Reduction in Nonfatal Injury Crashes After Implementation of Anti-Icing Technology

Several published papers and studies have shown that adverse weather conditions contribute to motor vehicle crashes and have an overall negative effect on highway safety. No publications were found to demonstrate the positive effects of winter maintenance anti-icing policies on safety for an entire network, such as a state highway system. Following a decision in the 2005–2006 season, the Connecticut Department of Transportation (DOT) converted from deicing to anti-icing policies. In this paper, aggregated motor vehicle crashes with nonfatal injuries are analyzed graphically to determine if winter weather safety was affected by the Connecticut DOT’s switch from deicing with a sand–salt mix to anti-icing procedures that included switching to salt only. A survey of the states surrounding Connecticut provided evidence that the Connecticut DOT had applied winter deicing chemical types and quantities in a similar manner to its neighboring states. This Connecticut study concluded that crashes with nonfatal injur...