UTILITY POLES - A HIGHWAY SAFETY PROBLEM

Utility pole accidents and ways of reducing them are here discussed in the context of the highway safety problem and the roadside safety problem. The utility pole is the most frequently "hit" roadside fixed object. Recent studies have provided much information on the safety aspects of such poles. About a third of utility pole accidents are not reported. The expected annual rate of utility pole accidents per mile on a highway with 5,000 ADT (average daily traffic) and a pole density of 50 poles per mile is 1.4 when the offset is only 2 feet. The expected rate decreases to 0.2 when the offset is increased to 30 feet. A utility pole accident is 6 times more likely to result in a fatality and three times more likely to result in an injury than the average highway accident. Countermeasures to reduce such accidents are listed: burying lines; installing breakaway poles; installing guardrails in front of poles; increasing the lateral offset of the poles; and reducing the number of utility poles.