Intersection Illumination – Collision Correlation: How does street lighting affect roadway safety?

Authors

Josh R. Pinchek, Ohio Northern UniversityFollow

Abstract

Understanding the relationship between roadway intersection safety and street lighting is essential to developing effective intersection lighting standards. This study uses data from the Ohio Department of Transportation’s (ODOT) Accident Databases (1 million+ accidents over 10 years) to explore the relationship between street lamps and accident occurrence via comparative statistics. Accident occurrence ratios, calculated based upon seasonally categorized, time-matched accident data are compared and reported with and without artificial lighting as a variable.

The results of the study indicate that artificial lighting is an important factor on accident rate occurrence via a correlation between lighting and roadway safety, guiding the opportunity for more research to recommend future lighting standards at Ohio’s intersections.

Recommended Citation

Pinchek, Josh R. (2020) "Intersection Illumination – Collision Correlation: How does street lighting affect roadway safety?," Aurora: Vol. 1: Iss. 1, Article 4.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.onu.edu/aurora/vol1/iss1/4