Paper Details

TRB 91st Annual Meeting (January 22-26, 2012)

Event Number:	432
Event Title:	Research for the Sake of Safety
Event Date:	Jan 23 2012 7:30PM- 9:30PM
Event Location:	Marriott, Virginia A
Event Description:
Event Agenda:

Braking News: Link Between Crash Severity and Crash Avoidance Maneuvers (12-1435)

Research on crash severity focuses on a variety of determinants, but the link between crash severity and crash avoidance maneuvers remains unraveled. This study focuses on this link by examining single-vehicle crashes extracted from the General Estimates System (GES) crash database for the period 2005-2009. Various emergency lateral and speed control maneuvers are considered in response to different critical events that made the crash imminent. Partial proportional odds models are estimated to accommodate the ordered-response nature of severity while allowing for changes in effects across severity levels. Results show the correlation between crash avoidance maneuvers and crash severity, with differences emerging when analyzing different critical events. Moreover, results show two trends: (i) most drivers do not perform any action when facing critical events, de facto waiving the opportunity to mitigate crash severity, and (ii) drivers rarely perform crash avoidance maneuvers that are correlated with higher probability of lower crash severity. These trends suggest that effort should be posed toward understanding the reaction mechanisms to different critical events, improving in-vehicle warning systems, promoting responsible driving behavior, and designing forgiving infrastructure.

Authors
     Kaplan, Sigal , Technical University of Denmark
     Prato, Carlo Giacomo, Technical University of Denmark