IMPACT OF ETC ON TRAFFIC SAFETY AT TOLL PLAZA

Some researches and reports have indicated that electronic toll collection (ETC) system does contribute to traffic accidents at toll plazas. Oppositely, others showed that ETC system does improve the traffic safety at toll plazas. There are still no definite conclusions on safety impact. For establishing a basis of evaluating the benefit of ETC, the impact of ETC on traffic safety at toll plaza was studied in the paper. Firstly, related literatures were reviewed. Then the safety conditions at a toll plaza and the contributing factors of ETC to safety are discussed. Based on traffic crash data collected, it was indicated that ETC may result in the increase of crash number and more severe crashes could happen due to the high passing speed at ETC gates.