Abstract
Vision Zero is a multi-faceted road safety framework that aims to eliminate all traffic-induced fatalities and lifelong injuries. One aspect of achieving Vision Zero is choosing roadway speeds that do not exceed the biomechanical limits of crash-involved road users. Previous work has attempted to use speed-based metrics, such as the last recorded travel speed, to build injury risk prediction models to help inform safe speed selection. However, these metrics can be somewhat unreliable severity metrics in some crash modes and with some collision partners. Maximum delta-v (change in vehicle velocity during the crash) is a well-known indicator of crash severity but lacks a robust relationship to posted speed limits. The objective of this study was to quantify the relationship between posted speed limits and crash-involved road user injury risk based on maximum delta-v. Worst-case crash scenarios were developed for seven crash types to compute maximum delta-v. These maximum delta-v values were then applied to previously developed frontal, oblique, or rear crash injury risk prediction models. The injury risk values were parsed by crash type distributions to determine the total annual number of moderate to fatal injuries for a given roadway type and posted speed limit. These annual injury totals were then divided by the actual annual number of crashes to obtain injury-to-crash ratios, also known as injury modification factors. The result of this study was a tool that can inform posted speed limit selection by comparing safety benefits among various posted speed limit and roadway type combinations.
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