Systematic review and meta-analysis exploring safety performance measures of work zone.

Abstract

Work zones are widely recognized as major contributors to road fatalities and traffic congestion. Although extensive research has explored the relationship between work zone crashes and contributing factors, a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis remain absent. This study addresses this gap by exploring four key research questions: (i) Which elements of work zones are most crash-prone? (ii) What factors affect work zone severity and crash frequency? (iii) Which methods are used to predict crash occurrences and crash severity? (iv) How does the traffic volume affect crash occurrence with different severity levels in the work zone? The review identifies factors influencing crashes, including work zone characteristics, environmental conditions, roadway features, temporal aspects, driver characteristics, and crash attributes, and evaluates various modeling approaches. Moreover, a meta-analysis quantifies the association between traffic volume and crash severity, highlighting key findings for safety measures and developing targeted strategies for improving work zone safety.