Citation

Farah H, Polus A, Cohen MA. IATSS Res. 2007; 31(1): 120-132.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, International Association of Traffic and Safety Sciences, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper describes a study which had as its primary objectives to develop a numerical Infrastructure Coefficient (IC) representing the overall infrastructure characteristics of a highway and to develop a crash prediction model correlating the IC with crash rates on two-lane rural highways. The first phase of the study, involving the development of the IC, examined the correlation between different infrastructures characteristics and crash rate. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was also used to develop the IC. Its function was to attribute a specific weight to each infrastructure characteristic in order to reflect its relative importance to road safety when compared with other characteristics considered in the study. Finally, a model predicting crash rates based on the proposed IC was calibrated and presented. The study concluded that a well-built and maintained highway could reduce crashes by an average of 44% as compared to a highway with poor infrastructure.