Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Notebook 2008 Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Note About the Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Notebooks Try to think of anyone that you know that hasn't been affected by a car crash. More than likely everyone has had some sort of loss. Either they have been in a crash themselves or someone close to them has been in a crash. If they were lucky it only resulted in damage to their vehicle and the irritation of having to take time off work for repairs. Many unfortunately also were injured and some received injuries that were so severe their lives were changed forever. For others the loss was even greater, they lost someone they loved, a husband or daughter or brother or mother. For them the loss cannot be measured. Throughout this document we try and bring the numbers into a human dimension. These are not just numbers in a database each number represents a loss. Boxes will highlight the data and put it in perspective to further document the risk. Photos from a variety of sources will be used to provide dramatic visual description. Traditionally crash data is often presented as single fact sheets highlighting a single factor such as `Vehicle Type' or `Road Type'. This document will try to show how the risk factors interrelate to produce a crash. Complete detailed analysis of each of the many risk factors and their complex interaction is beyond the scope of this document but special sections through out the document will be used to expand analysis on critical issues and bring the multiple crash contributing factors together. In addition, a new section called `Connections' will describe the varied and complex factors that contribute to crashes. The Connections sections are a compilation of different crashes and photos that illustrate crashes and the complexity of risk analysis. Narratives from crash reports by law enforcement officers and emergency medical technicians will be used to describe how the crash happened and the results. Data is only quantitative but the narrative is qualitative and shows aspects of the crash that can't be easily documented by simple numbers. All data unless otherwise noted is from the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT). The motor vehicle crash data used in this document is from the Georgia Department of Transportation revised and released as of January 2008. For urban and rural designations pre-2003 census categories have been used because they more accurately reflect the roadway characteristics. Risk -it is all about risk and the numbers clearly document the risk we all face on the roads. Reducing the risk involves understanding the specific factors and events that lead to a crash in order to design risk reduction measures and save lives. This is why this data is kept and why it is presented here. Angelyn Rios Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Trends & Patterns 2008 CASI Report From 2000 to 2006 in Georgia over six million people were involved in a motor vehicle crash either as a driver or passenger or pedestrian. That is on average 2,394 people each day. Almost one million men, women and children were injured in motor vehicle crashes in Georgia from 2000 to 2006. Over the seven year period crashes resulted in more than 2,500 injuries on average each week. From 2000 to 2006 in Georgia, 11,435 people lost their lives in motor vehicle crashes. On average 31 people die in crashes each week. Three out of four fatal crashes occurred on two-way roads with no separation or barrier they are the highest risk roadways. The majority of fatal crashes on two-way roads without any separation occurred in rural counties. Twice as many people are killed in crashes in rural Georgia counties as are killed in the five metropolitan Atlanta counties. Off road fatal crashes accounted for 41 percent of all fatal crashes in Georgia in 2006. Overturn and fixed object crashes pose the highest risk of injury or death to the vehicle occupants. In rollover crashes half of the occupants were either killed or injured. In fixed object crashes one out of three occupants were injured or killed. From 2000 to 2006 there has been a steady increase in rollover crashes. The number of fatal rollover crashes increased 41.2 percent from 2000 to 2006. Horizontal curves are one of the major road characteristics that increase the risk of crashing. In 2006, one out of two fatal off road crashes happened on a curve although straight roadway segments far outnumber curved roadway segments. One out of three fatal crashes in Georgia in 2006 occurred on off-system roads and almost all of these fatal crashes were on two-way roads without any separation. Of the off road fatal crashes on twoway off-system roads 62 percent were on horizontal curves. One out of four fatal crashes in Georgia occurs at an intersection. Sixty percent of the vehicles in fatal intersection crashes in 2006 were at an intersection without any traffic control. The highest number of fatal intersection crashes occurred in rural counties. Crashes that occur at an angle account for 25.5 percent of the fatal crashes in Georgia in 2006. From 2000 to 2006 there have been 2,618 angle fatal crashes in Georgia. Collisions occurring at an angle are the most frequent manner of collision at intersections. These occur when one vehicle is turning and struck from the side by another. Sixty-one percent of the vehicles in fatal intersection crashes were struck at an angle. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Trends & Patterns 2008 CASI Report Rural counties accounted for 60 percent of the fatal rollover crashes involving pickup trucks. In 2006, one out of three fatalities in Georgia occurred in a crash involving a pickup truck. A higher proportion of pickup crashes were fatal. The proportion of pickup truck crashes that were fatal was almost twice that of passenger cars. Pickup truck adult occupants have a lower seat belt usage than occupants of passenger cars and sport utility vehicles. The number of pickup trucks in fatal crashes increased 17 percent from 2000 to 2006. Even when adjusted for the increase in the number of registered vehicles the fatal crash rate increased 5.7 percent. One out of six fatalities in Georgia occurred in a crash involving a large truck. Of the 270 fatalities that occurred in crashes involving at least one large truck in 2006, 86.3 percent of the people killed were occupants of the smaller vehicle compared with 13.7 percent for the large truck occupants. Almost one-third of the fatal motorcycle crashes occurred in rural counties. The proportion of motorcycle crashes that were fatal was twelve times greater than that of passenger cars. Seventy-two percent of motorcyclists were either injured or killed compared with only 16 percent of the occupants of passenger cars. The motorcycle fatal crash rate increased 60.8 percent from 2000 to 2006. There has been a gradual but dramatic increase in motorcycle fatalities for middle age and older bikers. From 2000 to 2006, motorcycle drivers in fatal crashes under age 40 increased 117.1 percent. In contrast for drivers over age 39 the increase was 254.6 percent. Almost five people died every day on average more than 32 deaths each week. Fatalities have increased from around 1,500 each year in the 90's to over 1,700 in 2005 and 2006. In 2006 alone the number of injured children ages 5-9 would fill not 10 classrooms, not 50 classrooms but 128 classrooms. For middle school age children ages 10-14 the number is even greater. The number of injured children ages 10-14 in 2003 would fill 148 Georgia classrooms. In 2006, persons over age 74 were almost four times more likely to be killed than younger persons under age 65. Of the persons over age 74 injured, 3.84 percent were killed compared with 1.12 percent for persons under age 65. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Trends & Patterns 2008 CASI Report Unsafe or illegal speed is involved in one out of six fatal crashes in Georgia. The number of speed related fatal crashes has increased from 2000 to 2006. The chance of being seriously injured is three times higher in crashes related to speed than crashes not related to speed. Over 4 million drivers have been involved in crashes resulting in almost a million injuries. That is on average 1,720 drivers each day 72 drivers every hour. In 2006 alone 1,703 men, women and children lost their lives on Georgia's roadways. One out of ten of the drivers in crashes in Georgia in 2006 had driver's licenses from other states or countries. This proportion is even greater for drivers in fatal crashes. The majority of out-of-state drivers were from nearby states for both crashes and fatal crashes. For all age groups rural counties have the highest number of drivers in fatal crashes and the highest driver fatal crash rate. The fatal crash rate for drivers ages 16-17 in rural counties is almost double the fatal crash rate for drivers ages 16-17 in the five Atlanta metropolitan counties. From before the Teenage and Adult Driver Responsibility Act went into effect in 1996 to 2006 the number of fatal crashes involving drivers ages 16-17 declined dramatically. When comparing 1996 with 2006, the number of drivers ages 16-17 in fatal crashes declined 32.8 percent but the decline for drivers ages 18-20 was only 3.3 percent. In comparison the number of drivers over age 24 in fatal crashes increased 16.9 percent. Older drivers often have older passengers. The older person's greater susceptibility to physical injury greatly increases the chance that someone in an older driver's vehicle will be seriously injured or killed in a crash. The lack of adequate funding for EMS and trauma centers is a special problem in rural areas. This deficiency complicates the outcome for older persons who are more susceptible to injury and may have previous existing medical conditions. The number of older drivers in fatal crashes in rural counties is almost three times greater than the number of drivers in fatal crashes in the other three regions. In rural areas the lack of accessible public transportation necessitates driving on high risk rural roads. In addition the long distances to emergency care and trauma centers increase the risk of a serious injury leading to death. From 2000 to 2006 on average three pedestrians were killed each week. Forty pedestrians were injured on average each week. Pedestrians are 32 times more likely to be killed in motor vehicle crashes than vehicle occupants are. