Journal of Korean Society of Transportation ISSN:1229-1366(Print) 2234-4217(Online) 대한교통학회지

In the past 10 years, the accidents caused by drowsy driving have occupied about 23% of all traffic accidents in Korea expressway network and this rate is the highest one among all accident causes. Unlike other types of accidents caused by speeding and distraction to the road, the accidents by drowsy driving should be managed differently because the drowsiness might not be controlled by human's will. To reduce the number of accidents caused by drowsy driving, researchers previously focused on the spot based analysis. However, what we actually need is a segment (link) and occurring time based analysis, rather than spot based analysis. Hence, this research performs initial effort by adapting link concept in terms of drowsy driving on highway. First of all, we analyze the accidents caused by drowsy in historical accident data along with their road environments. Then, links associate with driving time are analyzed using digital tachograph (DTG) data. To carry this out, negative binomial regression models, which are broadly used in the field, including highway safety manual, are used to define the relationship between the number of traffic accidents on expressway and drivers’ behavior derived from DTG. From the results, empirical Bayes (EB) and potential for safety improvement (PSI) analysis are performed for potential risk segments of accident caused by drowsy driving on the future. As the result of traffic accidents caused by drowsy driving, the number of the traffic accidents increases with increase in annual average daily traffic (AADT), the proportion of trucks, the amount of DTG data, the average proportion of speeding over 20km/h, the average proportion of deceleration, and the average proportion of sudden lane-changing.