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This is the author’s version of a work that was submitted/accepted for pub-lication in the following source:

Piyatrapoomi, Noppadol, Weligamage, Justin, & Turner, Lyle (2009) As-sessing wet crashes for the skid resistance management of road assets. In Jinji, Gao, Lee, Jay, Ni, Jun, Ma, Lin, & Mathew, Joseph (Eds.) Proceed-ings of the 3rd World Congress on Engineering Asset Management and In-telligent Maintenance Systems, Springer-Verlag, Beijing International Con-vention Centre, Beijing, pp. 1299-1307.

This file was downloaded from: http://eprints.qut.edu.au/38349/

c

Copyright 2008 Springer-Verlag

This is the author-version of the work.

Conference proceedings published, by Springer Verlag, will be available via SpringerLink. http://www.springerlink.com

Notice: Changes introduced as a result of publishing processes such as copy-editing and formatting may not be reflected in this document. For a definitive version of this work, please refer to the published source:

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FIRST DRAFT

ASSESSING WET CRASHES FOR THE SKID RESISTANCE MANAGEMENT OF ROAD ASSETS

Piyatrapoomi, N a, Weligamage, J a and Turner, L b

a Road Asset Management Branch, Queensland Government Department of Main Roads, Brisbane, Queensland,

Australia

b School of Urban Development, Faculty of Build and Engineering, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane,

Queensland Australia

Managing road asset condition to minimise road crashes is an important task for road agencies worldwide. In Australia, road crash trauma costs the nation A$15 billion annually whilst the US estimates an economic impact of around US$ 230 billion on its network. Worldwide economic cost of road crashes is estimated to be around US$ 518 billion each year. Road accidents occur due to a number of factors including driver behaviour, geometric alignment, vehicle characteristics, environmental impacts, and the type and condition of the road surfacing. Skid resistance is considered one of the most important road surface characteristics because it has a direct effect on traffic safety. In 2005, Austroads (the Association of Australian and New Zealand Road Transport and Traffic Authorities) published a guideline for the management of skid resistance and Queensland Department of Main Roads (QDMR) developed a skid resistance management plan (SRMP). The current QDMR strategy is based on rationale analytical methodology supported by field inspection with related asset management decision tools. The Austroads’s guideline and QDMR's skid resistance management plan have prompted QDMR to review its skid resistance management practice. As a result, a joint research project involving QDMR, Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and the Corporative Research Centre for Integrated Engineering Asset Management (CRC CIEAM) was formed. The research project aims at investigating whether there is significant relationship between road crashes and skid resistance on Queensland’s road networks. If there is, the current skid resistance management practice of QDMR will be reviewed and appropriate skid resistance investigatory levels will be recommended. This paper presents analysis results in assessing the relationship between wet crashes and skid resistance on Queensland roads. Attributes considered in the analysis include surface types, annual average daily traffic (AADT), speed and seal age.

Key Words: Skid resistance, road crashes, relationship, managing

1. INTRODUCTION

The skid resistance value of a road is considered to be one of the most important surface characteristics when considering road safety. Road surfaces must provide adequate levels of skid resistance for the vehicles travelling on them to facilitate safe manoeuvres, particularly in wet conditions, and as such, selecting and maintaining these levels is a vital part of the management of the road network. Skid resistance is affected by a wide variety of factors, with the contribution of each requiring detailed analysis. These factors include seal age and type, surface texture, climatic conditions, traffic volume, speed environment, roughness, and aggregate properties used to construct the road surface. Understanding the relationship of skid resistance, and potentially therefore these contributing factors to crash incidence is important in the establishment of optimal road surface, and therefore, risk management practice throughout the road network.

In a joint research project of the Queensland University of Technology, Queensland Government Department of Main Roads and the Cooperative Research Centre for Integrated Engineering Asset Management (CIEAM), probabilistic methods are being developed to better manage the surfacing conditions of road assets, specifically focusing on the relationships between crashes and road surface conditions (i.e. skid resistance). The main objective

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of this analysis is to establish the probability distributions of the road surface condition variables over sections of the road network, and to assess whether the characteristics of the probability distribution, such as its variability, can be related to crash incidence. The outcome of the analysis will be an appropriate statistical profile of the considered road surface condition (i.e. skid resistance) that provides an acceptable rate (or zero rate) of crashes.

