Roadside environment safety : a statistical analysis of collisions with fixed roadside objects in Victoria Delaney, Amanda ; Newstead, Stuart ; Corben, Bruce ; Langford, Jim ; Daly, Peter
Publication details: Sydney 2002Description: s. 98-105ISBN:- 1876346469
Road Safety Research, Policing and Education Conference Proceedings, 2002, Sydney
This study aims to investigate the nature and extent of the problem of collisions with fixed roadside objects in Victoria using VicRoads data on casualty crashes from 1996 to 2000. The analysis is conducted in two parts, separating metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria. The severity of collisions with fixed roadside objects is examined and compared with the severity of non-fixedobject collisions using a chi-squared test. The results show that the proportion of collisions resulting in fatal and serious injuries is greater for fixed-object than non-fixed-object collisions. A number of other crash characteristics are also examined including the types of objects hit, the speed zone of the crash and the types of vehicles involved in these collisions. The results from the analysis of speed indicate that the likelihood of a fatality is greater for collisions occurring at higher speeds in both metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria. Driver characteristics such as age, licence type and BAC are examined as well as environmental characteristics including the road conditions at the time of the crash and the light and atmospheric conditions. The results of the analysis show that a number of driver characteristics and environmental factors are over-represented in collisions with fixed roadside objects including younger drivers, poor weather and road surface conditions, and night-time collisions. This study updates previous research in this area using the most recent data available for Victoria. However, the results are limited by the length of the data set used and relate to collisions with fixed roadside objects in Victoria only.