ABSTRACT

An analysis of published flood fatalities in Australia occurring between 1960 and 2015 revealed that 49% of 229 flood fatalities were vehicle related. After reviewing previous work on vehicle-related flood fatalities, this study examines attributes of roadways that may have influenced driver decisions to enter floodwaters and the survivability of people in vehicles that did so and concludes by discussing policy implications. Characteristics most frequently present were small upstream catchment length that may influence the rate of rise of floodwaters; the absence of roadside barricades; deep flooding immediately adjacent to the roadway; the absence of lighting; dipping road grades that lead floodwaters to increase once a vehicle enters them; the lack of curb and guttering and the inability of motorists to easily turn around. Each of these factors were observed in at least 50% of the cases studied and provide a risk-based means of assessing other sites vulnerable to flooding but where fatalities have not been observed to date.

摘要

对澳大利亚在1960年至2015年之间发生的洪灾死亡人数的分析表明，在229例洪灾死亡人数中，有49％与车辆有关。在回顾了先前与车辆相关的洪水致死率的工作之后，本研究研究了可能影响驾驶员进入洪水决策的道路属性以及这样做的人的生存能力，并通过讨论政策含义得出结论。最经常出现的特征是上游集水区的长度短，可能会影响洪水的上升速度。没有路边的路障；紧邻巷道的深水淹；没有照明；浸入的道路坡度导致一旦车辆进入洪水，洪水就会增加；缺乏限制和装订线，以及驾驶员无法轻易转身。