• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.1-17
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• 2018

Over the past five years (2010-2014), the total number of traffic accidents has decreased from 226,878 to 223,552 with decrease of 0.37 percent each year. The death toll has also decreased from 5,505 to 4,762. However, the number of rental car accidents and fatalities has been steadily increased. Despite of its growth, no previous study has been conducted on rental car accident severity. This study analyzed data of 18,050 rental car accidents in South Korea collected from 2010 to 2014 and then processed in order to identify which factors could affect the accident severity. Seventeen factors related to rental car accident severity were grouped into four categories: driver, vehicle, roadways and environment. As a result of the ordered probit model analysis, fourteen variables excluding age, intersection, and day of week were found to affect the severity of rental car accidents. The results of the study summarized as follows. First of all, violation of traffic regulations such as speeding increase the severity of rental car accidents. Secondly, rental accident severity is higher at curved sections of complicated roadway, which the driver's field of view is impaired. The results of this study can be used to reduce the severity of rental car accidents in transportation safety.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.47-56
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• 2008

Generally, accident exposure at intersections is relatively higher than that at roadway segments due to more possibility of merging, diverging, turning, crossing, and weaving maneuver. Furthermore, the traffic accident rate at intersections has been rapidly increasing since 1990's. Since there is more opportunity of conflict at unsignalized intersection, frequency and severity of traffic accident are more severe than signalized intersections. The purpose of the study is to analyze factors causing vehicle crashes and provide intersection design guidelines to improve intersection safety. For this study, vehicle to vehicle crash data of 116 rural 3 legs unsignalized were collected and field surveys were conducted for traffic and geometric conditions. Ordered probit models were developed to analyze the severity of crashes. It was found that weather, obstacles in minor roadsides, presence of major exclusive right lane, presence of major road crosswalk, difference between posted speed of major road and minor road, land-use around intersections, shoulder width of major road, ADT of major road are significant factors for intersection safety.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.123-133
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• 2010

The national standards for the installation of pedestrian crosswalks prohibits installation of crosswalks within 200 meters of nearby overpasses, underpasses, or crosswalks. In case the exceptional installation is required, the feasibility study is to be thoroughly conducted by the local police agency. However, it is an undeniable fact that the specific installation standards for optimal types and locations of crosswalks are not yet to be established. This paper examines the development of traffic accident prediction model applicable to different types and locations of bus stops(type A and type B) at mid-block intersections. Furthermore, it develops the poisson regression model which sets the "number of traffic accidents" and "traffic accident severity" as dependent variables, while using "traffic volumes", "pedestrian traffic volumes" and "the distance between crosswalks and bus stops" as independent variables. According to the traffic accident prediction model applicable to the type A bus stop location, the traffic accident severity increases relative to the number of traffic volumes, the number of pedestrian traffic volumes, and the distance between crosswalks and bus stops. In case of the type B bus stop model, the further the bus stop is from crosswalks, the number of traffic accidents decreases while it increases when traffic volumes and pedestrian traffic volumes increase. Therefore, it is reasonable to state that the bus stop design which minimizes the traffic accidents is the type C design, which is the one in combination of type A and type B, and the optimal distance is found to be 65 meters. In case of the type A design and the type B design, the optimal distances are found to be within range 60~70meters.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.150-156
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• 2017

A frozen road surface increases traffic accidents during the winter season. Hence, information on easily-frozen road sections and their specificities are required to prevent traffic accidents. Frozen road surfaces are determined by equipment measuring road surface temperatures. However, there are limitations in investigating the entire road network. Therefore, it is imperative to develop new methods that effectively determine road surface freezing risks. Meteorologically, road surfaces are frozen when the actual temperature cools down to the dew point temperature. Under this condition, there is likely to be frost if relative humidity reaches 100% and frozen road surfaces as the temperature gets lower. Meteorological characteristics give us an alternative to a direct measurement road surface temperature to estimate risks of road surface freezing. Based on the clues, the relationship between severity of traffic accidents and temperature changes is empirically investigated using Paju weather data. The results reveal that as the temperature gets lower and changes in current temperature are relatively small, the severity of traffic accidents become higher. In addition, the same is true when the difference between current temperature and the dew point temperature is relatively small, as it increases possibilities of road surface freezing. Future studies must investigate how current temperature and the dew point temperature affect road surface freezing and thereby establish a time-space scope to estimate possible road surface freezing sections using only weather and road material type data. This would provide invaluable information for predicting and preventing frozen road accidents based on weather patterns.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.13-22
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• 2018

Buses, one of the representative public transportation modes, are divided into a vareity of service types according to the purpose of operation, operating distance, and management agencies. Although bus-involved crashes may cause large amount of damage due to the higher number of passengers boarded on a bus, prior research has little focused on crash severity according to bus service types. This study aims to investigate factors influencing crash severity in bus-involved crashes and to present policy implications to reduce crash severity by bus service type. To do this, bus-involved crash data from the Traffic Accident Analysis System (TAAS) during five-year period are used. Ordered probit models for three types of bus service, i.e., city bus, suburban and express buses, and charter buses, are estimated to analyze the factors of accident severity. The results show that there are significant differences of factors affecting crash severity among the types of bus services while speed and road surface influence all the types of buses. In case of local buses, time of day, roadway alignment, and installation of a traffic signal are found to be statistically significant factors. Seat belt and road class have significant effects on injury severity of the intercity and express buses. Chartered buses have time of day, driving experience, seatbelt, traffic signal, and day of week as the significant factors. The results of this study are expected to contribute to the reduction of the crash severity by each bus service type.