This paper presents an initial result of the relationship between wet crashes and skid resistance on road networks in Queensland. Attributes considered in the analysis include surface types, annual average daily traffic (AADT), speed and seal age.

2. MANAGING SKID RESISTANCE

Skid resistance is a condition parameter characterising the contribution that a road makes to the friction between a road surface and a vehicle tyre during acceleration, deceleration and cornering or turning. Vehicles need friction to accelerate, decelerate or change direction. During these manoeuvrers, the friction generated between the vehicle’s tyres and the road surface provides the force necessary to change the speed or course of the vehicle.

Skid resistance is represented by the friction coefficient F that can be measured by testing machine such as the Sideforce Coefficient Road Inventory Machine (SCRIM) or Norsemeter Road Analyser and Recorder (ROAR). The SCRIM and ROAR units are widely used in Europe, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. Details of these testing machines can be found in [1].

Current practice in managing skid resistance by road authorities is based on comparing the actual skid resistance data with established investigatory skid resistance levels. The investigatory level is used to trigger site investigation. When recorded skid resistance data are below the investigatory levels, site investigation will be conducted. A threshold value which is usually set at 0.1 below the investigatory level is the trigger value for determining priority for treatment.

Skid resistance investigatory levels were firstly introduced by the UK Highway Agency Standard in 1988. Understanding the relationship between road crashes and skid resistance has become the subject of further research studies over many years. However, the outcomes of the road crashes/skid resistance relationship found by those researches provided mixed and inconclusive results.

3. PREVIOUS RESEARCH STUDIES

The common methods used for assessing the relationships between road crashes and skid resistance were regression analysis, correlation analysis and other types of analysis methods including one-table or two-table analysis methods [2-5]. Due to the variation in crash data and skid resistance data, these methods provided mixed results and not conclusive. Reviews of the previous methods can be found in [6]. Figure 1 shows a typical result obtained from a regression analysis. The figure shows an example of a relationship between road crashes and recorded skid resistance for 2004 for a road category of spray seal, seal age between 0 and 5 years and AADT between 3,000 and 10,000. The figure shows a trend that when skid resistance decreases crashes increase. However,

R2 is very low in value which provides less confidence in the regression line.

y = 4.5185e-2.6872x R2 = 0.0647 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55

Recorded Skid Resistance (F60)

Nu m b e r o f Cr as h e s

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4. METHODOLOGY

The analysis adopted in this study follows the method developed in [7]. The method is based probability-based analysis. In this method, the total road network is divided into small road segments, and the variability of road surface condition (i.e. skid resistance) of the divided small road segment is quantified by probability distributions.

An appropriate percentile value (e.g. 15th percentile value) is selected from the cumulative probability distribution

for the divided road segments. A low percentile value such as the 15th percentile was chosen indicating that 85% of

skid resistance values will be greater than the 15th percentile value. The low percentile value is selected to represent

the lower bound of the skid resistance value. Road crashes occurring in the small segments are counted. The cumulative road crashes and the selected percentile values of skid resistance of the segments that road crashes occur are plotted and the relationship between the road crashes and skid resistance is investigated. Summary of the methodology is given below.

Step 1: Categorise road site condition: This step aims at categorising road site condition according to road geometry, pavement type, annual average daily traffic, etc.

