STUDY OF RAN-OFF-ROADWAY FATAL ACCIDENTS IN LOUISIANA

Thirty ran-off-roadway single-vehicle fatal accidents in an eight-parish area of Louisiana were studied by an interdisciplinary team. This team consisted of a highway engineer and the research director (authors of this paper), an automotive specialist, a psychologist, a sociologist, and two state police officers. Three-fourths of these accidents occurred on curved two-lane rural highways. More than one-half of the accident sites had roadside hazards within 20 ft. of the pavement. No vehicle defects were found to cause any accident. Young, white, male drivers who have no more than a high school education and came from a working class family were particularly susceptible to an accident of this type. An epidemiological conceptual model of accidents was adopted to evaluate the interaction of the agent (vehicle), the host (driver), and the environment (physical and social). The evaluation showed that, although the vehicle and highway can contribute to the severity of an accident, the human factor is the major contributor to the accident. Countermeasures to reduce the number of ran-off-roadway accidents will require strategies for changing the behavior of susceptible drivers, primarily through law enforcement and educational programs. Reduction of the severity of these accidents will require manipulation of situational (engineering) factors related to the vehicle and physical environment. (Author)

• Record URL:
  • http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1982/847/847-002.pdf
• Record URL:
  • https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=STUDY+OF+RAN-OFF-ROADWAY+FATAL+ACCIDENTS+IN+LOUISIANA&author=O.+Dart&author=L.+McKenzie&publication_year=1982
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• Supplemental Notes:
  • Publication of this paper sponsored by Committee on Traffic Law Enforcement. 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
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  Transportation Research Board

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• Authors:
  • Dart Jr, Olin K
  • McKenzie, Lawrence S
• Conference:
  • 61st Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board
  • Location: Washington District of Columbia, United States
  • Date: 1982-1-18 to 1982-1-22
• Publication Date: 1982

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; Maps; References;
• Pagination: pp 7-14
• Monograph Title: ANALYSIS OF HIGHWAY ACCIDENTS, PEDESTRIAN BEHAVIOR, AND BICYCLE PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 847
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: All terrain vehicles; Countermeasures; Crash causes; Crash investigation; Curves (Geometry); Demographics; Drivers; Fatalities; Human characteristics; Human factors; Rural highways; Two lane highways
• Uncontrolled Terms: Driver characteristics
• Geographic Terms: Louisiana
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Society; I82: Accidents and Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00368147
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309033500
• Report/Paper Numbers: HS-033 761
• Files: HSL, TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Dec 30 1983 12:00AM