University of Alberta Reports Findings in Risk Management (Exploring the associations between winter maintenance operations, weather variables, surface condition, and road safety: A path analysis approach): Risk Management

2021 NOV 11 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on Risk Management is the subject of a report. According to news originating from Edmonton, Canada, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “This paper aims to assess the effects of snow and ice control operations by investigating the interdependency between weather variables, maintenance operations, pavement friction, and collisions. Using a disaggregated event-based and location-specific framework, and employing the statistical techniques of Structural Equation Modeling and Path Analysis, all the significant direct and indirect effects of weather variables and maintenance operations on pavement friction and collision occurrence during snowstorms have been identified.”

Financial support for this research came from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the University of Alberta, “It was revealed that precipitation, extremely low temperatures, and the potential of black ice formation all had significant negative direct effects on pavement friction and significant indirect negative effects on traffic safety. Moreover, the application of anti-icing agents and plowing operations have been shown to significantly improve pavement friction and in return improve traffic safety indirectly. To illustrate how the maintenance operations improve traffic safety, a hypothetical snowstorm example was considered. According to the model, anti-icing application was associated with a 14% reduction in collisions, plowing operations resulted in a 33% reduction in collisions, and combining the two tools reduced collisions per snowstorm by 42%.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “The findings of this paper can help transportation agencies make more informed decisions to promote an efficient mobilization of the existing winter road maintenance services and resources while improving the safety of the traveling public during the winter months.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Exploring the associations between winter maintenance operations, weather variables, surface condition, and road safety: A path analysis approach. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 2021;163:106448. Accident Analysis & Prevention can be contacted at: Pergamon-elsevier Science Ltd, The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, England. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Accident Analysis & Prevention - http://www.journals.elsevier.com/accident-analysis-and-prevention/)

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from Ahmed Abohassan, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G1H9, Canada. Additional authors for this research include Karim El-Basyouny and Tae J. Kwon.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2021.106448. 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.

The publisher’s contact information for the journal Accident Analysis & Prevention is: Pergamon-elsevier Science Ltd, The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, England.

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