• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.173-180
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• 2016

OBJECTIVES : Fixed roadside objects are a threat to drivers when their vehicles deviate from the road. Therefore, such roadside objects need to be suitably dealt with to decrease accidents. This study determines the factors affecting the severity of accidents because of fixed roadside objects. METHODS : This study analyzed the crash severity impact of fixed roadside objects by using ordered probit regression as the analysis methodology. In this research, data from 896 traffic accidents reported in the last three years were used. These accidents consisted of sole-car accidents, fixed roadside object accidents, and lane-departure accidents on the national highway of Korea. The accident severity was classified as light injury, severe injury, and death. The factors relating to the road and the driver were collected as independent variables. RESULTS : The result of the analysis showed that the variables of the crash severity impact are the collision location (left side), gender of the driver (female), alcohol use, collision facility (roadside trees, traffic signals, telephone poles), and type of road (rural segments). Additionally, the collision location (left side), gender of the driver (female), alcohol use, collision facility (street trees, traffic signals, telephone poles), and type of road (rural segments), in order of influence, were found to be the factors affecting the crash severity in accidents due to fixed roadside objects. CONCLUSIONS : An alternative solution is urgently required to reduce the crash severity in accidents due to fixed roadside objects. Such a solution can consider the appropriate places to install breakaway devices and energy-absorbing systems.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.143-149
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• 2017

According to traffic accidents statistics, the number of fatalities, injuries and the rate of increase of traffic accidents have been decreasing over last 5-years. The fatality rate is 1.9 for total accidents but the fatality rate for single vehicle accidents shows a 7.9, which is 4 times greater than the average for all accidents. Single vehicle accidents, usually occur as a vehicle impacts a fixed objects on the roadside as the vehicle runs-off from the road. However, few researches have been conducted considering the accident severity of single vehicle accidents which impact to the fixed objects on the road. The single vehicle accident is directly related to the composition of road cross section, (since it is the required the minimum width of a road for all run-off-the-road vehicles to recover or come to a safe stop). Therefore, this study analyzes the influence of road cross section on traffic accidents to find out the severity of single vehicle accident. To analyze the road elements which are related to the accident severity, the Ordered Probit Model was used. As variables, the element of road cross section such as the radius(m), vertical curve(%), cross sectional grade(%), road width(m). number of climbing lane, median, and curb, were used (as was the 3-years of accidents data). This study found out that cross slope(%), road width(m), and the number of climbing lane are related to the severity of accident. The result of this study could be expected to improve the road safety and to be used as the base data for further road safety research.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.23-30
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• 2009

Crash cushions are protective devices that prevent errant vehicles from impacting on fixed objects. This function is accomplished by gradually decelerating a vehicle to a safe stop in a relatively short distance. Commonly used crash cushions generally employ one of two concepts to accomplish this function. The first concept involves the absorption of the kinetic energy of a moving vehicle by crushable or plastically deformable materials and the other one involves the transfer of the momentum of a moving vehicle to an expendable mass of material located in the vehicle's path. Crash cushions using the first concept are generally referred to as compression crash cushions and crash cushions using the other concept are generally referred to as inertial crash cushion. The objective of this research is the development of a compression-type crash cushion by employing the two concepts simultaneously. To minimize the number of full-scale crash tests for the development of the crash cushion, preliminary design guide considering inertial and frictional energy absorption was constructed and computer simulation was performed. LS-DYNA program, which is most widely used to analyze roadside safety features, was used for the computer simulation. The developed crash cushion satisfied the safety evaluation criteria for various impact conditions of CC2 performance level in the Korean design guide.