Person-place-time analysis of vehicle fatalities caused by flash floods in Texas

Sharif, Hatim O.; Hossain, Mahabub; Jackson, Terrance; Bin-Shafique, Sazzad

doi:10.1080/19475705.2011.615343

Cited by 42 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Nevertheless, many studies confirm twilight as a dangerous time. In Texas, 55% of motor-related fatalities occurred at night or twilight [26]. Spitalar et al [17] came to the same conclusions on a large sample of flash floods collected in The United States of America.…”

Section: Daily Distributionmentioning

confidence: 68%

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Flashflood-related mortality in southern France: first results from a new database

2016

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Abstract. Over the last 25 years, flash floods in the South of France have killed almost 250 people. The protection of prone populations is a priority for the French government. It is also a goal of the 2007 European flood directive. However, no accurate database exists gathering the fatalities due to floods in France. Fatalities are supposed to be rare and hazardous, mainly due to individual behaviour. A Ph. D. work has initiated the building of a database gathering a detailed analysis of the circumstances of death and the profiles of the deceased DJH JHQGHU« 7KH VWXG\ DUHD FRYHUV the French Mediterranean departments prone to flash floods over the period 1988-2015. This presentation details the main features of the sample, 244 fatalities collected through newspapers completed with field surveys near police services and municipalities. The sample is broken down between huge events that account for two thirds of the IDWDOLWLHV DQG ³VPDOO´ HYHQWV 4 % of the fatalities). Deaths at home account for 35 % of the total number of fatalities, mainly during huge events. 30 % of fatalities are related to vehicles. The last part of the work explains the relations between fatalities and prevention and how better knowledge of flood-related deaths can help to improve flood prevention. The given example shows the relationship between flood forecasting and fatalities. Half of the deaths took place in a small watershed (< 150 km 2 ). It emphasizes the need for the dissemination of a complementary system of flash flood forecast based on forecasted rainfall depth and adapted to small watersheds.

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Section: Daily Distributionmentioning

confidence: 68%

“…The percentage of car-related flood drownings depends on the country and flood type. In Texas, 80% of flood-related fatalities are motor vehicle-related [26] but, for all the US, the rate announced by French et al [22] was near 40%. It rises to 63% according to a more recent study [27].…”

Section: Different Circumstances Of Deathmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flashflood-related mortality in southern France: first results from a new database

2016

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“…Total annual and seasonal precipitation has already shifted in some areas of the US, and climate models predict this trend will continue [38] and incidence of severe weather to increase [39, 40]. Determining the impact of recent climate change on road traffic injuries is difficult, given lack of precise exposure information, though the number of deaths in vehicles from flash floods in Texas exhibited a general upward trend from 1959 to 2009 [41]. A study in Vancouver estimated an increase in collision counts by the mid-2050s due to greater rainfall intensity [42].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adverse weather conditions and fatal motor vehicle crashes in the United States, 1994-2012

et al. 2016

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BackgroundMotor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of injury mortality. Adverse weather and road conditions have the potential to affect the likelihood of motor vehicle fatalities through several pathways. However, there remains a dearth of assessments associating adverse weather conditions to fatal crashes in the United States. We assessed trends in motor vehicle fatalities associated with adverse weather and present spatial variation in fatality rates by state.MethodsWe analyzed the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) datasets from 1994 to 2012 produced by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that contains reported weather information for each fatal crash. For each year, we estimated the fatal crashes that were associated with adverse weather conditions. We stratified these fatalities by months to examine seasonal patterns. We calculated state-specific rates using annual vehicle miles traveled data for all fatalities and for those related to adverse weather to examine spatial variations in fatality rates. To investigate the role of adverse weather as an independent risk factor for fatal crashes, we calculated odds ratios for known risk factors (e.g., alcohol and drug use, no restraint use, poor driving records, poor light conditions, highway driving) to be reported along with adverse weather.ResultsTotal and adverse weather-related fatalities decreased over 1994–2012. Adverse weather-related fatalities constituted about 16 % of total fatalities on average over the study period. On average, 65 % of adverse weather-related fatalities happened between November and April, with rain/wet conditions more frequently reported than snow/icy conditions. The spatial distribution of fatalities associated with adverse weather by state was different than the distribution of total fatalities. Involvement of alcohol or drugs, no restraint use, and speeding were less likely to co-occur with fatalities during adverse weather conditions.ConclusionsWhile adverse weather is reported for a large number of motor vehicle fatalities for the US, the type of adverse weather and the rate of associated fatality vary geographically. These fatalities may be addressed and potentially prevented by modifying speed limits during inclement weather, improving road surfacing, ice and snow removal, and providing transit alternatives, but the impact of potential interventions requires further research.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12940-016-0189-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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“…Over the last years, several activity-based models have been developed: TRANSIMS (Smith et al, 1995), ALBA-TROSS (Arentze and Timmermans, 2000), CEMDAP (Bhat et al, 2004), MATSim (Balmer et al, 2006) and ADAPTS (Auld and Mohammadian, 2009). Although the mentioned models follow the same activity-based paradigm and provide useful frameworks for modeling individual motilities, they have some differences regarding the activity scheduling approach used, the decision-making process integration and the required input data structure.…”

Section: Mobility Modelingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, several vehicle-related accidents occur during flash floods. Death circumstances investigations showed that in postindustrial countries over half of flood victims are motorists trapped by road flooding (Ashley and Ashley, 2007;Sharif et al, 2012;Terti et al, 2017). Hence, daily mobility is pointed out as one of the primary causes of population exposure and vulnerability to flash floods (Ruin, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

MobRISK: a model for assessing the exposure of road users to flash flood events

Shabou

Ruin

Lutoff

et al. 2017

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Recent flash flood impact studies highlight that road networks are often disrupted due to adverse weather and flash flood events. Road users are thus particularly exposed to road flooding during their daily mobility. Previous exposure studies, however, do not take into consideration population mobility. Recent advances in transportation research provide an appropriate framework for simulating individual travelactivity patterns using an activity-based approach. These activity-based mobility models enable the prediction of the sequence of activities performed by individuals and locating them with a high spatial-temporal resolution. This paper describes the development of the MobRISK microsimulation system: a model for assessing the exposure of road users to extreme hydrometeorological events. MobRISK aims at providing an accurate spatiotemporal exposure assessment by integrating travel-activity behaviors and mobility adaptation with respect to weather disruptions. The model is applied in a flash-flood-prone area in southern France to assess motorists' exposure to the September 2002 flash flood event. The results show that risk of flooding mainly occurs in principal road links with considerable traffic load. However, a lag time between the timing of the road submersion and persons crossing these roads contributes to reducing the potential vehicle-related fatal accidents. It is also found that sociodemographic variables have a significant effect on individual exposure. Thus, the proposed model demonstrates the benefits of considering spatiotemporal dynamics of population exposure to flash floods and presents an important improvement in exposure assessment methods. Such improved characterization of road user exposures can present valuable information for flood risk management services.

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Person-place-time analysis of vehicle fatalities caused by flash floods in Texas

Cited by 42 publications

References 19 publications

Flashflood-related mortality in southern France: first results from a new database

Flashflood-related mortality in southern France: first results from a new database

Adverse weather conditions and fatal motor vehicle crashes in the United States, 1994-2012

MobRISK: a model for assessing the exposure of road users to flash flood events

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