Calculation of the Roadside Clear Zone Width along Highways Based on the Safe Slope

Abstract

International crash data indicate that roadside characteristics contribute to more than half of all roadside accidents involving serious injury or death. Therefore, research on roadside safety is urgently needed. Based on the vehicle departure speed, pavement height (i.e., the difference between pavement elevation and ground elevation), slope gradient, and horizontal curve radius, this study uses PC-Crash simulation software to carry out tests of trucks and cars exiting a road. A chi-squared automatic interaction detection (CHAID) decision tree is used to explore the causative mechanism of vehicle rollover, and the concept of a “safe slope” to ensure that vehicles do not roll over is proposed. Aiming at straight and curved sections, discriminant functions of vehicle rollover and nonrollover are fitted through Bayesian discriminant analysis, and safe slope calculation models for trucks and cars are then constructed. Based on the obtained safe slope models, calculation methods for the safe slope and the roadside clear zone width involving different traffic compositions are proposed by calibrating the lateral distance from the final position of nonrollover vehicles to the road edge. The results show that the factors affecting vehicle rollover are, in descending order of importance, the slope gradient, pavement height, vehicle type, departure speed, and horizontal curve radius. For a section with a large proportion of cars, the slope gradient should not be steeper than 1:3.5. The horizontal curve radius should not be less than 600 m for a section with a large proportion of trucks and a slope gradient steeper than 1:3.5 or shallower than 1:2.5. Additionally, for a section with a pavement higher than 0.5 m and a slope gradient steeper than 1:2.5, the operating speed limit should be lower than 60 km/h. These research results have theoretical value and practical significance to improve the driving safety level and reducing the risk of roadside accidents.