Citation

Jones IS, Baum AS. Transp. Res. Rec. 1978; 681: 89-92.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1978, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences USA, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

An investigation of the problem of urban utility-pole accidents was undertaken by using 1975 data from utility-pole accidents and a sample of other urban run-off-road accidents. These data were obtained by visiting and inventorying each accident site identified in a search of police accident files in 20 urban-suburban areas included in the study. Few differences were noted in the variables that describe the vehicle, the driver, or environmental conditions; however, differences were detected in the variables that describe road characteristics (road width, speed limit, average daily traffic), vehicle departure attitude (i.e. a vehicle existing at a very shallow angle will have a trajectory exposing it to more utility poles than one that exited at a much greater angle) and the number of poles in the area. A regression analysis showed that the most important factor was the number of poles.