Over the century, the Korean Peninsula temperatures have risen by 1.6 degrees Celsius, which is twice as rapid as the global average. Abnormal climate changes may cause continuous damage to society worldwide. During winter, traffic accidents are cause...
Over the century, the Korean Peninsula temperatures have risen by 1.6 degrees Celsius, which is twice as rapid as the global average. Abnormal climate changes may cause continuous damage to society worldwide. During winter, traffic accidents are caused by complex risk factors such as topographical features, road traffic characteristics, and environmental factors. Traffic accidents caused by freezing occur mainly at points where the mentioned risk factors are vulnerable. Therefore, investigating the factors that affect the accident severity in frozen road sections is necessary to prevent accidents. This study presents measures for improving safety factors that can affect accident injury severity during freeway freezing accidents. An ordered probit model was used to determine the stochastic impact of accident severity. Factors affecting the severity of traffic accidents in winter and non-winter derived the probabilistic influence relationship of the accident severity. The results show that the probability of accidents due to wet road surfaces, and bridge sections vulnerable to freezing due to decreased road surface temperature during winter, is higher than that in non-winter seasons.
The results of this study can be beneficial for maintaining roads and establishing operational strategies during winter to reduce the severity and the occurrence of freezing-related accidents on freeways.