Injury Outcomes and Costs for Work Zone Crashes

摘要

The main objective of this research was to quantify the injury outcomes and develop reliable and comprehensive injury costs for work zone crashes based on crash type (rearend, head-on, etc.) and crash severity (KABCO scale). A three-step methodology wasused to quantify the comprehensive crash costs. All crashes in Wisconsin between 2001and 2010 that were marked with a construction zone flag were identified and used in thisanalysis. The Wisconsin Crash Outcome Data Evaluation System (CODES) databaseprovided comprehensive injury costs based on the injury types and severities suffered byparticipants in study crashes. KABCO and Maximum Abbreviated Injury Score (MAIS)ratings were similar for PDO and Possible Injuries. A vast majority of non-incapacitatingand incapacitating injuries sustained minor or moderate injuries only suggesting that useof KABCO needs to be reconsidered. The calculated comprehensive costs for crash typeswith sufficient sample sizes were found to be up to 105%, 35%, and 50% larger than thedefault Federal Highway Administration values for incapacitating, nonincapacitating, andpossible injury crashes, respectively. Injury crash costs for different crash types variedsignificantly, indicating that developing crash-specific costs could result in more accuratebenefit-cost analysis for the implementation of countermeasures.