New Risk Management Study Findings Have Been Reported by A.J. Butsick and Co-Researchers (Using network screening methods to determine locations with…

Insurance Weekly News

New Risk Management Study Findings Have Been Reported by A.J. Butsick and Co-Researchers (Using network screening methods to determine locations with specific safety issues: A design consistency case study)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News -- Current study results on Risk Management have been published. According to news reporting originating from Portland, Oregon, by VerticalNews correspondents, research stated, "The Highway Safety Manual provides multiple methods that can be used to identify sites with promise (SWiPs) for safety improvement. However, most of these methods cannot be used to identify sites with specific problems."

Financial support for this research came from FHWA’s Universities.

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research, "Furthermore, given that infrastructure funding is often specified for use related to specific problems/programs, a method for identifying SWiPs related to those programs would be very useful. This research establishes a method for Identifying SWiPs with specific issues. This is accomplished using two safety performance functions (SPFs). This method is applied to identifying SWiPs with geometric design consistency issues. Mixed effects negative binomial regression was used to develop two SPFs using 5 years of crash data and over 8754 km of two-lane rural roadway. The first SPF contained typical roadway elements while the second contained additional geometric design consistency parameters. After empirical Bayes adjustments, sites with promise (SWiPs) were identified. The disparity between SWiPs identified by the two SPFs was evident; 40 unique sites were identified by each model out of the top 220 segments. By comparing sites across the two models, candidate road segments can be identified where a lack design consistency may be contributing to an increase in expected crashes."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "Practitioners can use this method to more effectively identify roadway segments suffering from reduced safety performance due to geometric design inconsistency, with detailed engineering studies of identified sites required to confirm the initial assessment."

For more information on this research see: Using network screening methods to determine locations with specific safety issues: A design consistency case study. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 2017;106():223-233. Accident Analysis and Prevention can be contacted at: Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd, The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, England. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Accident Analysis and Prevention - www.journals.elsevier.com/accident-analysis-and-prevention/)

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting A.J. Butsick, Kittelson & Associates Inc, Portland, OR 97205, United States. Additional authors for this research include J.S. Wood and P.P. Jovanis.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2017.06.006. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Keywords for this news article include: Portland, Oregon, United States, North and Central America, Risk Management.