Empirical Bayes Approach for Estimating Urban Deer-Vehicle Crashes Using Police and Maintenance Records
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 140, Issue 2
Abstract
Deer-vehicle crashes are a growing problem in Iowa where deer-vehicle crashes represent 13% of all crashes reported. In 2009, these crashes resulted in nine fatalities and 451 injuries in the state. Deer-vehicle crashes are a problem even in urban areas of Iowa. It is known that deer-vehicle crashes are typically underreported. To address this underreporting, deer carcass salvage reports may be used to augment deer-vehicle crash reports. The objective of this paper is to exploit two sources of deer-vehicle crash data using a statistically reliable assessment methodology, empirical Bayes, to assess the potential for safety improvement of 150 urban highway sections in Iowa. Reconciliation of records to reduce double counting is discussed and a negative binomial regression model of deer-vehicle crash frequency as a function of roadway and environmental factors is estimated. The 25 most promising segments for deer-vehicle crash countermeasures are identified, mostly located on high-speed roadways, roadway segments with gravel right shoulders, and segments adjacent to grasslands. The methodology facilitates the identification of locations for countermeasure implementation as well as monitoring deer-vehicle crash trends.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the Iowa Department of Transportation for providing the deer carcass salvage data, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources for providing land use information on deer management zones, and the Iowa Traffic Safety Data Service at the Institute for Transportation for providing the deer vehicle crash data. The contents of this paper reflect the views of the authors, who are responsible for the facts and the accuracy of the data presented. The contents do not necessarily reflect the official views or policies of the Iowa Department of Transportation, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, the Institute for Transportation, or Iowa State University.
References
AASHTO. (2010). Highway safety manual, 1st Ed., Washington, DC.
Bissonette, J., and Kassar, C. (2008). “Locations of deer–vehicle collisions are unrelated to traffic volume or posted speed limit.” Hum.–Wildl. Conflicts, 2(1), 122–130.
Bissonette, J. A., and Cramer, P. C. (2008). “Evaluation of the use and effectiveness of wildlife crossings.”, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.
Cheng, W., and Washington, S. (2005). “Experimental evaluation of hotspot identification methods.” Accid. Anal. Prev., 37(5), 870–881.
Crooks, K., et al. (2008). Roads and connectivity in Colorado: Animal-vehicle collisions, wildlife mitigation structures, and lynx-roadway interactions, Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO.
Donaldson, B., and Lafon, N. (2009). “Use of GPS-enabled personal digital assistants to collect animal carcass removal data from roadways.” 88th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, Transportation Research Board, Washington DC.
Gkritza, K., Baird, M., and Hans, Z. (2010). “Deer vehicle collisions, deer density, and land use in Iowa’s urban deer herd management zones.” Accid. Anal. Prev., 42(6), 1916–1925.
Hauer, E. (1997). Observational before-after studies in road safety: Estimating the effect of highway and traffic engineering measures on road safety, Pergamon, New York.
Hauer, E. (2001). “Overdispersion in modelling accidents on road sections and in empirical Bayes estimation.” Accid. Anal. Prev., 33(6), 799–808.
Hauer, E., Harwood, D. W., Council, F. M., and Griffith, M. S. (2002). “Estimating safety by the empirical Bayes method.” Transportation Research Record 1784, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.
Hedlund, J. H., Curtis, P. D., Curtis, G., and Williams, A. F. (2004). “Methods to reduce traffic crashes involving deer: What works and what does not.” Traffic Inj. Prev., 5(2), 122–131.
Hubbard, M. W., Danielson, B. J., and Schmitz, R. A. (2000). “Factors influencing the location of deer vehicle accidents in Iowa.” J. Wildl. Manage., 64(3), 707–713.
Huijser, M. P., Fuller, J., Wagner, M. E., Hardy, A., and Clevenger, A. P. (2007a). “Animal–vehicle collision data collection.” NCHRP Synthesis 370, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.
Huijser, M. P., Wagner, M. E., Hardy, A., Clevenger, A. P., and Fuller, J. A. (2007b). “Animal-vehicle collision data collection throughout the United States and Canada.” Western Transportation Institute, Bozeman, MT.
Hussain, A., Armstrong, J. B., Brown, D. B., and Hogland, J. (2007). “Land-use pattern, urbanization, and deer–vehicle collisions in Alabama.” Hum.–Wildl. Conflicts, 1(1), 89–96.
Iowa Dept. of Transportation. (2010a). “Statewide crash history: Key emphasis areas-crashes. Produced using Iowa’s safety analysis, visualization, and exploration resource.” Office of Traffic and Safety, Ames, IA, 〈http://www.iowadot.gov/crashanalysis/data/statewide/statewide_kea _crash-based_20110505.pdf〉 (Oct. 23, 2013).
