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Safety Effects of Geometric Design Consistency on Two-lane Rural Highways: The Case of Ethiopia

Received: 1 June 2021     Accepted: 12 July 2021     Published: 21 July 2021
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Abstract

Different studies conducted, regarding the development of statistical models used to predict crash occurrences along two-lane rural highways, around the globe and particularly in Ethiopia, rely on geometric characteristics than explicitly considering measures of design consistencies. Recently, the issue of geometric design consistency in highway design is emerging as an important criterion. This study is therefore carried out to evaluate the design consistency on horizontal alignments using measures of design consistency and develop safety functions that exclusively include design consistency measures. Elements of all road sections considered in the study were rated as good, fair or poor design using design evaluation criteria. Poisson regression and Negative Binomial regression modeling approaches were used to assess the relationship between measures of design consistency and road safety. Using information criteria goodness-of-fit, Poisson regression model was found better fit to the data than NB regression models. Three different crash prediction models which explicitly incorporate design consistency measures were successfully developed. The models can be used to predict crashes of two-lane rural highway having similar characteristics with the road considered under this study. Finally, based on the results of this research, further detailed study on effect of highway design consistency on road safety and current design guides related to design speed selection to account for design consistency revision was recommended.

Published in American Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering (Volume 6, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.ajtte.20210604.11
Page(s) 107-115
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Design Consistency, Road Safety, Count Model, Ethiopia

References
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  • APA Style

    Shiferaw Megersa Gemechu, Getu Segni Tulu. (2021). Safety Effects of Geometric Design Consistency on Two-lane Rural Highways: The Case of Ethiopia. American Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering, 6(4), 107-115. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajtte.20210604.11

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    ACS Style

    Shiferaw Megersa Gemechu; Getu Segni Tulu. Safety Effects of Geometric Design Consistency on Two-lane Rural Highways: The Case of Ethiopia. Am. J. Traffic Transp. Eng. 2021, 6(4), 107-115. doi: 10.11648/j.ajtte.20210604.11

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    AMA Style

    Shiferaw Megersa Gemechu, Getu Segni Tulu. Safety Effects of Geometric Design Consistency on Two-lane Rural Highways: The Case of Ethiopia. Am J Traffic Transp Eng. 2021;6(4):107-115. doi: 10.11648/j.ajtte.20210604.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajtte.20210604.11,
      author = {Shiferaw Megersa Gemechu and Getu Segni Tulu},
      title = {Safety Effects of Geometric Design Consistency on Two-lane Rural Highways: The Case of Ethiopia},
      journal = {American Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering},
      volume = {6},
      number = {4},
      pages = {107-115},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajtte.20210604.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajtte.20210604.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajtte.20210604.11},
      abstract = {Different studies conducted, regarding the development of statistical models used to predict crash occurrences along two-lane rural highways, around the globe and particularly in Ethiopia, rely on geometric characteristics than explicitly considering measures of design consistencies. Recently, the issue of geometric design consistency in highway design is emerging as an important criterion. This study is therefore carried out to evaluate the design consistency on horizontal alignments using measures of design consistency and develop safety functions that exclusively include design consistency measures. Elements of all road sections considered in the study were rated as good, fair or poor design using design evaluation criteria. Poisson regression and Negative Binomial regression modeling approaches were used to assess the relationship between measures of design consistency and road safety. Using information criteria goodness-of-fit, Poisson regression model was found better fit to the data than NB regression models. Three different crash prediction models which explicitly incorporate design consistency measures were successfully developed. The models can be used to predict crashes of two-lane rural highway having similar characteristics with the road considered under this study. Finally, based on the results of this research, further detailed study on effect of highway design consistency on road safety and current design guides related to design speed selection to account for design consistency revision was recommended.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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    AU  - Shiferaw Megersa Gemechu
    AU  - Getu Segni Tulu
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    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajtte.20210604.11
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ajtte.20210604.11
    T2  - American Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering
    JF  - American Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering
    JO  - American Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering
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    PB  - Science Publishing Group
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    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajtte.20210604.11
    AB  - Different studies conducted, regarding the development of statistical models used to predict crash occurrences along two-lane rural highways, around the globe and particularly in Ethiopia, rely on geometric characteristics than explicitly considering measures of design consistencies. Recently, the issue of geometric design consistency in highway design is emerging as an important criterion. This study is therefore carried out to evaluate the design consistency on horizontal alignments using measures of design consistency and develop safety functions that exclusively include design consistency measures. Elements of all road sections considered in the study were rated as good, fair or poor design using design evaluation criteria. Poisson regression and Negative Binomial regression modeling approaches were used to assess the relationship between measures of design consistency and road safety. Using information criteria goodness-of-fit, Poisson regression model was found better fit to the data than NB regression models. Three different crash prediction models which explicitly incorporate design consistency measures were successfully developed. The models can be used to predict crashes of two-lane rural highway having similar characteristics with the road considered under this study. Finally, based on the results of this research, further detailed study on effect of highway design consistency on road safety and current design guides related to design speed selection to account for design consistency revision was recommended.
    VL  - 6
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Author Information
  • School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

  • School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

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