~'jf.

Report No. 44

Accidents and Geometric Design

C. J. Boughton
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AUSTRALIAN

,,.,

ROAD

RESEARCH

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BOARD

11
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~E!f;: .APPLICATION

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SUMMARY

Australian Road Research Board

THE PURPOSE OF THIS

REPORT .........................

THIS REPORT SHOULO

INTEREST .................... .

AS A CONSEQUENCE OF THE
WORK REPORTED, THE
FOLLOWING ACTION rs
RECOMMENDED ......................

RELATED CURRENT ARAB

RESEARCH ...........................

1.

To describe the value and availability of

road accident and road inventory data in
Australia.

2.

To des~ribe any relationship between accidents

and geometric design elements extracted from
a literature survey of reportedAustralian
and overseas studies.

ARRB TEC
NAASRA TEC
S RAs
New Zeal arid Ministry of Transport
Geometric Road Design Committee
Ro STA
Department of Motor Transport, N.S.W.
Highways Department, S.A.
That a detailed.analysis of the Department of
Main Roads, .N.S.W. fatal accident reports be
initiated with a view to determining w~ether .
a quantifiable relationship between accidents
.and geometric design elements is determinable
from such a data source.

Project 97241
Analysis of DMR fatal accident reports for
N.S.W. 1969 to 1971

ACCIDENT ANO GEOMETRIC DESIGN

KEYWORDS: Accidents, geometric design.alianment, de'jree of
'curvature, paveMent, gradient, super~levation, traffic lane

CUT OUT INFORMATION

RETRIEVAL CARD .........

A literature survey of reported Austral i'an and overseas studies

and an assessment of the value of accident and inventory' data
available in Australia has been undertaken with a view to determining the relation between various road design elements
(alignment, pavement width .. shoulder width, etc.) and accidents.
Only one data source, DMR fatal accident reports for N.5.W., was
found to bave accident details and road inventory data already
matched. Results of reported Australian and overseas studies
s~ggest that curves of radius less than 450 m and grades above
4 per cent should be avoided. Also, that. in terms of reducing
accident rates no benefit would accrue from widening lanes
beyond 3. 4 m.
REFERENCE: BOUGHTON, C.J. (1975): Accident and Geometric
Design.- ARR Report No. 44; Australian Road Research.Board.

AUSTRALIAN ROAD RESEARCH BOARD

llllll\111111

l l \1111111111111

0001945

ARR Rep.

....

'

. Acc.(oE.NTS

AN.D ~.0).,EJ"RIC

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. DE.$IG.N.

Project Nd 9 7 2 31

'"

:1

By.

!/.'

C.J. Boughton
B Sc . , t1 .Sc .
. ....
Research Scfentist

October 1975
Australian Road Research Board
500 Burwood Road
. Vermont South
Victoria
.

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No.

44

The ARR series of reports was created by the Board to quickly, and economically,
reproduce th.e !=(>nclusions of road and road transj:>ort research subjects for those
associated with road and road transport industry. Unlike other technical publications
produced by ~he :A~stralian Road Re~earch Board, ARR' ~e~~rts. are not reviewed by
referees or ARR Members. Therefore., the opinions expressed by the authors do not
necessarily represent those of the Board.
Reference to, or reproducti9n of this report must include a precise reference io' the
report.
NATIONAL

LIBRARY. OF

0 909996 81 4'

AUSTRALIA CARO NUMBER ANO

ISBN

CONTENTS
Page
BAC'KGROUN D

MATERIAL

1.

SURVEY OF LITE.RATURE

General
Alignment
Crossfal l
Pavement width
Shoulder$
Summary

,.,....
4
8
. 10
. 11
13

ACCIDENT AND INVENTORY DATA

15

FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

19

APPENDIX A

20

ARRB questionnaire on accidents

and geometric design
REFERENCES

20

23

('.

ARR Report No.

44,

1975

BACKGROUND
1.
As part of the NAASRA Review of Geometric Road Design,
NAASRA Traffic Engineering Committee (TEC) (20th Meeting 1974)
requested t~at ARRB undertake a study of accidents. related ~o
various design elements, comprising:
(a)
(b)

a literature survey of r~ported ~uslra~ian and

studies. and

overs~as

an assessment of the value of a~cident and

inventory data available in Australia.

Th~ ultimate aim is to determine the relation between varfous

desigh elements and accidents, thus (a~ ~nd (bl f~rm the ess~ntial
preliminarie~.

MAT ER I AL
2.
If only reported studies are to be considered then the
1
Review-.1 of Road Design in Relation to Road Safety 1 (Sinclair and
Knight.1973), commi.ssioned by the 'Expe'rt Group on Road Safety, is
obviou~ly the place to start.
The document is a review of both
Australian ~nd overseas publications available in 1971. Internal
or departmental reports or other matter not accessible to public
sources were not include.d. Two publications, .the first by
Jorgensen ( 1966) and the second by the Highway Us~rs Federati 011
for Safety and Mobility (HUFS.M 1970/71), provided a large amount
of background information for the Review. At the time of preparation -0f the Review not all the sections of HUFSM (1970/71)
were available, although an earlier, less comprehensive, first
edition (Automotive Safety Foundation ASF 1963) would h~ve been.
3.
. The only reference~ which have been published since the
Review are the a~ditional sections of HUFSM (1970/71) and the
National Road Safety Symposium (1972). Two unpublished Australian
documents, Cowl (1965) and Donaldson (1974), are too comprehensive
to be excluded from a.ny considerations of Australian studies.
4.
Publications readily avail ab.le in the ARRB library,
whet.her or not cited in the Review, have also been included in
the survey.

Information on availability of accident and' road inventory

data 'for Australia.was sought via a mailed questionnaire. A.copy"
of the questionnaire is included as Appendix A. Details of which
i terns are recorded on acci 'dent rep.ort fo.rms used in the various
States and Territories can be supplemented by extracting in.formation from the submission, by the Commonwe~lth Bureau of Census and
Statistics, to the House of Representatives Select Committee on
Road Safety ( 1973).
5~

!\RR

Report

Mo.

