Safety effects of freeway hard shoulder running

Abstract

Hard shoulder running (HSR) has been increasingly used as a sustainable and viable way to increase road capacity. This study investigated the safety effect of HSR on freeways in South Korea using the empirical Bayes method. This study found an increase in the total number of crashes. In terms of crash severity, a higher proportion of crashes (25.3%) on 2(3)-lane sections were found to be serious (involving injuries and/or fatalities) compared to those on 4(5)-lane sections (3.6%). Also, a positive relationship was found between the length of the hard shoulder running and changes in crash frequencies. Thus, hard shoulder running on lengthy 2(3)-lane freeways should be avoided.