Breakdown of Light Vehicle Crashes by Pre-Crash Scenarios as a Basis for Countermeasure Development

This paper presents a statistical description of light vehicle (passenger vehicles, sports utility vehicles, vans, and pickup trucks) crashes in terms of their major crash types, physical setting, and concomitant pre-crash scenarios based on the 2000 General Estimates System national crash database. This database contains variables that categorize the pre-crash situation and identify the vehicle movements and critical events immediately prior to the collision. This crash analysis supports the U.S. Department of Transportation's Intelligent Vehicle Initiative to solve traffic safety problems through the development and deployment of vehicle-based crash avoidance systems using advanced technologies. In the year 2000, light vehicles were involved in about 6,133,000 or 96.0% of all police-reported crashes on U.S. roadways. A breakdown of these crashes revealed 10 different crash types. Rear-end, crossing paths, off-roadway, and lane change crash types comprised the majority of these crashes with a combined frequency of 5,240,000 crashes. About 39.6% of all light vehicle crashes occurred at non-junctions, while 24.5% and 20.4% of all light vehicle crashes happened respectively at intersections and near intersections. Further breakdown of the four most dominant crash types identified 25 dynamically distinct pre-crash scenarios that influence the design of the sensory and decision-making elements for potential countermeasure systems.