Citation

Humphreys JB, Wheeler DJ, Box PC, Sullivan TD. Transp. Res. Rec. 1979; 722: 26-35.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1979, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences USA, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The research was intended to examine relations among parking configurations (angle, parallel, or no parking), parking density, traffic flow, street width, pedestrian activity, and highway safety. The variables found in this research to be associated with accident rates include (a) functional classification of streets, (b) parking use, and (c) abutting land use. An important and surprising fact is that parking configuration did not emerge as a variable that in itself was related to accident rate. Increased parking use was found to result in significantly higher accident rates, as many as 900,000 space hours per kilometer per year (1,500,000 sdpace hours per mile per year). Streets abutting land uses that generate high parking turnovers and pedestrian activity have higher accident rates than those abutting lower-intensity land uses. Heavily used parallel-parking areas were found to have accident rates comparable to heavily used high-angle-parking areas. Prohibition of parking resulted in the lowest accident rates measured. Parking-related midblock accidents accounted for 49 percent of all accidents along major streets, 68 percent along collector streets, and 72 percent along local streets.