Risk Factors Associated with Injury Severity of Work Zone Crashes

As most of the nation's highway infrastructure is aging, the current highway works are shifted from the construction of new highways to the maintenance and rehabilitation of existing roadways during which work zones are created. The safe and efficient flow of traffic through these work zones is a major concern to many highway agencies. The crash severity in these work zones is increasing day by day. Thus, identification of various risk factors associated with work zone crashes is very important to improve work zone safety. In this analysis, an ordered probit statistical modeling technique was used by considering all possible explanatory variables under various characteristics. Based on the analysis, it was found that work zone crashes involving trucks, light duty vehicles such as vans, pick-up and SUVs had a tendency for higher injury severity. Middle age drivers were more prone to severe injuries than old age and young age drivers involved in work zone crashes. Following too close, non deployment of airbags, sideswipe collision of the same direction vehicles had a tendency to cause more severe injuries to occupants in work zone crashes. On roadway work zone crashes and crashes occurred while vehicles were taking left/right turns in work zone area are some of the other factors that contribute towards higher injury severity in work zone crashes. Several other factors were analyzed based on which crucial results were obtained which when rectified would help attenuate the severity of crashes in work zone areas.