SPEED AND ACCIDENTS

THE PURPOSE WAS TO COLLECT AND ANALYZE ACCIDENT AND SPEED DATA THAT WOULD QUANTIFY THE CORRELATION BETWEEN SPEED DEVIATION AND ACCIDENT RATES, AND TO DETERMINE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN SPEED DEVIATION AND OTHER FACTORS PRECIPITATING ACCIDENTS INCLUDING ENVIRONMENTAL TRAFFIC FLOW AND DRIVER CHARACTERISTICS. OVER A THIRTEEN MONTH PERIOD, 200 ACCIDENTS, INVOLVING 353 VEHICLES WERE INVESTIGATED ON THE STATE ROADS ON MONROE COUNTY, INDIANA. THE RESULTS CONFIRM THE HYPOTHESIS THAT SLOW AS WELL AS FAST DRIVING INCREASES THE LIKELIHOOD OF BEING INVOLVED IN AN ACCIDENT. UTILIZING RADAR AND THE COMPUTER-SENSOR SYSTEM DATA, TRAFFIC FLOW CHARACTERISTICS (MEAN SPEED, SPEED VARIABILITY, AND VOLUME) WERE EXAMINED FOR EACH OF THE ROADS INCLUDED IN THE STUDY. IT APPEARS THAT THE STUDY REINFORCES THE SETTING OF SPEED LIMITS AT THE 85TH PERCENTILE SPEED. THE MAJOR CONCLUSION RESULTING FROM THIS PROJECT IS THAT THE LIKELIHOOD OF BEING INVOLVED IN AN ACCIDENT IS INCREASED BY A FACTOR OF ABOUT 10 IF ONE IS DRIVING AT SPEEDS WHICH DEVIATE CONSIDERABLY, APPROXIMATELY 15 MPH, FROM THE MEAN SPEED OF THE TRAFFIC. /AUTHOR/

• Record URL:
  • https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/75134
• Record URL:
  • https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/75135
• Corporate Authors:

  Research Triangle Institute

  Research Triangle Pk, NC  United States 
• Publication Date: 1970

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Computers; Crash investigation; Crash rates; Crashes; Drivers; Driving; Human characteristics; Slow moving vehicles; Speed; Traffic flow
• Uncontrolled Terms: Driver characteristics
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00221287
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: Vol 1 and 2
• Files: NTL, TRIS, ATRI
• Created Date: Jun 11 1971 12:00AM