The affect of lighting interchange ramps on safety – a study of the M1

Power, Scott (2014) The affect of lighting interchange ramps on safety – a study of the M1. [USQ Project]

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Abstract

The implementation of street lighting throughout the world varies greatly on road networks particularly at grade separate interchanges. The safety benefit of street lighting on grade separated interchange ramps was analysed to determine the effect of street lighting on
interchange exit and entry ramps be it positive or negative.

Interchange ramps along the Sydney to Newcastle M1 were inspected to determine the current lighting layout and classified as complete interchange lighting (CIL), partial interchange lighting (PIL) or no lighting. The crash data along each ramp were analysed to determine any relationships. The independent variables included natural lighting, crash type, crash severity, weather conditions and other contributing factors. The analysis was used to determine whether additional or less lighting may have prevented accidents or was not related to safety
outcomes.

Nine interchanges along the Sydney to Newcastle M1 were selected in the study with 419 crashes recorded and analysed in diverge and merge areas. There was a 50% split of accidents occurring on exit and entry ramps, with 66% of all accidents occurring during the day. Exit
ramps have the most crashes at night with 32% of crashes on exit ramps occurring at night.

Lighting exit ramps was found to reduce the number of accidents occurring and saw a 200% and 52% reduction in fatality and injury accidents respectively compared to unlit exit ramps, a cost benefit of 3.2 was determined indicating that lighting exit ramps is a reasonable and
economical safety measure. The results for interchange entry ramps and providing street lighting in the merge area indicate that the safety benefit from street lighting was minimal.


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Item Type: USQ Project
Item Status: Live Archive
Additional Information: Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) project.
Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: Historic - Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Civil Engineering and Surveying (1 Jul 2013 - 31 Dec 2021)
Supervisors: Drysdale, Trevor; Drinkwater, Justin
Date Deposited: 09 Sep 2015 05:10
Last Modified: 07 Mar 2016 06:24
Uncontrolled Keywords: lighting; safety cost-benefit; street lighting; Sydney; Newcastle; M1; highway; car accidents; fatalities; injury from car accident; highway exit ramps; interchange entry ramps; merge areas; interchange lighting; CIL; partial interchange lighting; PIL; road networks; crash data; weather conditions causing car accidents
Fields of Research (2008): 09 Engineering > 0905 Civil Engineering > 090507 Transport Engineering
09 Engineering > 0913 Mechanical Engineering > 091302 Automation and Control Engineering
Fields of Research (2020): 40 ENGINEERING > 4005 Civil engineering > 400512 Transport engineering
40 ENGINEERING > 4007 Control engineering, mechatronics and robotics > 400799 Control engineering, mechatronics and robotics not elsewhere classified
URI: https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/27273

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