Modeling two-way stop-controlled intersection crashes with zero-inflated models on Louisiana rural two-lane highways

Intersection safety continues to be a crucial issue throughout the United States. In 2016, 27% of the 37,461 traffic fatalities on U.S. roadways occurred at or near intersections. Nearly 70% of intersection-related fatalities occurred at unsignalized intersections. At such intersections, vehicles stopping or slowing to turn create speed differentials between vehicles traveling in the same direction. This is particularly problematic on two-lane highways. Research was performed to analyze safety performance for intersections on rural, two-lane roadways, with stop control on the minor roadway. Roadway, traffic, and crash data were collected from 4148 stop-controlled intersections of all 64 Parishes (counties) statewide in Louisiana, for the period of 2013 to 2017. Four count approaches, Poisson, Negative Binomial (NB), Zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP) and Zero-inflated Negative Binomial (ZINB) were used to model the number of intersection crashes for different severity levels. The results indicate that ZIP models provide a better fit than all other models. In addition to traffic volume, larger curve radii of major and minor roads and wider lane widths of major roads led to significantly smaller crash occurrences. However, higher speed limits of major roads led to significantly greater crash occurrences. Four-leg stop-controlled intersections have 35% greater total crashes, 49% greater fatal and injury crashes, and 25% greater property damage only (PDO) crashes, relative to three-leg intersections.     

零截尾负二项模型在交叉口事故预测中的应用

事故预测模型是广泛采用的交通安全定量分析方法，但往往要求具有完备的道路、交通和事故数据。然而，基础数据相对不健全是包括中国在内的发展中国家交通安全管理面临的主要问题之一，例如仅有发生事故路段或者交叉口的相关属性特征（即零截尾数据）。为此，为确保基础数据不全的情况下交叉口事故预测的准确性，提出了基于零截尾的广义负二项回归模型；采集了246个非信号控制交叉口的交通与事故数据，采用传统负二项模型和新提出的零截尾负二项模型对全数据和零截尾数据分别进行对比分析。结果表明：在针对截尾数据的分析中，零截尾负二项模型明显优于传统负二项模型，并且零截尾负二项模型的参数估计值与基于全数据的负二项基准模型的估计值非常接近；在所有模型中，交叉口的主路交通量和支路交通量与交叉口的安全性之间存在较大的正关联。此外，同等条件下，十字形交叉口的事故数量高于T形交叉口的事故数量；利用传统负二项分布模型分析截尾数据得到的事故预测模型与使用全数据的基准模型有显著差异，其结果不可靠；采用零截尾负二项分布模型的参数结果与基准模型基本一致，截尾模型的置信区间包含基准模型相应的参数估计值。当受条件所限无法获取全部数据时，可以考虑使用零截尾负二项模型进行安全分析。     

Crash prediction model for two-lane rural highways in the Ashanti region of Ghana

Crash Prediction Models (CPMs) have been used elsewhere as a useful tool by road Engineers and Planners. There is however no study on the prediction of road traffic crashes on rural highways in Ghana. The main objective of the study was to develop a prediction model for road traffic crashes occurring on the rural sections of the highways in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. The model was developed for all injury crashes occurring on selected rural highways in the Region over the three (3) year period 2005–2007. Data was collected from 76 rural highway sections and each section varied between 0.8 km and 6.7 km. Data collected for each section comprised injury crash data, traffic flow and speed data, and roadway characteristics and road geometry data. The Generalised Linear Model (GLM) with Negative Binomial (NB) error structure was used to estimate the model parameters. Two types of models, the ‘core’ model which included key exposure variables only and the ‘full’ model which included a wider range of variables were developed. The results show that traffic flow, highway segment length, junction density, terrain type and presence of a village settlement within road segments were found to be statistically significant explanatory variables (p < 0.05) for crash involvement. Adding one junction to a 1 km section of road segment was found to increase injury crashes by 32.0% and sections which had a village settlement within them were found to increase injury crashes by 60.3% compared with segments with no settlements. The model explained 61.2% of the systematic variation in the data. Road and Traffic Engineers and Planners can apply the crash prediction model as a tool in safety improvement works and in the design of safer roads. It is recommended that to improve safety, highways should be designed to by-pass village settlements and that the number of junctions on a highway should be limited to carefully designed ones.     

