VEHICLE HANDLING STUDY: SECOND INTERIM REPORT

Three hundred eighty-seven randomly selected accidents occurring in Washtenaw and part of Oakland Counties, Michigan were investigated. Data relevant to determination of the potential role of vehicle handling in accident causation, particularly tire data, were collected on 518 vehicles in these accidents. Limited tire data were also obtained during random Michigan State Police checklane inspections in the summer of 1976. The checklane and accident samples were compared on tire pressure, tread depth, and carcass construction. Additional comparisons were made between subsets of the accident sample. The data reveal generally poor tire maintenance practices in both samples, but there is no evidence to implicate poorly maintained tires as casative factors in accidents except on wet or slippery roads. This conclusion is tentative because of the limited number of vehicles in the accident sample, and becuse the control group may not adequately represent the population which generated the accident sample. Larger sample sizes, more definitive control-group data and development of a defintition of vehicle-handling accidents are recommended. /HSRI/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Sponsored by the Motor Vehicl Manufacturers Association.
• Corporate Authors:

  Highway Safety Research Institute

  Huron Parkway and Baxter Road
  Ann Arbor, MI  United States  48109
• Authors:
  • Scott, R E
  • Compton, C P
  • Filkins, L D
• Publication Date: 1977-12

Media Info

• Pagination: 90 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Automated vehicle control; Automobiles; Crash causes; Crash investigation; Maintenance; Pavements; Police; Samples; Tires; Wet weather
• Uncontrolled Terms: Wet pavements
• Subject Areas: Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; Pavements; Safety and Human Factors; Security and Emergencies; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00178239
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Urban Mass Transportation Administration
• Report/Paper Numbers: UM-HSRI-77-44 Intrm Rpt.
• Contract Numbers: 361122
• Files: TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Aug 19 1978 12:00AM