Step 2: Obtain historical road data of road crashes and skid resistance: Step 3: Divide total road length into small road segments:

Step 4: Count road crashes and identify segments that crashes occur

Step 5: Quantify the variability of skid resistance within the small road segments by probability distribution: This step aims at assessing the degree of variation of skid resistance of the small segments and assessing this variation characteristic with road crashes. In this analysis, the total road length was divided into small segments of 5 km. The 5 km segment was selected to ensure that the skid resistance data can be described by a probability distribution. Step 6: Test goodness of fit of the cumulative probability distributions given in Step 5 and identify percentile levels from the cumulative probability distributions

Step 7: Plot cumulative crashes with the selected percentile skid resistance values: As an example, the 15th percentile skid resistance was selected. The cumulative crashes are calculated as follows:

Cumulative Crashes, CCN(i) =

Total

i

i

Where: CCN = Cumulative crashes, Total = Total number of crashes, i = number of crashes

Step 8: Plot the normalised the cumulative crash number with the selected percentile skid resistance values. The normalised cumulative crashes are obtained as follows:

Normalised Cumulative Crashes =

 

Total

i

Total

i

CCN

Where: CCN(i) = Cumulative crashes, Total = Total number of crashes, i = number of crashes Step 9: Establish the relationship between road crashes and skid resistance:

5. CASE STUDY

A case study was conducted to assess the relationship between skid resistance and road crashes for Queensland road networks. Crashes that occurred in wet condition were used in the analysis. Skid resistance was tested on the road network using Norsemeter Road Analyser and Recorder (ROAR) and presented it as a skid factor. This paper presents the result of the relationship between road crashes and skid resistance on spray seal surface. Wet crash data recorded in 2004 and 2005 were used in the analysis. Attributes that were included in the first part of the assessment include speed zone, seal age and annual average daily traffic (AADT). Table 1 gives criteria of the attributes that were used in the analysis. To assess the influence of the attributes on road crashes, the attributes were combined to create road categories for the analysis as mentioned in Step 1 of Section 3. It must be noted that the geometry attribute has not yet been included in the analysis, however it will be incorporated at later stage.

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Table 1. Attribute Criteria (i.e. AADT, Seal Age, and Speed) used in the analysis Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT)

(No. of vehicles) Seal Age (years) Speed Zone (km/h) 1 to 5000 > 0 to 4 ≤ 80 5001 to 10000 > 4 to 7 > 80 > 10000 > 7

The analysis was performed with the aid of a calculation tool developed specifically for this task. This tool searches the road network for the locations that have a spray seal surface, and divides these road sections into small segments. The calculation tools then evaluates the probability distribution of skid resistance for each section, and

extracts the 15th percentile value of the skid resistance for each. The calculation tool then searches for wet crashes

that occurred in the divided small segments and plots the percentage of the cumulative crashes against the 15th

percentile skid resistance values as mentioned in Step 7 of Section 3. It must be noted that due to the sparse and non-uniform methods of skid resistance data collection, and the fact that crashes are not non-uniform over all road sections, some criteria combinations yield small sample sizes.

Figure 2 shows the relationship between the cumulative percentage of road crashes and the 15th percentile skid

resistance (or skid factor) for speed zones of less than or equal to 80 km/h and of greater than 80 km/h. As

mentioned the 15th percentile skid factor was chosen to represent the lower bound skid resistance for the divided

road segment. An appropriate percentile value will need to be established after a thorough investigation before an appropriate skid resistance factor can be selected to as a criterion for managing road pavement to minimise risk of road crashes. For example, Figure 2 indicates that for zones with a speed limit greater than 80 km/h, 60% of crashes occur on road surfaces with a Skid Resistance less than 0.35. If the risk of wet crashes is to reduce for this road surface type of this speed limit, a revision of the investigatory level is warranted. Figure 2 shows that a greater percentage of road crashes occur on the spray seal road network where the speed zone is greater than 80 km/h.

Figure 3 shows the relationship between the cumulative percentage of wet crashes and the 15th percentile skid

resistance for speed zones of greater than 80 km/h, and for AADT values from 1 to 5000 and 5001 to 10000 vehicles. It can be seen that AADT does not seem to have an influence on the wet road crashes. Figure 4 on the other hand seems to show that for speed zones less than or equal to 80 km/h, a greater percentage of crashes occurred for AADT values from 5001 to 10000 compared to the range 1 to 5000. However, due to the small sample sizes of crash data, no firm conclusions as to the influence of AADT on road crashes could be drawn. The results were quite different when the data was analysed and compared across speed zones while keeping AADT constant. In this case, as shown in Figure 5 and Figure 6, it was found that a higher percentage of wet crashes occurred for speed zones greater than 80 km/h.

