Another Look at the Relationship Between Accident- and Encroachment-Based Approaches to Run-Off-the-Road Accidents Modeling

The purpose of this study was to look for ways to combine the strengths of both approaches in roadside safety research. The specific objectives were (1) to present the encroachment-based approach in a more systematic and coherent way so that its limitations and strengths can be better understood from both statistical and engineering standpoints, and (2) to apply the analytical and engineering strengths of the encroachment-based thinking to the formulation of mean functions in accident-based models

Measuring the Goodness-of-Fit of Accident Prediction Models

DTFH61-94-Y-00107In developing accidents-flow-roadway design models, the R-squared goodness-of-fit measure has been used by traffic safety engineers and researchers for many years to (1) determine the quality and usability of a model; (2) select covariates (or explanatory variables) for inclusion in the model; (3) make a decision as to whether it would be worthwhile to collect additional covariates; and (4) compare the relative quality of models from different studies. Through computer simulations, this study demonstrated the pitfalls of using R-squared to make these decisions and comparisons. Other goodness-of-fit criteria such as the Akaike Information Criterion, scaled deviance, and Pearson's X-squared statistics were also introduced and evaluated. Based on limited simulation results, one of the alternative criteria called R-squared-alpha was recommended for evaluating and comparing the quality of accident prediction models when sample size is large. Finally, the interrelated and complementary nature of two approaches that have traditionally been used to develop the relationship between run-off-the-road accident frequency and roadside hazards (i.e., accident-based approach and encroachment-based approach) were studied and demonstrated using data from a Federal Highway Administration and Transportation Research Board roadway cross-section design data base. It was suggested that exploring the complementary nature of these two approaches could be a viable avenue to reduce data collection cost

Forecasting urban highway travel for year 2005

As part of a study aimed at estimating suburban highway needs for year 2005, models were developed for forecasting daily vehicle miles of travel (DVMT) for urban areas and its distribution by highway functional class, urban location, and urban area size. A regression model combining both time series and cross-sectional data is used to establish the relationship between the per capita DVMT of 339 urban areas in the United States and a set of explanatory variables including real income, employment, number of persons per household, number of driver licenses per 1000 persons, a variable representing highway supply deficiency, and a time variable. The dynamic shift over time in share of travel between urban locations and highway functional classes as urban areas grow in size is represented by conditional logit models. This paper presents the major findings from the forecasting and distribution models for urban highway travel in year 2005. 30 refs., 3 figs., 9 tabs