Manual on Identification, Analysis and Correction of High Accident Locations

This manual describes how streets and highways are vital to the well-being of a community. Inefficiencies in the street and highway system cause human suffering and death, low productivity and higher costs. For this reason, those charged with the design, construction, and maintenance of streets and highways have the continuing responsibility of making these roads more safe and efficient. Although not all accidents are due to poor design or construction of the highway system, a concentration of accidents at one location implies that there has been a failure of the system. Detailed study of accident records can identify these high-accident locations and point out improvements that will reduce the number and severity of future accidents. This manual describes the high-accident location (HAL) system that will allow the highway user to identify, analyze, and correct HALs. The manual was prepared for smaller cities in Missouri that do not have traffic engineers but realize that there is a need for a local capability to deal with traffic accident issues.