考虑空间相关性的行人宏观安全研究

为了探究行人事故的发生机理,分析影响行人交通安全的显著因素,收集上海市中心城区263个交通分析小区（TAZ）的行人事故、道路、人口及土地利用数据,并开展行人宏观安全研究。考虑到TAZ之间存在的空间相关性,建立考虑空间相关性的贝叶斯负二项条件自回归模型,在条件自回归模型中对比分析了5种不同的空间权重矩阵,包括0~1邻接矩阵、边界长度矩阵、分析单元中心距离倒数矩阵、事故空间中心距离倒数矩阵这4种既有矩阵,以及首次引入的宏观安全建模中的分析单元中心距离多阶矩阵。结果表明：分析单元中心距离多阶矩阵的模型拟合效果和事故预测准确度均显著优于既有的4种空间权重矩阵,证明了在宏观安全建模过程中考虑研究对象交通特征（居民步行平均出行距离等）的必要性;人口数量、主干道长度、次干道长度、路网密度等因素均与行人事故呈现显著正相关,平均交叉口间距、三路交叉口比例等因素与行人事故呈显著负相关;相较于高等、低等土地利用强度,中等土地利用强度对行人事故的影响最大。     

Inclusion of speed and weather measures in safety performance functions for rural roadways

The research on relationships among vehicle operating speed, roadway design elements, weather, and traffic volume on crash outcomes will greatly benefit the road safety profession in general. If these relationships are well understood and characterized, existing techniques and countermeasures for reducing crash frequencies and crash severities could potentially improve, and the opportunity for new methodologies addressing and anticipating crash occurrence would naturally ensue. This study examines the prevailing operating speeds on a large scale and determines how traffic speeds and different speed measures interact with roadway characteristics and weather condition to influence the likelihood of crashes. This study used three datasets from Washington and Ohio: 1) Highway Safety Information System (HSIS), 2) the National Performance Management Research Dataset (NPMRDS), and 3) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather data. State-based conflated databases were developed using the linear conflation of HSIS and NPMRDS. The results show that certain speed measures were found to be beneficial in quantifying safety risk. Annual-level crash prediction models show that increased variability in hourly operating speed within a day and an increase in monthly operating speeds within a year are both associated with a higher number of crashes. Safety practitioners can benefit from the current study in addressing the issue of speed and weather in crash outcomes.     

基于时空交互模型的高速公路季节事故频次影响因素分析

为了深入了解影响高速公路事故频次的显著因素,采集2014年广东省开阳高速公路的事故、道路、交通和气象数据,以曲率和坡度同质性为原则将整条公路划分为154条路段,采用时空交互模型拟合路段季节事故数和道路设计参数、交通特征、气象因素间的内在关系。该模型不仅解释了相邻路段间的空间效应和相邻季节间的时间效应,而且还考虑了时空效应间的相互作用,有助于提高模型的拟合预测性能、减少参数估计偏倚。基于贝叶斯推断的模型估计和评价结果显示：事故数据中存在显著的时空关联和交互效应;时空交互模型比传统层级泊松模型的拟合优度更高;路段长度与事故频次线性相关,而交通量则与事故频次间存在非线性关系;高速公路交通安全性随着中、大型客、货车（三类车）比例的增加而显著提高;路段曲率、坡度越大,交通事故风险越高;风速越高、降水量越多的季节,事故频次将显著上升。研究结果可为高速公路交通安全改善方案的制定提供理论依据。     

Extremely serious crashes on urban roadway networks: Patterns and trends

Extremely serious traffic crashes, defined as having a death toll of two and greater than two, have become a serious safety concern on urban roadways in Louisiana. This study examined the different contributing factors of these crashes to determine significant trends and patterns. We collected traffic crash data from Louisiana during the period of 2013 to 2017 and found that a total of 72 extremely serious crashes (around 2% of all traffic fatalities) occurred on Louisiana urban roadway networks. As crash data contain an enormous list of contributing factors, there was an issue of ‘more features than data points’ in solving the research problem. Most of these variables are categorial in nature. We selected a dimension reduction tool called Taxicab Correspondence Analysis (TCA) to investigate the complex interaction between multiple factors under a two-dimensional map. Findings of the study reveal several key clusters of attributes that show patterns of association between different crash attributes. The conclusions of this study are exploratory, and the results can help in better visualizing the association between key attributes of crashes. The findings have potentials in designing suitable countermeasures to reduce extremely serious crashes.     

