This paper presents and analyses information, collected from eleven countries by the Working Group on Traffic and Geometry of the PIARC Committee on Road Tunnels, to update previous data on road safety in tunnels. Global information on road safety was collected. In addition, various members of the Group made special studies of various structures, to allow the detailed analysis of problems related to breakdowns, accidents, and fires in tunnels, and apply this information to tunnel design and operation. Tables of survey results are given for many specific tunnels, classifed into: (1) heavily trafficked urban tunnels, most of which are unidirectional; (2) unidirectional motorway tunnels; and (3) bidirectional rural tunnels. Each table entry for a tunnel gives data about: (1) period of study; (2) annual traffic; (3) breakdowns; (4) damage-only accidents; (5) injury accidents; (6) numbers of injured people; (7) numbers of fatalities; and (8) fires. Further tables are included in the detailed analyses later in the paper. The many specific topics considered there include: (1) the causes, durations, detection, and consequences of breakdowns; (2) breakdowns in very long tunnels; (3) the time distribution and other characteristics of accidents; (4) causes of accidents; (5) causes of fires; and (6) effects of fires.
Abstract