Investigation of the factors affecting the crash frequency at four-legged signalized urban intersections

Abstract

Although intersections constitute a little space on the urban road network, they are the areas where traffic crashes are concentrated. In this study, the relationship between traffic volume, intersection geometry, traffic control characteristics and vehicular fatal/injury traffic crashes (without pedestrians) were examined for 39 four-legged signalized intersections in the city center of Mersin during 2014 to 2016. For this purpose, Poisson regression and negative binomial (NB) regression models were used. The results showed that total number of approach lanes increases the intersection crashes. On the other hand, the increase in ratio of traffic volumes between primary and secondary intersection legs reduces the intersection crashes. The presence of median on primary intersection legs also reduces the number of crashes.