This is an interim report on the effects of the lowered maximum speed limit and other fuel conservation measures which were instituted during the fuel shortage from November 1973 to march 1974. Comparisons made between the first four months of 1974 and the same period a year earlier indicate that accidents decreased 9.5 percent, fatal accidents decreased 21.0 percent, and injury accidents decreased 12.0 percent in North Carolina. The severity of accidents was decreased during the fuel shortage, and gross exposure decreased an estimated 3.2 percent. The fatality and serious injury rates per hundred million vehicle miles dropped by 17.7 and 19.0 percent, respectively. These changes were attributed to the lowered maximum speed limit, decreased exposure, changes in vehicle sizes and occupancy, and shifts in the times at which trips were made and the roads on which they were made. Further research is planned on exposure changes, analysis of the accident and injury data, the use of the t.a.d. severity ratings for severity analysis, the effect of daylight savings time, especially on bicycle and pedestrian accidents, and other areas.
Samenvatting