Estimating Incident Duration Considering the Unobserved Heterogeneity of Risk Factors for Trucks Transporting HAZMAT on Expressways

2019 ◽  
Vol 2673 (2) ◽  
pp. 232-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jungyeol Hong ◽  
Reuben Tamakloe ◽  
Dongjoo Park ◽  
Yoonhyuk Choi
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Traffic Accidents ◽  
Unobserved Heterogeneity ◽  
Random Parameter ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Random Parameters ◽  
Crash Data ◽  
Incident Duration ◽  
Fixed Model ◽  
Accident Response

Traffic accidents involving vehicles transporting hazardous materials (HAZMAT) on expressways not only delay traffic flow but can also cause large-scale casualties and socio-economic losses. Therefore, rapid response to and prevention of these accidents is important to minimize such loss. To ensure more efficient accident response, this study applied a random parameter hazard-based Weibull modeling approach to measure the relationship between crash characteristics and accident duration for trucks transporting HAZMAT. The study focuses on finding the key factors that have an impact on the accident duration of these vehicles as well as a statistical method to estimate the accident duration. The analysis is based on raw crash data from 2007 to 2017, obtained from the Korea Expressway Corporation, of crashes that involved HAZMAT trucks. The study found that crashes occurring during peak times of the day; crashes occurring on segments at the mainline, ramp, and roadways with a guardrail; and the number of vehicles involved in a crash, result in random parameters. In addition, the weather, season, crash severity, truck size, crash location, type of accident report, roadside features (e.g., guardrails), and status after a crash, can be used to explain the accident duration. The random parameters hazard-based model is found to have a better fit than a fixed model since it is able to capture the unobserved heterogeneity in the hazard function.

scholarly journals Development of Accident Frequency Models with Random Parameters on Interstate Roadway Segments with and without Lighting Systems

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Minho Park ◽  
Dongmin Lee
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Accidents ◽  
Negative Binomial ◽  
Unobserved Heterogeneity ◽  
Random Parameter ◽  
Random Parameters ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Interstate Highways ◽  
Estimated Parameters ◽  
Fixed Parameter ◽  
Lighting Systems

This study explored factors affecting traffic accidents in roadway segments with and without lighting systems using a random parameter negative binomial model. This study sought to make up for a shortcoming of the fixed parameter model that constrained the estimated parameters to be fixed across observations, by applying random parameters that can take into account unobserved heterogeneity. Three variables had a random parameter among nine significant variables in segments with lighting systems, while seven of the eleven significant variables in a segment without a lighting system had random parameters. The different influence of interstate highway geometrics on vehicle crashes with and without lighting systems found through this study considering unobserved heterogeneity may hopefully help reduce accident frequencies and consider installation of lighting systems on interstate highways in the future.

scholarly journals Analysis of Severe Injury Accident Rates on Interstate Highways Using a Random Parameter Tobit Model

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Minho Park ◽  
Dongmin Lee
Keyword(s):  
Regression Model ◽  
Unobserved Heterogeneity ◽  
Random Parameter ◽  
Tobit Model ◽  
Severe Injury ◽  
Parameter Estimates ◽  
Random Parameters ◽  
Tobit Regression ◽  
Accident Rates ◽  
Tobit Regression Model

In this study, a random parameter Tobit regression model approach was used to account for the distinct censoring problem and unobserved heterogeneity in accident data. We used accident rate data (continuous data) instead of accident frequency data (discrete count data) to address the zero cell problems from data where roadway segments do not have any recorded accidents over the observed time period. The unobserved heterogeneity problem is also considered by using random parameters, which are parameter estimates that vary across observations instead of fixed parameters, which are parameter estimates that are fixed/constant over observations. Nine years (1999–2007) of panel data related to severe injury accidents in Washington State, USA, were used to develop the random parameter Tobit model. The results showed that the Tobit regression model with random parameters is a better approach to explore factors influencing severe injury accident rates on roadway segments under consideration of unobserved heterogeneity problems.

