A study to mitigate rural high-speed horizontal curve crashes in Kansas.

Details

• Creators:
  Momeni, Hojr ; Russell, Sr., Eugene R. ; Rys, Malgorzata J.
• Corporate Creators:
  Kansas State University. Transportation Center
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Traffic accidents
  • Highway curves
  • Rural highways
  • Traffic safety
  • Countermeasures
  • Accident data
  • Speed limits
  • Before and after studies
  • Accident rates
• Publication/ Report Number:
  K-TRAN: KSU-13-2
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  Kansas
• Corporate Publisher:
  Kansas. Dept. of Transportation. Bureau of Materials & Research
• Abstract:
  Driving on horizontal curves is a more complicated task than on straight sections of a roadway, and poses more ; workload on drivers as well. While a small portion of roadways are made up of horizontal curve sections, ; approximately a quarter of all fatal crashes on highways occur at horizontal curve sections. Thus, studying the crashes ; at horizontal curves and the safety improvement at these sections is one of the most interesting topics in the ; transportation safety field. Safety improvement of horizontal curve sections of rural transportation networks can ; effectively and considerably contribute to crash severity and frequency reduction. Low-cost countermeasures to ; improve traffic safety of horizontal curve sections and their effectiveness were discussed. ; A Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) crash database of nine years (from 2004 to 2012) was used ; and counties with high number of crashes were selected. Eleven counties with high number of horizontal curve related ; crashes were selected, and implemented countermeasures at the selected curves were investigated and discussed. K-5 ; highway is one of the highways with high number of crashes in which the speed limit of a long distance of the ; roadway, including the problematic curves, reduced in June 2009 from 55 miles per hour (mph) to 50 mph. The effect ; of this speed limit reduction on crash occurrences of seven years, including 3.5 years before and 3.5 years after the ; speed limit reduction, was investigated using a statistical t-test method. In addition, various countermeasures to ; improve the traffic safety of these horizontal curves were discussed.
  More +
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  C1938
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/28824/dot_28824_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.05 MB]
• Collection(s):
  University Transportation Centers ; US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:fd6a8415d7933889f3d7763641072c2a2a9ce4dfba8aec5c13a29bea471c7cfb