Investigating the Effect of Light Truck Vehicle Percentages on Head-On Fatal Traffic Crashes
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VIEW THE ORIGINAL ARTICLEPublication: Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 130, Issue 4
Abstract
The market share of light truck vehicles (LTVs) is increasing rapidly, causing a change in traffic composition in the United States. LTVs include vans, minivans, light duty trucks, and sport-utility vehicles. Users of such vehicles appreciate the extra size, utility, and safety provided. Concerns about the effects of these LTVs on other passenger cars when they both collide are increasing. This paper investigates the effect of the increased percentage of LTVs in traffic on fatalities that result from head-on collisions. It also addresses the impact of crash configuration (car-car, car/LTV, and LTV-to-LTV). Time series models that incorporate the percentage of LTVs in traffic are used to analyze and forecast the future fatality trends that result from head-on collisions. The analysis is based on the fatality analysis reporting system crash database covering the period of 1975–2000. Forecasts from the fitted time series model of head-on collisions showed that during the next ten years, annual deaths in head-on collisions will reach 5,325 by the year 2010, which represents an increase of 8% over the year 2000 figure.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 130 • Issue 4 • July 2004
Pages: 429 - 437
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 1, 2002
Accepted: Jun 12, 2003
Published online: Jun 15, 2004
Published in print: Jul 2004
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