This study focuses on tire problems as experienced by light vehicles in the pre-crash phase. Of special interest are tire problems such as blowouts or flat tires, tire or wheel deficiency, tire or wheel failure, and tire degradation. The effect of crash factors on a vehicle experiencing such tire problems in the pre-crash phase is examined. Tire tread depth, tire pressure, driving experience, vehicle familiarity, rollover, aggressive driving acts, rollover, vehicle body type, and climatic and road conditions are the candidate factors. The National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Survey (NMVCCS) data from 2005 to 2007 is used in the statistical analyses. This data, collected at the crash scene, provides information about what happened immediately prior to the crash. A descriptive analysis of this data brings out the differences among the assigned categories of variables in terms of the frequencies of vehicles or tires in each category. The configural frequency analysis confirms the association that certain factors may have with a vehicle experiencing tire problems in the pre-crash phase. Among other findings, the analysis discovered that a vehicle is more likely to experience tire problems when one or more tires are underinflated or the vehicle is running on tires with inadequate tread depth. The emergence of tire problems in the pre-crash phase is significantly more likely than chance if a driver is less familiar with the vehicle or lacks driving experience. (Author/publisher)
Abstract