Estimation of 2001 Crash Costs Using FARS and GES John McFadden, Len Meczkowski, FHWA-Office of Safety R&D; Carol Conly, Lendis Corporation; Promod Chandhok, BTS

Presentation Overview Introduction/Safety Problem FHWA Safety Goals Data Collection – FARS – GES Interpretation of Results Conclusions

Introduction 37,795 fatal motor vehicle crashes in 2001 – Resulting in 40,016 deaths +/ million injuries resulting from auto crashes in 2001 Heavy personal toll and economic cost

Introduction What is the cost of traffic crashes for 2001? Why do we care about this cost? How do we quantify this cost?

Introduction February 2002: OST guidance on value of life (in 2001 dollars): – Fatality = $3 million – Severe injury = $1.01 million (AIS 5,4 (A)) – Minor injury = $60,000 (AIS 3-1, (B+C)) – PDO = $2,300

FHWA Safety Goals Reduce the rate and number of highway related fatalities and injuries Performance Measures and Benchmarks – Highway-related fatalities per 100 million VMT – Number of highway-related fatalities – Highway related injuries per 100 million VMT – Number of highway-related injuries (millions)

FHWA Safety Goal-Fatalities

FHWA Safety Goal-Injuries

Problem Statement How to achieve these safety goals? What types of crashes should we focus? What countermeasures are appropriate? How to evaluate the effectiveness of countermeasures?

R&D Efforts One approach: – review traffic crash records to identify the crash types that will provide the largest “return on investment” for specific treatments. Need to estimate benefit-cost ratios: – Benefits: reduction in crash (by type) for specific treatment – Costs by crash type

2001 Crash Data Fatal crash data obtained via FARS – Fatality Analysis Reporting Systems Injury/PDO crash data obtained via GES – General Estimation Systems Crash impacts that result in fatality, injury or PDO are called “harmful events” and are broken into two groups: – First Harmful Event (FHE) – Most Harmful Event (MHE)

FHE Crashes FHE – Recorded as an accident level variable – Each crash is assigned a single FHE regardless of the number of vehicles involved – FHE may not be the impact that caused the greatest trauma or property damage

MHE Crashes MHE – Recorded as a vehicle level variable – Separate MHE are assigned to EVERY vehicle in a crash

Example Wet pavement, two-vehicle collision injuring two occupants in the struck vehicle. The striking vehicle was then deflected into the utility pole, killing the driver. – FHE vehicle-vehicle collision – MHE Struck vehicle = vehicle-vehicle collision Striking vehicle = utility pole

Data Collection 2001 crash data were broken into four groupings: – All crash types FHE MHE – Run off road crash types FHE MHE

Why focus on ROR crashes? FHWA Office of Safety R&D, Roadside Team: – Interested in identifying focus of future research w/r/to ROR crash treatments Data supported focus on these crashes: – ROR crashes are contributory cause for 38% of fatalities (McFadden, ITE 2002)

Data Collection Data were also normalized for the following contributing factors: – Alcohol involvement – Restraint usage

MHE – 2001 Fatal Crashes (5 most frequent events) EventFatalsAlcoholNo Rest. Vehicle in Transport 15,286 (40%) 2,776 (18%) 14,514 (92%) Overturn 7,721 (19%) 1,907 (25%)6,106 (79%) Pedestrian 4,723 (12%) 762 (16%) 4,723 (100%) Tree 3,802 (9%) 878 (23%) 2,510 (66%) Utility Pole1,199 (3%)221 (18%)755 (63%)

MHE – 2001 “A” Injury Crashes (5 most frequent events) EventA InjuriesAlcoholNo Rest. Vehicle in Transport 168,293 (62%) 8,118 (5%) 26,705 (16%) Overturn 41,786 (15%) 8,111 (20%) 12,101 (29%) Tree 17,336 (6%) 4,552 (26%) 4,163 (24%) Sign Post/ Sign 9,943 (4%) 2,428 (24%) 2,793 (28%) Culvert 8,077 (3%) 1,949 (24%) 3,156 (39%)

MHE – 2001 “B+C” Injury Crashes (5 most frequent events) Event B+C Injuries AlcoholNo Rest. Vehicle in Transport 1,237,081 (72%) 27,602 (2.2%) 86,064 (7%) Overturn 62,147 (4%) 7,528 (12%) 11,370 (18%) Sign Post/ Sign 53,720 (3%) 11,409 (21%) 9,679 (18%) Pedestrian 53,141 (3%) 181 (0.3%) 53,141 (100%) Tree 39,621 (2%) 7,350 (19%) 6,239 (16%)

