Identification of Traffic Accident Propensity in Tunnel as a Strategy of Freeway Tunnel Incident Management

摘要

As tunnels are advantageous improving highway design speeds in mountainous or obstacleterrains, tunnels have been preferred as an inevitable element of modern highway designs.However, the traffic accident propensity and characteristics over tunnel sections are still beinginvestigated with various points of view.The present study provides the observed traffic accident statistics within tunnels of the Seoulbeltway. Results show that the accident involvements are correlated with traffic volumes intunnels which are known as indicators of accident exposure and that accidents in tunnels aregeneralized to be distributed zone by zone. Additionally, it is shown that current locations ofvehicle detectors are not effectively following locations of accidents in tunnels. The resultsobtained in the study are mostly descriptive while providing the opportunity to consolidate thetraffic operator's foundation toward proactive strategies against accidents in tunnels.