Role of Multiagency Response and On-Scene Times in Large-Scale Traffic Incidents

2017 ◽  
Vol 2616 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaobing Li ◽  
Asad J. Khattak ◽  
Behram Wali
Keyword(s):  
Associated Factors ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Unobserved Heterogeneity ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Random Parameter ◽  
Careful Examination ◽  
Incident Management ◽  
Significant Heterogeneity ◽  
Traffic Incidents

Traffic incidents, often known as nonrecurring events, impose enormous economic and social costs. Compared with short-duration incidents, large-scale incidents can substantially disrupt traffic flow by blocking lanes on highways for long periods. A careful examination of large-scale traffic incidents and associated factors can assist with actionable large-scale incident management strategies. For such an analysis, a unique and comprehensive 5-year incident database on East Tennessee roadways was assembled to conduct an in-depth investigation of large-scale incidents, especially focusing on operational responses, that is, response and on-scene times by various agencies. Incidents longer than 120 min and blocking at least one lane were considered large scale; the database contained 890 incidents, which was about 0.69% of all reported incidents. Rigorous fixed- and random-parameter, hazard-based duration models were estimated to account for the possibility of unobserved heterogeneity in large-scale incidents. The modeling results reveal significant heterogeneity in associations between operational responses and large-scale incident durations. A 30-min increase in response time for the first, second, and third (or more) highway response units translated to a 2.8%, 1.6%, and 4.2% increase in large-scale incident durations, respectively. In addition, longer response times for towing and highway patrol were significantly associated with longer incident durations. Given large-scale incidents, associated factors included vehicle fire, unscheduled roadwork, weekdays, afternoon peaks, and traffic volume. Notably, the associations were heterogeneous; that is, the direction could be positive in some cases and negative in others. Practical implications of the results for large-scale incident management are discussed.

scholarly journals Safety Impacts of Push-Button and Countdown Timer on Nonmotorized Traffic at Intersections

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bei Zhou ◽  
Arash M. Roshandeh ◽  
Shengrui Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Maximum Likelihood ◽  
Traffic Safety ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Unobserved Heterogeneity ◽  
Likelihood Method ◽  
Impact Factors ◽  
Random Parameters ◽  
Push Button ◽  
Left Turn ◽  
Crash Data

This paper applies the random parameters negative binominal model to investigate safety impacts of push-button and countdown timer on pedestrians and cyclists at urban intersections. To account for possible unobserved heterogeneity which could vary from one intersection to another, random parameters model is introduced. A simulation-based maximum likelihood method using Halton draws is applied to estimate the maximum likelihood of random parameters in the model. Dataset containing pedestrians’ and cyclists’ crash data of 1,001 intersections from Chicago is utilized to establish the statistical relationship between crash frequencies and potential impact factors. LIMDEP (Version 9.0) statistical package is utilized for modeling. The parameter estimation results indicate that existence of push-button and countdown timer could significantly reduce crash frequencies of pedestrians and cyclists at intersections. Increasing number of through traffic lanes, left turn lanes, and ratio of major direction AADT to minor direction AADT, tend to increase crash frequencies. Annual average daily left turn traffic has a negative impact on pedestrians’ safety, but its impact on cyclists’ crash frequency is statistically insignificant at 90% confidence level. The results of current study could provide important insights for nonmotorized traffic safety improvement projects in both planning and operational levels.

scholarly journals Injury Severity and Contributing Driver Actions in Passenger Vehicle–Truck Collisions

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (19) ◽  
pp. 3542 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingjing Xu ◽  
Behram Wali ◽  
Xiaobing Li ◽  
Jiaqi Yang
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Injury Severity ◽  
Unobserved Heterogeneity ◽  
Random Parameter ◽  
Passenger Vehicle ◽  
Severe Injuries ◽  
Safe Driving ◽  
Explanatory Factors ◽  
Random Parameter Model ◽  
Minor Injuries