MHE – 2001 Fatal + Injury Crash Comparison of Most Frequent Events Rank Event Frequency FatalA Injuries B+C Injuries 1 Vehicle in Transport (Alcohol/Restraint) Vehicle in Transport (Alcohol/Restraint) Vehicle in Transport (Alcohol/Restraint) 2 Overturn (ROR) Overturn (ROR) Overturn (ROR) 3Pedestrian Tree (ROR) Sign Post/ Sign (ROR) 4 Tree (ROR) Sign Post/ Sign (ROR) Pedestrian 5 Utility Pole (ROR) Culvert (ROR) Tree (ROR)

2001 MHE Fatal + Injury Crash Costs By Most Frequent Events Rank Event FrequencyFatalitiesInjuries Vehicle in Transport$46 Billion$206 Billion Overturn$23 Billion$45 Billion Pedestrian (Fatal) Tree (Injury)$14 Billion$18 Billion Tree (Fatal) Sign Post/Sign (Injury) $11 Billion Utility Pole (Fatal) Culvert (Injury) $4 Billion$9 Billion

MHE – 2001 ROR Fatal Crashes (5 most frequent events) EventFatalsAlcoholNo Rest. Overturn 5,953 (36%) 1,962 (33%) 3,937 (66%) Tree 3,662 (22%) 1,088 (30%)2,114 (58%) Vehicle in Transport 1,401 (8%)118 (8%)312 (22%) Utility Pole1,076 (7%)315 (29%)593 (55%) Embankment509 (3%)162 (32%)342 (67%)

MHE – 2001 ROR “A” Injury Crashes (5 most frequent events) EventFatalsAlcoholNo Rest. Overturn 26,817 (30%) 6,364 (24%) 9,004 (34%) Tree 16,646 (19%) 4,552 (27%)4,094 (25%) Sign post/ Sign 9,651 (11%) 2,349 (24%)2794 (29%) Culvert7,898 (9%)1,949 (25%)3,157 (40%) Embankment4,765 (5%)834 (18%)1,431 (30%)

MHE – 2001 ROR “B+C” Injury Crashes (5 most frequent events) EventFatalsAlcoholNo Rest. Overturn76,656 (22%) 10,467 (14%) 14,815 (19%) Sign post/ Sign 48,162 (14%)10,261 (21%)8,823 (18%) Tree40,622 (12%)7,043 (17%)6,646 (16%) Parked Vehicle26,543 (8%)4,569 (17%)4,539 (17%) Culvert26,325 (8%)4,607 (18%)4,715 (18%)

MHE – 2001 Fatal + Injury Crash Comparison of Most Frequent Events Rank Event Frequency FatalA Injuries B+C Injuries 1Overturn 2Tree Sign Post/ Sign 3 Motor Vehicle in Transport Sign Post/ Sign Tree 4Utility PoleCulvert Parked vehicle 5Embankment Culvert

2001 Fatal + Injury Crash Costs By Most Frequent Events Rank Event FrequencyFatalitiesInjuries Overturn$18 Billion$29 Billion Tree$11 Billion$18 Billion Motor vehicle in transport (Fatal), Sign Post/Sign (Injury) $4 Billion$11 Billion Utility Pole (Fatal) Culvert (Injury) $3 Billion$9 Billion Embankment (Fatal), Guide rail (Injury) $2 Billion$5 Billion

Interpretation of Results So What? – What does this information tell us? – How do we apply what we know? Ans. – Focus areas for safety programs.

AASHTO Strategic Highway Safety Plan Developed in Reduce the deaths and health care costs due to crashes on highways Guidance for state DOT safety management plans

AASHTO SHSP Crash Categories DUI Aggressive driving Seat belt Peds Head-on Curves Trees Utility poles Guiderail Intersections

Head on Crashes Vehicle crosses the centerline or median or travels wrong way in opposing traffic lane and crashes Objectives to reduce HOC: – Keep vehicles from encroaching onto opposite lane – Reduce the severity of crashes that occur

Head on Crashes Strategy Low cost improvement – Centerline rumble strips for two lane roadways

Run off Road Crashes Contributory cause for 38% of fatalities FHWA 2-prong approach concentrates on: – Keeping vehicles in travel lanes – Minimize the harmful effects when the vehicle leaves the roadway

Taken During Construction ROR Crash Strategy Pavement edge rumble strips

ROR Crash Strategy Curve Delineation

ROR Strategy Utility Pole Relocation Digitally Enhanced Photograph BEFORE AFTER

ROR Strategy Utility Pole Delineation

ROR Strategy Hazardous Tree Removal BEFORE Digitally Enhanced Photograph AFTER

Conclusions 2001 crash data were analyzed: – Ranked by frequency of harmful events – Calculated costs in 2001 dollars of these crashes – Validate existing safety improvement programs – Provide data to estimate benefit/cost ratios for safety treatments

Conclusions 2001 crash data: – Provides guidance for future research efforts – Validates AASHTO SHSP priority areas Accurate crash data essential for future highway safety initiatives

Questions? Contact Information: – – John McFadden, HRDS Georgetown Pike McLean, VA Phone: