Citation

Hidayat E, Lange D, Karlovsek J, Kim J. J. Road Safety 2023; 34(4): 20-30.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Australasian College of Road Safety)

DOI

10.33492/JACRS-D-22-00032

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The characteristics of road tunnels as part of the road network differ from those of general open roads, resulting in different vehicle collision characteristics. Understanding the characteristics of these collisions and the variables that contribute to them is critical for developing mitigation strategies. The purpose of this paper is to identify the characteristics of vehicle collisions in Australian road tunnels, as well as to investigate the variables that influence the number of casualties and the types of collisions. The study utilised data from seven road tunnels in Queensland and New South Wales. Data cleaning and transformation were carried out, yielding 12 variables for further analysis with statistical descriptive analysis, cross-tabulation, and logistic regression. The findings reveal that rear-end collisions are the most common type of collision in Australian road tunnels. Furthermore, only one variable had a significant impact on the number of casualties, while three variables had a significant impact on the types of collisions. These findings provide valuable insights for tunnel stakeholders in developing preventive measures to improve road tunnel safety.

Key findings

-Vehicle collisions in road tunnels mostly involved light passenger cars, whereas buses, trucks, and heavy vehicles were involved in a lower frequency of collisions.
-The type of collision is strongly related to variables such as speed limit, horizontal alignment, vehicle type, and number of vehicles involved.
-Rear-end collisions were more likely to involve multiple vehicles, particularly heavy vehicles and motorcycles, and occur when one or more of the vehicles involved is speeding.
-Speed limit is the major factor that affects vehicle crashes in tunnels, the likelihood of a crash is lower when the speed limit is restricted to 80 km/h or less and when the speed limit is strongly enforced in tunnels.

Language: en