Jordan Journal of Civil Engineering

Modeling of Risk Factors for Vulnerable Road Users’ Crashes on National Highways Passing through Medium-sized Indian Cities

Authors:

Srinivasa Rao Gandupalli; Purnanandam Kokkeragadda; Mukunda Rao Dangeti;

Abstract:

Vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorised two-wheelers safety on national highways passing through urban areas has been a significant concern in developing countries like India. This study analyses Visakhapatnam police crash data (2014–2017) to identify high-risk road segments to vulnerable road users. Establishing fixed-parameter Negative Binomial models helps analyse risk variables for fatal and injury crashes concerning several susceptible road users on mid-block sections. The study focuses on site specific information collected from road safety audits, speed, the average daily traffic, length of the road section and percentage of two-wheelers are also considered to fully understand the likelihood of a crash. The statistical analysis in this paper shows that factors like length of the road segment, presence of service roads, land use type (i.e., commercial/mixed land use), number of curves, and average daily traffic are identified as important risk variables associated with the incidence of fatal and injury crashes of vulnerable road users in Visakhapatnam city, India. This study highlights the crucial safety measures that transportation planners must take to create a more secure environment for road users.

Keywords:

safety, vulnerable road users, mid-block sections, negative binomial, crash, count data models