Details:

Creators:
Dixon, Karen
Corporate Creators:
Georgia Institute of Technology
Subject/TRT Terms:
[+]
Accident Causes Collisions Fatalities Highway Factors In Accidents Seat Belts
Publication/ Report Number:
FHWA-GA-05-9815 ; 9815
FHWA-GA-05-9815 ; 9815 Less -
Resource Type:
Research Paper
Corporate Publisher:
Georgia. Dept. of Transportation
Abstract:
A significant safety issue in the United States is the substantial number of vehicle related crashes. The number of fatal

crashes in the southeastern portion of the U.S. (States of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North

Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee) is disproportionately higher than those for the entire country. In general, the

eight states collectively report approximately 26-percent of the total annual number of fatal automobile-related crashes in

the U.S. On average, the southeastern states experience an additional 30 fatalities per million vehicle miles traveled than

the U.S. average. The Federal Highway Administration and the eight southeastern states initiated a joint research effort

for the region to study this observed over-representation of fatal crashes.

Findings of the study suggest that improved features such as widening shoulders, enhancing delineation, and protecting

the clear zone would substantially reduce these fatal crashes. Some of the researchers recommended that additional

procedures and policies may be an appropriate countermeasure for wide-scale improvements. Countermeasures (physical

as well as political) were explicitly recommended to address two-lane rural roads, safety restraint use and fixed-object

crashes.

A supplemental finding was the presence of extensive pavement edge drop-offs for fatal crash sites in at least two of

the participating states. As this observation occurred as a result of field inspection and was not initially identified as a

target problem, it was not studied in great detail for this research effort but merits special comment since it is potentially a

significant finding of the study.


Format:
PDF
Collection(s):
US Transportation Collection
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:92d7ef549a836c283337922b6ae443f01a0c9a53fb2e5c140d697754495cb91b
Download URL:
https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/16513/dot_16513_DS1.pdf
File Type:

Supporting Files

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