• Journal of Auto-vehicle Safety Association
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.22-26
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• 2014

Fatality of accidents on curved roads where rollover accidents are likely to take place was higher than that on straight roads. We ought to investigate factors affecting injury severity of occupant in a vehicle rollover accident. From January 2011 to December 2013, we collected data about rollover motor vehicle crash accident. We surveyed occupant's injury, vehicle type, safety devices, type of rollover accident and the number of turn in accident. Of the 132 subjects, 56.1% were males, 50.8% were drivers, 48.5% fastened seat belt, and air bag deployed in 12.1%. Among injuries sustained head, chest and abdomen were major sites of severe injury(Abbreviated injury scale>2). Seat belt use, rollover type, and the number of 1/4 turn were found to have significant positive correlations with Injury Severity Score. The regression analysis herein found significance in safety belt use and the number of 1/4 turn. Seat belt use was a significant factor affecting injury severe of occupant in rollover accident.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.71-76
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to analyze the factors affecting the roundabout accidents near schools. This study gives particular attentions discussing characteristics by pedestrian accident severity using the ordered logit models. In pursuing the above, 63 roundabouts installed before 2014 are surveyed for modeling. the traffic accident data from 2014 to 2016 are collected from TAAS data set of Road Traffic Authority. Such 35variables explaining the accidents as environment, human, geometries, school and roundabout factor are selected from literature reviews. The main results are as follows. First, the ordered logit models (${\rho}^2$ of 0.272, $x^2$ of 24.723) which is statistically significant have been developed. Second, environment factor variable is analyzed to be day or night ($X_1$ ), human factor variables are evaluated to be driver gender($X_4$), older driver($X_5$), pedestrian gender($X_7$) and children pedestrian($X_8$ ). Third, geometries factor variable are analyzed to be speed limit sign($X_{16}$) and median barrier($X_{21}$), school factor variables are evaluated to be hump-type crosswalk($X_{25}$), CCTV($X_{26}$) and school zone sign($X_{27}$), roundabout factor are analyzed to be roundabout sign($X_{30}$) and number of circulatory roadway lane($X_{32}$). Finally, this study could give some implications to decreasing the accidents severity at roundabout near schools.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.45-60
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• 2003

A median is a safety feature most commonly used to separate opposing traffic on a divided highway. In designing highways, the selection and installation of a median can be a critical part from a safety viewpoint because road crossing accidents are definitely more serious than other accidents. In regard to the important function of the median. the proper countermeasure ought to have been provided and thorough study should have been carried out. In this paper, traffic accident data are analyzed to examine the accident reduction effect of the median, which are gathered from all over 4-lane national roads in Korea. The traffic accident data were categorized into two groups by the existence of a median. For more effective analysis, the data have been classified by accident type, severity. and occurrence time. To compare the effectiveness of median installation, not only the accident frequency but also the accident severity, EPDO. and the occupancy rate of specific accidents have been used as a mode of effectiveness. The analysis of the effectiveness of medians shows that both the accident frequency and the accident severity could decrease by providing a median. Also the section where a median was supplied showed the improvement of overall safety through fewer serious and fatal crashes as well as fewer head-on crashes. Therefore, conclusions can be drawn from results of this study that the median installation is an important means to increase the safety of over 4-lane national roads. This study is expected to provide the reasonability of the median installation by identifying the reduction of traffic accident after the median installation and to play a major role in selecting sections where the median is to be offered.

• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.132-145
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• 2022

This study was based on the black box images of traffic accidents on highways, cluster analysis and prediction model comparisons were carried out. As analysis data, vehicle driving behavior and road surface conditions that can grasp road and traffic conditions just before the accident were used as explanatory variables. Considering that traffic accident data is affected by many factors, cluster analysis reflecting data heterogeneity is used. Each cluster classified by cluster analysis was divided based on the ratio of the severity level of the accident, and then an accident prediction evaluation was performed. As a result of applying the Logit model, the accident prediction model showed excellent predictive ability when classifying groups by cluster analysis and predicting them rather than analyzing the entire data. It is judged that it is more effective to predict accidents by reflecting the characteristics of accidents by group and the severity of accidents. In addition, it was found that a collision accident during stopping such as a secondary accident and a side collision accident during lane change act as important driving behavior variables.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.142-147
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• 2018

This study aims to analyze and discuss the accidents based on the level of traffic culture (LOT). In pursuing the above, LOT are divided into three categories based on the standardized index of traffic culture. Also, this study focuses on developing the accident models using GLM (generalized linear model). The main results are as follows. First, the null hypotheses that the ratios of fatal and serious injured persons (FSI) are the same over categories are rejected. Second, as the common variables, the ratio of turn signal usage and elderly population are analysed to be impacted to the ratio of FSI. Third, the traffic culture indicators among 5 accident factors which give impact to 'high level' are judged to affect the reduction of FSI. Fourth, compared to other levels, the traffic law violations among 7 accident factors of 'medium level' are estimated to influence the increase of FSI. Finally, in 'low level', the increasing ratio of traffic culture index compared to that of previous year and the number of hospital beds per person are evaluated to be significant to reducing the ratio of FSI. This study can be expected to give some policy implications to regional traffic safety policy-making.