Road diets can offer potential safety improvements for both pedestrians and vehicles. The additional space provided by reducing the number of vehicular through lanes can be reallocated to other uses such as bicycle lanes, parking, sidewalks, transit use, turn lanes, curb extensions, parklets, or pedestrian refuge islands. This study evaluated the safety effectiveness of road diets in Virginia using the empirical Bayes method, focusing on the common road diet conversion from a four-lane roadway to a three-lane roadway with added bike lanes. A total of 36 segment sites and 39 intersections were identified in Virginia where road diet installations were implemented between the years 2009 to 2018. The analysis showed segment crash modification factors (CMFs) of 0.62 for total crashes and 0.36 for fatal and injury (FI) crashes. Across all intersection types, the CMFs were 0.65 for total crashes and 0.54 for FI crashes. All CMFs were found to be statistically significant at a 95% confidence level. When intersections were separated into signalized and unsignalized intersections, no significant safety benefit was found for unsignalized intersections. Based on the results, it was concluded that road diets can potentially reduce crashes, and public agencies should consider the safety benefits of road diets when justifying roadway improvements.


    Access

    Download

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Development of Road Diet Segment and Intersection Crash Modification Factors


    Additional title:

    Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board


    Contributors:


    Publication date :

    2022-02-02




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



    Intersection Safety Improvement Using Crash Modification Factors

    Abdulhafedh, Azad Salim / Selman, Mudhafer H. / Sadeeq, Heleen Faris | Springer Verlag | 2022


    Crash Modification Factors for Road Diets in Virginia

    Lim, Linda / Fontaine, Michael D. | ASCE | 2021


    Crash Modification Factors

    Hauer, Ezra / Bonneson, James A. / Council, Forrest et al. | Transportation Research Record | 2012


    Crash reconstruction and crash modification factors

    Davis, Gary A. | Online Contents | 2014


    Identification of Critical Intersection Angle through Crash Modification Functions

    Kumfer, Wesley / Harkey, David / Lan, Bo et al. | Transportation Research Record | 2019