Researcher: Dominique Lord, Ph.D.

Sponsor: Texas Department of Transportation

The majority of crash fatalities take place on rural roadways, and more fatal crashes occur during nighttime conditions than during daytime. Many of these crashes result from a vehicle running off the road, as opposed to colliding with another vehicle. CTS researchers studied several years of statewide crash data and collected other information from TxDOT districts across Texas to better understand the causal factors, patterns and trends of these crashes. Researchers found that the proportion of roadway departure crashes in TxDOT districts varies from 25 percent to 52 percent of all crashes on rural two-lane rural highways, and that wider shoulder widths on horizontal curves has a significant positive impact on safety at those locations. Researchers also learned that the rate of these crashes is higher in some eastern regions of Texas than in those in the western half of the state, but that those regions that experience a high number of roadway departure crashes are not limited to a single area of the state. This greater understanding will help roadway engineers design, build and maintain rural roadways in the safest way possible.

For more information contact Dominique Lord.