Examining the characteristics between time and distance gaps of secondary crashes

Understanding the characteristics of time and distance gaps between the primary(PC)and secondary crashes(SC)is crucial for preventing SC ccurrences and improving road safety.Although previous studies have tried to analyse the variation of gaps,there is limited evidence in quantifying the relationships between different gaps and various influential factors.This study proposed a two-layer stacking framework to discuss the time and distance gaps.Specifically,the framework took random forests(RF),gradient boosting decision tree(GBDT)and eXtreme gradient boosting as the base classifiers in the first layer and applied logistic regression(LR)as a combiner in the second layer.On this basis,the local interpretable model-agnostic explanations(LIME)technology was used to interpret the output of the stacking model from both local and global perspectives.Through SC dentification and feature selection,346 SCs and 22 crash-related factors were collected from California interstate freeways.The results showed that the stacking model outperformed base models evaluated by accuracy,precision,and recall indicators.The explanations based on LIME suggest that collision type,distance,speed and volume are the critical features that affect the time and distance gaps.Higher volume can prolong queue length and increase the distance gap from the SCs to PCs.And collision types,peak periods,workday,truck involved and tow away likely induce a long-distance gap.Conversely,there is a shorter distance gap when secondary roads run in the same direction and are close to the primary roads.Lower speed is a significant factor resulting in a long-time gap,while the higher speed is correlated with a short-time gap.These results are expected to provide insights into how contributory features affect the time and distance gaps and help decision-makers develop accurate decisions to prevent SCs.

The Analysis of Spatial-Temporal Evolution of City Accessibility Based on Highway Network in Henan Province in China

Accessibility is an important tool to evaluate the maturity of a regional traffic network structure which describes the traffic convenience in the traffic network. The paper defines a new accessibility index by using the resident population weighted average value of the sum of inverse of the traveling time distance and time threshold coming from ordinary traffic network, and then uses this accessibility index to analyze the spatial-temporal characteristics of Henan highway network, as well as its evolution patterns from 2005 to 2020. The results show that with the expansion and improvement of Henan highway network, city accessibility level has been significantly improved, spatial convergence is obvious, the cities in the north central are always High-High aggregation area, the cities in the south are always Low-Low aggregation area, gradually forming the characteristics of Northwest high and Southeast low, relative balance between East and West. There is some non-conforming phenomenon in highway mileage growth and improvement of the city accessibility levels, but this situation is being weakened, the highway network layout is gradually rationalized, the spatial distribution of city accessibility and that of population are beginning to converge.