Crash modeling for urban roundabouts: a case study

Abstract

In many cities and towns, a large number of intersections are considered sites with promise for safety and operational improvements. Several studies have been carried out in many countries to establish relationships between crashes and flow and non-flow explanatory variables, using statistical tools to investigate factors critical to road safety. Starting from a brief review of existing information and analysis on the issue, this article summarizes the findings of an exploratory analysis aimed at modeling injury crashes for a sample of urban roundabouts. The methodological path followed in this research allowed to handle issues associated with the estimation of a safety performance function, and also introduce concerns related to the crash model transferability. At last, results can supply methodological insights that may be useful in the subsequent quantifying of benefits obtainable by engineering measures aimed at enhancing traffic safety in built up areas.