Large-scale truck-involved crashes attract great attention due to their increasingly severe injuries. The majority of those crashes are passenger vehicle–truck collisions. This study intends to investigate the critical relationship between truck/passenger vehicle driver’s intentional or unintentional actions and the associated injury severity in passenger vehicle–truck crashes. A random-parameter model was developed to estimate the complicated associations between the risk factors and injury severity by using a comprehensive Virginia crash dataset. The model explored the unobserved heterogeneity while controlling for the driver, vehicle, and roadway factors. Compared with truck passengers, occupants in passenger vehicles are six times and ten times more likely to suffer minor injuries and serious/fatal injuries, respectively. Importantly, regardless of whether passenger vehicle drivers undertook intentional or unintentional actions, the crashes are more likely to associate with more severe injury outcomes. In addition, crashes occurring late at night and in early mornings are often correlated with more severe injuries. Such associations between explanatory factors and injury severity are found to vary across the passenger vehicle–truck crashes, and such significant variations of estimated parameters further confirmed the validity of applying the random-parameter model. More implications based on the results and suggestions in terms of safe driving are discussed.

scholarly journals An Investigation of the Safety Performance of Roundabouts in Korea Based on a Random Parameters Count Model

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Minho Park ◽  
Dongmin Lee ◽  
Je-Jin Park
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Flow ◽  
Traffic Accident ◽  
Unobserved Heterogeneity ◽  
Random Parameter ◽  
Random Parameters ◽  
Flow Conditions ◽  
Count Model ◽  
Accident Frequency ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Accident Data

It is well known that a roundabout is an efficient and safe intersection. However, the safety is generally influenced by the given various conditions. This study analyzed the effects of the geometric and traffic flow conditions on traffic accident frequency at roundabouts, constructed in Korea since 2010. Many previous studies have investigated the efficiency and safety effects of roundabout installation. However, not many studies have analyzed the specific influences of individual geometric elements and traffic flow conditions of roundabouts. Accordingly, this study analyzed the effects of various influencing variables on traffic accident frequency based on a random parameter count model using traffic accident data in 199 roundabouts. Using random parameters that can take into account unobserved heterogeneity, this study tried to make up for the weakness of the fixed parameters model, which constrains estimated parameters to be fixed across all observations. A total of eight variables were determined to be the main influencing factors on traffic accident frequency including the number and width of entry lanes, the presence of pedestrian crossings, the width of the circulatory lanes, the presence of central islands, the radius and number of entry lanes, and traffic volume influence accident frequency. Based on the study results, safer roundabout design and more efficient roundabout operation are expected.

scholarly journals Investigating Rural Single-Vehicle Crash Severity by Vehicle Types Using Full Bayesian Spatial Random Parameters Logit Model

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (17) ◽  
pp. 7819
Author(s):  
Fulu Wei ◽  
Zhenggan Cai ◽  
Zhenyu Wang ◽  
Yongqing Guo ◽  
Xin Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Spatial Correlation ◽  
Traffic Safety ◽  
Logit Model ◽  
Unobserved Heterogeneity ◽  
Crash Severity ◽  
Random Parameters ◽  
Crash Data ◽  
Random Parameters Logit ◽  
Single Vehicle

The effect of risk factors on crash severity varies across vehicle types. The objective of this study was to explore the risk factors associated with the severity of rural single-vehicle (SV) crashes. Four vehicle types including passenger car, motorcycle, pickup, and truck were considered. To synthetically accommodate unobserved heterogeneity and spatial correlation in crash data, a novel Bayesian spatial random parameters logit (SRP-logit) model is proposed. Rural SV crash data in Shandong Province were extracted to calibrate the model. Three traditional logit approaches—multinomial logit model, random parameter logit model, and random intercept logit model—were also established and compared with the proposed model. The results indicated that the SRP-logit model exhibits the best fit performance compared with other models, highlighting that simultaneously accommodating unobserved heterogeneity and spatial correlation is a promising modeling approach. Further, there is a significant positive correlation between weekend, dark (without street lighting) conditions, and collision with fixed object and severe crashes and a significant negative correlation between collision with pedestrians and severe crashes. The findings can provide valuable information for policy makers to improve traffic safety performance in rural areas.

