What Exacerbates Injury and Harm in Car–SUV Collisions?
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 134, Issue 2
Abstract
Concern over collisions between passenger cars and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) is growing, as more SUVs enter the market. However, little is known about the different roles that car drivers and SUV drivers play in such collisions or about the roadway locations where the most harmful car–SUV collisions occur. This paper explores the effect of driver and roadway factors as they relate to physical and monetary harm. The analysis is based on a sample of crashes in the Crashworthiness Data System. A sample of 539 car–SUV collisions are analyzed, representing 402,306 weighted cases. The analysis of physical harm, based on the most severe injury, corroborates the analysis of monetary harm, which is based on costs incurred by all occupants. Cars and SUVs contribute different amounts to the average cost; the monetary harm to cars and their occupants is about twice as high as for SUVs, reflecting the mass differentials and incompatibility of the two vehicle platforms. Furthermore, higher monetary costs are associated with side-angle collisions occurring at intersections on undivided roadways. The most harmful maneuver involves left turning cars encroaching into oncoming traffic (SUV lane). Other risky situations and implications are discussed in the paper.
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Acknowledgments
The writers are grateful to the Transportation Research Institute, Old Dominion University, the Carolina Transportation Program, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and the Southeastern Transportation Center, University of Tennessee and for financial support. Many thanks go to Dr. Elizabeth Shay for her help with the paper.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 134 • Issue 2 • February 2008
Pages: 93 - 104
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: Apr 3, 2007
Accepted: Aug 13, 2007
Published online: Feb 1, 2008
Published in print: Feb 2008
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