Analysis of accident duration on urban arterials roads

Abstract

Traffic accidents are the major factor for the formation of non-recurrent traffic jams in urban roads, causing unexpected delays to the users. The understanding of the variability of traffic accident dura on and its main explanatory factors can lead to a more efficient urban traffic management. Aiming to contribute to this problem, this paper analyzes the dura on of traffic accidents occurring in the urban arterial roads of Fortaleza city, Brazil. Ini ally, a method to detect the dura on of accidents from traffic data of the electronic surveillance system was proposed, given the unavailability of this informa on in the traffic accident database of the Fortaleza’s traffic management agency. As results, the analysis of 324 accidents showed an average dura on of 72 minutes and a standard devia on of 48 minutes. The Gamma density func on was iden fied as the best fit for the dura on of accidents, indica ng that this variable is affected by events that occur over me, increasing the probability of the accidents being resolved. The analysis revealed that factors related to traffic agent services, individual behavior, number of vehicles and accident loca on (mid-block or intersec on) may affect the accident dura on. However, no evidence was found that the dura on of accidents is influenced by its severity (accidents with or without vic ms) or by its nature.