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SURVEY OF LITERATURE
GENERAL
Accident frequency, severity an~ type are ~i cted greatly
by the int~ractions of various driver, vehicle, traffic, environmental and road factors. For example., the you.ng inexperienced ,.
driver together with drivers known to have consumed alcohol have
high accident rates (Raymond 1967; 1970; Kornaczewski et al.
1972).
Also, although urban areas experiencehigher accident
rates overall, rur.al. <3,reas are associated with greater accident
severity. In Victoria for example, in 1973 (sec ABS 197~) 37 p~r
cent of fatal accidents occurred in rural areas compared to 19
per cent of personal inJury accidents. Now, assuming that .rqads
must be designed.to accommodate all combinations of d~ivers,
vehicles, traffic and environmental factors; what are the raid.
factors?
6.

7.

After Delaney ("1972) these could be defined as:

(a)

C&omt.titri<:!s

horizontal and vertical

alignment

( b)

Cross sectt.on

number and width of lanes, ..

medians, shoulders, kerbin9~.-.
s e r: vi c e road , b at t e r s 1 opes , . ,:
treatment of the roadside
, ::.:"::
.
"\

( c)

Surface type

( d)

In_ te r$e a ti oris

(-e)

Structures

. : J:f)

bridges, culverts

Aaaess . aon t"ro l

. :i (

g)

Traffia control deviaes

h)

Street Ugh ting

Thus, geometric design elements ~re d~ly one small subgr6up of all
the facttirs which interact to affect accident frequency and type.
8.
. Most of the American studies. investigating accidents and
road design elements have found, usin~ reg~ession techniquei~ ~
that traffic volume, highway type, access control~ commercial
development and intersections explain most of the variance in the
analyses (Versace 1960; Kipp 1952; Schoppert 1957; Kihlberg and
Tharp 1968). Access control was found to be an important factor,
. with th~ safety advantages having been. demonstrated- by Kihlberg
and Tharp (1968) and Cribbins _et al. ( 1967). While the greatest
safety benefits are derived through the application of full access
control in urban areas, partial and fi..111 control of access are
beneficial in rural areas. Also, most h.ighway improvements, such
as signing, show significant reductions in accident rates,
especially when constructed to correct ha~ardous locations.
As stated previously, the National Review surveyed literature published in 1971, thus, the findings of the Review will be

9.

ARR Report No.

44,

1975

. .,

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a c c e p t e d. a s a b a s i s t o b e mo d i f i e d , i f ne c e s s a r y , i n 1 i gh :t o f
further publications. A summary of the findings relevant to rural
hi ghways a re. as : fo 1 1ow s .
(a). The most important aspect of road safety in road
design is the reduction in the number of possible
points of conflicts between vehicles. Intersec~
ti ans, me di an openings and d_ri veways should be kept
to a minimum consistent with aspects of service.
(b)

. (c)

Curves and grades are associated with higher

accident rates. However, the road should be
designed with a uniform standard of facility with
no abrupt chariqes in geometry .
Increasing the road width improves the ac~ident
rate. Wid~ning lanes over 3.4 m, however, will
not reduce fur~her the accident rate.

(d)

Climbing lanes do not contribut~ to reduced' accident

rates, but increase road capacity.

(e)

Increasing the width of shoulders will decrease the

accident rate provided shoulders are restricted to
emergency u'se only.

(f)

Adequate crossfaJl and superelevation should be

provided relative to rainfall intensity to inhibit
vehicles hydroplaning in wet weather.

(g')

Skidding accidents are reduced if a high coefficient of friction of the pavement surface is
maintairied at all times ..

(h)

The safest road in terms of accidents per vehicle

mile is a four-lane divided highway with full access
control whereas .the least safe is a four-lane road
without median and ~o access control.

(i )

Re c o ns t r u. c t i o n o f a r o a d by e a s i n g c u r ve s , wi de n i n g
bridges and increasing sight distance will reduce
the accident rate.

(j)

Curve delineation is ah effective measure for

reducing accidents on curves, particularly at night.

10.
Geometrics as defined in the National Review 'includes
sight distances, horizontu.l alignment, vertical alignment, cross"
section, number of lanes, lane width, shoulder width, passing
lanes, climbing lanes and safety ramps. In reference to Delaney's
list (para. 7), this would be a combination of (a) and (b). In
the following the factors alignment (including sight distance),
crossfall, pavement width (including lane width and number of
lanes) and shoulders, and the literature related to them as cited
in the Review will be discussed, in detail; in conjunction with
other relevant publications, with emphasis on rural highways.

.i\RR Report

No.

4l1,

197'i
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ALfGNMENT. (including sight distance)

,? ~l .;:

11.
In studying the relationship between alignment (both
, 1 :;
horizontal and vertical) and highway safety, researchers have ..
-followed two approaches:
(a) the correlation of.ali~nment with accident
exp~rience, generally using multiple regression
techniques, and

(b)

review of basic assumptions

alignment design standards.

u'e~

to derive

The current Review of Geometric Road Uesign is following basically

approach (b) whereas the results of (a) are the concern of this
present investi~ati.on.
12.
Horizontal alignment is created by combining circular
curves, tangents and transition spirals, the choice of radius of
c u r v a t u r e be i n g b a s e d o n a s s ump t i o ns . c o n c e r n i n g d r i ve r ; ve h i c 1 e .
and roadway characteristics, including fri'ction factors and sight
distance. Thus, .strongly related to the selection of curves.is
the rate of superelevation used {see NAASRA 1973, also the
f o l 1 ow .i n g s e c ti an on Cr os s fa l l ) .
13.
V~rtical _alignment is crea.ted by combinations of vertical
curves {cr~~ts and sags) and tangent sections of a particular
g r a d i e n t'.. As wi th h o r i z on ta l a l i gn me n t , t he s e l e c t i o n o f r a t e s
of grade and length .of curve deper.ds upon assumptions concerning
driver, vehicle and roadway characteristics, and sight distance
requirements.

