Analysis of Vehicle Breakdown Frequency and Duration
A Case Study of New South Wales, Australia
Traffic incidents such as crashes, vehicle breakdowns, and hazards impact traffic speeds and induce congestion. Recognizing the factors that influence the frequency of these traffic incidents is helpful in proposing countermeasures. There have been several studies on evaluating crash frequencies. However, research on other incident types is sparse. Here, we identify critical variables that affect the frequency and duration of reported vehicle breakdowns in New South Wales, Australia.
The results indicate that increases in population density, the number of registered vehicles, the number of public holidays, average temperature, the percentage of heavy vehicles, and percentage of white-collared jobs in an area increase the number of breakdowns. On the other hand, an increase in the percentage of unrestricted driving licenses and families with children, number of school holidays, and average rainfall decrease the breakdown frequency.
With regards to breakdown duration, road network connectivity, hierarchy, and familiarity factors have mixed (both positive and negative) impact on duration; higher road network density, mixed land-use, and spatial disorientation of roads are associated with longer duration; and higher income and exposure (vehicle kilometres travelled) are associated with shorter duration.
Papers:
- Chand, S., Moylan, E., Waller, S. T., & Dixit, V. (2020). Analysis of vehicle breakdown frequency: A case study of new south wales, Australia. Sustainability (Switzerland), 12(19). doi:10.3390/su12198244
- Chand, S., Li, Z., Dixit, V. V., & Travis Waller, S. (2021). Examining the macro-level factors affecting vehicle breakdown duration. International Journal of Transportation Science and Technology. doi:10.1016/j.ijtst.2021.03.003
For more information please contact:
Dr Sai Chand
E: saichand.chakka@unsw.edu.au
