Overall Fatality Risk to the Public at Large Related to National Weight Mix of Passenger Cars

Details

• Creators:
  Mengert, Peter ; Borener, S.
• Corporate Creators:
  John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (U.S.)
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Automobiles
  • Vehicle weight
  • Vehicles by weight
  • Fatalities
  • Vehicle safety
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Edition:
  Final Report
• Corporate Publisher:
  United States. Department of Transportation. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• Abstract:
  This report addresses the question of the effect on the fatality risk to the public at ; large due to shifts in the weight distributions of passenger cars. For example, if the ; weight o f the average passenger car were decreased would fatalities increase? If so, ; by how much? Past studies have stressed the effect s on occupants. But even if ; heavier cars are safer for their occupants the effect on occupants "of other vehicles ; and pedestrians may be affected differently. " ; In this study, fatalities are normalized by registrations in 6 passenger car weight ; classes. On remultiplying by hypothetical numbers o f registered vehicles, fatality ; projections pertaining to hypothetical fleet mixes can be calculated and compared. ; When fatalities from various base years are used, a range of estimates can be formed ; in an attempt to examine the basic question. ; When this program is carried out using FARS fatal accident data for the years from ; 1978 to 1987, the estimates indicate that the heavier hypothetical fleet (based on a ; 1978 mix) is probably safer for the public as a whole than the lighter hypothetical ; fleet (based on 1987). A quantitative estimate is hard to j ust i f y, but our results very ; roughly suggest a 3% advantage in saf et y for the heavier fleet. ; When the results are broken down by accident type, they are variable: fatalities in ; single vehicle accidents would probably be considerably less in the heavier fleet, while ; pedestrian deaths may actually be less for the lighter fleet. ; Because of the difficulty of the question and the inability to control confounding ; factors, all estimates here must be considered tentative and no great accuracy should ; be ascribed to them.
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• Format:
  PDF
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/8619/dot_8619_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.19 MB]
• Collection(s):
  Volpe Center
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:43cf0231900534eb14e58aa2d0bb74c8a1d623d9cb9fac287b30bbfe0fa4fe3b8f7e1f158286b7c587bdca936d96b4acc978b14a811af1a8fb991823133307de