Run-off-road crashes cause a large proportion of fatalities and serious injuries to the vehicle occupants. In this study, fatal crashes from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System for passenger vehicles (passenger cars and LTVs) during the period 1991 to 2007 were used to identify the roadway-(e.g., rural/urban nature and curve existence), driver- (e.g., age, gender, drowsy, and alcohol use), environmental- (e.g., weather, lighting condition), and vehicle-related factors (e.g., speeding) associated with the fatal single-vehicle run-off-road crashes. The results show that the factors driver sleep, drivers with alcohol use, roadway alignment with curve, speeding vehicle, passenger car, rural roadway, high speed limit road, and adverse weather were significant factors related to the high risk of fatal single-vehicle run-off-road crashes. Also, in the adverse weather condition and for the younger drivers, the vehicle speeding would increase the risk of fatal single-vehicle run-off-road crashes by an additional factor. (Author/publisher)
Abstract