Road work zone accident studies : Advanced Research On Road Work Zone Safety Standard in Europe ARROWS Task 2.2 internal report. On behalf of the European Union, Directorate-General for Transport DG VII-E3, Transport RTD Programme.

The primary objective of this study, part of the ARROWS (Advanced Research on Road Work Zone Safety Standards in Europe) project, is to draw conclusions about the nature and extent of work zone traffic accidents. To that end, existing empirical studies concerning work zone traffic accidents have been collected and reviewed, as well as literature reviews of such. Drawing conclusions was hampered by a dearth of studies with sufficient sample sizes and adequate use of statistical techniques. Questions can also be raised about the adequacy of data collection procedures. In addition, results from different (even adequately done) studies were often contradictory and/or confusing. Nevertheless, a number of (tentative) conclusions may be drawn, for instance: (1) Accident rates in work zones are higher than in similar, non-work zone situations; (2) Work zone accidents are mainly often associated with fair weather and daylight conditions. Rear-end accidents seem to be especially common; (3) There is quite likely some structure in intra-work zone accident rates; (4) Work zones on the road side do not necessarily have any negative safety impact; and (5) different road types, with and without work zones, have different accident rates. However, the study could not clearly establish a differential safety effect