Analysis of safety impact of paved shoulder width on Czech secondary roads

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F44994575%3A_____%2F21%3AN0000059" target="_blank" >RIV/44994575:_____/21:N0000059 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="http://www.archivesoftransport.com/eaot/2021/04/008.pdf" target="_blank" >http://www.archivesoftransport.com/eaot/2021/04/008.pdf</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.5604/01.3001.0015.6148" target="_blank" >10.5604/01.3001.0015.6148</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Analysis of safety impact of paved shoulder width on Czech secondary roads

Original language description

Traffic safety is influenced, among other factors, by characteristics of the roads, which include the width of the shoulder. Shoulder width was noted to have a large effect on crash frequency, as well as on traffic speed. In this paper, we focused on paved shoulders. Previous studies confirmed that increasing the width of the paved shoulder is associated with a decrease in crash frequency. However, wider shoulders may encourage higher driving speed, which is related to an increase of impact speed and crash severity – this issue was hypothesized, but not statistically investigated. Thus, conclusions based on crashes and speeds contradict each other, and there is no simple answer to the question of the safety impact of wide shoulders. To address this gap, we analyzed a sample of two most typical categories of Czech secondary roads, which differ only in the paved shoulder width (S9.5 roads with 0.75m-wide shoulder, and S11.5 roads with 1.75m-wide shoulder) and thus present a suitable example for studying the safety impact of paved shoulder width. We used generalized linear models of crash frequency, and multinomial logistic models of crash severity (separately for single-vehicle and multi-vehicle crashes), as well as a statistical test of differences in speed for the two road categories. The results showed that: Firstly, there were fewer crashes on S11.5 roads compared to S9.5 roads; this was true for both single-vehicle and multi-vehicle crashes. Secondly, single-vehicle crashes on S11.5 roads were more severe compared to S9.5 roads; the change of severity in multi-vehicle crashes was not statistically significant. Thirdly, driving speeds on S11.5 roads were approx. by 7 km/h higher compared to S9.5 roads. These findings support the hypothesis of an association between wider shoulders, higher speeds, and increased crash severity, especially in the case of single-vehicle crashes. As a practical solution, various speed management measures, including widening to a 2+1 road, may be recommended

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_SC - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the SCOPUS database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

20104 - Transport engineering

Project

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Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2021

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Archives of Transport

ISSN

0866-9546

e-ISSN

2300-8830

Volume of the periodical

60

Issue of the periodical within the volume

4

Country of publishing house

PL - POLAND

Number of pages

12

Pages from-to

125-136

UT code for WoS article

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EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85122818360