Comparison of threshold determination methods for the deceleration rate to avoid a crash (DRAC)-based crash estimation

There is an increased interest in the use of traffic conflicts as a surrogate safety measure and several traffic conflict indicators have been developed. One of these indicators is the deceleration rate to avoid a crash (DRAC). Generally, the greater the DRAC value, the higher the crash risk and a crash would occur when the DRAC exceeds the maximum available deceleration rate (MADR). It is noted that the MADR varies considerably for individual vehicles and depends on many factors such as the pavement conditions, vehicle weight, tire, and the braking system. Previous studies usually either set a specific value for the MADR or randomly sample values from a truncated normal distribution of MADR. However, little is known about which threshold determination approach is better. Therefore, this study aims to compare the threshold determination approaches for DRAC-based crash estimation applying Bayesian hierarchical extreme value modeling. Using traffic conflict and crash data collected from four signalized intersections in the city of Surrey, several Bayesian hierarchical models are developed for five specific values of MADR and values from two truncated normal distributions of MADR. The crash frequencies estimated from these models were compared with observed crashes. The results show that, in terms of DRAC-based crash estimation accuracy, the truncated normal distribution N(8.45, 1.4²)I(4.23, 12.68) of MADR outperforms other determination methods of MADR. Moreover, in terms of DRAC-based crash estimation accuracy and precision, the use of multisite Bayesian hierarchical models outperforms the at-site models. The truncated normal distribution N(8.45, 1.4²)I(4.23, 12.68) of MADR is therefore recommended for DRAC-based crash estimation.