Disciplines
Civil and Environmental Engineering | Transportation Engineering
Abstract (300 words maximum)
Work zone safety is a health risk for drivers and construction workers. In Georgia, work zone crashes have decreased over the past 5 years, but the number of fatalities has still been over 1,000 each of those years. Studies have proven solutions such as lowering the speed limit or relying on current traffic control devices to be ineffective. The risks associated with these crashes must be recognized to improve upon previous solutions or innovate new ones from the results. The objective of this study is to utilize cross classification to identify factors that contribute to work zone crash deaths and severe injuries in the state of Georgia. The following factors found within the Georgia Department of Transportation were cross classified with the KABCO severity scores: manner of collision, urban & rural, segment annual average daily traffic, work zone type, and posted speed limit. GDOT data dating from the years of 2019-2023 was gathered and placed in contingency tables using each factor versus crash severity. The expected values were then calculated from the gathered data (or observed values) and placed in new tables for each factor. Then, the observed and expected values were used to calculate the chi-square value of each factor. The results showed that all listed factors are indeed risk factors that influence crash severity. Work zone type had the smallest chi-square value and manner of collision had the highest. Therefore, the manner of collision is the most significant regarding the severity of work zone crashes. In conclusion, energy absorption median stoppers could be built on Georgia’s highways to reduce the amount of collision type crashes. Additionally, improved traffic control devices may help lessen the flow of traffic and strategically placed radar-based feedback systems may help drivers become more aware of their high speeds within work zones.
Academic department under which the project should be listed
SPCEET - Civil and Environmental Engineering
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Sunanda Dissanayake
Included in
Assessing a Solution for GA Work Zone Safety Through Cross Classification
Work zone safety is a health risk for drivers and construction workers. In Georgia, work zone crashes have decreased over the past 5 years, but the number of fatalities has still been over 1,000 each of those years. Studies have proven solutions such as lowering the speed limit or relying on current traffic control devices to be ineffective. The risks associated with these crashes must be recognized to improve upon previous solutions or innovate new ones from the results. The objective of this study is to utilize cross classification to identify factors that contribute to work zone crash deaths and severe injuries in the state of Georgia. The following factors found within the Georgia Department of Transportation were cross classified with the KABCO severity scores: manner of collision, urban & rural, segment annual average daily traffic, work zone type, and posted speed limit. GDOT data dating from the years of 2019-2023 was gathered and placed in contingency tables using each factor versus crash severity. The expected values were then calculated from the gathered data (or observed values) and placed in new tables for each factor. Then, the observed and expected values were used to calculate the chi-square value of each factor. The results showed that all listed factors are indeed risk factors that influence crash severity. Work zone type had the smallest chi-square value and manner of collision had the highest. Therefore, the manner of collision is the most significant regarding the severity of work zone crashes. In conclusion, energy absorption median stoppers could be built on Georgia’s highways to reduce the amount of collision type crashes. Additionally, improved traffic control devices may help lessen the flow of traffic and strategically placed radar-based feedback systems may help drivers become more aware of their high speeds within work zones.