Analysis of Freeway Accident Frequency using Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines

This study applies nonparametric multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS) modeling technique to explore the effects of nonbehavior factors including highway geometrics characteristics, traffic factors as well as environmental conditions on freeway accidents. 2007-2008 accident data of National Freeway 1 in Taiwan were collected for analysis. The results indicate that horizontal alignment, vertical alignment, average daily traffic volume (ADT), heavy vehicle ADT and annual precipitation have are nonlinear effects on freeway accidents.