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Title	COST OF HIGHWAY WORK ZONE INJURIES
Accession No	00923127
Authors	Mohan, S B; Gautam, P
Journal Title	Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction Vol. 7 No. 2
Corp. Authors / Publisher	American Society of Civil Engineers
Publication Date	20020500
Description	p. 68-73; Figures(7); References; Tables(7)
Languages	English
Abstract	Two types of accidents occur in highway work zones (HWZs): those involving construction workers (30% of HWZ accidents) and those involving motorists outside the construction area (70% of HWZ accidents). Construction/maintenance workers suffer ~27,000 first-aid injuries and 26,000 lost-time injuries/year at a total cost of $2.46 billion, while motorists suffer ~700 fatalities, 40,000 injuries, and 52,000 property-damage-only accidents, at a total cost of $6.2 billion/year. HWZ fatalities per billion dollars spent cost at least 4 times more than in total U.S. construction . This paper presents brief details of the various injury types and their cost estimates. While the highway traffic fatality rate has been declining by ~3.3/year since 1960, and construction fatalities have been decreasing by ~6%/year since 1970, HWZ fatalities have stayed constant at ~700 deaths/year. Using available databases, it was found that: 1) the average direct cost of a motorist's injury is estimated at $3,687; and 2) an overturned vehicle has the largest average cost of $12,627, followed by a rear-end collision averaging $5,541. Analysis of causes of these traffic accidents showed that driver error was the most expensive precrash activity, with an average cost of $7,676, and read-end collisions are the most common (31%) vehicle crashes, followed by "hit-small-object" collisions at 11%.
TRT Terms	Accident data ; Accident rates ; Construction sites ; Costs ; Fatalities ; Highway safety ; Highway transportation ; Injuries ; Injury rates ; Injury types ; Occupational safety ; Traffic accidents ; Work zone safety ; Work zones
Subject Areas	H51 SAFETY; I80 Accident Studies; I84 Personal Injuries
Availability	American Society of Civil Engineers Find a library where document is available Order Document: http://worldcat.org/issn/10840680
TRIS Files	HRIS
Database	TRIS Online

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