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Table of Contents 2008 CASI Report Overview The Magnitude of the Problem In Perspective The Risk Risk in Perspective Crashes or Crime? Crashes, Injuries and Fatalities In Perspective Severity of Injury Growth in Population and Crashes Crashes, Injuries and Fatalities High Risk Crash Counties Two Georgias High Risk Fatality CountiesTwo Georgias Risk and the Roadways Connections..... Type of Crash Type of Crash Injury Risk Type of Crash Rural and Urban Roads Interstate and Non-Interstate Roads Interstate and Non-Interstate Roads Type of Crash Rural and Urban Roads High Risk Roads: Special Report Risk and the Vehicles Connections..... Risk and Vehicles Vehicles in Crashes Passenger Vehicles Large Trucks Motorcycles Vehicles Crash Severity Reducing Risk Vehicles and Seat Belt Use Reducing Risk Emergency Medical Services Reducing Risk Vehicle Design Vehicles on High Risk Roads: Special Report Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation Section I 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Section II 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Section III 1 2 3 4 7 10 13 15 17 19 24 January 2008 Table of Contents Risk and the People Connections...... Risk and the People Injuries Fatalities Seat Belts and Child Safety Seats School Age Children Pedestrians & Bicyclists Drivers Driver Contributing Factors Young Drivers Older Drivers Intersections Drivers on High Risk Roads: Special Report 2008 CASI Report Section IV 1 2 3 5 7 10 11 17 21 25 28 30 32 Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Table of Contents 2008 CASI Report County Level Data Tables Rates per Vehicle Miles Traveled Motor Vehicle Crashes Motor Vehicle Crash Injuries Motor Vehicle Crash Fatalities Motor Vehicle Fatal Crashes Off Road Crashes Off Road Fatal Crashes Crashes on Straight Roadways Crashes on Curves Fatal Crashes on Straight Roadways Fatal Crashes on Curves Overturn Crashes Crashes Involving Another Vehicle Fixed Object Crashes Overturn Fatal Crashes Fatal Crashes Involving another Vehicle Fatal Fixed Object Crashes Angle Crashes Head On Crashes Rear End Crashes Sideswipe Same Direction Crashes Sideswipe Opposite Direction Crashes Crashes Not Collision With Another Vehicle Angle Fatal Crashes Head On Fatal Crashes Rear End Fatal Crashes Sideswipe Same Direction Fatal Crashes Sideswipe Opposite Direction Fatal Crashes Fatal Crashes Not Collision With Another Vehicle Pedestrians in Crashes Pedestrians Injured Pedestrian Killed Deer Related Crashes Deer Related Injuries Deer Related Fatalities Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Table of Contents County Level Data Tables Rates per Population Drivers in Crashes All Drivers Drivers in Crashes by Age Ages 16-17 Drivers in Crashes by Age Ages 18-20 Drivers in Crashes by Age Ages 21-24 Drivers in Crashes by Age Ages Over Age 24 Drivers in Crashes by Age Ages 16-24 Drivers in Crashes by Age Ages 25-64 Drivers in Crashes by Age Ages 65-74 Drivers in Crashes by Age Ages Over Age 74 Drivers in Fatal Crashes All Drivers Drivers in Fatal Crashes by Age Ages 16-17 Drivers in Fatal Crashes by Age Ages 18-20 Drivers in Fatal Crashes by Age Ages 21-24 Drivers in Fatal Crashes by Age Ages Over Age 24 Drivers in Fatal Crashes by Age Ages 16-24 Drivers in Fatal Crashes by Age Ages 25-64 Drivers in Fatal Crashes by Age Ages 65-74 Drivers in Fatal Crashes by Age Ages Over Age 74 Georgia Vehicle Miles Traveled 2000 to 2006 Georgia Population Estimates 2000 to 2006 Georgia Population Estimates by Single Age 2000 to 2006 2008 CASI Report Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Contributors and Editors 2008 CASI Report Terry Albertson Georgia Department of Transportation, Crash Reporting Marty Billings EMT-P, M.Ed. Georgia Department of Human Resources, Office of Emergency Medical Services/Trauma Susan R. Boatright University of Georgia, Center for Agribusiness & Economic Development, College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences, Georgia County Guide Office Martin Bretherton Gwinnett County, Traffic Studies Engineer Capt. Bruce Bugg Georgia Department of Public Safety, Special Projects coordinator, Law Enforcement Division Norm Cressman Georgia Department of Transportation, Safety Program Manager, Office of Traffic Safety Design Keith Debowles Georgia Department of Transportation, Information Technology Commander Steven Folden EMT-P Fayette County Department of Fire and Emergency Services Sgt. Ben Garrett Georgia State Patrol, Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team Shane Garrison EMT-P Puckett Emergency Medical Services, Inc. Ben Harper Consultant, Highway Safety Debra Houry MD, MPH Assistant Professor, Center for Injury Control Emory University, Emergency Medicine Director Mike Jernigan EMT-P Metro Atlanta Ambulance Service Frank Julian U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Resource Center Capt. William Kunkle EMT-P Henry County Fire Department Keary Lord Douglas County, Traffic Operations Division Manager Erick Moran U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Southeast Region Jennifer Ogle PhD Clemson University, School of Civil & Environmental Engineering Patrick O'Neal MD Georgia Department of Human Resources, Director, State Office of Preparedness/EMS/Trauma, Tim Peebles EMT-P Hall County Fire and Emergency Services Dana Robbins U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration Sgt. Gene Toole Douglas County Sherriff's Office Sgt. Jim Wicker Georgia State Patrol, Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Motor Vehicle Safety January 2008 Overview The Magnitude of the Problem In Perspective The Risk Risk in Perspective Crashes or Crime? Crashes, Injuries and Fatalities In Perspective Severity of Injury Growth in Population and Crashes Crashes, Injuries and Fatalities Two Georgias High Risk Crash Counties Two Georgias High Risk Fatality CountiesTwo Georgias Section I 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 The Magnitude of the Problem 2008 CASI Report The sheer magnitude of the crash numbers document the risk we all face on Georgia's roads. The numbers are staggering. It is very difficult to look at these numbers and fully comprehend the losses. They are not just statistics: Each number represents a loss. Putting it all in perspective is hard to do because there are so many crashes, injuries and deaths it is hard to bring it down to a human scale. Risk -it is all about risk and the numbers clearly document the risk we all face on the roads. Since 2000 over six million people have been involved in a motor vehicle crash in Georgia either as a driver or passenger or pedestrian. That is on average 2,394 people each day. Over 4 million drivers have been involved in crashes resulting in almost a million injuries. That is on average 1,720 drivers each day. From 2000 to 2006 over one million drivers were involved in a crash where someone was injured and over 16,000 drivers were in a crash where someone died. In the last seven years 11,435 people have died in motor vehicle crashes in Georgia. On average, every Georgian will be involved in a crash every ten years. And that is the risk we face on the roadways. Drivers, Crashes, Injuries and Fatalities Crashes Total Persons Drivers in Crashes Passengers 2000 309,768 824,820 585,916 235,434 2001 317,851 849,335 603,217 242,618 2002 327,774 871,308 621,439 246,394 2003 331,612 874,256 626,906 243,865 2004 342,922 899,821 649,649 247,737 2005 348,061 908,142 658,263 247,310 2006 342,534 888,919 648,339 238,038 2000-2006 2,320,522 6,116,601 4,393,729 1,701,396 Drivers in Injury Crashes 159,796 164,476 165,090 165,709 171,818 173,925 167,048 1,167,862 Injuries 130,608 132,305 132,623 132,879 138,130 139,194 133,555 939,294 Drivers in Fatal Crashes 2,244 2,438 2,260 2,377 Fatalities 1,549 1,656 1,531 1,610 Driver data excludes pedestrians Injury Drivers excludes drivers in crashes that resulted in a fatal injury. 2,434 1,641 2,609 1,745 2,515 1,703 16,877 11,435 Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 1 January 2008 In Perspective The Risk 2008 CASI Report It is all about risk. Even with the best roadway, the best driver, the best vehicle, the risk for a crash still exists. Each type of roadway possesses a unique combination of risk factors that are unique and inherent to the roadway design and construction. These risks can be reduced but not eliminated. There is no completely risk free road. No road is completely safe. The vehicles we drive each pose inherent risks of their own. The list of safety improvements in our vehicles is impressive but there is still much work to be done. Smaller vehicles although they may be more economical or handle better than larger vehicles are at risk when colliding with a larger vehicle. Some larger vehicles have their own risks in their tendencies to roll over along with other built in design challenges. Again there is no completely risk free vehicle. No vehicle is completely safe. In perspective.... Each year the number of people injured in crashes would fill three large stadiums. Think of three large baseball stadiums filled to overflowing with injured men, women and children. For drivers at risk the list of driver errors and risk behavior goes on and on everything from excessive speed to simple inattention. Sometimes a particular age group can be identified but for all of us driver errors and risky behavior are things we must always be on guard against. Even the best driver may have a moment of inattention or make a wrong move that could have potentially fatal results. And again there is no completely risk free driver. No driver is completely safe. Understanding your risk, determining its source and developing ways of reducing the risk is the goal of crash data. It is a process that requires accurate data examined over a span of time that allows for a truly accurate picture of the risk potential for even small segments of roadways. Roadway risk reduction is like all big problems it is solved one roadway segment at a time. Good data is needed to first evaluate the risk, then determine the solution and then evaluate the results of applying the remedy. Only then can we move on to the next problem. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 2 January 2008 In Perspective Crashes or Crime? 2008 CASI Report On average each year 873,800 persons are involved in motor vehicle crashes either as drivers, passengers or pedestrians out of an average population of an estimated nine million in Georgia. Everyone is at risk. Over the past seven years on average 368 people were injured in crashes each day compared with a daily average of 60 aggravated assaults. Motor vehicle crash fatalities out numbered murder victims almost three to one over the past seven years. On average 32 people were killed in crashes each week compared with 10 murders. In perspective.... In 2006, 1,703 people were killed in crashes compared with 601 murders in Georgia. In that single year 1,102 more people died in crashes than were murdered. 133,555 people were injured in crashes compared with 23,867 incidents of aggravated assault. In that single year 109,688 more people were injured in crashes than by aggravated assaults. 2006 Motor Vehicle Fatalities Compared with Murder Victims 2,000 2006 Motor Vehicle Injuries Compared with Aggravated Assaults 150,000 1,500 1,000 500 100,000 50,000 0 Motor V e hicle Fatalitie s Murder Victim s 0 Motor Vehicle Aggravated Injuries Assaults Crime versus Crashes 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2000-2006 Murdered Victims 496 549 521 619 476 526 601 3,788 Crash Fatalities 1,549 1,656 1,531 1,610 1,641 1,745 1,703 11,435 Aggravated Assaults* 21,463 22,930 21,109 20,912 20,823 22,409 23,867 153,513 Crash Injuries 130,608 132,305 132,623 132,879 138,130 139,194 133,555 939,294 *Aggravated assaults may or may not involve an actual physical injury to a victim. Data Sources: Georgia Department of Transportation, crime data from Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 3 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Crashes, Injuries and Fatalities In 2006 alone 1,703 men, women and children lost their lives on Georgia's roadways. Almost five people died every day on average more than 32 deaths each week. Fatalities have increased from around 1,500 each year in the 90's to over 1,700 in 2005 and 2006. From 2000 to 2005 motor vehicle crashes increased and then declined in 2006 the first such decline in ten years. Although the number of injuries remained about the same from 2000 to 2003, they increased in 2004 and 2005 and then declined in 2006. The injury rate remained about the same due to the increase in risk exposure a greater number of vehicle miles traveled. A declining rate indicates the relative risk has declined and does not mean that the risk of injury is still not significant. Multiple factors come into play when trying to understand crash data. More drivers and vehicles contribute to more crashes but protective behaviors such as seat belt use or motorcycle helmet use greatly reduce the number of people injured or killed. In addition, seat belts and helmets not only save lives they also reduce the chance of serious injury. Seat belts do not prevent crashes, they prevent injuries. In some cases the crash is so severe that no occupant protection device will prevent an injury. Preventing the crash itself is the most effective way of preventing injuries and fatalities. 