城乡结合部路段中心式双向左转车道设计研究

目前国内存在大量路侧土地开发强度高、交通量大、接入道和交叉口密度大、道路用地紧张的城市双向四车道路段。由于现有条件的限制,这些道路的交通压力已经不可能通过拓宽道路、增加车道来缓解,将其改造为含双向左转车道（TWLTL）的三车道道路是一种有效方案。国内外的研究成果表明双向左转车道能在保证道路服务水平不降低的基础上减少事故、缓解交通压力,使用效果良好。结合TSIS仿真模拟,对双向左转车道设计与应用进行了探讨分析。     

Applying interpretable machine learning to classify tree and utility pole related crash injury types

In spite of enormous improvements in vehicle safety, roadway design, and operations, there is still an excessive amount of traffic crashes resulting in injuries and major productivity losses. Despite the many studies on factors of crash frequency and injury severity, there is still further research to be conducted. Tree and utility pole/other pole related (TUOP) crashes present approximately 12 to 15% of all roadway departure (RwD) fatal crashes in the U.S. The count of TUOP crashes comprise nearly 22% of all fatal crashes in Louisiana. From 2010 to 2016, there were 55,857 TUOP crashes reported in Louisiana. Individually examining each of these crash reports is not a realistic option to investigate crash factors. Therefore, this study employed text mining and interpretable machine learning (IML) techniques to analyze all TUOP crashes (with available crash narratives) that occurred in Louisiana from 2010 to 2016. This study has two major goals: 1) to develop a framework for applying machine learning models to classify injury levels from unstructured textual content, and 2) to apply an IML framework that provides probability measures of keywords and their association with the injury classification. The present study employed three machine learning algorithms in the classification of injury levels based on the crash narrative data. Of the used modeling techniques, the eXtreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) model shows better performance, with accuracy ranging from 0.70 to 24% for the training data and from 0.30% to 16% for the test data.     

Influence of segment length on the fitness of multivariate crash prediction models applied to a Brazilian multilane highway

Road safety modeling enables the development of crash prediction models and the investigation of which factors contribute to crash occurrence. Developing multivariate response models is also valuable, but such models are currently under-exploited. Machine learning techniques, especially artificial neural networks (ANN), have been presented as possible alternatives. Furthermore, selecting a proper roadway segmentation is one of the first tasks in the standard crash modeling workflow. However, this is a challenging task, especially in terms of choosing a segment length. This article presents a study of the influence of segment length on the development of multivariate response models (i.e., three response variables: property damage only crashes, injured victims crashes, and fatal crashes). The models use ANN for a road segment of a Brazilian divided multilane highway. The highway to be modeled was divided into segments with 10 different fixed lengths. The model characterization included geometric and operational data available for the years from 2011 to 2017. The models were evaluated in terms of errors and by residual plot analysis. The 5-km segment of the northbound carriageway and the 4.5-km segment of the southbound carriageway presented the smallest errors and the highest values of R². The residual analyses confirmed the trend to improve the model with the greater segment lengths. This was clear by the residues' distribution around zero, except for the output “Fatal crashes”. The better performance of the longer segments models was expected because these models aggregate more crashes into one segment. The reduction of no crash observations also facilitated the improvement of the models' goodness-of-fit. The use of ANNs also revealed its potential value. However, it is still important to seek strategies to deal with the excess of zeros in fatal crashes; a problem that also occurs in the traditional statistical modeling process.     

基于 Logistic 回归模型的三线城市道路事故数据分析

根据乌鲁木齐市2006~2010年的交通事故统计资料,分别以城市道路中9类不同的交通事故形态为因变量,从道路设施、道路环境等方面选取了9个因素作为自变量,通过二项logistic模型进行事故形态分析,建立事故形态与9个影响因素间的线性相关模型,对模型参数进行了估计,并对模型的拟合程度、可靠性进行了分析,研究了所有自变量单独/组合等不同情况下对因变量的影响。再通过多项Logistic模型对不同道路条件下,各种形态的事故发生几率进行了预测,并与实际情况进行对比,检验了模型拟合效果。      

Micro-simulation modelling for traffic safety: A review and potential application to heterogeneous traffic environment

This paper critically reviews micro-simulation modelling applications for traffic safety evaluation with respect to the use of different simulation tools, the application of surrogate safety indicators under different aspects of road environments and crash considerations. General input variables used to develop the models; key parameters for crash prediction; and calibration and validation approaches are explored in the paper. The strengths and weaknesses of used simulation packages for traffic safety evaluation are also pointed out. Moreover, recent advancements in the development and application of traffic safety micro-simulation model for safety assessment are also discussed.Despite having a number of studies, there is still a significant void in the development and application of simulation model to evaluate traffic safety of non-lane based heterogeneous traffic environments that predominate in many developing countries. The paper assessed the potential application of traffic safety micro-simulation model in heterogeneous traffic environments. Finally, a number of potentially fruitful future research directions are highlighted.     