14.
Three Australian studies, all based on information from
New South Wales - Cowl nnd FnirliP. (1970), Gowl (1965) and
Donaldson (1974) - the last two being unpublished documents, have
comme~ted on the effect of alignment on accidents.
15.
Cowl and Fairlie (1970) analysed fatal accidents on rural
St.ate highways reported by the Department of Main Roads (OMR).
N.S.W. for three years (1966 to 1968). TABLE I refers to these
accidents analysed by type of accident and radius of curvature at
site of ac.:cident. Excluding those 'not stated', 50 per cent (360
out of 724) of the fatal accidents were associated with curved
alignment. If type of accident is .con.sidered, then 62 per cent
( 19 3 out of 312 ) of s i n g l e veh i c. l e o ut of con tr o l a cc i dents an d
58 per .cent (143 out of 245) of head-on or sideswipe opposite
direction collisions were associated with curves. Although no
information.on the distribution of curves by radius of c~rvatute
.was available for comparison, 70 per cent of all fatal accidents
a~sociatedwith curves occurred when the curve radius was 300 m
or less. As Cowl and Fairlie {1970) indicated 'it might be expected
that accidents are more likely to be associated with iurves of
.small radius than with larqe radius curves' and the results of their
study support this hypothe~is. If curves of 450 m or less are considered, then 82 per cent (294 out of 3(50) of the fatal accidents
were ~ssociated with such curves.

TA.BLE J.

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FATAL .ACCIDENTS DN RURAL 'sTATE HIGHWAYS BY RADIUS OF CURVATU-RE -AT ACCIDENT SITE AND TYPE OF ACCIDE:IT
. NEW S 0 UT H WAL ES , 19 6 6-: T0 19 6 8 *
..

Type .of accident

'

.-

'"1

I~ 300

I! 3o5-45o

vehicle out of control

r.an 0 ff road 1
hit object
overturned on road
Head-on or side swipe op posite direction collision

85
17
17
102
25
22

Pedestrian involved

Total

Number
Percentage

88
"36
15

I
I

ii
i

30

26
37

36 4
48.5

242
32.3

52
6.9

Not
stated

62

4.

1
2
10

33

62

27

86

I
1
58
203 !
16!
8'
68 1
75
4 1 iI
6!
59
I
30
58
1245
I
I
!
I 29
i
14
1
23
4

14
7
3

Intersect1 on acc1 dents

Acciqents involving t1Jrni111g
movements
Rear end collisions
0th er

Percentage
on curves

Sub
total

Total

37
28
50

11
7
26

66
8._ 8

1724
\96.5

50

16

32 8

10
3
3

!!

iI

z
Ci

.c.c-

'

: 24

l 139

119

> 450

S'.ngl~

:::.
M

Radius -of curvature i n metres

straight
road

;;c

:..
-;:;

21 3
71
44
253

.i
i

29
23

1
1
26
3.5

37
29
51
750
100

*Includes 56 accident~ which occurred -0n straights near to a curve. where, fron the reported details
. the curved' alignment.had a significant effect- cin the accident occurrence.
Extracted from Tabl~ XIIC (Cowl and-Fairlie 1970) where the equivalentcatego.ries ar=, in feet,
~ 100,0, 1010 - 1500> ~nd > 1500.

- .,

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ARR Report No.

44,

1975

16.
Donaldson (1974) has analysed all accidents (casualty and
property damage) t~ported by DMR, N.S.W. n~ having occurr~d on the
Sydney/Newcastle Tollway between 12 December, 1968 and 31 Decembsr,
1973. Excluding those accidents occurring at the toll barriers and
traffic lights, 72 per.cent (355 out of 495) of the-'accidents
occurred on curves. Seventy one per cent (353 out of 495) were
classified as 'ran off road' accidents and 73 per cent.(256 out of
353) of these occurted on curves. Of all accidents occurring on
curves, 38 per cent ( 135 out of 355) occurred at the 370 m radius
curves, that is, all curves less than 450 m. By c9.ns_idering
separately each direction of travel, a total of 66 curves was
obtained. These were then considered by radius of curvature and
whether left or right curve. (See TABLE I,I.) . Only 15 per cent
( 10 out of 66) of the curves had a radius of 370 m. "Accident
'rates (A) were calcula.ted using
A =
~

'

.no. of accidents on curves of radius

nq. of curves of radius x.

x~

where xi co.rresponds to the ranges of x given in TABLE"II. For

curves of 370 man accident rate of 13.5 was calculated. This was
2.5 times the average for all curves. Since the study:by Cowl and
Fairlie (1970) considered fatal accidents on State highways and
that by Donaldson (1974) fata-1 accidents on a To.11.way, it could be
inferred th~t the vehicles involved were dperating at 'reasonably
h i gh s pe e ds
Th us i t c 0 u l d b e c 0 n c 1'u ded th a t f 0 r -, re a s 0 n a b l y
high speeds', curves of radius 450 m or less have a significantly
greater accide.nt rate than curves of larger radii.
I

17.
In ccinsideririg a minimum radius of 450 m it should b~
stated that Donalds~n (1974) had recommended a minimum radius of
900 m. From studies summarised in HUFSM12 (19.71) a radius of 600 m
appears a natur.al barrier since alignments with radii greater than
this produced.. a rel.a ti vely small dec.rease in accidents, while
alignments w~ich are sharper produced a rapid increae in accidents.
However, before any definite conclusions can be drawn, more
detailed an~lyses considering factors su~h as free speeds and
traffic volumes would be desirable. Also, a~. illustrated b~low,
consideration should be given to t~ngent lengths p~ipr to site of
accident.
18.
Kipp ( 1952) foun.d that short tangent; sections, i.nterrupted
by curves .and intersections, had accident rates that were not
appreciably different to those for long .tangent sections. (S.ee
TABLE III.) However, for curves adjacent to tangents less than
4.8 km in length, the accident rate was 1.3 accidents per million
vehicle kilometres, while the rate for.curves adjacent to tarigents
more than 4'.8 km in length was 1.6 accidents per million vehicle
kilometrei, .... Kipp (1952) h~s suggested that this.diff~rence in
rates is a reflection of driv~r relax~tion or inattention. While
not emphatically reflected in the rates for long tangents, it
.. seems to be reflected in the rate.for c~rves that t~rminate these
sections.
19.
With- regard to vertical alignment, Donaldson (i974) found
no relationshi~ with accident f~equency; However, of the ten 370
m horizontal curves which exhibited very high accident rates six
occurred iri conjunction with 6 per cent grades (ave~agin~ ten ran

ARR .Re p o r

No .

44 ,

19 7 5

TABLE I I ..
ACCIDENTS OCCURRING ON CURVES - SYDNEY/NEWCA~TLE TOLLWAY
NEW SOUTH WALES 12/12/68 TO 31/12/73
Curve radius.
(x metres)

Number of curves
R

5
7
5

10
14
8

65 .
52
18

3
7

14

30
6

49
6
26

171

355

.. L

450
450<x~ 610
6 lO<x~ 760
760<x~ 920
920< x~.1220 .

1220<x~1530

1830
x>1830

'19
6
20

32

34

66

i84

x~

1530<x~

Tota 1

Accident rate

Accidents

7
3
3

:L =curve left
R = curve right
T = all curves = L+R
Note that all curves in the range

x~450

70 135
36 88
22
40

.T

13.o .14.o 13.5

7.4 5.1 6.3
6.0 4.1 5.0
0.3 1.7 1.0
2.7 4.3 3.5
6.0
6.0
6.7 1.5 3.7
1.5 0.7 1.0
5.8

5.0

~.4

m were all 370 m curves

TABLE III
ACCIDENT RATES FOR TANGENT SECTIONS OF SPECIFIED LENGTHS*
Section

ien 91;.h
k'm

0.8
0.8-1.5
1.6-3.6
3. 2.., 4. 7
>4.8
'Total

Total
km

Percentage
of km

ADT

Acc.
ratet

Ace/km

114
92
106
71
169

20.7
16. 6
19. 2
12.8
30. 7

1996 .
2041
2085
2043
2237
.

0.81

0.60

o.87

0~66

0.99

o.78

0. 9.3

0.10
0.78

552

*Extracted from tABLE I,

, 1 mile.= 1.61 km
f

100
Ki~p

0.93

.;

(1952), using cbnversion factor

.. '

Accide.n.t rate= accidents per mi.llion vehicle, kilometres

Note:

AD'r

average daily traffic

/\RR Report No.

44~

f975

off road accidents percurve) and the author has suggested that
further ~esearch is required to determine whether it is the horiz o n t a 1 a H gn me ri t a l on e o r t h e c o mb i n a t i o n wh i c h re s u1f s i ri t Ii e
high accident rate for such curves.

20.
Kihlberg and Tharp (1968) found that the presen.ce of any
of the f ou r ge om e t r i c f e at u res (grad i en t , c ur vat ure , i n te rs e c ti on s
an d s t r u c t u re s ) , o r any comb i n a ti on o f th e m, ge ne r a 1 1y h a d a de mo n strable effect in increasing accident rates, with the larger the
number of featur~s simultaneously p~esent the higher the accident
rat.es. Attempts at ranking the four geometric features .as to -their
prominency in increasing accident rates did not produce conclusive
results but indications were that gradient had the least effect on
accident rates. Care should be exercised in i.nterpreting these
results since the analysis deals primarily with grades greater . or
le~s than 4 per cent and curvature associated with degree of-~urve
greater or less th.an 4, approximately 430 m, on rural highw.ay_~'.

2:L
All the studies inv~stigating vertical alignment whirih:
w-er.e i-ncJuded. in the summary of HUFSM12 (1971) showed th.at vertical
al(gnme.nt affected accident rates. For ex'ampJe, a study: of .exp.re.s.sw,ay-s in Germany, by Bitzel (1956), found that accidents per miil,l; . on
vehicle kilometres increased from 0.5 for grades l~s.s than 2 per
cent to 2.. 1 for grades of 6 to 8 per cent. Mullins and Keese (1961)
calculated the following accident rates per kilometre .based on nin:e
freeways :

...
Tangents (straight grades)
Crest vertical curves
Sag vertical curves

3'.2
6.6

7.8

When accident rates were related to horizontal curvature and

alignment (see TABLE IV), the effect of increase in gradient is
clear w_ith a significant change occurring ?t 4 per cent, which is
in agreement with the value selected by Kihlberg and Tharp (1968).
22.
. While the literature survey has indicated that (a) hori- ...
zontal curves of radius less than 450 m and (b) gradients above 4..
per cent should be avoided, and in particular the combination of_
(a) and (b), th.es.e would. be only tentative conclusions since
further detaile~ analyses considering factors such as free speeds,
tr~ffic volumes and tangent lengths are desirable.

CROSSFALL
23.
Si~ce the purpose of crossfall. is to drain the pavement
and to provide superelevation on horizontal curves, the recommended
rate of crossfall wi.11 vary with surface' type and geog.raphic

location of the road. Basically the effect of crossfall on
accident rates .. is related to skidd1ng resistance. As HUFSM7 (19. 70)
indicates, the possibility of hydroplaning must be considered and
care taken to ensure provision of no less than minimum values of
crossfall through adeQuate constr~ction cont~ol and miintenance.
NAASRA (1973) also stresses the importance of finishing pavements
to close tolerances as at high speeds an uneven pavement can off~
set much of the value of side friction. Therefore, deformation of
the pavement during the life-time must be a serious consideration
when specifying the recommended ~ate of crossfall.

ARR Report

No.

44,

1975

TABLE IV.
ACCIDENT RATES RELATED TO HORIZONTAL CURVATURE AND GRADIENT
(GERMAN EXPRESSWAYS*}.
Curve radius
(m)

Ac c i de n ts p e r mi 1 1 i o n ve h k m o n g r a d i e n ts
( i .n p e r. c e n t )
0

4000 .
300 - 4000
200 - 300
100 - 200
.<
100
>

- l. 9
0.28
0.42
0.40
0.50
0. 73

2 - . 3. 9

o. 20

4 - 5 . 9

1. 0 5 .
1. 30
1.50
1..86
1. 9l

0.25
0.20
0. 71.
. i. 06

'

s :o

L32
1. 55
L 70
2. 0 1
2. 35

'

'

.,

j' ':

'!"

.~

n,; ,o;:

t,

::: : .
! ; :~

., ; :

*Data extracted from TABLE VI , HUFSM12 (1971), using conversion

facto r 1 mi 1e = 1. 61 km
.

'..

..

