Assessing the Impact of Weather on Traffic Intensity

Abstract This paper focuses on the effect of weather conditions on daily traffic intensities (the number of cars passing a specific segment of a road). The main objective is to examination whether or not weather conditions uniformly alter daily traffic intensities in Belgium, or in other words whether or not road usage on a particular location determines the size of the impacts of various weather conditions. This general examination is a contribution that allows policymakers to assess the appropriateness of countrywide versus local traffic management strategies. In addition, a secondary goal of this paper is to validate findings in international literature within a Belgian context. To achieve these goals, the paper analyzes the effects of weather conditions on both upstream (toward a specific location) and downstream (away from a specific location) traffic intensities at three traffic count locations typified by a different road usage. Perhaps the most interesting results of this study for policymakers ar...