Sammendrag
The frequency of road traffic accidents varies significantly between regions. The variations are result of a complex interplay between drivers, vehicles and the environment. A common conception is that road bends are a major risk factor for traffic accidents. However, contrary to the common conception, resent studies from England and Wales shows that road curvature is associated with lower accident frequency when measured on a regional level. The objective of this study is to examine the impact of road curvature on road traffic accidents in Norway. Measures of road curvature are calculated based on algebraic methods and aggregated to the municipality level. Negative binominal regression models are used to explore the association between road curvature and the frequency of road traffic accidents in Norwegian municipalities. Applying a regional research design enable us to discover contextual relationships that otherwise, by using conventional designs, may be hidden. Preliminary results show that curvature has a protective effect on the frequency of traffic accident after controlling for other known risk factors. This support resent findings from England and Wales that road bends might be hazardous at one scale but protective at another.
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