摘要: |
Based on a minor amount of related research and pedestrian-motor vehicle crash typing research, there is a believed to be a strong, but unquantified relationship between pedestrian/motor vehicle crashes and site-specific characteristics. Models are currently not available that can help predict crashes based on site-specific conditions and operational characteristics of a roadway. A coordinated effort is underway to develop a Highway Safety Manual (HSM) for use in making quantitative estimates of the safety performance of specific highway types and quantitative estimates of proposed improvements to specific highway types. The highway types being addressed in the first edition of the HSM are rural two-lane highways, rural multilane highways, and urban and suburban arterials. Explicit consideration of pedestrian safety on urban and suburban arterials is considered critical to implementation of the first edition of the HSM. An HSM methodology to make safety predictions for urban and suburban arterials is being developed in the ongoing NCHRP Project 17-26. The Project 17-26 database will be most suited for modeling motor vehicle crashes on roadway segments and at intersections. Models will also be developed within Project 17-26 that estimate pedestrian safety based on average pedestrian crash frequency. However, these models will not be sensitive to site-specific conditions that influence pedestrian crashes. Thus, the models currently under development will not address the needs for determining site-specific pedestrian safety effects or for evaluating the site-specific effects of proposed projects intended to improve pedestrian safety. The objective of this research is to develop a methodology for quantifying the pedestrian safety effects related to existing site characteristics and/or proposed improvements on urban and suburban arterials. The methodology should be developed so it can be used in an independent fashion as a guide, but also in a manner that will allow integration with the overall safety performance methodology currently under development in NCHRP Project 17-26. |