2008 CASI Report Motor Vehicle Crashes 375,000 350,000 325,000 300,000 275,000 250,000 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Motor Vehicle Crash Injuries 150,000 125,000 100,000 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Motor Vehicle Crash 2,000 Fatalities 1,750 1,500 1,250 1,000 750 500 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Crashes Rate Injuries Rate Fatalities Rate Crashes, Injuries and Fatalities Number and Rate per 100 Million Vehicle Miles Traveled 2000 309,768 299.5 130,608 126.3 1,549 1.50 2001 317,851 297.6 132,305 123.9 1,656 1.55 2002 327,774 316.9 132,623 128.2 1,531 1.48 2003 331,612 306.1 132,879 122.7 1,610 1.49 2004 342,922 306.3 138,130 123.4 1,641 1.47 2005 348,061 312.4 139,194 124.9 1,745 1.57 2006 342,534 307.9 133,555 120.0 1,703 1.53 2000-2006 2,320,522 306.7 939,294 124.1 11,435 1.51 Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 4 January 2008 In Perspective Severity of Injury 2008 CASI Report From 2000 to 2006, 42,337 people received severe incapacitating injuries such as traumatic head injuries, paralysis, or other serious injuries. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of traumatic head injuries, injuries that often result in death or decades of slow and incomplete recovery. On average each week 116 people were seriously injured and 31 killed. Minor and moderate injuries such as minor cuts or sprains far outnumber serious or fatal injuries 1,844 minor injuries and 621 moderate injuries on average each week. Crashes resulting in serious injury or death increased from 2000 to 2006. The number of serious injuries such as coma or paralysis increased 11.1 percent 637 more serious injuries in 2006 than in 2000. Emergency medical services are essential when dealing with injuries and absolutely imperative if the crash victim is seriously injured. Medical care at the scene can reduce the risk impact of a serious injury and in life threatening injuries has saved lives at the crash scene. The increase in serious injuries parallels the increase in fatalities because the factors associated with fatal crashes are often also associated with factors that cause serious injury crashes. Motor Vehicle Crash Injuries Number and Rate per 10,000 Population Minor Injuries Rate Moderate Injuries Rate Serious Injuries Rate 2000 92,974 113.0 31,882 38.7 5,752 7.0 2001 94,499 112.2 31,873 37.8 5,933 7.0 2002 95,062 110.6 31,832 37.0 5,729 6.7 2003 95,069 108.6 31,960 36.5 5,850 6.7 2004 98,559 110.3 33,252 37.2 6,319 7.1 2005 99,492 108.9 33,337 36.5 6,365 7.0 Percent 2006 Change 2000-2006 95,339 2.54 101.8 -9.87 31,827 -0.17 34.0 -12.26 6,389 11.07 6.8 -2.37 Total Injuries Rate Fatalities Rate 130,608 132,305 132,623 132,879 138,130 139,194 133,555 158.7 157.1 154.2 151.9 156.4 152.4 142.6 1,549 1,656 1,531 1,610 1,641 1,745 1,703 1.88 1.97 1.78 1.84 1.84 1.91 1.82 2.26 -10.12 9.94 -3.37 Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 5 January 2008 Growth in Population and Crashes 2008 CASI Report Georgia's exploding population growth has had profound effects on the crash risks on our roads and highways. Increased volumes of drivers, cars and travel lead to congested roadways, which increase the risk of crashes. In turn, because of the increased congestion speeds tend to be slower leading to fewer or less severe injury crashes. The increase in population has not been even throughout the state. Some areas have seen exponential growth while others have seen only small gains. This disparity has an effect on motor vehicle crashes in many ways. The population in the suburban Atlanta counties increased 31.5 percent from 2000 to 2006 compared with an increase of only 6.53 percent in metropolitan counties outside of Atlanta and 7.57 percent in rural counties. Moderate growth occurred in Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett counties, the five Atlanta metropolitan counties 15.63 percent from 2000 to 2006. Population in Millions Georgia Population 2000 to 2006 4.0 3.5 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Atlanta Other MSA Suburban Rural Data Source: U.S. Census Bureau (see next page) In Perspective.... Another aspect of the increased vehicle miles traveled and population is that although the number of crashes or injuries may increase the rates may decline. In order to compare the number of crashes from one year to the next or from one county to another we need a measure of the exposure to risk. The amount of travel or the vehicle miles traveled gives us one measurement of risk. The rate is a measurement of exposure -in simplest terms the more you travel the greater your risk of having a crash. By taking the exposure into account we can compare one county to another or trends over time. The rate is calculated by dividing the crashes or injuries by vehicle miles driven or population. The resulting rate is a measure of the degree of risk in a county or on a type of roadway. This should be a measurement of risk of being in a crash. But rates can be misleading. If a high risk road with a high number of fatalities has a fatality rate that is declining it does not necessarily mean that it is a safer road. It may only mean that because of all the increased traffic the relative risk is lower for all possible motorists. The road may still be high risk. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 6 January 2008 Crashes, Injuries and Fatalities Two Georgias 2008 CASI Report Even though more crashes occur in the five Atlanta metropolitan counties more people die in rural counties. The number of people killed in rural Georgia counties is almost double those killed in the five metropolitan Atlanta counties. In comparison, the number of crashes in the five Atlanta counties is almost double the number of crashes in Georgia' rural counties. Atlanta suburban counties have seen an increase in crashes but a decrease in fatalities. Increased population and congestion leads to more crashes but bumper to bumper traffic leads to slower speeds which reduce the severity of injury. The opposite is true of the other MSA counties that show a decline in crashes but an increase in fatalities. Total Fatalities by Region, 2000-2006 7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 Atlanta Suburban Other Atlanta MSA Rural Crashes Injuries and Fatalities by Region* 2000 to 2006 Number and Rate per 100 Million Vehicle Miles Traveled Crashes Atlanta Atlanta Suburban Other MSA Rural Counties 2000 2006 Number Rate Number Rate Percent Change in Number Percent Change in Rate 135,988 402.3 41,005 274.9 53,763 336.2 79,012 204.1 151,193 433.0 51,766 284.9 56,905 333.9 82,670 201.0 11.18 26.24 5.84 4.63 7.65 3.65 -0.71 -1.52 Injuries Atlanta Atlanta Suburban Other MSA Rural Counties 49,524 146.5 18,115 121.5 23,187 145.0 39,782 102.8 49,939 143.0 21,314 117.3 22,632 132.8 39,670 96.4 0.84 17.66 -2.39 -0.28 -2.37 -3.40 -8.44 -6.14 Fatalities Atlanta Atlanta Suburban Other MSA Rural Counties 369 1.09 235 1.58 244 1.53 701 1.81 398 1.14 267 1.47 281 1.65 757 1.84 7.86 13.62 15.16 7.99 4.43 -6.72 8.03 1.64 Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation *Pre-2003 census definition was used. Five Atlanta Metropolitan Counties: Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett; Atlanta Suburban Counties: Barrow, Bartow, Carroll, Cherokee, Coweta, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Henry, Newton, Paulding, Pickens, Rockdale, Spalding, Walton; Other Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) Counties: Bibb, Bryan, Catoosa, Chatham, Chattahoochee, Clarke, Columbia, Dade, Dougherty, Effingham, Harris, Houston, Jones, Lee, Madison, McDuffie, Muscogee, Oconee, Peach, Richmond, Twiggs, Walker; Rural Counties: All other counties. Data Source: U.S. Census Bureau 7 January 2008 High Risk Crash Counties Two Georgias Congestion and high numbers of vehicles and drivers combine to increase the risk of crashes and at the same time can reduce the severity of a crash due to lower speeds and other factors associated with fatal crashes. Congestion also can interfere with the ability of emergency vehicles getting to the crash scene to provide life saving aid thus increasing the risk of crash victims dying. Modern road design contributes to fewer fatal crashes because of medians or barriers, clear signs, wide solid shoulders and wellplanned traffic control devices. These road characteristics assure that in the event of loss of control of the vehicle, the vehicle does not go into oncoming traffic or off the road into a fixed object. 2008 CASI Report Crash High Risk Counties 2000-2006 Crash Rate per 100 Million VMT Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation Counties with a crash rate higher than the state crash rate are in dark blue. The counties in dark blue have the highest risk of being in a crash. Compare it to the fatality high-risk counties on the next page. 8 January 2008 High Risk Fatality Counties Two Georgias 2008 CASI Report Two-way roads without a physical barrier or separation predominate in rural areas. These roads have the highest fatal crash risk. Two-way roads are often narrow roads with no physical barrier or division separating oncoming traffic, sharp curves, limited visibility, little or no shoulder, and with frequent entering and exiting traffic. This greatly increases the risk of a crash. These characteristics also present a risk for emergency vehicles traveling at the high speeds necessary for immediate response. This combined with the lack of trauma centers in many rural areas further increases the risk of dying for the seriously injured. These roadways are also a problem in emerging suburbs that often are not prepared for massive increases in population with their limited funding resources and infrastructure. Counties with a fatality rate higher than the state fatality rate are in dark blue. In other words the highest risk of being killed in a crash is in the counties in dark blue. The fatality map on the right is almost a mirror image of the crash highrisk counties. Fatality High Risk Counties 2000-2006 Fatal Crash Rate per 100 Million VMT Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 9 January 2008 Risk and the Roads..... Section II Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Risk and the Roads..... Connections..... Type of Crash Type of Crash Injury Risk Type of Crash Rural and Urban Roads Interstate and Non-Interstate Roads Interstate and Non-Interstate Roads Type of Crash Rural and Urban Roads High Risk Roads: Special Report Section II 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 This section will cover both the roadways and the crashes because crash risk cannot be separated from the characteristics of the roadway. Certain types of roadway have a much higher risk due to very basic features such as two-way roads with nothing to separate oncoming traffic or curved roadways that sometimes are difficult to negotiate. It will also cover effective road engineering treatments that reduce the risk of crashing. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Connections..... The Crash Report `Crash occurred on two-way road divided by a single dotted center line. Vehicle traveling north failed to negotiate the curve and when the rear tire left the pavement it dug into deep ruts in the soft dirt and driver lost control of the vehicle. Vehicle out of control left the roadway and struck a tree. Vehicle came to rest wrapped around tree. Vehicle doors jammed, Rescue and EMS arrived and extricated driver but driver had not survived his injuries' -Crash Report Crash report narrative is taken from crash reports by Georgia law enforcement officers. Photographs are purely for descriptive purposes and are not from the crash scene. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 1 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Type of Crash 2008 CASI Report From 2000 to 2006 rollover crashes increased 29.7 percent in Georgia. In rollover crashes where someone was fatally injured the increase was even greater, 41.2 percent from 2000 to 2006. Critical to crash analysis is the determination of how the crash occurred. Identifying the first harmful event and the severity of the crash based on injuries links how the crash occurred to the level of risk to drivers and passengers. From 2000 to 2006 crashes in which the first harmful event was collision with another moving vehicle accounted for 76.9 percent of total crashes but in comparison only 46.3 percent of the fatal crashes involved a collision with another vehicle. Overturn crashes accounted for just one out of 100 of all crashes, in comparison they were one out of ten of the fatal crashes. Crashes into fixed objects accounted for 12.6 percent of all crashes but 27.4 percent of all fatal crashes. From 2000 to 2006 fixed object crashes increased 4.2 percent in comparison during the same time fatal fixed object crashes increased 11.3 percent. 2000 Crashes Moving Vehicle Collision 238,100 Fixed Object Crash 39,255 Overturn Crash 4,986 Total 309,768 Non-Fatal Injury Crashes Moving Vehicle Collision 62,252 Fixed Object Crash 13,677 Overturn Crash 2,830 Total 83,675 Fatal Crashes Moving Vehicle Collision 604 Fixed Object Crash 469 Overturn Crash 114 Total 1,385 *Data for other crash types not presented. Type of Crash 2001 2002 2003 246,035 37,907 4,919 317,851 252,978 41,658 4,963 327,774 255,197 41,681 4,692 331,612 64,319 13,107 2,789 85,470 64,243 14,153 2,816 86,081 64,811 13,915 2,843 86,526 685 442 129 1,475 604 415 139 1,369 646 470 120 1,469 2004 263,547 43,020 5,478 342,922 66,925 14,541 3,364 89,983 679 402 154 1,467 2005 267,363 44,053 5,637 348,061 67,376 14,956 3,441 91,177 702 539 137 1,595 2006 264,064 40,917 6,467 342,534 64,547 14,103 3,737 87,851 656 522 161 1,562 Percent Change 2000-2006 10.90 4.23 29.70 10.58 3.69 3.11 32.05 4.99 8.61 11.30 41.23 12.78 *See pages 20, 21, 23, and 25-27 for effective road treatments that reduce crash risk. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 2 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Type of Crash Injury Risk 2008 CASI Report Overturn and fixed object crashes pose the highest risk of injury or death to the vehicle occupants. In rollover crashes half of the occupants were either killed or injured. In fixed object crashes one out of three people were injured or killed. In comparison in crashes involving another vehicle one out of 10 occupants were killed or injured. Rollover or fixed object single vehicle crashes accounted for four out of ten of the fatalities that occurred in 2006. In comparison only about 15 percent of all crashes involved rollover or fixed object single vehicle crashes. The type of crash can predict your risk for injury or death. Rollover crashes result in more injuries and fatalities due to the extensive vehicle damage and perhaps more importantly the risk for unrestrained occupants to be ejected from the vehicle. In 2006 of the 10,215 vehicle occupants in overturn crashes 5,424 were either injured or killed. In fixed object crashes, depending on the force of impact, the crash often results in the occupants being ejected from the vehicle if they have failed to use seat belts. In 2006 of the 57,897 vehicle occupants in fixed object crashes 18,723 were either injured or killed. Severity of Injury, 2006 Percent of Persons in Crash Injured or Killed 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Overturn Fixed Object Moving Vehicle Severity of Injury, 2006 Percent of Persons in Crash Injured or Killed Moving Vehicle Fixed Object Overturn Occupants 762,810 57,897 10,215 Injuries & Fatalities 104,305 18,723 5,424 Percent Injured or Killed 13.67 32.34 53.10 Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 3 January 2008 Type of Crash Rural and Urban Roads 2008 CASI Report Regardless of the type of crash, rural counties have more fatalities than urban areas. Rural counties accounted for 41.9 percent of the fatal crashes involving another vehicle, 49.6 percent of the fatal fixed object crashes and 62.2 percent of the fatal rollover crashes although they accounted for only 37 percent of the vehicle travel in the state. From 2000 to 2006, 49.6 percent of the fatal fixed object crashes occurred in rural counties, compared with 18.2 percent in the five major Atlanta metropolitan counties. The disparity was even greater for overturn crashes, 62.2 percent occurred in rural counties compared with 11.1 percent occurring in the five Atlanta metropolitan counties. Rollover Fatal Crashes by Region, 2000-2006 Rural 62% Atlanta 11% Other MSA 15% Suburban 12% Crash Type by Region, 2000-2006 Crashes Atlanta Atlanta Suburban Other MSA Rural Counties Georgia Moving Vehicle Fixed Object Overturn Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent 874,999 236,468 345,400 330,417 1,787,284 49.0 13.2 19.3 18.5 100.0 84,266 49,630 55,679 98,916 288,491 29.2 17.2 19.3 34.3 100.0 6,784 6,281 5,802 18,275 37,142 18.3 16.9 15.6 49.2 100.0 Nonfatal Injury Crashes Atlanta 296,224 Atlanta Suburban 88,823 Other MSA 127,395 Rural Counties 132,417 Georgia 644,859 45.9 13.8 19.8 20.5 100.0 32,605 21,998 23,005 48,610 126,218 25.8 17.4 18.2 38.5 100.0 3,837 4,005 3,622 12,205 23,669 16.2 16.9 15.3 51.6 100.0 Fatal Crashes Atlanta Atlanta Suburban Other MSA Rural Counties Georgia 1,101 805 754 1,916 4,576 24.1 17.6 16.5 41.9 100.0 593 516 534 1,616 3,259 18.2 15.8 16.4 49.6 100.0 106 11.1 114 11.9 141 14.8 593 62.2 954 100.0 *Pre-2003 census definition was used. Five Atlanta Metropolitan Counties: Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett; Atlanta Suburban Counties: Barrow, Bartow, Carroll, Cherokee, Coweta, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Henry, Newton, Paulding, Pickens, Rockdale, Spalding, Walton; Other Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) Counties: Bibb, Bryan, Catoosa, Chatham, Chattahoochee, Clarke, Columbia, Dade, Dougherty, Effingham, Harris, Houston, Jones, Lee, Madison, McDuffie, Muscogee, Oconee, Peach, Richmond, Twiggs, Walker; Rural Counties: All other counties. Data Source: U.S. Census Bureau *See pages 20, 21, 23, and 25-27 for effective road treatments that reduce crash risk. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 4 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Interstate and Non-Interstate Roads 2008 CASI Report The majority of all crashes occur on non-interstate roads. Almost nine out of ten crashes occur on non-interstate roads. In addition, non-interstate roads pose a higher risk of death or injury than interstate roads. Interstate and Compared with interstates non-interstate roads are often not as well engineered and often have frequent entering and exiting traffic which greatly increases the risk of a crash. Non-Interstate Roads Fatalities 2000-2006 10,000 Non-interstate roads are also higher risk for serious injuries 8,000 than interstates. In 2006, there were 5,626 serious injuries in crashes on non-interstate roads compared with 763 serious 6,000 injuries in crashes on interstate roads. After steadily increasing from 2000 to 2005 the number of crashes on interstates, state routes and county roads declined in 2006. The number of fatal crashes on state routes increased from 2002 to 2006. From 2000 to 2006, an average of 24 fatalities occurred on non-interstate roads each week, compared with an average of 4 fatalities each week on interstates. 4,000 2,000 0 Interstate Non-Interstate Interstate and Non-Interstate Roads Crashes Interstate State Route County Route City Street Total 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2000-2006 Percent 34,024 96,157 85,024 94,563 309,768 35,995 98,152 90,204 93,500 317,851 37,106 103,930 95,407 91,331 327,774 37,503 103,685 99,802 90,622 331,612 39,167 108,498 104,472 90,785 342,922 40,068 109,573 106,210 92,210 348,061 38,792 105,927 105,152 92,663 342,534 262,655 725,922 686,271 645,674 2,320,522 11.32 31.28 29.57 27.82 100.00 Non-Fatal Injury Crashes Interstate 8,980 State Route 29,178 County Route 22,787 City Street 22,730 Total 83,675 9,583 29,615 24,056 22,216 85,470 9,257 30,767 24,870 21,187 86,081 9,248 30,731 25,363 21,184 86,526 9,622 32,320 26,761 21,280 89,983 9,969 32,354 27,495 21,359 91,177 9,428 30,935 26,568 20,920 87,851 66,087 215,900 177,900 150,876 610,763 10.82 35.35 29.13 24.70 100.00 Fatal Crashes Interstate State Route County Route City Street Total 192 624 413 156 1,385 210 684 418 163 1,475 173 635 426 135 1,369 196 660 457 156 1,469 213 668 434 152 1,467 220 697 523 155 1,595 209 705 482 166 1,562 1,413 4,673 3,153 1,083 10,322 13.69 45.27 30.55 10.49 100.00 Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 5 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Interstate and Non-Interstate Roads Type of Crash 2008 CASI Report The majority of fixed object crashes occur on state and county routes. This is also true for overturn crashes. Three out of four fatal crashes occurred on state or county routes regardless of the crash type. Only one out of ten fatal fixed object crashes occurred on interstate roads. Seventy-nine percent of the fatal fixed object crashes occurred on state or county routes. For overturn crashes, 74.7 percent of the fatal crashes happened on state or county routes. The same pattern is true for injury crashes. For fixed object injury crashes 71.9 percent happened on state or county roads. For overturn crashes resulting in an injury 76.4 percent occurred on state or county roads. Risk in Perspective: Exposure to risk can be presented in many ways. The amount of travel is one of the best ways to measure risk Only 28 percent of travel in Georgia occurs on county routes but almost half of the fatal fixed object crashes are on county roads. In comparison, only 12 percent of the fixed object crashes occurred on interstates although interstates accounted for 27 percent of the travel. Interstate and Non-Interstate Roads by Crash Type 2000-2006 Crashes Interstate State Route County Route City Street Georgia Moving Vehicle Fixed Object Overturn Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent 194,374 586,386 474,705 531,819 1,787,284 10.9 32.8 26.6 29.8 100.0 43,466 70,511 123,115 51,399 288,491 15.1 24.4 42.7 17.8 100.0 5,477 12,486 15,662 3,517 37,142 14.7 33.6 42.2 9.5 100.0 Nonfatal Injury Crashes Interstate 44,993 State Route 171,802 County Route 113,822 City Street 123,856 Georgia 454,473 9.9 37.8 25.0 27.3 100.0 14,527 27,173 43,662 13,090 98,452 14.8 27.6 44.3 13.3 100.0 3,423 7,704 9,034 1,659 21,820 15.7 35.3 41.4 7.6 100.0 Fatal Crashes Interstate 609 13.3 State Route 2,620 57.3 County Route 914 20.0 City Street 433 9.5 Georgia 4,576 100.0 *Data for other crash types not presented. 