Simplified analysis of a stochastic system

1979 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 328-339
Author(s):  
Vladimír Herles
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Analysis ◽  
Dynamic Behavior ◽  
Stochastic System ◽  
Additive Noise ◽  
Random Parameter ◽  
Systematic Difference ◽  
Order System ◽  
Constant Parameter ◽  
Random Parameters ◽  
Simplified Analysis

Contradictious results published by different authors about the dynamics of systems with random parameters have been examined. Statistical analysis of the simple 1st order system proves that the random parameter can cause a systematic difference in the dynamic behavior that cannot be (in general) described by the usual constant-parameter model with the additive noise at the output.

Factors Affecting Driver Injury Severity in the Wrong-Way Crash: Accounting for Potential Heterogeneity in Means and Variances of Random Parameters

2021 ◽  
pp. 036119812110098
Author(s):  
Miao Yu ◽  
Jinxing Shen ◽  
Changxi Ma
Keyword(s):  
High Speed ◽  
Injury Severity ◽  
Unobserved Heterogeneity ◽  
Research Effort ◽  
Random Parameter ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Severe Injuries ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Severity Levels

Because of the high percentage of fatalities and severe injuries in wrong-way driving (WWD) crashes, numerous studies have focused on identifying contributing factors to the occurrence of WWD crashes. However, a limited number of research effort has investigated the factors associated with driver injury-severity in WWD crashes. This study intends to bridge the gap using a random parameter logit model with heterogeneity in means and variances approach that can account for the unobserved heterogeneity in the data set. Police-reported crash data collected from 2014 to 2017 in North Carolina are used. Four injury-severity levels are defined: fatal injury, severe injury, possible injury, and no injury. Explanatory variables, including driver characteristics, roadway characteristics, environmental characteristics, and crash characteristics, are used. Estimation results demonstrate that factors, including the involvement of alcohol, rural area, principal arterial, high speed limit (>60 mph), dark-lighted conditions, run-off-road collision, and head-on collision, significantly increase the severity levels in WWD crashes. Several policy implications are designed and recommended based on findings.

scholarly journals Modeling regional impacts and resilience to water service disruptions in urban economies

2021 ◽  
pp. 239980832199870
Author(s):  
Sheree A Pagsuyoin ◽  
Joost R Santos
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Urban Region ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Drought Severity ◽  
Severe Drought ◽  
Time Varying ◽  
National Capital Region ◽  
Economic Sectors ◽  
The Impact

Water is a critical natural resource that sustains the productivity of many economic sectors, whether directly or indirectly. Climate change alongside rapid growth and development are a threat to water sustainability and regional productivity. In this paper, we develop an extension to the economic input-output model to assess the impact of water supply disruptions to regional economies. The model utilizes the inoperability variable, which measures the extent to which an infrastructure system or economic sector is unable to deliver its intended output. While the inoperability concept has been utilized in previous applications, this paper offers extensions that capture the time-varying nature of inoperability as the sectors recover from a disruptive event, such as drought. The model extension is capable of inserting inoperability adjustments within the drought timeline to capture time-varying likelihoods and severities, as well as the dependencies of various economic sectors on water. The model was applied to case studies of severe drought in two regions: (1) the state of Massachusetts (MA) and (2) the US National Capital Region (NCR). These regions were selected to contrast drought resilience between a mixed urban–rural region (MA) and a highly urban region (NCR). These regions also have comparable overall gross domestic products despite significant differences in the distribution and share of the economic sectors comprising each region. The results of the case studies indicate that in both regions, the utility and real estate sectors suffer the largest economic loss; nonetheless, results also identify region-specific sectors that incur significant losses. For the NCR, three sectors in the top 10 ranking of highest economic losses are government-related, whereas in the MA, four sectors in the top 10 are manufacturing sectors. Furthermore, the accommodation sector has also been included in the NCR case intuitively because of the high concentration of museums and famous landmarks. In contrast, the Wholesale Trade sector was among the sectors with the highest economic losses in the MA case study because of its large geographic size conducive for warehouses used as nodes for large-scale supply chain networks. Future modeling extensions could potentially include analysis of water demand and supply management strategies that can enhance regional resilience against droughts. Other regional case studies can also be pursued in future efforts to analyze various categories of drought severity beyond the case studies featured in this paper.

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