Latin American and Caribbean Consortium of Engineering Institutions
Conference Track: Engineering
& Public Service
Selection1:
Paper
Language:
English
Keywords:
intersection, safety, hazardous, crashes, databases
Contact Title: Dr.
Contact First Name: Benjamín
Contact Last Name: Colucci-Ríos
University:
University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus
Web:
http://www.civil.uprm.edu
Position:
Professor
Country:
Puerto Rico
Email:
benjamincolucci@aol.com
Fax:
(787) 265-5695
Paper Title:
Abstract:
Intersections are one of the highways elements studied extensively
within the transportation area due to their complexity caused by the
conflicts between motor vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists. In the United States in the year 2000, 2.8 million accidents
were related to intersections. This represents 44% of all the accidents
and a cost to society of approximately $40 billions.
In Puerto Rico in the year 2002 a total of 290,000 accidents were
reported, approximately 25% of these accidents occur at intersections. The
primary targets of this research are: to explore alternatives used in
previous studies and develop an analytical procedure adjusted to the
necessities and availability of information in Puerto Rico; to detect
standard errors that could be committed when compiling, entering and
processing the accident database; and to develop queries with the
databases in order to make statistical analysis and characterize the
intersection accidents. In addition, an adjustment was made to the
Department of Transportation of Iowa methodology for the particular Puerto
Rico case, and the available data to determine the hazardous
intersections. This is part of the first stage of the research and was
complemented to calibrate and validate the information comparing different
databases by making interviews in the safety related agencies.
A visual field inspection was made in the preliminary analysis to
identify problematic locations. The study area includes 17 municipalities
in the western part of Puerto Rico that are representative of the island
in terms of topography, weather conditions and types of highways and
intersections. Most of the
studied intersections classified as dangerous are asymmetric and/or
complex. Asymmetric and complex intersections are intersections with slope
access; in angle or rough topography; disproportion in flow and/or lanes
of the main street versus the secondary street; presence of marginal
streets, businesses, presence of pedestrians, and having entrances close
or near the intersection. Preliminary
findings of the study indicate that in intersections accidents: 39.1% did
not have any type of control, 31.5% occurred in a commercial zone, 73.6%
took place in an urban area. In fatalities in intersections: 73.2%
involved the masculine gender, 22% correspond to non-occupants and 15.9%
happened in December. In the category of fatalities at intersections with
blood alcohol content: corresponds to 29.3% of which 37.5% correspond to
the range of age between 40 to 49 years.
In addition, in 33.3% of the fatalities associated to pedestrians
at intersections, blood alcohol content was found.
With the preliminary findings and results obtained, in future
phases of the research recommendations will be developed regarding
improvements associated to the problems found at different intersections,
measures to be considered for the planning phase of future intersections,
and recommendations to the agencies related to intersection safety such
as: the Highway and Transportation Authority of Puerto Rico, the Accidents
Analysis Office, the Traffic Safety Commission and the Police Department
of Puerto Rico, among others.
Mailing Address:
University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus, Department of Civil
Engineering, CI-105 A, Mayaguez, P.R. 00680
Phone:
Authors:
Kathleen Díaz-Carrasquillo, BSCE, EIT, Graduate Student /
IngKathleenDiaz@hotmail.com / University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus
/ (P)
Dr. Benjamín Colucci-Ríos, P.E., PTOE / bcolucci@ce.uprm.edu /
University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus / (P)
Dr. Felipe Luyanda-Villafañe, P.E. / fluyanda@ce.uprm.edu /
University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus / (P)
Dr. Julio Quintana-Díaz / Quintana@math.uprm.edu / University of
Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus
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