Abstract
Freeway tunnel safety has drawn attention from safety researchers in recent years after several severe tunnel accidents occurred. It is perceived that freeway tunnel safety contains two aspects: tunnel safety during the construction period and freeway tunnel operation risks for tunnels that have opened to traffic. To better investigate the freeway tunnel operation risk, it is crucial to know the actual causative factors of tunnel accidents both quantitatively and qualitatively. A lack of adequate quantitative analysis of tunnel accidents in China has been a problem. This research introduces quantitative causative analysis into tunnel accidents analysis. Tunnel accident data collected from three consecutive tunnels at Shaoguan section of the G4 Freeway from 2003.2-2004.1 are analyzed via fault tree analysis. Causative factors for selected freeway tunnel accidents, specifically rear-end accidents in this case study, are therefore grouped and quantified. Results of our analysis indicate that human factors are mathematically shown to contribute most significantly in triggering rear-end tunnel accidents. Other causative factors related to the tunnel environment and vehicular malfunctions are also quantified and ranked. Therefore, a series of recommendations targeting the most critical weak points within the tunnel operation system are raised.
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