Correlating Hard-Braking Activity with Crash Occurrences on Interstate Construction Projects in Indiana

Desai, Jairaj; Li, Howell; Mathew, Jijo K.; Cheng, Yi-Ting; Habib, Ayman; Bullock, Darcy M. · 2020 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.1007/s42421-020-00024-x

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Summary

This study addresses the challenge of monitoring safety in highway construction work zones, where fatal crashes increased by 3% between 2016 and 2017 despite decreases elsewhere. Traditional crash data is often delayed, underreported, and insufficient for tactical, real-time safety management. The authors investigate whether commercially available vehicle hard-braking event data can serve as a timely surrogate safety measure to identify hazardous locations before crashes accumulate. The research analyzed 23 interstate construction work zones in Indiana, covering approximately 150 centerline miles during the summer of 2019. The study utilized 196,215 hard-braking events (defined as deceleration >8.76 ft/s²) from crowdsourced probe data, geofenced to work zone limits and 5-mile approaches. These were compared against 3,132 crashes recorded in the same zones during July and August of 2018 and 2019. Crash and braking counts were normalized by work zone length to calculate rates per mile. A linear regression model was employed to evaluate the correlation between hard-braking activity and crash occurrences. Additionally, a case study of Work Zone Z11 (I-65) utilized mobile LiDAR mapping to identify specific physical causal factors, such as lane widths and pavement conditions, associated with elevated braking activity. The results demonstrated a strong statistical correlation between hard-braking events and crash rates, with an adjusted R² value of 0.845. The analysis indicated that approximately one crash per mile occurs for every 147 hard-braking events per mile. Visualizations confirmed that clusters of hard-braking activity corresponded spatially and temporally with regions of elevated congestion and crash counts, particularly rear-end collisions. In the Z11 case study, elevated hard-braking events at mile marker 61 were linked to narrow lane widths (11.6 ft and 10.6 ft) and edge drop-offs identified via LiDAR. While overall crash counts across the 23 zones decreased slightly by 2.4% from 2018 to 2019, specific zones showed significant increases, highlighting the variability in safety performance. The study concludes that hard-braking event data is a viable surrogate for crash counts, offering a near real-time method to identify emerging safety issues in work zones. The authors recommend that transportation agencies utilize this data to quickly pinpoint locations with high braking activity for further evaluation and proactive mitigation. This approach allows for tactical monitoring and improved work zone design, addressing the limitations of delayed crash reporting and enabling agencies to manage safety and operational efficiency more effectively.

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Topics

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• work zones
• incidence prevalence

Information type

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• Empirical Findings: crash risk outcomes