376 1,092 1,491 300 3,259 11.5 33.5 45.8 9.2 100.0 214 22.4 343 36.0 369 38.7 28 2.9 954 100.0 *See pages 20, 21, 23, and 25-27 for effective road treatments that reduce crash risk. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 6 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Rural and Urban Roads 2008 CASI Report From 2000 to 2006 altogether 42.2 percent of all fatal crashes on county routes occurred in rural counties. On state routes the proportion is even higher, 52.6 percent of the fatal crashes on state routes happened in rural counties. For interstates, state routes and county routes the highest number of fatal crashes occurred in rural counties. Only on city streets were fatal crashes higher in the five Atlanta metropolitan counties. In 2006 fixed object crashes on state routes 58 percent of the fatal crashes occurred in rural counties more than half of the fatal fixed object crashes. In comparison only 13 percent of the fatal fixed object crashes on state routes happened in the five Atlanta metropolitan counties. Rural county routes were also over represented in fatal fixed object crashes. Rural counties accounted for 46 percent of the fatal fixed object crashes on county routes almost half of all fatal fixed object crashes on county roads. In contrast fixed object crashes on county routes in the Atlanta metropolitan counties only accounted for 19 percent of the fatal crashes. The number of fatal crashes on state routes in rural counties was more than three times higher than the number of fatal crashes on state routes in the five Atlanta metropolitan counties. Fixed Object Fatal Crashes On State Routes by Region, 2000-2006 Other MSA 14% Rural 58% Suburb 15% Atlanta 13% On County Routes by Region, 2000-2006 Other MSA 16% Rural 46% Suburb 19% Atlanta 19% Fatal Crashes by Road Type and Region, 2000-2006 Number of Fatal Crashes and Percent of Total Atlanta Suburban Atlanta Other MSA Rural Georgia Interstate Number Percent 479 33.9 206 14.6 228 16.1 500 35.4 1,413 100.0 State Route Number Percent 733 15.7 750 16.0 731 15.6 2,459 52.6 4,673 100.0 County Route Number Percent 786 24.9 565 17.9 472 15.0 1,330 42.2 3,153 100.0 City Street Number Percent 357 33.0 86 7.9 318 29.4 322 29.7 1,083 100.0 *Pre-2003 census definition was used. Five Atlanta Metropolitan Counties: Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett; Atlanta Suburban Counties: Barrow, Bartow, Carroll, Cherokee, Coweta, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Henry, Newton, Paulding, Pickens, Rockdale, Spalding, Walton; Other Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) Counties: Bibb, Bryan, Catoosa, Chatham, Chattahoochee, Clarke, Columbia, Dade, Dougherty, Effingham, Harris, Houston, Jones, Lee, Madison, McDuffie, Muscogee, Oconee, Peach, Richmond, Twiggs, Walker; Rural Counties: All other counties. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 7 January 2008 The Risk High Risk Roads Special Report High Risk Roads Special Report This special section on high risk roads will focus on the characteristics that make a road high risk and the road engineering improvements that can be done to reduce the risk. In the last seven years 11,435 people have died in motor vehicle crashes in Georgia. Since 2000, over six million people have been involved in a motor vehicle crash in Georgia either as a driver or passenger or pedestrian. That is an average of 2,394 people each day. In 2006, there were 5,626 serious injuries in crashes on noninterstate roads compared with 763 serious injuries in crashes on interstate roads. The number of people killed in rural Georgia counties is almost double the number of people killed in the five metropolitan Atlanta counties. Three out of four fatal crashes occurred on state or county routes regardless of the crash type. Overturn and fixed object crashes pose the highest risk of injury or death to the vehicle occupants. In rollover crashes half of the occupants were either killed or injured. In fixed object crashes one out of three people were injured or killed. On average, every Georgian will be involved in a crash every ten years. For a family of four this means that one of them will be involved in a crash every two and one-half years. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 8 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 The Risk High Risk Roads Special Report Why? What contributes to the crash risk? What makes certain roads high risk? What specific road characteristics contribute to the higher risk? In order to understand why certain roads are higher risk than others we need to examine the road characteristics and how the crash occurred. To really understand the road characteristics that contribute to crash risk we need more detailed information on the roadway and many of these roadway elements are not captured on the current motor vehicle crash report. In order to access this information we merged the crash database with another Georgia Department of Transportation file the Location File. The Location File is a separate file that is used to verify the crash location given by the law enforcement office and contains extensive detailed information on the road. Every effort is made to verify the location for each of the over 300,000 Georgia motor vehicle crashes each year although in some cases it is not possible. Throughout special report we utilized this linked crash data when needed and since not all crashes were able to be located there will be a difference in some of the data analyzed. When this linked data is used it will be identified as `Crash-location linked data' to avoid confusion with the original crash database. What we know: State and county roads have the highest number of injuries and fatalities and are predominately two-way roads. What can be done? Once we know the specific road characteristics that increase crash risk we can then apply the right road improvements that reduce the risk of crashing. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 9 January 2008 The Risk Characteristics High Risk Roads Special Report Two-way roads with no physical separation or barrier are your highest risk roads. All in all these roads account for 73 percent of all fatal crashes in Georgia. High Risk Roads are best described as two-way roads with no separation or barrier. The risk of a crash being fatal increases because often there is just no safe place to go no shoulder or clear zone without posts or trees. The only choices are head into oncoming traffic or into a tree. For many narrow roads the edges of the road are easy to slip off of and the road edge drop off is very deep causing loss Factors that increase risk: of control when vehicles try to return to the roadway and the no road separation or barrier vehicle swerves either into oncoming traffic or off the road into narrow lanes and shoulders a post or tree. These roads also have frequent entering and sharp curves exiting vehicle traffic and limited access control that leads to no or inadequate access collisions. The striping can be worn and difficult to see control increasing the risk for any crash when visibility may be at issue. Add to these engineering risks the high risk driver, either inexperienced or older facing physical challenges, and the risk is compounded. Once a crash has occurred the same high risk roads impede the ability of emergency workers to provide aid and carry the seriously injured to treatment. poor/faded striping inadequate lighting crumbling shoulders sharp pavement drop-offs dense vegetation obscuring vision along roadsides Economics poor signage plays a role here because city and county governments often do not have the resources to build and maintain roadways that pose minimum risk. This is especially a factor in expanding suburban and exurban areas that have primarily two-way roads with a rapidly increasing population. These communities have limited infrastructure and budgets and are often faced with demands that exceed their resources. Difficult choices must be made. Rural communities are faced with even greater challenges. In many rural areas roads were built years ago without the benefit of modern engineering on what were essentially local cow trails. Add to that the infrastructure constraints that exist in small rural communities the challenge is to put limited resources where they will do the most good. Good crash data is the solution. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 10 January 2008 The Risk Two-way Roads High Risk Roads Special Report Three out of four fatal crashes occurred on twoway roads with no separation. They are the highest risk roadways. How traffic is separated is a key factor in crash risk the greater the separation the lower the crash risk. It also greatly affects the type of crash and the manner of collision. From 2000 to 2006, two-way roads without a separation accounted for 69.6 percent of all injury crashes and 73.1 percent of all fatal crashes. Fatal crashes on two-way roads with a median separating traffic accounted for one-fourth of all fatal crashes. For two-way roads with a median that also have an additional physical barrier the number of fatal crashes were fewer, 12.6 percent of all fatal crashes were on roads with a barrier. Road Separation Percent of All Fatal Crashes, 2000-2006 100 80 60 40 20 0 No Separation Median Median and Physical Barrier Traffic Separation* Number and Percent of Total Crashes 2000 2001 Two-way Without Separation Crashes 194,782 199,407 Injury Crashes 54,298 55,019 Fatal Crashes 936 1,006 2002 200,172 54,958 909 2003 2004 2005 204,051 209,738 210,987 55,490 57,566 57,814 1,030 1,002 1,069 2006 208,041 55,926 1,084 2000-2006 1,427,178 391,071 7,036 Percent 67.6 69.6 73.1 Two-way with Median Crashes 80,773 84,953 87,695 91,181 95,046 98,101 97,647 635,396 30.1 Injury Crashes 21,369 22,416 22,136 22,902 23,847 24,553 23,817 161,040 28.7 Fatal Crashes 348 380 261 332 369 418 362 2,470 25.7 Two-way with Median and Additional Physical Barrier Crashes 58,713 61,422 62,934 65,439 68,085 70,065 69,662 456,320 21.6 Injury Crashes 14,910 15,610 15,170 15,768 16,370 16,826 16,341 110,995 19.8 Fatal Crashes 174 183 122 169 176 200 192 1,216 12.6 Total Crashes Crashes 282,158 291,285 294,508 301,668 311,592 316,409 313,121 2,110,741 ----- Injury Crashes 77,004 78,835 78,434 79,679 82,836 83,876 81,193 561,857 ----- Fatal Crashes 1,291 1,395 1,179 1,389 1,380 1,499 1,489 9,622 ----- *Crash location linked data **Percent of total crashes does not add up to 100 due to overlap between roads with median and also a barrier. *See pages 20, 21, 23, and 25-27 for effective road treatments that reduce crash risk. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 11 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 The Risk Off Road Crashes High Risk Roads Special Report Off road fatal crashes accounted for 41 percent of all fatal crashes in Georgia in 2006. Of the 613 off road fatal crashes on two way roads 485 occurred on roads without any separation. Fatal Off Road Crashes by Road Separation, 2006 Percent of Fatal Crashes 100 Run off the road crashes are always high risk. The high number of overturn or fixed object crashes in road departure crashes is a significant factor in the high risk. For all crashes in Georgia fixed object crashes accounted for 12.6 percent of all crashes but they accounted for 27.4 percent of the fatal crashes. For off road the proportion was dramatically greater -78 percent of the off road crashes were fixed object. The greater the separation the lower the risk. Two-way roads without a separation accounted for 485 fatal crashes. In comparison 112 fatal crashes happened on two-way roads with a median and 60 fatal crashes occurred on two-way roads with both a median and physical barrier. 