HIGHWAY ACCIDENT STATISTICS

OF THE 90,000 ACCIDENTAL FATALITIES IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1926, MOTOR VEHICLES WERE INVOLVED IN 23,000. THE NATIONAL TOTAL OF SUCH FATALITIES HAS BEEN INCREASING BY ABOUT 5% ANNUALLY. PEDESTRIANS ACCOUNT FOR 66% OF THE FATALITIES IN CITIES AND 50% IN RURAL AREAS. RAILROAD GRADE CROSSINGS ACCOUNT FOR ABOUT 9% OF THE FATALITIES. REPORTING PROCEDURES FOR TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS VARY WIDELY AMONG THE STATES AND IN ALL BUT A HANDFUL OF CASES ARE WOEFULLY INADEQUATE. IN 1924 THE STATISTICS COMMITTEE OF THE NATIONAL SAFETY COUNCIL PREPARED A STANDARD ACCIDENT REPORTING SYSTEM THAT HAS NOW BEEN ACCEPTED BY NEW YORK AND NORTH CAROLINA AND 59 CITIES. THE SYSTEM COMPRISES TWO PRINCIPAL UNITS, A FORM FOR REPORTING INDIVIDUAL ACCIDENTS AND A FORM FOR MAKING MONTHLY AND YEARLY TABULATIONS. THESE FORMS ARE DESCRIBED, AND THE VALUE OF DESCRIBING THE CAUSE OF AND ASSIGNING RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ACCIDENT ARE DISCUSSED FROM THE STANDPOINT OF HIGHWAY ENGINEERING.

• Record URL:
  • https://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/hrbproceedings/7/7-005.pdf
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Vol 7, Part I, PP 45-50; part of Report of Committee on Causes and Prevention of Highway Accidents. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
• Authors:
  • Williams, S J
• Publication Date: 1928

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Monograph Title: Proceedings of the Seventh Annual Meeting of the Highway Research Board Held at Washington, D.C. December 1-2, 1927. Part I: Reports of Research Committees and of Special Investigations and Papers
• Serial:
  • Highway Research Board Proceedings
  • Volume: 7
  • Publisher: Highway Research Board

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash causes; Crash reports; Fatalities; Railroad grade crossings; Statistics; Traffic crashes
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Railroads; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00220983
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: Part 1
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Jul 25 1971 12:00AM