241::
Only one study based on 6 . 000 accidents during a five year
pe.ri.od on 1,600 .km of rural highways i.n Louisiana,u.s .. A., reported
. ;.n HUFSM7 ( 1970), speci.fic.al ly co.nsi dered crossfal l .. Using ,
multiple regression techniques to study the ~elative contribution
of various geometric features (lane width, shoulder width, pavement
crossfall, hori.zontal ali.gnment, vertical alignme.nt and roadside
obstructions) to a~cidents~ low ~avement crossfall was found to
have the most .important effect on accidents. This was asserted to
be the result of high rainfall in Louisiana.and. the resulting.
greater cipportunity for hydroplaning effects on flat, slow draining
pavements. An important resu.lt of thi.s- study was that. only 41 per
cent of the variation in accident rates was explained by the
geometric factors included. in the st.udy.
25.
Mullin (1972) commented on.the interrelation
frict.ion,. s.uperelevation., curve rad.ius and speed:

b~tween

If a vehicle has t-0 rely on steep superelevation

arid side friction to retain it in its path on a
curve, on wet pavements the. fri cti_onal force needed
may be inadequate. There is also the fact that if
the engine is used as a brake or rapidly accelerated on cars:equfpped with torque convefters and
standard differentials, one rear wheel may lift and
the other dig into the pavement resulting in the
vehicle slewing if. it is already relying on a high
coefficient of side friction to constrain it in a
path.
Mullin con~ludes th~t to overcome these problems 'large radius'
curves must be a prime aim in road design.

10

ARR Report No.

PA~EMENT-WIDTH

44~

1975

(including lane width and number of lanes):

26..
There has been little recent research on the relationship
between pavement width* (or lane width) and accidents. References
quoted in NR/11 and Cowl (1965) refer to studies conducted in the
late 1940s and 1950s.
27.
One recent study', Cowl and Fairlie (1970-), compared the
percentage of fatal accidents occurring on each width of pavement
from 5.6 m to 7.4 m with the percentage of sealed pavement of
each width for all N.S.W. State highways. However, no definite
conclusions could be drawn from the comparison .
.28.
HUFSM7 (1970) refers to one study in which 390 km of a
narrow 5.6 m road was widened to 6.8 m with the accident rate
being reduced from 143 to 87 accidents per 100 million vehicle
kilometres, a reduction of 39 per cent. However, no information
was given as to whether traffic volumes remained constant over
the period examined.
2~.

Cowl (1965) has referred to Matson, Smith and H~rd (195~)

in which results of a study by Baldwin (1946) are quoted. While
Baldwin found that the accident rate decreased with increases in
pavement width, it was a case of climinishing return. The accident
rates for various widths obtained in the study are.given in TABLE
V. Indications were that under some circumstances, pavement ~idths
exceeding 6.8 m may not be necessary.
Results of a study by Dart and Mann (1970) ci.ted in
30.
HUFSM7 (1970) indicate that as lane width. decreases below 3.4 m,
the accident rate (accidents per million vehicle kilometres) .
increases uniformly, while lane widths of 3;7 m had a slightly
greater accident rate, 0.92, than 3.4 m, accident rate of 0~89.
Again suggesting that pavements widths exceeding 6.8 m may not be
necessary. This study also indicated that lane width was a
significant factor in injury an~ fatal accidents and was rele~ant
in wet weather accidents..
An economic study be Oglesby and Altenhofen (1969); iooking
31.
in particular at low volume rural roads, concluded that there was
no economic justification for wide p~vements when accident costs
were considered. For straight roads free of sight distance
impairments, their recommehdati-0ns wer~:
(a}

withaverage daily traffic (ADT) of 250 to 400

vehicles, a maximum width.of road bed (pavement
plus shoulders) of 6.8 m or 7.4 m; and

(b)

with ADT less than 250

bed width of 6.2 m.

vehicle~

a maximum road'

*In this .section equivalent NAASRA (1973) metric standards have

been used instead of direct conversions from feet to metres,
e.g. 5.6 m = 18 ft, 7.4 m = 24 ft.

ARR Report No.

11

4 4 , . 19 7 5

TABLE V ,

':!

ACCIDENT RATES ON TWO-LANE TANGENTS.BY WIDTH .OF PAVEMENT*

Pave men t wi d th

Accident.rate/m1llion veh km'"

{ m)
< 5.6

5.6

6.0
6.0 < 7.0
> 7.0
.

<.:

3.2
2.4
2.2
2. 1

'

*Extracted from Table 11.in C<;>wl {196S), using the conversion

'fac.tors 1 mile= 1.61 km and NAASRA (1973) metric e.quivalents
for pavement width

SHOULDERS
32.
Research into the effect 6f shoul~ers on accidents has .been
undertaken since the early 1950s. Shoulder width has been the
dominant consideration with most studies considering two-lane rural
highways.
two areas of resei;irch developed, that related to paved
shoulders and that related to gravel shoulders. Blensly and Head
(1960) give a summary of studies relating shoulders and accident
experience o~ two-lane rural highways. Fig.' I.depicts. the relationship generally found between shoulder widths and accfdent experience.
However, the authors stress that this is only a symbolic representation of the trends detected, since in some studi.es th~ relationships
were found only for accidents of a particular severity, and in most
cases the relationships were statistica1ly significant only for
.certain traffic vo_lume ranges~
"

.~.

.....

- Paved shoulde.rs

' :ii
"'C

9.
<'l:l

Gravel shoulders

0.0

.... c:

Vl

<'l:l

'<1>
( ..)

c:

Increasing shoulder 'i\i'(dth

FIG.
.Accident frequency and shoulder width .
( as per FIG. 1, Blensly..and Hea{( 1960 )

e a

('1 9 5 3 ) " H a d . n d Ka e s t n e r ( 19 56 ) , S t o hn e r ( 19 56 ) a n d Bi 1 l i o n .
stohner (1~57) are the studies looking a-t grgvel shoulder's which
were inclt.1ded in the summary. The results from these studies~
alth6ugh inconclu~iv~. were:

!_{ a f f
an~

12

i\ RR

Report

No.

44 ,

J 9Jf>.

Ra.ff (19?3)
On two-lane tangent highways there was no significant relationship
between shoulder width and accident experience, however, on twolane curves there was a definite tendency for .a r~duction in the
accident rate with increased shoulder width.
Head and Kaestner (1956)
Sections included in this study were those 1.61 km sectioris of
rural two-lane roads which m~t the following conditions:
Gravel shoulders
Sight restrictions of 30 per centor less
3 rn or wider lanes
~ithout speed zones .or conditidns ~hich tend to reduce speed
'Essentially straight and level
(a)

No significant relationship was found between

s ho ul de r wi d th an d a cc i de n t e xpe' r i en c e for
sections with:
(i)
(ii)

( 6)
~ . ,'? ..

