In 1995, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) began employing the Crashworthiness Data System (CDS) to obtain more in-depth information on driver inattention-related crash causes, including drowsiness and many forms of distraction. CDS is potentially an important source of information on this issue because: (i) it is broadly representative of U.S. passenger vehicle towaway crashes; and (ii) because its investigations are moderately in-depth. This research paper reports the results of the 1995 CDS data collection on this issue. The three major forms of driver inattention and their percent involvement in 1995 CDS crashes are: (1) distraction (13.2%); (2) looked but did not see (9.7%); and (3) sleepy/fell looked but did not see (9.7%); and (3) sleepy/fell asleep (2.6%). Findings from this CDS data collection have both similarities to, and differences from, previous research on the role of driver inattention in crashes. (A)
Samenvatting