80 60 40 20 0 No Separation Median Median and Physical Barrier Off Road Crashes by Road Separation, 2006 Number and Percent of All Road Crashes Crashes On Road Off Road Total All Roads Number 266,130 46,991 313,121 Without Separation With Median With Median & Barrier Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent 174,621 65.6 84,838 31.9 61,961 23.3 33,420 71.1 12,809 27.3 7,701 16.4 208,041 66.4 97,647 31.2 69,662 22.2 Injury Crashes On Road Off Road Total 64,530 16,663 81,193 43,377 67.2 19,904 30.8 14,130 21.9 12,549 75.3 3,913 23.5 2,211 13.3 55,926 68.9 23,817 29.3 16,341 20.1 Fatal Crashes On Road 876 599 68.4 250 28.5 132 15.1 Off Road 613 485 79.1 112 18.3 60 9.8 Total 1,489 1,084 72.8 362 24.3 192 12.9 Crash location linked data *Percent of total crashes does not add up to 100 due to overlap between roads with median and also a barrier. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 12 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 The Risk Curved Roads High Risk Roads Special Report Horizontal curves are one of the major road characteristics that increase the risk of crashing. Of the 485 fatal off road crashes on two-way roads without any separation 277 occurred on a curve. One out of two fatal off road crashes happened on a curve although straight roadways segments far outnumber curved roadway segments. Separating traffic reduces the risk. For off road fatal crashes on two-way roads without a separation 57.1 percent of the fatal crashes were on a curve. In comparison on two-way roads with a median, only 25.0 percent occurred on a curve. For on road fatal crashes, one out of five fatal crashes on twoway roads without a separation happened on a curve. In comparison, for roads with a median, only one out of ten on road crashes was on a curve. Of the 313,121 total crashes in 2006 in Georgia, 10.1 percent were on a curve but 31.7 percent of total fatal crashes were on a curve. Curved roadway segments pose a risk regardless of roads separation. Fatal Off Road Crashes On Two-way Roads Percent on Curve, 2006 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Without Separation Median Off Road Crashes On A Curve By Traffic Separation, 2006 Number and Percent on Curve Crashes On Road Off Road Total Without Separation With Median With Median & Barrier Crashes On Curve Percent Crashes On Curve Percent Crashes On Curve Percent 174,621 33,420 208,041 11,491 12,687 24,178 6.6 84,838 38.0 12,809 11.6 97,647 4,134 2,545 6,679 4.9 61,961 19.9 7,701 6.8 69,662 2,866 4.6 1,595 20.7 4,461 6.4 Injury Crashes On Road 43,377 Off Road 12,549 Total 55,926 3,371 5,650 9,021 7.8 19,904 45.0 3,913 16.1 23,817 977 777 1,754 4.9 14,130 19.9 2,211 7.4 16,341 655 4.6 448 20.3 1,103 6.7 Fatal Crashes On Road 599 124 20.7 250 Off Road 485 277 57.1 112 Total 1,084 401 37.0 362 Crash-location linked data 27 10.8 132 28 25.0 60 55 15.2 192 *See pages 20, 21, 23, and 25-27 for effective road treatments that reduce crash risk. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 15 11.4 18 30.0 33 17.2 13 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 The Risk Nighttime Crashes High Risk Roads Special Report Many factors come into play to increase the crash risk on what may already be a high risk roadway. Poor light conditions can be a factor in all crashes and especially on high risk roadways. Of the 277 fatal off road crashes a curve on two-way roads without any separation 179 occurred at dawn, dusk or night. When the road is already high risk any additional risk factors compound the chance of a crash being fatal. There are many factors that increase crash risk. Rain or other weather conditions, vehicle or driver condition, vehicle speed and light conditions are just a few of the factors that can increase crash risk. One of the most critical is visibility. Poor visibility increases the risk of a crash. In all cases, on straight or curve road segments of two-way roads without a separation, reduced visibility found at dawn, dusk and at night increased the risk of an off road crash. Four out of ten off road crashes and injury crashes occurred at dawn, dusk or at night. In fatal off road crashes on two-way roads the proportion of crashes happening at dawn, dusk or at night increased to six out of ten fatal crashes. Light Conditions On High Risk Roads, 2006 Off road Crashes On Two-way Roads Without a Separation Total Crashes Straight Roadway On Curve Total Off Road Total Daylight Not Daylight 20,733 12,687 33,420 11,898 6,855 18,753 8,835 5,832 14,667 Percent Not Daylight 42.6 46.0 43.9 Injury Crashes Straight Roadway 6,899 4,000 2,899 42.0 Curve 5,650 3,184 2,466 43.6 Total 12,549 7,184 5,365 42.8 Fatal Crashes Straight Roadway 208 117 Curve 277 98 Total 485 215 Crash-location linked data 91 43.8 179 64.6 270 55.7 Lighting & Road connection: inadequate lighting poor or faded striping poor signage no road separation or barrier narrow lanes sharp curves narrow shoulders poor shoulders sharp pavement drop-offs limited clear zones along roadsides Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 14 January 2008 The Risk Two Georgias High Risk Roads Special Report The majority of fatal crashes on two-way roads without any separation occur in rural counties. These counties have a higher fatal crash rate than for Georgia overall. The high risk roads in these rural counties account for the majority of fatal crashes. The high risk can be best measured by applying some estimate of the exposure to risk. Here the number of fatal crashes is divided by the population in that county. This adjusts the crashes by the number of people at risk. By this measure most Georgia rural counties have far more fatal crashes than the more urban counties. Fatal Crashes on Two-way Roads Without Any Separation Counties with a fatality rate higher than the state fatality rate are in dark blue. In other words the highest risk of being killed in a crash is in the counties in dark blue. The majority of fatal crashes on two-way roads without any separation occur in rural counties. Fatal Crash Rate per 10,000 Population Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 15 January 2008 The Risk Off-System Roads High Risk Roads Special Report One out of three fatal crashes in Georgia in 2006 occurred on off-system roads. Off-system roads not only represent one-third of all fatal crashes they also represent one-third of all crashes in Georgia and one-third of the injury crashes. Taking only into account the economic cost of these crashes, any improvement in crash reduction would prove beneficial. Fatal Crashes 2006 2,000 Road ownership governs who is responsible for building and maintaining the roads and is a major factor in making road 1,750 improvements. The Georgia Department of Transportation is responsible for on-system roads which includes state roads, interstates 1,500 and a few other routes. Off-system roads are owned by local county 1,250 and city municipalities. 1,000 Off-System Crashes, 2006 Crashes Number Percent Off-System 120,104 38.4 On-System 193,017 61.6 Total 313,121 100.0 Crash-location linked data Injury Crashes Number Percent 30,252 37.3 50,941 62.7 81,193 100.0 Fatal Crashes Number Percent 531 35.7 958 64.3 1,489 100.0 750 500 250 0 Off-System All Crashes All of the risk factors that apply to the two-way roads in the previous pages also apply to off-system roadways. Although risk reduction should not be based on money the reality is that reducing risk on our roads can be expensive. Even basic maintenance can be overwhelming for counties with little revenue which is why projects like GDOT's Off -System Program is so important. The Off-System Program of the Georgia Department of Transportation assists local counties with road improvements targeted to high risk roads. The overriding goal is to save lives first by reducing the risk of a crash and second reduce the risk of injury should a crash occur. The following pages will describe these high risk roads and the road improvements that are being implemented to begin to reduce the risk. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 16 January 2008 The Risk Off-System Roads High Risk Roads Special Report Risk is relative. Not all roads are created equal and although the public should have a reasonable expectation of minimal risk that is a relative term. Some roads by virtue of their basic characteristics pose a higher risk for crashes than other kinds of roads but there are road improvements that have been shown to reduce the number of crashes and reduce injuries and fatalities. Factors that increase risk: no road separation or barrier narrow lanes sharp curves narrow shoulders poor/faded striping The key is to know which improvement to apply to reduce the risk on that specific road segment. The correct improvement is a proven effective treatment that specifically addresses the road inadequate lighting crumbling shoulders sharp pavement drop-offs defect or characteristic causing the increased risk. limited clear zones along roadsides Factors that decrease risk: road separation or barrier wide lanes controlled access modern roadway design wide solid shoulders The first goal is to prevent the crash. The second goal is to minimize the severity if one should occur. poor signage clear pavement markings solid pavements good lighting gradual curves no severe pavement drop- Cost is a factor because many of the road safety improvements are expensive. offs no vegetation blocking visibility along roadsides clear, large signage grade reduction on slopes Where to focus effort is crucial in this process. Fatal injuries are the most critical concern followed by serious injuries and the sheer economical cost of crashes. In order to identify high risk road segments Georgia needs GPS in all vehicles that respond to a crash: law enforcement, rescue and EMS. Although the cost may be initially a factor the overall payoff in reduced risk for all crashes would be exponential. Determining which improvement to apply to a given road is a complex process. As seen in the previous pages, motor vehicle crashes in Georgia crashes are the result of a complex combination of factors and events. Only with accurate crash data and crashes located correctly it is possible to determine the crash cause and what to do to reduce crash risk. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 17 January 2008 The Risk Off-System Two-way Roads High Risk Roads Special Report One-third of all fatal crashes in Georgia in 2006 were on off-system roads and almost all of these fatal crashes were on two-way roads without any separation. 