...

(c)

an ADT less than 3,600 vehicles, or

an ADT of 5,600 to 7,500 ve.h.icles.

Total accidents and property:damage acc.idents

decreased as shoulder widths increa.sed in. the
3,600 to 5,500 ADT range.
No significant relationship~ weye found betwe~~'
.shoulder width and personal injury accidents:

Billion and St~hne~ (1957)

Medium wide shoul'ders (1.5-2.3 m) had lo.wer accident indices than
narrow shoulders (0.9-1.4 m) under all conditions of horizontal
and vertical alignment. Wide shoulders (>2.4 m) had lower accident
indices than narrow and medium wide shoulders en poor alignment.

Accidents included in this study were fatal and serious-injury

accidents and those accidents occurring on the highway system which
involved state-owned vehicles. Accident indices were defined as
follows.
Accident index

per cent of accidents in cell a 1..

per cent of travel in cell t ..
l

where an accidents= 100 per cent

all travel (vehicle miles);:: 100 per cent
.. th
a ..
cell of accidents tabulated by alignment.and shoulder
l J
l J
width
t .. = l..,J th cell of travel tabulated by alignment.and shoulder
l J
width
s h o u l de r wi d th i n metres ( 0 . 9 - 1. 2 , 1. 5 - 2 . 3 , ~2 . 4 ) , a 1i g n nie n t {. 1e ve l
tangent, grade, curve, grade and curve).

ARR Report No.

44,

1975

'.13

33.
Another study using data from rural two-lane highways.with
gravel shoulders (Schoppert 1957) found that while shoulder width,
lane width and ~ight distance were all related to accidents, they
were not good predictors of accidents.

34.
The only reference not from. the U.S.A. is that by Cob~rn
(1962) which in NR/11 was claimed to have indicated that the
accident rate on roads with 1.8 m shoulders were lower than on
roads with wider shoulders. Actually this result comes from
Belmont (1954). and refers to paved or treated shoulde~s .. Coburn's
only other referenc~ to shoulders refe~r~d to motorways .where continuous hard shoulders were being increased from 2.4 m to 3.0 m as
a result of experience with the London-Birmingham motorway.

35.
Most studies which have attempted.to relate shoulder.width
to accidents have been confined to level tangent sections between
inte~sections of two-lane r~ral highways, and.with few structures.
As ASF (1963) pointed out, the study by.Billion and Stohner (1957)
showed how such sections are the safest sections of any highway
system, with wide variations between similarsections and between
different.years for the same section illuitrating the unstable
.
natute of the data used. Random variations of the accident pattern
in time and space almost certai~ly disguise any relationship
between any one element such as shoulder width and accidents. By
separating their highway sections according to alignment Billion
and Stohner (1957) found, a~ stat~d earlier, that sections with
wide shoulders had much lower accident rate5 than those with
narrow shoulders on poor a~ignment (shoulder widths ranging ~pprox
imately from 1.0 m to 3 m). However, when all sections were

~onsidere~ the changes almost completely disappeared.

This study
illustrates the point that a particular design element cannot be
looked at in isolation from the other destgn features.of the roadway.
36.
The conclusions from another paper, Perkins (1957), are
worth recalling even though the study used data from highways with
paved shoulders. While the data showed no significant relationship
between accident.rate and shoulder width, the important ~onclusions
from this paper were that analyses. by type of accident wbuld be
netessary to establish optimum shoulder. width solely from the
standpoint of accidents and that additional research may show that
human behaviour on highways o~ershadows all design factors.
SUMMARY
37.
In. the section 'General 1 (see paras 8 to 10). the findings,
relevant to rural highways, of the National Review (Sinclair and
Knight 1973) were accepted as a basis to be ~odified, if necessary,
in light of further publications. Those findings no\'J are reviewed,
incorporating the results of the previous sections.

(a}.

Traffic vo1ume, highway type, access control,

commercial development and intersections are the.
factors which have been found to explain most of
the variance in regression analyses of accidents
and road design elements. Thus, the'findingof
the National Review. that 'the most important
aspect of road safety ~n road design is the

ARFl

14

R~port

No.

44,

reduction in the number of possible points

of conflict~ between vehicles' is supported.
(b)

Results of Australian studies indicated th~t

curves of radius less than 450 m should be
avoided. Also, curves of radius 3~0 min conjunction with.6 per cent grades were associated
with very high accident rates. Overseas studies
suggested that grades above 4 per cent should be
avoided. In general, 'curves and. grades are
associated with higher accident rates'.

(c)

'Increasing the road width improves the accident

rate'. A5 a general principle thi!i could be
applied to road widths up to 6.8 m, however,
indications were that no benefit, in terms of
reducing accident. rates, would accrue from
widening lanes beyond 3.4 m. Also, for low
volume rural roads, and Only for straight roads
free of sight distance impairme~ts, narrower
maximum road bed widths (pavement plus shoulders)
were recommended, that is,
(i)

.for ADT less than 250 vehicles, a maximum

road bed width of 6.2 m, and

(ii)

for ADT of 250 to 400 vehicles, a maximum

road bed width of 6.8 m or 7.4 m.

. (d)

No attempt was made in the survey to check that

'climbing lanes do not contribute to reduced
accident rates, but increase road capacity'.

(e)

Indications were that 'increasing the width of

(gravel) shoulders w111 decrease the acc1dent
rate'. However, most studies attempting to
relate accidents to shoulder width had confined
the investigation to level tangent sections
between intersections of two-lane rural hi_ghways
and with few structures. In one study when all
sections were combined, after having separated
highway sections according to alignment and
showing the above, the differences between
shoulder width almoit completely disappeared.

( f)

Wh i 1 e s how i n g th a t ad e q ua t e c r o s s fa 11 an d
superelevation should be provided relative to
rainfall intensity to inhibit hydroplaning in
wet weather', no quantification of this result
was fo.und.

