An Investigation of Factors Associated with Motorcycle Crashes on Kansas’s State Highway System

In the United States during 2014, there were over six million police reported motor vehicle crashes, of which there were 29,989 fatal crashes and over 1.6 million injury crashes. Motorcycles, which compromise approximately 3.2% of all registered vehicles in the United States, were involved in 15.3% of the fatal crashes and 5.6% of the injury crashes. In Kansas, motorcycle crashes are around 1% of all crashes yet, they compromise 12.5% of all traffic fatalities. A motorcycle’s lack of restraint system and overall protection from the surrounding frame make them uniquely vulnerable to increased fatalities or injuries. While fatal and injury crashes compromise 22% of all crashes, with motorcycles that percentage increases to 84.5%. A typical motorcycle crash in Kansas occurs with no adverse weather conditions, in daylight, with no helmet and no alcohol / drug involvement. Using crash data provided by the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) from the years 2012 through 2015, the research team examined 1,340 motorcycle crashes. A logistic regression model was used to identify significant characteristics of these. No alcohol / drug use was found to be significant with fatal crashes as well as location and light conditions. Certain highway speed limits, Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT) volumes, age and light conditions were found to be significant for injury crashes.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ANF30 Standing Committee on Motorcycles and Mopeds.
• Authors:
  • Cunningham, Jack R
  • Fitzsimmons, Eric J
  • Dissanayake, Sunanda
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 97th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2018-1-7 to 2018-1-11
• Date: 2018

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 15p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash characteristics; Crash injuries; Fatalities; Helmet use; Motorcycles
• Geographic Terms: Kansas
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01663023
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 18-04516
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Mar 20 2018 5:06PM