Modeling of Risk Factors for Vulnerable Road Users’ Crashes on National Highways Passing through Medium-sized Indian Cities

Abstract

The safety of vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians, bicyclists and motorised twowheelers, on national highways passing through urban areas has been a significant concern in developing countries like India. This study analyzes Visakhapatnam police crash data (2014-2017) to identify high-risk road segments to vulnerable road users. Establishing negative binomial models helps analyze risk variables for fatal and injury crashes concerning several susceptible road users on mid-block sections. Further, this study focuses on site-specific information collected from road-safety audits, speed, average daily traffic, length of road section and percentage of two-wheelers, also considered to fully help understand the likelihood of a crash. The statistical analysis of this paper identified the risk variables, like length of road segment, presence of service roads, land-use type (i.e., commercial/mixed land use), number of curves and average daily traffic associated with the incidence of fatal and injury crashes of vulnerable road users in Visakhapatnam city, India. The conclusions highlight the crucial safety measures that transportation planners and policymakers must take to create a more secure environment for road users. Keywords: Vulnerable road users, Mid-block sections, Negative binomial models, Crash, Count-data models, Safety measures.