Evaluation of Direct and Indirect Safety Effects of Speed-Limit Reduction on Urban Networks

Abstract

This study develops a set of crash modification factors (CMFs) to evaluate the effects of lowering urban-road speed limits on vehicle and pedestrian safety. Cross-sectional methods and observation before–after methods are used to develop CMFs. In general, a CMF estimates the expected change in the frequency of crashes after specific countermeasures are applied on the road. In this study, the safety improvement effect in the section adjacent to the applied section as well as the section for which the policy to lower the speed limit was applied were evaluated. The results indicate that lowering the speed limit is effective in reducing the number of crashes. In particular, the CMFs for crashes involving serious injury and death are 0.6656–0.7804 in the application sections and 0.7979–0.8273 in the adjacent sections. This means that lowering the speed limit can reduce not only the number of crashes but also the occurrence of serious crashes. This study can be used to promote safety by analyzing the effect of the policy to lower the speed limits in the future and can be applied to the evaluation of the effectiveness of various safety policies in cities.