(g)

Although 'skidding accidents are reduced if a

high coefficient of friction of the pavement
surface is maintained at- all times', reliance
on a high coefficient of friction may not be
sufficient.
'Large radius' curves have been
s4ggested for consideration as a solution to
this problem.

(h), (i), {j)

'

These three findings have not been

looked at in detail int.his literature survey.

1975

ARR Report N'o.

44,

1975

15

ACCIDENT AND INVENTORY DATA

39.
Information on availability of accident and road inventory
data for Australia w'as sought via a mailed questionnaire (see
Appendix A) sent to the members of NAASRA. Completed questidnnaires
have be~n received for all States, the Australian Capital Territory
and the Northern Territory. A summary of answers .to questions l,
2 and 3 are included in TABLE VI.

40.
Although 1n a11 completed questionnaires it was claimed
that.accidents and road inventory data could be matched manually,
with va~ying degrees of difficulty, generally the ability to do so
accuratefly was re~tricted, with reliability heavily dependent on
the accuracy of th~ original reporting of the accidents to police
by the motorists involved. In only two States, South Australia
(for whi~h grade, curvature, crossfall/superelevation and sight
distance are not available) and Victoria (for which crossfall/
superelevation and sight distance are not available and the information regarding grade is considered to be inaccurate), can
accidenf.'information be matched with road inventory data via an
automated process. Inventory data available in automated form
for South Australia refer only to whether road divided; width of
median, ~umber of lanes, presence of structures, width of pavement
and width of shoulder. For Victoria., inventory data available iri
automat~d Yorm include whether road divided~ width of median,
presence of structures, width of pavement, width of shoulder;
curvature and, as indicated previously, inacc~rate information on
grade.
.

41.
Fatal accident reports, compiled by the DMR, N.S.W., are
another data source. These reports contain a description of the
accident tdgether with a descrfption .. of the location irrcluding
alignment ~nd grading, cross section, and furnishings and other
. features, ~hd th~s constitute a data source i_n which road invent6ry
details are matched already wi.th the accident location~
42.
.In addition to'the DMR, N.S.W. fatal accident reports; the
following S_tates also: conduct engine.ering investigations of fatal
a cc i dent l oc at i on s ;,. Wes te rn Aust r a 1 i a , South Aust r a 1i a , Tasman i a
and Que.ensrand ... In::V)ctoria a1;mfted number of fatal accidents
are investi:g.ated by the CRB. For these additional States, road
inventory detail al'_'e. not neces.sariJY recqrded. In or.der to cover
a wider rang& of ~highway design standa~ds~ cohsid~ration could be
given to developi~g a simple stan~ardised report, incorporating road
invento.ry d'etails', .whi c'h coul . d: be. used fqr these engineering
investigati~ris of. fatal ~ccidents .. Since ~en year 1 s accidents
are avail able on ::the DM:R fatal acci:dent report form, it wo1Jl d be
convenient Jo bas:e the 'st~n~ardised report form on the DMR form.

TABLE \! [
RESULTS OF ARRB QUESTIONN-'AIRE ON

-------- -

ACCID~NTS

AND GEOMETRIC DESIGN

-..,--,--------------------~

No.

Question

State/Territory

-----~-~~---------'--------~-~A_._C_._T_. ~-~.:_S~-\i..:._ ___N_:._!..--Q'ld

1.

S.A.

Tas.

Ye;s

No
No"

Vic~,

W.A.

Does your organi~ation mafntain ricords which.

list
(i )

de.si,.gn fe.atures by (ii) road_, sections 1

or." (b). specific locations

Yes

No

and
(ii)traffic voiumes by (a): road-.sections 1
..
No
or. (b) spec_ific_ locations? .. Yes

-~c

Jfo
Yes

No
No

Yes

Yes
. Yes

No

Sc-me Yes
Same Yes

Y.e s

Yes
.

Yes
Ye_s

Yes

.
.~

:: Yes:
.;Yes

YES

Are the folln~ing available from these r~cord~? 2

'

I
I

2.

..

..

(a) section length __

( b) . a v e r a g e d a i l y t r.a f f i c
( c) average d.ai'ly tr~affi c by day of .we~k
(d) h 0 u r l y. tr ff i c ;. v 0 l u mes
( e) whetheraccesslimited.in section length
( f)
w~ether ro~d d{vf ded
( g)
wi d th of med;_ an
( h)
n um b e: r o f l a h e s
{i ;
presence of. ~tructures (e;g. railway
crossing)
(j :
inter:sections and -ty-pe
grade

(k)
( 1) curvature
{m)
crossfall/superelevation
( n)
wi d th of ( i ) pavement
(ii) shoulder
( 0) s i g ht di s tan c e
class.of roadway
( p :1
Does your or~anisatJ9n {l)"mainta1n, (2)
possess, or (3) have available data on road
a cc i den ts?

.A

-;

A
A

/.

;..

P..

A3
A3
A3

A
A
A
A

.A
A.

I
I
I
I
A
A
I
A

Yes

J J)

I
/6
/-6 .
/6

A
I" .

A
A
A.
A

/
./

A.

I
A

I
I

A
A.

A.
A3

I .

I
I

A.

A- 3

I
/.

I
I
I
I
I

I
I
I

I
I
I

Yes
(2)

Yes
(.3)

Yes
(2)

Yes
. ( 3)

.Yes
(3)

Yes
_. ( 3)

I
"
I

A
I9
A

I 0

.,, I

...

;..

/4

A
r...

A
A
A
A
A
A

A
A
A
A

Yes
( 1) .

z
0

>
::>:1

.!\re the following available from the a cc i de_n t

re co rd s ? :.
.( a)
( b)
( c)

type of accident
type of vehicle involved
severity of accident - fa ta-1
- pe rs.on.a 1 injury
- prop"erty damage:
e ae"h vehicle's di rec ti on of tr.avel prior
to -accident

( d)
3.

Does your. record sys fem rrovide for locating

the site of a particular a c ci dent withil'] the
roapway section where the accident occurred
and thus permit the data coveredin q~estion
1 to be matched with the data co.vered in
questi_on 2?

Notes:

~
6

a
l 0

::>:1

.A

/.

A
I

/.

I
I

A
A
A
... A.

'

,/

".(.

.,'

Some A

'

I
I
I

,I

,I

/.

