Identification

Title

Investigation of winter weather crash injury severity using winter storm classification techniques

Abstract

This study employs a unique methodology for analyzing seasonal traffic crashes by first identifying adverse winter-weather events using traditional traffic-crash data (from Nebraska) and correlating them to detailed meteorological data for subsequent analyses. Specifically, the novel component of this analysis utilized a statespecific winter storm and seasonal severity index metric in conjunction with classifications of storm type. Both crash and meteorological data were combined to determine if the amount of snowfall and/or storm intensity/ severity could be a predictor of the number and severity of crashes. Analysis was performed to identify weather conditions causing highway safety concerns. The important takeaway of the study was that most winter weatherrelated vehicular crashes in Nebraska were associated with relatively minor winter weather conditions. The reported crashes typically occurred with relatively low snowfall amounts due to residual snowfall on the ground, emphasizing the importance of continuing winter maintenance operations activities and public service announcements long after a storm has passed through the region. Modeling crash injury severity revealed that icy pavements, higher duration of snowfall, work zones, and higher number of trucks and buses involved in a crash were linked to higher injury severity; higher visibility was associated with a greater chance of crashes involving visible injuries but a lower likelihood of crashes involving disabling injury/fatality. Snowfall was associated with more visible injury crashes, whereas snow-depth was linked to fewer visible injury and disabling injury/fatality crashes. The study ' s limitations include the spatial and temporal aggregation of weather data and a lack of detailed winter roadway maintenance/clearance activity data.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7445rpq

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2024-03-01T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact