geometric features and different pavement conditions. Any proposed improvement in the latter should be motivated by reasonable estimates of the benefits associated with a reduction in accidents. This paper describes a recent research project that investigated these relationships by means of data made available by the Western Cape Government (WCG) for the Cape Winelands District Municipal area. It used accident data obtained from the accident data base as well as road and traffic data from the WCGrs information data base to determine accident rates of individual road sections. From the analyses it can be seen that gravel roads have a higher accident rate than surfaced roads. The accident rate is increased with heavy vehicle traffic. Wide surfaced roads have a lower accident rate than roads with narrow or medium lanes and shoulders. Mountainous terrain also contributes to a higher accident rate. Additionally it was observed that the percentage accidents classified according to their severity remains relatively constant for most road types. Furthermore it was found that roads with a severe roughness index seem to have a higher accident rate than roads classified as sound or in a warning state. The relationships found were compared to those of the previous study and are shown for analysts to use. It is recommended that analysts spend more time in verifying and preparing the data for improved accuracy. It is also recommended that areas with high accident rates and numbers be investigated in more detail.
Publication Year: 2014
Publication Date: 2014-07-01
Language: en
Type: article
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