Transport Research Arena Europe 2008, Ljubljana Weather induced road accidents, winter maintenance and user information

In Northern Europe, Scandinavia and in mountainous areas elsewhere in Europe, a considerable portion of road accidents has adverse weather (e.g. strong winds, snow and ice) as a primary or a contributing cause. In future climate, wind will probably appear as a more serious and frequent threat to road traffic than in present climate. Another consequence of climate change on road traffic is the northward migration of the de-icing zone, which in turn calls for continuous adaption of winter maintenance procedures. Mitigating measures against this accident category may consist of intense winter maintenance, the use of road weather information systems for data collection and early warnings, besides driver education, road surveillance and traffic control. While hazard from reduced road friction due to snow and ice may be eliminated by snow removal and de-icing measures, the effect of strong winds on road traffic are not easily avoided. Forced road closures due to strong winds may have serious impacts on society and should therefore be kept to a minimum. Therefore, knowledge on the relationship between wind exposure and traffic safety should be enhanced. The purpose of the study described here, was to investigate the relationship between traffic safety, weather, user information on road weather an