"/ .
I

I
I

.I

::>:1
ct>
'O

""

rt"

.z
0
.i::-.i::--

......

'vi

--..!

Definition of. road section as stated in questibnnaire

A.C.T.
For.department design sections only ~ distance from reference. point
N.S.W. - (only State highways divided into sections)
N.T.
Not defined (for main roads and highways)
Qld
- Mi le age from start of _gazetta.l
S.A.
Between towns or major intersections in rural areas
Tas.
By distance from zero

Vic.
-By milea~e ~n the ba~is of homogeneity of: for (l} desi~n features and for
(ii,) traffic volumes {State. highways only)
W.A.
- Records held in continuou.s inventory f.ormat which is sectionis-ed when
require~ for needs study
A= av~ilable in automated re~ord form
I= a~ailable but not in automated record form
- = no t a v a i 1 a'b 1 e

Available at some but not all locations
. Available through correlation with 72 permanent counting stations
Safe speed only,_ available
Representative samples only
Available from old plans in some cases
Avai~able 50 permanent counting stations
Considered to be inac~urate
Available only in terms of whether or not adequate

ARR Report No.

18

FINnTNGS ANn

44,

19:7'5'

R[~OMMENDATIONS

43.
The literature survey of both Australian and overseas
publications has not produc~d any easily explained relationship
between accidents and geometric design. The following conclusions
are suggested for furth~r consideration.
(a)

Based on data from N.S.W. it could be inferred that

horizontal curves of radii. less than 450 m should
be avoided.. However, further investigation consideri~g tr~ffic volumes free speeds and l~ngths of
tangents pMor to curves are necessary.

(b)

For access controlled highways (expressways),

gradients above 4 per cent are associated with.
'significantly greater accident rates. However, the
qualifications given .for (a) above also apply t6 (b).

(c)

Results ~f overseas studies suggest that. for twolane rural highways pavement widths of 6.8 m corresponding to 3.4 m lane widths may be sufficient. On
low volume rural highways na.rrower pavt;?ments, and .
shoulders, would be r~commended'if based on economic
considerations which include . accident costs.
'

'

(d)

Complete details of road inventory d~ta are available

only for New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory
an d No r the r n I e r r i to r y . Ma t ch i n g ..of i nv e n to r y re co rd s .
wi~h ~ccident data would be a tedioui m~~ual task
except for South Australia and Victoria which~how
ever, do not have complete road inventory dat~~
Also, the number of locations for which accidents
find road inventory details can be mat.ched accurately
is probably too small. to allow definite conclusions
being drawn from any analysis.

(.e)

One data.source, DMR fatal accident reports',

already has m~tched acci.dent location and road
inv~ntory data and ~t is recommended that more
detailed analysJs using this data sourc:ebe
initiated.

(f)

In aqdition to (e), the. engineering investigations

of fatal accidents already being cond_ucted in other
States could be used to supplement the N~s.w. sample
si~e of fatal accidents, both in numbe~ and bi
covering a wider range of highw~y design standards.
A stan~ardised report, incorporating road inventory
details, would need to be developed for this task.

.:: .

ARR Report No.

44,

'19

197'5

APPENDLX, A

..;

.I

>

..

ARRB QUESTIONNAIRE ON ACCIDENTS AND GEOMETRIC DESIGN

.

'

'.

'

Organisation'.: .. .. . .................. ....... ....................... .

'

'

'

.:

Doesyour organisation maintain records which list

Yes

1.

( i)

and
(ii)

No

design features by (a) road sect i ans.*

or ( b) .specific locations

.........
........

traffic volumes by ( a) road sections*

or ( b ) specific locations

........

*How is section

........

in your records? .......... ~ ...... , ..... .

d~fined

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......................... .......................... .
'

Ar~

the

follo~ing

available from

th~se

_records?
Available
Yes

No

section length
(b)
average daily traffic
(c) ayarage daily traffic by
day ~o.f .wee_k
..........
(d) hourly tr.affi.t volumes
(e) w~eth~~ a~cess limited in
section length
( f)
w~elher road divided
. . . . . .. . . .
( g) width of me di an
( h) number of lanes
( i ) presence of structures
(.e:g. railway crossing, bridge) ....... .
{j)
intersectio~s and _type
. ( k)
grade
(1) curvature
(m)
crossfall/superelevation
( n) width of (i)
paveme~t
(i i ) sh o u1 d.e r
...........
(o)
sight distance
..........
(p)
clais of roadway (ARS : 1,2,3)

In Automated
Record Form
Yes
No

(a)

'

........ .

20

ARR Report No . 44, 197:5.

Does ybur organis~tion maintain, possess, o~ have.

able {indicate which}; data on road accidents?

2.

Yes . . .. . . . . .

a~ail

No ... .....

Are the following available from the accident records?

...
Available
In Automated
Re co rd Form ..
Yes No
Yes
No
{a}

type of accident {e.g. ran

off roild, hcad-o'n'collision}

( b)

type of vehicle

'{ c}

severity of
,f ata'1'

... .. ..
"

in~olved

acciden~

...........

personal injury
property damage
{d}

3.

each vehicle'sdirecti~n bf
travel prior to accident

Does your record system pr'ovide."for locat'ing the site of a

particular accid~~t within the roadway iwctitin wher~ the
accident occurred and thus permtt .the data covered. iri
question 1 to Lie matched w.ith the .data covered in ques.tion
2?
.
Manually
Auto.mated

4.

.........

Yes
Yes

. ... ..... .
..........

No ........ .
No

Whom should we contact if we require furth'er information?

Name
Title-. ................ .... : ..

Location.~.: ...... :.- . .'.: .. '..

ARR.Report No.

5.

44,

1975

What ,studies or research projects relating accident r.ate:s"

to road .features are currently being, Qr have been., cond u c t e d . i n . y o u r S t a t e a n 9 1-1 h o i s , i. r;i . c ha r g ~ o f t h
s ?. .
. .e p r. o j,e. c-t
.
.

Name
Ti t 1 e ........ : .............. .
Location

6.

'!'

'!'

Are:there ~ny facets of the NAASRA project on which you

would like.to-pass.additional comment?

Si gne d

.......................

Date ............ ~ .. : ...... .

22

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