Accident Data Analysis in Support of Collision Avoidance Technologies

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Accident Data Analysis in Support of Collision Avoidance Technologies

K. L. Campbell / A. C. Wolfe / D. F. Blower / P. F. Waller / D. L. Massie

The report summarizes the results of an effort to develop and rank collision scenarios. Review of existing literature showed that there has been relatively little work in the area. In exploring and building collision scenarios, police-reported accident files from Michigan and Washington were used, along with data from the National Accident Sampling System, and the Crash Avoidance Research Data file. The project focused on common accidents of ordinary drivers. Ultimately, the project was restricted to passenger car accidents which did not involve pedestrians or pedalcyclists, and drivers who hod not been drinking or indicated to have been driving recklessly. An 18-level collision configuration variable was constructed which included the number of vehicles involved, their relative orientation, intent to turn, relation to intersection, and traffic control at the intersection. Distributions of the variable were determined for driver age, area type (urban or rural), road type, and light condition. The distributions were quite stable across the four data sets. Five collision types-single-vehicle, nonintersection; crossing paths at signalized intersection; crossing paths at non-signalixed intersection; driveway/parking related; and same direction, non-intersection-accounted for about two-thirds of the accidents.