Estimation of the Safety Effect of Pavement Condition on Rural, Two-Lane Highways

Abstract

The condition of the pavement surface can have a significant effect on highway safety. For example, skidding crashes are often related to pavement rutting, polishing, bleeding, and dirt. When transportation agencies develop paving schedules for their roadways, the agencies often base decisions on asset management condition targets but do not explicitly account for the role of pavement condition in roadway safety. The Virginia Department of Transportation began automated data collection of pavement condition with digital images and an automated crack detection methodology in 2007. Automated collection allows the department to track historical information on pavement condition; this tracking facilitates research into the effect of pavement condition on safety. Information on how pavement condition influences safety can inform paving decisions and the setting of priorities for maintenance. This study quantitatively evaluated the safety effectiveness of good pavement conditions versus deficient pavement conditions on rural, two-lane undivided highways in Virginia. The empirical Bayes method was used to find that good pavements could reduce fatal and injury crashes by 26% compared with deficient pavements, but good pavements did not have a statistically significant impact on overall crash frequency. Further analysis indicated that there was no statistically significant change in the safety benefit of improvements in pavement condition for fatal and injury crashes as the lane or shoulder width increased. The improvement of pavement condition from deficient to good offers a significant safety benefit in reducing crash severity.

Assessing pavement conditions and their effect on road safety: Ontario experience

“…In general, the widely accepted Safety Performance Function (SPF) for a highway road segment is as follows (AASHTO, 2010b;Heydecker & Wu, 2001;Zeng, Fontaine, & Smith, 2014):…”

“…As a result of these problems, results were inconclusive. Zeng et al, (2014) conducted an Empirical Bayes before-after study of pavement rehabilitation for two-lane highways in Virginia. Their EB analysis revealed a 26% reduction in fatal injury crashes, but the overall crash frequency was not significantly affected by resurfacing.…”

Establishment of a Composite Safety Index for Pavement Management

“…In another study, Zeng et al [11] explored the influence of pavement condition on safety to prioritize highway maintenance. Crash and pavement condition indices (IRI, PCI, and rut depth) data were collected from Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) for 2007 through 2011.…”

Investigation of the Influence of the Condition of Asphalt Pavement Surface on Road Safety of Rural Ontario Highways

“…While improving pavement conditions from a low level to a satisfactory level did not exhibit a significant effect on reducing the total number of collisions. Zeng et al (2014) observed that good pavement condition reduced fatal and injury collisions by 26% when compared with poor pavement conditions.…”

“…While the influence of some of these factors on road safety has been studied extensively for decades, few studies examine the influence of general pavement condition on road safety (Chan et al, 2009;Elghriany, 2016;Li and Huang, 2014). The majority of existing literature on road safety and pavement surface condition is restricted to studies comparing collision frequency and severity before and after maintenance activities (e.g., resurfacing), and studies examining a specific type of pavement surface distress -for example, differences in elevation between the pavement surface and the shoulder (pavement edge drop-off), depression in the wheel path (rutting), and irregularities in the pavement surface that affect ride quality (roughness) (Zeng et al, 2014;Lee et al, 2015).…”