Evaluating Accident Data for the Safety of Nighttime Construction in Southern California

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Evaluating Accident Data for the Safety of Nighttime Construction in Southern California

Higa, Lance / Kim, Jin-Lee

Fatal accidents during nighttime construction are major concerns in urban areas. Although nighttime construction is becoming more popular in many states, more data for nighttime work zone safety studies are needed to support the decision making process of construction and maintenance operations. Several studies have been conducted to investigate fatal accidents occurred during nighttime against daytime construction. In line with these needs, the main objective of this paper is to evaluate the fatal and injury collision data to investigate the differences between nighttime and daytime accidents. This paper focuses on the fatal and injury collisions in Orange and Riverside counties, which are major urban areas in Southern California from 2004 to 2008. The California Highway Patrol Data Base is used to conduct data analysis. No significant difference is found in fatality rates between daytime and nighttime for all fatal collisions over the five years. However, significant difference is found in injury rates between daytime and nighttime over the same period of time. The findings of this study can be used as an addition to the nighttime construction research domain that aims to increase safety of nighttime construction work zones.