Iowa Dept. of Transportation. (2010b). “Statewide crash history: Key emphasis areas-Injuries. Produced using Iowa’s safety analysis, visualization, and exploration resource.” Office of Traffic and Safety, Ames, IA, 〈http://www.iowadot.gov/crashanalysis/data/statewide/statewide_kea_injury-based_20110505.pdf〉 (Oct. 23, 2013).
Knapp, K. K. (2005). “Crash reduction factors for deer vehicle crash countermeasures: State of the knowledge and suggested safety research needs.” Transportation Research Record 1908, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.
Knapp, K. K., Lyon, C., Witte, A., and Kienert, C. (2007). “Crash or carcass data critical definition and evaluation choice.” Transportation Research Record 2019, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.
Knapp, K. K., Yi, X., Oakasa, T., Thimm, W., Hudson, E., and Rathmann, C. (2004). Deer vehicle crash countermeasure toolbox: A decision and choice resource, Midwest Regional Univ. Transportation Center—Deer vehicle Crash Information Clearinghouse, Madison, WI.
Lao, Y., Wu, Y., Wang, Y., and McAllister, K. (2012). “Fuzzy logic–based mapping algorithm for improving animal-vehicle collision data.” J. Transp. Eng., 520–526.
Lao, Y., Wu, Y.-J., Corey, J., and Wang, Y. (2011a). “Modeling animal–vehicle collisions using diagonal inflated bivariate Poisson regression.” Accid. Anal. Prev., 43(1), 220–227.
Lao, Y., Zhang, G., Wu, Y.-J., and Wang, Y. (2011b). “Modeling animal–vehicle collisions considering animal–vehicle interactions.” Accid. Anal. Prev., 43(6), 1991–1998.
Malo, J. E., Suarez, F., and Diez, A. (2004). “Can we mitigate animal-vehicle accidents using predictive models?” J. Appl. Ecol., 41(4), 701–710.
Monsere, C. M., Bosa, P. G., and Bertini, R. L. (2008). “Combining climate, crash, and highway data for improved ranking of speed and winter-weather related crash locations in Oregon.” J. Transp. Eng., 287–296.
Ng, J. W., Nielsen, C., and St. Clair, C. C. (2008). “Landscape and traffic factors influencing deer vehicle collisions in an urban environment.” Hum.-Wildl. Conflicts, 2(1), 34–47.
Nielsen, C. K., Anderson, R. G., and Grund, M. D. (2003). “Landscape influences on deer vehicle accident areas in an urban environment.” J. Wildl. Manage., 67(1), 46–51.
Pawlovich, M. D., Li, W., and Carriquiry, A. (2005). “Effect of four-lane to three-lane conversions on crash frequencies and crash rates.” Proc. of the 2005 Mid-Continent Transportation Research Symp, Iowa State University, Ames, IA.
Persaud, B., and Lyon, C. (2007). “Empirical Bayes before-after safety studies: Lessons learned from two decades of experience and future directions.” Accid. Anal. Prev., 39(3), 546–555.
Ramp, D., Caldwell, J., Edwards, K. A., Warton, D., and Croft, D. B. (2005). “Modelling of wildlife fatality hotspots along the Snowy Mountain Highway in New South Wales, Australia.” Biol. Cons., 126(4), 474–490.
Schwabe, K. A., Schuhmann, P. W., and Tonkovich, M. (2002). “A dynamic exercise in reducing deer vehicle collisions: Management through vehicle mitigation techniques and hunting.” J. Agric. Resour. Econ., 27(1), 261–280.
State Farm Insurance Company. (2010). “Deer vehicle collision frequency up 21 percent In five years.” Bloomington, IL, 〈http://www.statefarm.com/aboutus/_pressreleases/2010/deervehicle-collision-frequency-tennessee.asp〉 (Oct. 23, 2013).
U.S. Census. (2010). “2010 census data.” 〈http://www.census.gov/2010census/data/〉 (Oct. 23, 2013).
Washington, S. P., Karlaftis, M. G., and Mannering, F. L. (2011). Statistical and econometric methods for transportation data analysis, 2nd Ed., Chapman and Hall/CRC, Boca Raton, FL.
West, P. W. (2008). UDOT wildlife and domestic animal accident toolkit, Utah Dept. of Transportation—Environmental Services Division, Salt Lake City.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 140 • Issue 2 • February 2014
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 30, 2012
Accepted: Sep 4, 2013
Published online: Nov 5, 2013
Published in print: Feb 1, 2014
Discussion open until: Apr 5, 2014
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.