TITLE:
Estimating Crash Rate of Freeway Segments Using Simultaneous Equation Model
AUTHORS:
Anthony Ramos, Hualiang (Harry) Teng, Yuyong Fu
KEYWORDS:
Weaving Segments, Freeways, Simultaneous Equation Models, Crash Rate
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Transportation Technologies,
Vol.6 No.5,
September
30,
2016
ABSTRACT: This study develops crash rate prediction models based on the premise that crash frequencies observed from adjacent paired non-weaving and weaving freeway segments are spatially correlated and therefore requires a simultaneous equation modeling approach. Simultaneous equation models for paired freeway non-weaving segments and weaving segments along with combined three freeway segments upstream and downstream were developed to investigate the relationship of crash rate with freeway characteristics. The endogenous variables have significant coefficients which indicate that unobserved variables exist on these contiguous segments, resulting in different crash rates. AADT is a variable that can show the interaction between the traffic and crashes on these contiguous segments. The results corroborate such an interaction. By comparing the simultaneous equation model and the multiple linear regression model, it is shown that more model parameters in the simultaneous models are significant than those from linear regression model. This demonstrates the existence of the correlation between the interchange and between-interchange segments. It is crucial that some variables like segment length can be identified significant in the simultaneous model, which provides a way to quantify the safety impact of freeway development.