Analyzing the ability of crash-prone highways to handle stochastically modelled driver demand for stopping sight distance.

Analyzing the ability of crash-prone highways to handle stochastically modelled driver demand for stopping sight distance. Accid Anal Prev. 2019 Dec 23;136:105395 Authors: Gargoum SA, El-Basyouny K Abstract Stopping Sight Distance (SSD) is the distance defined in most highway design guides as the distance required by drivers to safely come to a complete stop in case of an emergency. Accordingly, design guides define theoretical values for SSD and recommend that these requirements are satisfied at all points along a highway corridor. SSD is estimated as a function of speed, driver reaction time, and deceleration rate, which are all factors that vary by both driver and driving conditions. Despite the anticipated uncertainty in those variables, they are all modelled deterministically. Unfortunately, this is an inaccurate assumption and provides no information about the extent to which roads designed to meet SSD requirements are able to satisfy road user demand for SSD. Design guides also fail to provide information about the impact a segment that fails to meet driver needs has on safety. To overcome those limitations, this paper assesses the ability of existing roads to satisfy stochastically modelled road user demand for SSD. The Available Sight Distance (ASD) was first quantified for a group of top crash-prone segments, and a Monte Carlo Simulation was used to model demand for SSD. The proportion of the test highways that failed to me...
Source: Accident; Analysis and Prevention. - Category: Accident Prevention Authors: Tags: Accid Anal Prev Source Type: research