Figure 7 shows the relationship between the cumulative percentage of wet crashes and the 15th percentile skid

factor for speed zones > 80 km/h for seal age of > 0 to 4, > 4 to 7 and > 7 years. It was evident that higher percentage of wet crashes occurred on seal ages of greater than 0 to 4 rather than older seal ages (> 4 to 7 and > 7 years). It was thought that higher percentage of wet crashes would occur on new seal age. An additional analysis was conducted to validate this observation. Thus an additional analysis was conducted on seal age of greater than 0 to 2 years, the results of which are presented in blue colour in Figure 7. It can be seen that higher percentage of cumulative crashes occurred for new seal age.

It was observed that for spray seal surfaces, a higher percentage of wet crashes occurred on higher speed zones and new seal age. Analysis of wet crashes occurring in 2005 was conducted to confirm the finding. Figure 8 shows the same result found in the 2004 sample, that is, a higher percentage of wet crashes occurring on speed zones of > 80 km/h than speed zones of ≤ 80 km/h. Figure 9 also shows that higher percentage of wet crashes occurring on seal age of > 0 to 4 than of > 4 to 7 and > 7 years.

The results from the above analysis aim to provide information which can be used in selecting appropriate skid resistance investigatory levels for managing skid resistance of the road network in Queensland. The information of the relationship of wet crashes and skid resistance analysed against different attributes as presented in Figure 2 to 9 will be the input in the selection of an acceptable wet crash risk level. Once this risk level has been established, appropriate skid resistance investigatory levels can be selected from the wet crashes and skid factor relationship.

The above analysis examined the differences between the skid resistance - crash rate relationship across different speeds and traffic volumes. There are, however, several other factors that require examination to see if they also have an effect on this relationship. For example, QDMR publish skid resistance investigatory levels for several different ‘demand’ categories, where a high demand location such as a set of traffic lights or a round about is

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deemed to require a higher skid resistance value than a stretch of straight highway, which would be classed as a normal demand location. The analysis is therefore required to be run over these different demand categories to assess differences between them. This will allow a judgement to be made as to whether the stated investigatory levels are appropriate for the risk preferences of QDMR in their road management program.

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5

15th percentile value of skid factor

Cu m u la ti v e % o f we t c ra sh es SS, Speed <= 80 km/h SS, Speed > 80 km/h

Figure 2. Plot of percentage of cumulative road crashes and 15th percentile skid factors for spray seal road network

for speed zones ≤ 80 km/h and > 80 km/h for 2005 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5

15th percentile value of skid factor

C u m u la ti ve % of w et c ra sh es SS, Speed > 80 km/h, AADT = 5001- 10000 SS, Speed > 80 km/h, AADT = 1 - 5000

Figure 3. Plot of percentage of cumulative road crashes and 15th percentile skid factors for spray seal road network

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0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4

15th percentile value of skid factor

Cu m u la ti v e % o f we t c ra sh es SS, Speed <= 80 km/h, AADT = 5001 - 10000 SS, Speed <= 80 km/h, AADT = 1 - 5000

Figure 4. Plot of percentage of cumulative road crashes and 15th percentile skid factors for spray seal road network

for speed zones ≤ 80 km/h, AADT = 1 - 5000 and AADT = 5001 to 10000 for 2005

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5

15th percentile value of skid factor

C u m u la ti ve % of w et cra sh es SS, Speed > 80 km/h, AADT = 5001 - 10000 SS, Speed <= 80 km/h, AADT = 5001 - 10000

Figure 5. Plot of percentage of cumulative road crashes and 15th percentile skid factors for spray seal road network

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0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45

15th percentile value of skid factor

C u m u la ti ve % of w et cras h es SS, Speed <= 80 km/h, AADT > 0 to 5000 SS, Speed > 80 km/h, AADT > 0 to 5000

