This report deals with the results of the first phase of the Road Safety at Roadworks study that CROW has commissioned SWOV to carry out. It consists of a literature study and a review of useful sources for crash data and data of road works. The main goals are (1) increasing insight into the number, nature, and causes of road crashes at roadworks and (2) constructing a more detailed plan for the second phase of the project: a crash analysis of recent crashes at roadworks in the Netherlands. The literature studied does not provide a clear conclusion on the influence of roadworks on the risk of a crash or the crash severity. However, most studies found an increase in the risk of a crash or the number of crashes at roadworks. The crash severity seems to be lower in case of roadwork. With regard to the crash types, rear-end collisions are the most common at roadworks. Speeding is the most frequently mentioned cause of crashes in roadwork situations. However, systematic research on the occurrence of roadworks crashes is rare. What is more, in most cases the direct relation between crashes and roadworks is unclear. Prolonged roadworks and roadworks along a long stretch of road seem to have a lower crash risk. At nighttime the crash risk is relatively high. The work zone area of roadworks has the highest crash risk. Also locations in urban areas where traffic turns from a side road onto a through-road with roadworks have higher risks. The review shows that the most important source of crash data is BRON, the official police crash registration that is processed by the Transport Research Centre (AVV) of the Ministry of Transport.
Abstract