FIRST ANNUAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY TREND REPORT

The authors review accident and accident exposure trends in the U.S. from 1950 to 1980. Accident trends assessed include fatalities, fatal accidents injuries, injury accidents, police reported and total vehicular accidents. Exposure trends are vehicle miles of travel (VMT), roadway miles by surface type and roadway class, licensed drivers, registered vehicles population and numbers of households. The authors present comparisons of changes in these trends for 1950 to 1960, 1960 to 1970, 1970 to 1980 and other selected intervening years. Comparisons are provided in the forms of ratios (e.g., injuries to injury accidents), indicators (e.g., fatalities per billion vehicle miles of travel) and composite indicators (e.g., fatal accident involvement rate by driver's age and sex characteristics adjusted for exposure). In addition, detailed assessment of trends is provided for urban and rural areas, regions (e.g., sunbelt and snowbelt), and for fatal accidents trends between 1975 and 1980 when the effects of vehicle mix shifts, weekly time segments, alcohol involvement and posted speed are included as variables in the assessment. The authors conclude that fatal and property damage are not growing as rapidly as exposure related variables such as VMT. However, the annual growth rate for injuries exceeds that of VMT. The authors recommend that accident and exposure trends be monitored on a continuing basis and that emphasis be placed on the design of a balanced data base necessary to develop indepth interpretations and projections of these trends.

• Corporate Authors:

  ABT Associates, Incorporated

  55 Wheeler Street
  Cambridge, MA  United States  02138

  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

  National Center for Statistics and Analysis, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Stein, M
  • Beauregard, M
  • Bragg, B
• Publication Date: 1982-4-19

Media Info

• Features: Appendices; Figures;
• Pagination: 123 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash exposure; Fatalities; Injuries; Rural areas; Statistical trends; Traffic crashes; Traffic safety; Urban areas; Vehicle miles of travel
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I80: Accident Studies; I81: Accident Statistics;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00396310
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• Report/Paper Numbers: Final Rpt., HS-806 670
• Contract Numbers: DTNH22-80-C-17062
• Files: HSL, TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Aug 31 1985 12:00AM