SPR 22-631, Impact of Real-Time Weather Information on Traffic Safety in Kentucky

PROBLEM STATEMENT The Kentucky Mesonet provides real-time weather and atmospheric information every 5 minutes. The impact of real-time weather on traffic crashes and severity in Kentucky is deemed essential for incident management to help the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) display the relevant information to Kentucky drivers traveling on the interstates to improve safety and reduce the number of collisions. The proposed project herein will be statewide in nature and aims to use the microscopic data from the Mesonet stations to understand patterns in traffic crashes and investigate the relationship between traffic crashes and real-time atmospheric variables. OBJECTIVES • Investigate the correlation between various real-time weather and climate variables (e.g., humidity, temperature, precipitation, and wind speed) from observations taken from the Kentucky Mesonet and the level of crash severity. • Identify the significant weather-related variables (as provided by the real-time climatological observations from the Kentucky Mesonet stations) affecting crash severity in Kentucky by fitting a mixed logit regression model (which is a crash injury severity model). • Suggest potential recommendations for KYTC to feed to the dynamic message signs “DMS” in real-time to improve safety during specific adverse weather scenarios. • Propose a trigger mechanism for KYTC to notify travelers about potential weather-related safety risks.