Relative safety of alternative intersection designs

Accidents at intersections in Queensland accounted for 45% of total accidents and 19% of fatal accidents on the State roads in 2002. The number of accidents at intersections is purported to be primarily correlated to the number of conflict points but geometric characteristics also influence intersection safety. Queensland Transport database of reported accidents over the past ten years has been used in this study to investigate the contribution of intersection design and characteristics on the relative safety of intersections. Queensland Transport's road crash database, WebCrash2, has been used to analyse the accident records at intersections in the Townsville region. The detailed analysis has included road user, vehicle type, collision type, BAC, use of seat belt and intersection type.