Feasibility of Applying the Global Positioning System to Locate Motor VehicleCrashes

摘要

Countermeasures for motor vehicle crashes are often determined after extensivedata analysis of the crash history of a roadway segment. An important factor that drives the value of this analysis is the accuracy, or precision, with which the crash is located. Yet this location is only as accurate as the estimate of the police officer. In light of this, many have suggested that GPS technology has the potential to increase data accuracy and decrease the time spent recording crash location data. Over 10 months, the locations of 34 crashes were determined using both the conventional method and a hand-held GPS receiver. The two methods were compared in terms of timeliness and precision. The benefit of any improved precision using the GPS were assessed through querying crash data analysts at the local levels as to how the improved precision affected their consideration of potential crash countermeasures for 5 crashes selected from the sample. The authors provide recommendations for defining crash location uniformly, limitations of the methodology, and the types of countermeasures that may or may not benefit from improved precision.