Examining the factors influencing the injury severity of crashes on arterials with signal coordination. Issue 9 (20th October 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhang, Guopeng; Jiang, Xinguo; Fan, Yingfei; Fan, Wenbo; Meng, Teng
• Is Part Of: Journal of transportation safety & security. Volume 12:Issue 9(2020)
• Page Start: 1182
• Page End: 1203
• Publication Date: 2020-10-20
• Subjects: signal coordination -- injury severity -- spatial effects -- arterials; Transportation -- United States -- Safety measures -- Periodicals; Transportation -- Security measures -- United States -- Periodicals; Transportation -- Safety measures; Transportation -- Security measures; United States; Periodicals; 353.9805
• DOI: 10.1080/19439962.2019.1580326
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1943-9970

Abstract

Abstract: Signal coordination has been popularly implemented at signalized intersections along the urban arterials. It can generate the green waves for vehicles to travel through the intersections with fewer or no stops to improve the operational efficiency of the arterials. Despite extensive safety studies on the topic of signal coordination, few are available to examine the factors affecting crash injury severity on coordinated arterials. Thus, the article aims to assess the impacts of signal coordination on injury severity and identify the influencing factors by employing the random parameter ordered logit and generalized additive models. In the case study (Ann Arbor, Michigan), results indicate that (1) the signal coordination may decrease the probability of minor injury crashes but increase the frequency of crashes with more severe injuries, (2) many factors (e.g., number of involved vehicles, female drivers, time of day, crash types, hazardous actions, and abnormal driving conditions) are found to contribute to injury severity, and (3) injury severities exhibit more spatial dependence on the coordinated arterials as opposed to those on the noncoordinated ones. The findings will help to develop effective countermeasures to mitigate injury severity and thus improve traffic safety of arterials with signal coordination.