FATAL TRAIN-VEHICLE COLLISIONS IN MICHIGAN

In a seven-year period (January 1964-December 1970) there were 13,458 fatal automobile accidents in Michigan, of which 366 (2.7%) were railroad-vehicle (R-V) collisions. Data from the Michigan Fatal Accident file provided the basis for a study of some basic features of fatal R-V accidents, and the HSRI computer plotting program was used to generate a map indicating the geographical distribution of R-V fatility occurrence in Michigan for the seven-year period. Several factors emerged which appear to distinguish this class of fatal accidents from the class of overall fatal automobile accidents. For example, two-thirds of the fatal R-V accidents occur during the daytime (notably during peak traffic periods), whereas more than one-half of the overall fatal automobile accidents occur during nighttime. In addition, 52.5% of the fatal R-V accidents involved failure to observe a traffic control device, a violation that was involved in only 8.2% of the overall fatal accidents.

• Corporate Authors:

  Highway Safety Research Institute

  Huron Parkway and Baxter Road
  Ann Arbor, MI  United States  48109
• Authors:
  • GREEN, J A
• Publication Date: 1972-4

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 4 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash injury research; Crash investigation; Crash rates; Crash risk forecasting; Crashes; Fatalities; Grade crossing protection systems; Human factors; Motor vehicles; Railroad grade crossings; Railroad trains; Research; Risk assessment; Statistics; Traffic control devices; Warning systems
• Geographic Terms: Michigan
• Old TRIS Terms: Grade crossing protection
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Railroads; Research; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00081514
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Safety Council Safety Research Info Serv
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Mar 6 1976 12:00AM