The Run-Off-Road Collision Avoidance Using IVHS Countermeasures program is to address the single vehicle crash problem through application of technology to prevent and/or reduce the severity of these crashes. This report describes and documents the analysis sequence completed for Task 1. The sequence included three distinct analysis types which may be summarized as follows: Statistical Analyses - The General Estimates System (GES) and Fatal Accident Reporting System (FARS) national crash databases were examined to provide an updated estimate of problem size and to establish characteristics of the national crash population; Clinical Analyses - 201 hard copy case reports from the National Accident Sampling System (NASS) Crashworthiness Data System (CDS) crash database were evaluated to determine crash causation factors and to establish the circumstances in which these crashes occur; and Engineering Analyses - A subset of the NASS CDS case reports were examined to establish the dynamic scenarios associated with the clinical sample; these scenarios were represented as situation trees which delineated the specific combination of driver, vehicle, and environmental factors in each crash and driver response to critical events. (Author/publisher)
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