Using machine leaning techniques for evaluation of motorcycle injury severity

There is a growing interest in the application of the machine learning techniques in predicting the motorcycle crash severity. This is partly due to a progress in autonomous vehicles technology, and machine learning technique, which as a main component of autonomous vehicle could be implemented for traffic safety enhancement. Wyoming's motorcycle crash fatalities constitute a concern since the count of riders being killed in motorcycle crashes in 2014 was 11% of the total road fatalities in the state. The first step of crash reduction could be achieved through identification of contributory factors to crashes. This could be accomplished by using a right model with high accuracy in predicting crashes. Thus, this study adopted random forest, support vector machine, multivariate adaptive regression splines and binary logistic regression techniques to predict the injury severity outcomes of motorcycle crashes. Even though researchers applied all the aforementioned techniques to model motorcycle injury severities, a comparative analysis to assess the predictive power of such modeling frameworks is limited. Hence, this study contributes to the road safety literature by comparing the performance of the discussed techniques. In this study, Wyoming's motorcycle crash injury severities are modeled as functions of the characteristics that give rise to crashes. Before conducting any analyses, feature reduction was used to identify a best number of predictors to be included in the model. Also to have an unbiased estimation of the performance of different machine learning techniques, 5-fold cross-validation was used for model performance evaluation. Two measure, Area under the curve (AUC), and confusion matrix were used to compare different models' performance. The machine learning results indicate that random forest model outperformed the other models with the least misclassification and higher AUC. It was also revealed that a dichotomous response variable, with fatality and incapacitation injury in one category, along with all other categories in another group would result in a lower misclassification rate than a polychotomous response variable. This might result from the nature of motorcycle crashes, lacking a protection compared with passenger cars, preventing machine learning technique to get trained properly. Moreover, the most important variables identified by the random forest model are those related to the operating speed, resentful other party, traffic volume, truck traffic volume, riding under the influence, horizontal curvature, wide roadway with more than two lanes and rider's age.     

A new,non-canonical Poisson regression model for the prediction of crashes on low-volume rural roads

The purpose of the study was to compare the prediction power of a simplified non-canonical Poisson crash-prediction model to other model types. The model, fitted to serious and fatal crash data from 86 two-lane low-volume rural highway segments, showed a good fit, which was not significantly different from that of a negative binomial model. The application of the present model uses the linear form of the non-canonical Poisson model. Hence the simplification of the model versus other models results from the finding that the expected number of crashes per 1 km is directly proportional to the daily volume, unlike logarithmic functions in other models. In the non-canonical model, it is necessary to estimate only one parameter, whereas estimations of more parameters are needed in the negative binomial model.     

基于有限混合零截尾事故预测模型的事故多发段判别方法

为了准确判别事故多发段,有针对性地提出安全应对措施以提升道路交通的安全水平,针对零值缺失交通事故数据并考虑其异质性特点,在单零截尾负二项(ZTNB)模型的基础上建立有限混合零截尾事故预测模型(FMZTNB)。应用R软件对单零截尾负二项模型中的参数进行估计,采用马尔科夫链蒙特卡洛算法(MCMC)对FMZTNB预测模型参数进行求解,并采用Gelman-Rubin收敛统计量对抽样结果进行检查。选择事故风险水平分别为低、中和高的9个路段,分别用2种模型对交通事故次数进行预测。综合观测到的事故次数和相应的事故预测模型结果,采用经验贝叶斯方法对事故相对多发段进行判别。最后采用事故次数一致性检验、判别点段一致性检验和排序一致性检验3种检验方式对判别结果对比分析。结果表明:基于事故率的事故相对多发段判别方法存在较大的不一致性,基于零截尾负二项预测模型的路段事故相对多发判别结果明显优于基于传统负二项预测模型的结果。整体上,基于有限混合零截尾事故预测模型的事故相对多发路段的判别结果高于基于单零截尾负二项分布模型的判别结果。     

高速公路平面线形与安全关系的探讨

建立线形指标、交通量与事故间的模型是当前事故规律微观研究的主要方法，虽然在模型中纳入更多的指标能够提高的解释能力，但增加了模型的复杂性，加剧了数据采集困难．简洁的模型有时候在分析特定类型事故时反而更具优势，因此，作者在研究高速公路线形条件与事故的关系时，主要提取了平面线形的圆曲线、缓和曲线和超高等指标，重点分析平面线形与安全的关系。作者首先对国内外有关平面线形与安全关系的研究进行了简要回顾，利用贵州省贵黄、贵新两务高速公路的事故、线形、交通量数据建立了回归模型。此外，还结合具体案例，对曲线超高对行车安全的影响进行了剖析，并提出了一些针对平面线形安全问题的具体措施和建议。     

Modeling the accuracy of traffic crash prediction models

Crash forecasting enables safety planners to take appropriate actions before casualty or loss occurs. Identifying and analyzing the attributes influencing forecasting accuracy is of great importance in road crash forecasting. This study aims to model the forecasting accuracy of 31 provinces using their macroeconomic variables and road traffic indicators. Iran's road crashes throughout 2011–2018 are calibrated and cross-validated using the Holt-Winters (HW) forecasting method. The sensitivity of crash forecast reliability is studied by a regression model. The results suggested that the root mean square error (RMSE) of crash prediction increased among the provinces with higher and more variant average monthly crashes. On the contrary, the accuracy of crash prediction improved in provinces with higher per capita GDP, and higher traffic exposure. A 1% increase in crash variability, average historical crash count, GDP per capita, and traffic exposure, respectively, resulted in a 0.65%, 0.52%, −0.38%, and −0.13% change in the RMSE of forecasting. The addition of traffic exposure and macroeconomic factors significantly enhanced the model fit and improved the adjusted R-squared by 14% compared to the reduced model that only used the historical average and variability of crash count as the independent variables. The findings of this research suggest planners and policymakers should consider the notable influence of macroeconomic factors and traffic indicators on the crash forecasting accuracy.     

Development and validation of side-impact crash and sled testing finite-element models

Side-impact collisions are the second leading cause of death and injury in the traffic accidents after frontal crashes. Side-impact airbags, side door bars and other protection techniques have been developed to provide occupant protection. To confirm the effectiveness of protection equipment installed in vehicles, studying the degree of impact is fundamental to understand the effect of automobile collisions on the human body. Therefore, the dynamic response of the human body to traffic accidents should be analyzed to reduce the level of occupant injuries. Generally, the experimental method is complex and expensive. Recently, numerical crash simulations have provided a valuable tool for automotive engineers. This work presents full-scale and sled side-impact test finite-element (FE) models - based on the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 214 - that simulate a side-impact accident. The crash simulations utilized the LS-DYNA finite-element code. The human body's dynamic response to crashes is discussed herein. Additionally, occupant injuries were measured. To verify the accuracy of the proposed crash test and sled test FE models, simulation results are compared with those obtained from experimental tests. The comparison results indicate that the proposed crash test and sled test FE models have considerable potential for assessing a vehicle's crash safety performance and assisting future development of safety technologies.     

双车道高速公路追尾事故实时预测模型

现有的高速公路实时事故预测模型对高速公路信息化采集设备的布设密度和采集的数据粒度要求很高,在低信息化的高速公路管理工作上难以得到应用.结合国内高速公路信息化现状,使用单个检测器所采集的数据,对高速公路追尾事故实时风险进行研究.基于江苏省扬州市启扬高速公路上布设的超声波交通流检测器所采集的交通流数据,采用配对案例对照方法和二元逻辑回归,建立了双车道高速公路追尾事故实时预测模型.对事故前5~20 min的交通流数据分别构建流量时空矩阵、速度时空矩阵、平均车头间距时空矩阵,通过引入矩阵特征值简化建模过程并避免了指标间的相关性过高问题.模型总体精度85.7%,事故预测精度33.3%,误报率低于2%,相比已有模型总体预测精度较高,误报率较低,表明了该方法应用于追尾事故实时预测领域的可行性和有效性.