Identifying Large Truck Hot Spots Using Crash Counts and PDOEs
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 137, Issue 1
Abstract
Large trucks are involved in a disproportionately small fraction of the total crashes but a disproportionately large fraction of fatal crashes. Large truck crashes often result in significant congestion due to their large physical dimensions and from difficulties in clearing crash scenes. Consequently, preventing large truck crashes is critical to improving highway safety and operations. This study identifies high-risk sites (hot spots) for large truck crashes in Arizona and examines potential risk factors related to the design and operation of the high risk sites. High-risk sites were identified using both state of the practice methods (accident reduction potential using negative binomial regression with long crash histories) and a newly proposed method using property damage only equivalents (PDOE). The hot spots identified via the count model generally exhibited low fatalities and major injuries but large minor injuries and PDOs, while the opposite trend was observed using the PDOE methodology. The hot spots based on the count model exhibited large annual average daily traffic (AADTs), whereas those based on the PDOE showed relatively small AADTs but large fractions of trucks and high posted speed limits. Documented site investigations of hot spots revealed numerous potential risk factors, including weaving activities near freeway junctions and ramps, absence of acceleration lanes near on-ramps, small shoulders to accommodate large trucks, narrow lane widths, inadequate signage, and poor lighting conditions within a tunnel.
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Acknowledgments
This study was funded by the ADOT, Federal Highway Administration, and the Arizona State University. We thank the two anonymous reviewers who have helped improve this paper by providing valuable comments.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 137 • Issue 1 • January 2011
Pages: 11 - 21
Copyright
© 2011 ASCE.
History
Received: Aug 28, 2009
Accepted: May 5, 2010
Published online: Jun 5, 2010
Published in print: Jan 2011
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