TIRE DISABLEMENTS AND ACCIDENTS ON A HIGH-SPEED ROAD

STATISTICS ARE PRESENTED FROM A TIRE STUDY OF THE TRAFFIC INSTITUTE DEALING WITH TIRE CONTRIBUTION TO ACCIDENTS ON HIGH-SPEED ROADS. FLAT TIRES CONTRIBUTE TO ONLY BETWEEN 0.9 AND 2.4% OF AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENTS ON EXPRESSWAYS. OF 1,486 RECORDED AUTO ACCIDENTS ON THE ILLINOIS TOLLWAY IN ONE YEAR, NO MORE THAN 36 (2.42 PERCENT) AND POSSIBLY AS FEW AS 13 (0.88 PERCENT) FOLLOWED FLAT TIRES, ACCORDING TO THE STUDY. NO FATALITIES WERE INVOLVED IN ACCIDENTS WHICH DEFINITELY FOLLOWED A TIRE DISABLEMENT. BLOWOUTS WERE SHOWN NO MORE LIKELY TO CAUSE ACCIDENTS THAN FLATS. TIRES MOST LIKELY TO GO FLAT INCLUDE: WORN TIRES, TIRES WITH VISIBLE EXTERNAL CRACKS OR BLISTERS, AND REAR TIRES. MORE TIRES WERE FOUND TO BE DISABLED IN WARM WEATHER. IT IS CONCLUDED THAT TIRE DISABLEMENTS APPEAR TO BE OVERREPORTED AS A FACTOR IN ACCIDENTS. TIRES WERE FOUND TO HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO 11% OF THE SINGLE-VEHICLE ACCIDENTS.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Vol 16, No 4, PP 3-8
• Authors:
  • Baker, J S
  • Mcilraith, G D
• Publication Date: 1968-4

Media Info

• Serial:
  • TRAFFIC DIGEST AND REVIEW
  • Publisher: Northwestern University, Evanston

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Blowouts; Crash causes; Failure; Seasons; Single vehicle crashes; Tires; Traffic crashes
• Uncontrolled Terms: Flat tires; Seasonal variations
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00220110
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 15 1994 12:00AM