Real-Time Estimation of Accident Likelihood for Safety Enhancement

Unlike conventional traffic safety studies that focused on histrionic data analyses, this study attempts to identify traffic conditions that might lead to a traffic accident from real-time freeway traffic data. An innovative feature of the study is to apply the concept, real-time and preaccident, to accident studies by integrating real-time capabilities in advanced traffic management and information systems (ATMIS). In this study, the traffic conditions leading to more accidents are defined as real-time accident likelihood, and the accident likelihood is estimated by employing a nonparametric Bayesian model. The main goal of the study is to remove hazardous traffic condition prior to accident occurrence by incorporating the real-time accident likelihood into ATMIS. This study estimates real-time accident likelihood from empirical data on I-880 freeway in California, and shows its applicability as an accident precursor.