Figure 6. Plot of percentage of cumulative road crashes and 15th percentile skid factors for spray seal road network

for speed zones ≤ 80 km/h and > 80 km/h with AADT > 0 to 5000 for 2005

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5

15th percentile value of skid factor

C u m u la ti ve % of w et cras h es

SS, Speed > 80 km/h, Seal Age > 0 to 4 years

SS, Speed > 80 km/h, Seal Age > 4 to 7 years

SS, Speed > 80 km/h, Seal Age > 7 years

SS, Speed > 80 km/H, Seal Age > 0 to 2 years

Figure 7. Plot of percentage of cumulative road crashes and 15th percentile skid factors for spray seal road network

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0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6

15th percentile value of skid factor

C u m u la ti ve % of w et cr as h es SS, Speed > 80 kim/h SS, Speed <= 80 km/h

Figure 8. Plot of percentage of cumulative road crashes and 15th percentile skid factors for spray seal road network

for speed zones ≤ 80 km/h and > 80 km/h for 2004

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6

15th percentile value of skid factor

C u m u la ti ve % of w et c ra sh es

SS, Speed > 80 km/h Seal Age > 0 to 4 years

SS, Speed > 80 km/h, Seal Age > 7 years

SS, Speed > 80 km/h, Seal Age > 4 to 7 years

Figure 9. Plot of percentage of cumulative road crashes and 15th percentile skid factors for spray seal road network

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6. CONCLUSIONS

This paper presented results of the relationship between wet crashes and skid resistance of spray seal surface for road networks in Queensland. The relationship was analysed against other attributes including speed zone, annual average daily traffic and seal age. Speed zones of less than or equal to 80 km/h and of greater than 80 km/h were considered. Three ranges of seal ages including greater than 0 to 4 years, greater than 4 to 7 years and greater than 7 years were used in the analysis. Annual average daily traffic (AADT) of between 1 and 5000, 5001 and 10000, and > 10000 were analysed with crashes. It was found that higher percentage in wet crashes occurred in speed zone of greater than 80 km/h. More percentage of crashes occurred in seal age of greater than 0 to 4 years than in older seal ages. Additional analysis was conducted using new seal age within 2 years. The result confirmed the finding that higher percentage of crashes occurring in new seal ages than old seal ages. The range of annual average daily traffic used in this study did not show significant effects on wet crashes.

The analysis adopted in this study follows the method suggested in [6]. Summary of step-by-step methodology was presented in the paper.

7. REFERENCES

1 Austroads (2005) Guidelines for the Management of Road Skid Resistance. AP-G83/05, Austroads, Sydney,

Australia.

2 Viner, H.E., Sinhal R. & Parry, A.R. (2005) Linking Road Traffic Accidents with Skid Resistance – Recent

UK Developments. Proceedings of the International Conference Surface Friction, Christchurch, New Zealand.

3 Seiler-Scherer, L. (2004) Is the Correlation Between Pavement Skid Resistance and Accident Frequency Significant? Conference Paper STRC, Swiss Transport Research Conference, Switzerland.

4 Kuttesh, J.S. (2004) Quantifying the Relationship between Skid Resistance and Wet Weather Accidents for Virginia Data. Master Thesis, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Virginia, USA.

5 Cenek, P.D. & Davies, R.B. (2003) Crash Risk Relationships for Improved Safety Management of Roads. Towards Sustainable Transport Land. Australia.

6 Piyatrapoomi, N, Weligamage, J & Bunker, J Establishing a Risk based Approach for Managing Road Skid Resistance Australasian Road Safety Research, Policing & Education Conference 2007 ‘The Way Ahead' 17 – 19 October 2007 Crown Promenade, Melbourne, Australia

7 Piyatrapoomi, N & Weligamage, J (2008) Probability-based method for analysing relationship between skid

resistance and road crashes 10th

International Conference on Application of Advanced Technologies in Transportation , May 27th-31st, 2008, Athens, Greece.

References

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