Abstract:

It is very important to learn the overall characteristics and casualty condition of highway tunnels in China during operating phase. The 121 traffic accident cases of highway tunnel occurred from 2001 to 2017 are collected and analyzed; and all of the cases are classified according to locations, types, times and casualties. The study results show that: (1) The amount of accident is directly proportional to the quantity of highway passenger and freight in the area; but the proportion of accident amount is far greater than that of transportation in the Northwest China and South China. (2) The accidents are mainly vehicle collisions; and the amount of car accident is the most. (3) There are more accidents in January, April and May; and the accident rate is the highest during 16:00 to 18:00. (4) The maximum average number of the casualty is mainly occurred in the mediumlength tunnel (longer than 500 m and shorter than 1 000 m). Furthermore, based on the traffic accident casualty level grading, the impact weights of different factors on accident casualty are discussed. The most unfavorable combination resulting in the serious tunnel casualty is the superlong tunnel + truck passing through + rear end collision.

Key words: highway tunnel, traffic accident, operating phase, statistical analysis, impact weight, most unfavorable combination