Accident surrogates for use in analyzing highway safety hazards. Volume 1: Executive summary

The objective of the research project was to investigate the feasibility of using accident surrogate measures in highway safety analyses. An accident surrogate measure is defined as a quantifiable observation that can be used in place of or as a supplement to accident records. The study provides evidence that surrogate measures for accident experience can be identified. A procedure for developing and using accident surrogates is presented. Analyses were performed to develop such measures for hazardous location identification and countermeasures evaluation at rural isolated curves on two-lane roads, rural signalized intersections and two-lane tangent sections in urbanized areas.