Intersection Safety

Research reports and other resources regarding intersection safety

• Comprehensive Intersection Resource Library
  Federal Highway Administration, 2010
  This Web site covers topics in five broad categories: traditional signalized intersections, traditional unsignalized intersections, roundabouts, highway/rail grade crossings, and alternative intersection designs such as single-point intersections.
• Crash Impact of Smooth Lane Narrowing with Rumble Strips at Two-Lane Rural Stop-Controlled Intersections
  Federal Highway Administration, 2010
  FHWA-HRT-10-047
  This TechBrief examines a treatment to reduce approach speeds at unsignalized intersections on two-lane rural roads by narrowing lanes using rumble strips in the median and on the right-lane edge.
• Automated Enforcement of Red-Light Running & Speeding Laws in Minnesota: Bridging Technology and Public Policy (PDF)
  University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies, CTS Research Brief 2010-01
  This research brief examines how Minnesota can reduce deaths and injuries on its roadways—along with the significant financial cost of traffic crashes—using automated enforcement. Additionally, it looks at the challenges of implementing automated enforcement for speeding and red-light running and how to overcome them.
• Guidelines for Selection of Speed Reduction Treatments at High-Speed Intersections (PDF)
  Transportation Research Board, 2008
  NCHRP Report 613
  This report evaluates the effectiveness of treatments to reduce vehicle speeds at high-speed intersections.
• Strategies to Address Nighttime Crashes at Rural, Unsignalized Intersections (PDF)
  Center for Transportation Research and Education, Iowa State University, 2008
  IHRB Project TR-540, CTRE Project 05-220
  Citizens request the installation of roadway lighting in their communities based on several motivations, including the experience or perception that lighting improves traffic safety and reduces crime, while also providing a tangible benefit of taxpayer dollars at work. Roadway authority staff fully appreciate these citizen concerns; however, roadway lighting is expensive to install, supply energy to, and maintain in perpetuity. The installation of roadway lighting is only one of a number of strategies agencies have to address nighttime crash concerns. This research assists local agencies in deciding when, where, and how much rural intersection lighting to provide.
• Intersection Decision Support: An Overview
  Minnesota Department of Transportation, 2007
  MN/RC 2007-33
  Discusses the four main research results of the Rural IDS research program. Rural Intersection Decision Support (IDS) focuses on enhancing the driver's ability to successfully negotiate rural intersections.
• Safety Effects of Offset Right-Turn Lanes at Rural Expressway Intersections (PDF)
  Iowa State University, 2007
  Examines offset right-turn lane implementation at three two-way stop controlled rural expressway intersections and documents their safety performance using naive before-after crash data analysis. The results show that offset right-turn lanes can be effective in reducing the frequency of near-side right-angle collisions occurring at TWSC rural expressway intersections.
• Stopping Behavior at Real-World Stop-Controlled Intersections with and without In-Lane Rumble Strips
  Minnesota Local Road Research Board, 2006
  MnDOT 2006-42 This was the third in a series of studies investigating various aspects of rumble strips.
• Safety Impact of Street Lighting at Isolated Rural Intersections (PDF)
  Minnesota Department of Transportation, 2004
  Many Minnesota highway agencies do not routinely install or maintain streetlights at rural intersections or retain formal warrants or guidelines for installation. This study was initiated to evaluate the effectiveness of rural street lighting in reducing nighttime crashes at isolated rural intersections so that Minnesota agencies have more information to make lighting decisions.
• Reducing Crashes at Controlled Rural Intersections
  Minnesota Local Road Research Board, 2003
  MN/RC 2003-15
  This report is the culmination of a project intended to provide an initial exploration into ways to reduce crashes by manipulating the infrastructure.
• Crash Models for Rural Intersections: Four-Lane by Two-lane Stop-Controlled and Two-lane by Two-lane Signalized
  Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), 1999
  FHWA-RD-99-128
  This report describes the collection, analysis, and modeling of crash and roadway data for intersections on rural roads in California and Michigan for the years 1993-1995.
• Estimation of Safety at Two-way Stop-controlled Intersections on Rural Highways
  Transportation Research Board, 1993
  The application of the generalized linear modeling approach to the development of a model relating unsignalized intersection traffic demands to accident frequency is described. Several techniques for assessing model fit have been described and any inherent limitations noted.
• Low-Cost Innovative Approaches to Improve Safety at Unsignalized Intersections on 4-Lane Divided Highways
  Intersection crashes represent a significant portion of total crashes nationwide, accounting for an average of 9,000 fatalities and 1.5 million injuries annually. Without resorting to roundabouts or grade separations, there are a number of relatively low-cost approaches (either already in use in other countries or that could be developed) to improve the safety of unsignalized intersections on four-lane divided highways.