Examining the Risk Factors of Rear-End Crashes at Signalized Intersections

Rear-end crashes are among the most common crash types at signalized intersections. To examine the risk factors for the occurrence of this crash type, this study involved the analysis of nine years of intersection crash records in the state of Wyoming. With that, the contributing factors related to crash, driver, environmental, and roadway characteristics, including pavement surface friction, were investigated. A binomial logistic regression modeling approach was applied to achieve the study’s objective. The results showed that three factors related to crash and driver’s attributes (commercial vehicle involvement, speeding, and driver’s age) and four factors related to environmental and roadway characteristics (lighting, weather conditions, area type, whether urban or rural and pavement friction) are associated with the risk of rear-end crash occurrence at signalized intersections. This study provides insights into the mitigation measures to implement concerning rear-end crashes at signalized intersections.

A Workable Solution for Reducing the Large Number of Vehicle and Pedestrian Accidents Occurring on a Yellow Light

Traffic intersections are incredibly dangerous for drivers and pedestrians. Statistics from both Canada and the U.S. show a high number of fatalities and serious injuries related to crashes at intersections. In Canada, during 2019, the National Collision Database shows that 28% of traffic fatalities and 42% of serious injuries occurred at intersections. Likewise, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Administration (NHTSA) found that about 40% of the estimated 5,811,000 accidents in the U.S. during the year studied were intersection-related crashes. In fact, a major survey by the car insurance industry found that nearly 85% of drivers could not identify the correct action to take when approaching a yellow traffic light at an intersection. One major reason for these accidents is the “yellow light dilemma,” the ambiguous situation where a driver should stop or proceed forward when unexpectedly faced with a yellow light. This situation is even further exacerbated by the tendency of aggressive drivers to inappropriately speed up on the yellow just to get through the traffic light. A survey of Canadian drivers conducted by the Traffic Injury Research Foundation found that 9% of drivers admitted to speeding up to get through a traffic light. Another reason for these accidents is the increased danger of making a left-hand turn on yellow. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA), left turns occur in approximately 22.2% of collisions—as opposed to just 1.2% for right turns. Moreover, a study by CNN found left turns are three times as likely to kill pedestrians than right turns. The reason left turns are so much more likely to cause an accident is because they take a driver against traffic and in the path of oncoming cars. Additionally, most of these left turns occur at the driver’s discretion—as opposed to the distressingly brief left-hand arrow at busy intersections. Drive Safe Now proposes a workable solution for reducing the number of accidents occurring during a yellow light at intersections. We believe this fairly simple solution will save lives, prevent injuries, reduce damage to public and private property, and decrease insurance costs.

Investigation of the Skid Resistance at Accident Occurred at Urban Intersections

Skid resistance of road surface plays an important role on urban traffic accidents. It is thought that reduction of surface microtexture leads to reduced skid resistance. Hence, it affects driving safety negatively and may cause traffic accidents, This paper is about the effect of skid resistance and intersection safety. Urban four leg signalized intersections were selected from Isparta city. The surface frictional properties were measured and it was tried to find critical skid resistance value with the help of British Pendulum Tester. Macro texture values of the intersections were determined with Sand Patch test and concluded that surface macro texture contributes to skid resistance. An analysis technique based on probabili theory has been used. This method is used for expounding the interaction between skid resistance-intersection and accident rates. After the study results are evaluated, it is understood that pavement roughness is very important for urban intersection safety measures.