492 of the 531 fatal off-system crashes occurred on two-way roads without a separation. The majority of fatal crashes on off-system roads occurred on two-way roads without a separation more than nine out of ten fatal crashes. Two-way roads without a separation accounted for 92.7 percent of all off-system fatal crashes and they represented 33.0 percent of all fatal crashes. For on-system roads five out of ten injury crashes were on two-way roads without a separation compared with nine out of ten for off-system roads. In addition to absolute numbers the proportions are important here for identifying high risk roads and putting the human and economic cost in perspective. Off-System Crashes, 2006 Two-way Roads Without Separation Percent of All Crashes All Crashes Crashes Off-System On-System Total Number 120,104 193,017 313,121 Two-way Roads Without Separation Number Percent 106,582 88.7 101,459 52.6 208,041 66.4 Injury Crashes Off-System On-System Total 30,252 50,941 81,193 27,438 90.7 28,488 55.9 55,926 68.9 Fatal Crashes Off-System 531 On-System 958 Total 1,489 Crash-location linked data 492 92.7 592 61.8 1,084 72.8 For total crashes off-system roads accounted for 38 percent of all crashes in Georgia. Of those a little over half were on two-way roads without a median or barrier to separate traffic. In absolute numbers 106,582 crashes occurred on two-way off-system roads without a separation or a barrier. For fatal crashes off-system roads accounted for 36 percent of all crashes. Of those, 92.7 percent were on two-way roads with out a median or barrier to separate traffic. In absolute numbers 492 fatal crashes occurred on two-way off-system roads without a separation or a barrier. *See pages 20, 21, 23, and 25-27 for effective road treatments that reduce crash risk. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 18 January 2008 The Risk Off-System Roads Crash Type High Risk Roads Special Report Of the 492 fatal crashes on two-way off-system roads half were fixed object crashes. Fixed object crashes accounted for almost half of the offsystem fatal crashes. In comparison for on-system roadways only one out of four fatal crashes were fixed object crashes. The opposite is true for crashes involving another moving vehicle. On two-way roads without a separation moving vehicle crashes were 28 percent of the off-system fatal crashes but 51 percent of the on-system fatal crashes. The way crashes happen and the type of crash is important in choosing the appropriate road improvement for that road segment. Clearly specific engineering improvements that address the three major types of crashes are needed on the high risk two-way road without a median or barrier. Two-way Off-System Roads Type of Crash, 2006 Percent of Fatal Crashes 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Fixed Object OvertMuornving Vehicle Off-Road On-Road One out of ten fatal crashes on two-way off-system roads were head on collisions. One-third of these head on fatal crashes occurred at dusk, dawn or night. Single vehicle crashes represented 70.1 percent of the fatal crashes on two-way off-system roads. Of those single vehicle crashes, 60.9 percent did not happen in daylight they occurred at dusk, dawn or night. Off-System Roads Two-way Without Separation: Type of Crash, 2006 Number and Percent of Total Crashes Total Moving Vehicle Crashes Number Percent Overturn Number Percent Off-System Crashes 106,582 71,732 67.3 2,589 2.4 Injury Crashes 27,438 17,049 62.1 1,483 5.4 Fatal Crashes 492 136 27.6 56 11.4 On-System Crashes 101,459 83,306 82.1 1,792 1.8 Injury Crashes 28,488 22,521 79.1 1,063 3.7 Fatal Crashes 592 303 51.2 50 8.4 *Percent of total crashes does not add up to 100 due to other crash types. **Crash-location linked data Fixed Object Number Percent 19,062 17.9 6,615 24.1 234 47.6 8,606 8.5 3,421 12.0 160 27.0 *See pages 20, 21, 23, and 25-27 for effective road treatments that reduce crash risk. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 19 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Reducing Risk Two-way Roads High Risk Roads Special Report Road improvements for two-way roads have two objectives: The first is to reduce the risk of vehicles leaving their lane and drifting into oncoming traffic and reduce the risk of them leaving the road altogether. The second goal is to reduce the severity of a crash if a vehicle does leave their lane or run off the roadway. Road improvements: centerline rumble strips shoulder rumble strips road edge repair add safety wedge add median concrete or cable barriers increased access control widen lanes roadside obstacle removal shield roadside obstacle resurface roadway pavement apply traction compound wider shoulders pave shoulders new pavement lane markings reduce curve angle larger signage new clearer signage breakaway posts for barriers & signage install/improve lighting grade reduction on slopes improved access control adding turn lanes The basic road improvements that are effective for reducing crashes on two-way roads may also be effective for addressing off road crashes or reducing the risk of crashes on curves. Examples of specific effective road treatments that reduce the risk of crashing can be found on the following pages. By preventing the vehicle from leaving the roadway you also reduce the number of fixed object crashes. However once the vehicle has left the road a different approach is needed to reduce the risk of hitting a fixed object. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 20 January 2008 Reducing Risk High Risk Roads Special Report Keeping vehicles in their lane..... One out of ten fatal crashes on two-way off-system roads were head on collisions resulting from vehicles leaving their lane and moving into oncoming traffic. Major roadway treatments for twoway roads without a separation include adding a median or physical barrier such as a cable barrier. Cable barriers are recommended because they provide an effective barrier that gives as the vehicle hits it reducing the risk of injury when compared to solid barriers. Centerline rumble strips are a cost effective road treatment that warns drivers they are leaving their lane Adding a physical barrier such as concrete or W-beam guardrail effectively separates traffic. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 21 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 The Risk Off Road Crashes on Off-System Roads High Risk Roads Special Report Off road crashes are deadly. Of the 492 fatal off-system fatal crashes 57 percent were run-offroad crashes -279 fatal crashes on two-way roads without a separation. The majority of fatal off road crashes on off-system roadways were either fixed object or rollover crashes. These types of crashes are particularly deadly so any improvement that reduces the risk of leaving the roadway will also reduce injuries and fatalities. These are the same roads EMS must travel to get to the crash scene. Often an ambulance must travel at a higher rate of speed than the roadway was designed for, and if the road is high risk to begin with the speed exponentially increases the risk. Two-way roads with a median or barrier account for less than one out of ten crashes overall. The addition of a median or barrier greatly decreases the risk of crashing. Many off-system two-way roads do not have a median or separation. Off Road Crashes Off-System Roadways, 2006 Number and Percent of All Crashes Crashes On Road Off Road Total All Roads Without Separation With Median With Barrier Number Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent 96,502 84,316 87.4 7,821 8.1 6,962 7.2 23,602 22,266 94.3 704 3.0 570 2.4 120,104 106,582 88.7 8,525 7.1 7,532 6.3 Injury Crashes On Road 21,915 19,464 88.8 1,645 7.5 1,430 6.5 Off Road 8,337 7,974 95.6 192 2.3 154 1.8 Total 30,252 27,438 90.7 1,837 6.1 1,584 5.2 Fatal Crashes On Road 238 Off Road 293 Total 531 Crash-location linked data 213 89.5 279 95.2 492 92.7 11 4.6 5 1.7 16 3.0 10 4.2 3 1.0 13 2.4 Eighty-one percent of the 279 off-system off road fatal crashes were fixed object crashes. Of those fixed object crashes 39 percent involved the vehicle hitting a tree. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 22 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Reducing Risk High Risk Roads Special Report Keeping vehicles on the road..... Of the 492 fatal offsystem fatal crashes 57 percent were run-off-road crashes -279 fatal crashes on two-way roads without a separation. Edgeline markings in a shoulder rumble strip warn the driver when drifting off the roadway. Creating a gradual wedge on the edge of the roadway prevents loss of control of the vehicle when the driver tries to return to the roadway after dropping off the road. This is critical in preventing off road crashes. Restriping faded pavement markings increases visibility. Another economical alternative is to increase the striping from 4 inch to an 8 inch edge line for better visibility. Increasing visual delineation is critical and can be achieved by a number of ways. By using two different looking materials for the road and the shoulder driver can better see the road. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 23 January 2008 The Risk Off-System Curved Roads High Risk Roads Special Report Horizontal curves are high risk due to the increased potential for run-off-road crashes. Of the 279 run-off-road fatal crashes on off-system two-way roads 62 percent were on horizontal curves -173 fatal crashes on two-way roads without a separation. There is also a greater risk of injury on off-system two-way roads without a separation on a curve, half of the non-fatal off road injury crashes were on a curve. In 2006 4,043 injury crashes occurred on a curved road segment. Although we have no exact measure of the proportion of road segments that are curved or the proportion of very sharp curved road segments we know that straight segments outnumber curved road segments in Georgia. Overall for off system two-way roads without a separation 15 percent of the crashes occurred on a curve, 9,430 of the 22,266 crashes. For fatal crashes, almost half were on a curve, 229 of the 492 fatal crashes. Fatal Crashes On A Curve Type of Crash, 2006 Percent of Total 100 Crashes on a Curve, 2006 Two-way Off-System Roads Without a Separation Number and Percent on Curve Crashes On Road Off Road Total Crashes On Curve Percent 84,316 22,266 106,582 6,758 8.0 9,430 42.4 16,188 15.2 Injury Crashes On Road 19,464 Off Road 7,974 Total 27,438 1,994 10.2 4,043 50.7 6,037 22.0 Fatal Crashes On Road 213 Off Road 279 Total 492 *Crash-location linked data 56 26.3 173 62.0 229 46.5 80 Of the 173 off-system off road fatal crashes on a 60 curve 141 or 82 percent were fixed object. 40 Of those 141 fatal fixed object crashes one third 20 were crashes into trees. 0 Moving Overturn Fixed Vehicle Object Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 24 January 2008 Reducing Risk High Risk Roads Special Report Keeping vehicles on the road...Curves Horizontal curves are high risk due to the increased potential for run off the road crashes. Of the 279 run off the road fatal crashes off-system two-way roads 62 percent were on horizontal curves -173 fatal crashes on two-way roads without a separation. In many cases increasing tire traction with compounds that bind to the pavement and help keep cars on the road can reduce run-off-road crashes significantly for very little cost. Widening a shoulder outside of a curve can be very effective on certain sharp segments. It is less economical but an effective alternative. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 25 January 2008 Reducing Risk High Risk Roads Special Report Keeping vehicles on the road...Curves Drivers do not like surprises. Sometimes something as basic as improved or larger signage can reduce the crash risk on high risk roads. This is even more important if driving at night or for older drivers. Adding speed limit advisory markings is another relatively low cost means of providing the visual clues that reduce risk. Direction arrows called chevrons are a proven means of defining a curve to drivers. Advance curve warning signs as above must also be used along with correct spacing of the chevrons. Another economical alternative is to add high retroreflective marking to existing barriers or posts. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 26 January 2008 Reducing Risk Fixed object crashes..... High Risk Roads Special Report Reducing the consequence if a vehicle leaves the road can save lives. Of the 492 fatal crashes on two-way off-system roads half were fixed object crashes. Of the 173 off-system off road fatal crashes on a curve 141 or 82 percent were fixed object. Of those 141 fatal fixed object crashes one third were crashes into a tree. An economical alternative is to clear under brush, trees and posts to create a clear zone. Breakaway Posts Physical barriers can reduce the risk of serious injury or death if a vehicle leaves the roadway. All signs and posts must be made to break on impact thus reducing injury in the event of a crash. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 27 January 2008 The Risk In Perspective High Risk Roads Special Report High risk roads in review.... Three out of four fatal crashes occurred on two-way roads with no separation they are the highest risk roadways. Off road fatal crashes accounted for 41 percent of all fatal crashes in Georgia in 2006. Of the 613 off road fatal crashes on two way roads 485 occurred on roads without The success of programs like GDOT's Off System any separation. Program will take many years to evaluate. Evaluating the success of a specific road segment improvement is challenging because often the starting numbers are very small and any real change good or bad difficult to detect. One solution is to compare an average of multiple years from before the improvement to multiple years average Horizontal curves are one of the major road characteristics that increase the risk of crashing. Of the 485 fatal off road crashes on two-way roads without any separation 277 occurred on a curve. after the improvement. This often compensates for the variability found when working with small numbers. A number of complex algorithms have been used with varying degrees of success. The measure of success for any improvement needs to be carefully chosen one test may work better for certain types of crashes or roadways than another. High risk roads in review.... Of the 1,084 fatal crashes on two-way roads without a separation about half were on off-system roads -492 fatal crashes. Of the 492 fatal off-system fatal crashes 57 percent were run-off-road crashes -279 fatal crashes on two-way roads without a separation. Of the 279 run-off-road fatal crashes twoway off-system roads 62 percent were on horizontal curves -173 fatal crashes on two-way roads without a separation. Adverse effects have been documented with even the most effective improvement. For example rumble strips could pose difficulties for cyclists in certain areas. The effectiveness of the treatment needs to out weigh any negative effect before installation. One key fact is that by counting crashes or fatalities we are only counting crash events we have no real measure of absolute true exposure and we have no measure of negative events. We have no measure of the near misses the crashes that did not happen thanks to a road edge rumble strip or an injury that did not lead to death because EMS was at the scene. We have no negative control to measure against only the crashes, injuries and fatalities. So documenting the reduction of risk after specific improvements is always difficult. All we can measure are fewer crashes or fatalities to show a lower risk afterward. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 28 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Risk and the Vehicles..... Section III Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Risk and the Vehicles..... Connections..... Risk and Vehicles Vehicles in Crashes Passenger Vehicles Large Trucks Motorcycles Vehicles Crash Severity Reducing Risk Vehicles and Seat Belt Use Reducing Risk Emergency Medical Services Reducing Risk Vehicle Design Vehicles on High Risk Roads: Special Report Section III 1 2 3 4 7 10 13 15 17 19 24 This section will cover the vehicles, their risk factors and risk reduction engineering, past, present and future innovations. Because crash risk cannot be separated from the characteristics of the roadway a special report will examine vehicles on high risk roadways. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Connections..... The Crash Report `Single late model pickup truck headed east on two-way undivided road. Driver failed to negotiate curve and lost control of vehicle. Vehicle rolled over three times. Driver was partially ejected through the passenger window. The vehicle came to rest on top of the victim's torso Victim was not wearing his seat belt EMS arrived on scene and found drivers body lifeless' -Law Enforcement Officer and EMS on scene. Crash report narrative is taken from crash reports by Georgia law enforcement officers. Photographs are purely for descriptive purposes and are not from the crash scene. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 1 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Risk and Vehicles 2008 CASI Report As with roadways, unique vehicle characteristics are a factor in motor vehicle crashes and in the severity of a crash. The interior of a vehicle acts as a safe zone protecting the occupants, the stronger the walls, the roof and the structure of the vehicle the greater the reduction in risk to the occupants. A key factor here is if the vehicle occupants take advantage of this `room to live' and use seat belts. Failure to do so negates the safe zone and the occupant is either violently thrown against the interior of the vehicle or totally ejected. In crashes where two or more vehicles are involved disparity in vehicle size can be a major factor in injury severity. Often called incompatible crashes, disparity in vehicle weight can predict who is injured and how Many other factors come into play such as seriously they are injured. the tendency of the vehicle to tip and rollover, or excessive speed going beyond the design of the vehicle, the road or the driver's ability. Examining the risk inherent to the vehicle is what drives vehicle improvements that have three goals: to reduce the risk of injury to the occupants, reduce the severity of injury and reduce the crash risk altogether. Good vehicle design and construction addresses all three primary goals especially the last goal. It is important to remember that the best way to prevent injuries or death is to prevent the crash itself but there is no risk free vehicle. This section will examine the crash risk involved with passenger cars, specialty vehicles, large trucks and motorcycles. Each vehicle type poses challenges in reducing potential crash risk but just examining the vehicles alone is not enough. How the crashes happen and the type of road they occur on adds essential information. Vehicle improvements that reduce crash and injury will be discussed to provide a better picture of risk and the vehicles. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 2 January 2008 Vehicles in Crashes 2008 CASI Report Although pickup trucks were involved in 20.2 percent of the vehicles in fatal crashes they accounted for only 15.5 percent of vehicles in crashes over all. The higher involvement in fatal crashes indicates pickup trucks are at higher risk for fatal crashes. Motorcycles have an even greater higher risk. They represented 0.6 percent of all vehicles in crashes overall but 6.2 percent of the vehicles in fatal crashes the fatal crash proportion is ten times higher than their risk of crashing overall. Vehicles Involved in Motor Vehicle Crashes, 2006 Nonfatal Injury Vehicle Type Crashes Crashes Fatal Crashes Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent Passenger Car 369,661 57.0 94,660 56.4 1,035 40.9 Pickup Truck 100,637 15.5 25,751 15.3 511 20.2 Sport Utility Vehicle 96,051 14.8 24,823 14.8 354 14.0 Van 39,732 6.1 10,438 6.2 143 5.6 Tractor Trailer 13,275 2.0 2,919 1.7 158 6.2 Single Unit Truck 7,866 1.2 1,767 1.1 56 2.2 Motorcycle, Minibike 4,180 0.6 2,974 1.8 157 6.2 Other 3,844 0.6 834 0.5 10 0.4 Bus 3,285 0.5 622 0.4 11 0.4 Vehicle with Trailer 2,923 0.5 731 0.4 20 0.8 Panel Truck 2,153 0.3 406 0.2 11 0.4 Truck Tractor 1,004 0.2 219 0.1 9 0.4 Bicycle 937 0.1 729 0.4 17 0.7 Logging Tractor Trailer 685 0.1 207 0.1 9 0.4 Farm or Construction Equipment 416 0.1 122 0.1 5 0.2 All Terrain Vehicle 335 0.1 185 0.1 13 0.5 Motorized Recreational Vehicle 318 0.0 119 0.1 2 0.1 Tractor / Twin Trailers 298 0.0 78 0.0 4 0.2 Ambulance 286 0.0 61 0.0 3 0.1 Logging Truck 238 0.0 54 0.0 2 0.1 Truck Towing House Trailer 136 0.0 25 0.0 1 0.0 Moped 58 0.0 41 0.0 0 0.0 Go Cart 21 0.0 12 0.0 1 0.0 Total 648,339 100.0 167,777 100.0 2,532 100.0 *Crash data does not differentiate between large and small makes of pickup trucks or SUV's and motorcycles and minibikes Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 3 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Passenger Vehicles 2008 CASI Report The number of pickup trucks in fatal crashes increased 17 percent from 2000 to 2006. Even when adjusted for the increase in the number of registered vehicles the fatal crash rate increased 5.7 percent. From 2000 to 2006, the crash rate per 10,000 registered vehicles for all three types of passenger vehicles remained the same or decreased slightly. Vehicles Involved in Motor Vehicle Crashes, 2000-2006 Number and Rate per 10,000 Registered Vehicles 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Crash Vehicle Passenger Car 364,773 369,174 373,743 370,034 376,379 376,184 Rate 897.0 903.8 887.4 882.8 897.4 893.8 Pickup Truck 95,387 97,677 100,776 100,056 103,908 104,233 Rate 657.7 663.4 656.9 647.1 672.1 670.3 Sport Utility Vehicle 53,543 61,984 71,990 79,215 87,864 94,238 Rate 693.4 722.7 733.4 745.6 760.3 751.8 Nonfatal Injury Vehicles Passenger Car 100,986 102,215 100,307 98,403 99,846 99,506 Rate 248.3 250.2 238.2 234.8 238.1 236.4 Pickup Truck 25,287 25,945 26,269 25,913 27,063 26,958 Rate 174.3 176.2 171.2 167.6 175.1 173.4 Sport Utility Vehicle 14,095 16,245 18,567 20,612 23,193 24,929 Rate 182.5 189.4 189.1 194.0 200.7 198.9 Fatal Crash Vehicles Passenger Car 1,101 1,127 1,046 1,091 1,110 1,103 Rate 2.71 2.76 2.48 2.60 2.65 2.62 Pickup Truck 435 466 423 443 470 523 Rate 3.00 3.17 2.76 2.87 3.04 3.36 Sport Utility Vehicle 223 275 263 274 297 375 Rate 2.89 3.21 2.68 2.58 2.57 2.99 Registered Vehicles Passenger Car 4,066,530 4,084,746 4,211,547 4,191,745 4,194,287 4,208,585 Pickup Truck 1,450,416 1,472,296 1,534,145 1,546,121 1,545,912 1,554,995 Sport Utility Vehicle 772,184 857,729 981,648 1,062,398 1,155,688 1,253,568 *Crash data does not differentiate between large and small makes of pickup trucks or SUV's. 2006 369,661 892.6 100,637 624.2 96,051 701.2 94,660 228.6 25,751 159.7 24,823 181.2 1,035 2.50 511 3.17 354 2.58 4,141,179 1,612,188 1,369,870 Percent Change 2000-2006 1.34 -0.49 5.50 -5.08 79.39 1.12 -6.26 -7.95 1.83 -8.38 76.11 -0.73 -5.99 -7.69 17.47 5.68 58.74 -10.52 1.84 11.15 77.40 Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 4 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Passenger Vehicles 2008 CASI Report Rollover and fixed object crashes are more deadly than crashes with another vehicle. Overturn crashes accounted for only one out of 100 crashes, in comparison they represented one out of ten fatal crashes. Vehicles such as pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles (SUV) that sit higher up and also have a proportionally narrow wheel base may have a tendency to rollover under certain conditions. The crash data reflects this. The proportion of pickup trucks or SUV's in rollover crashes is twice that of passenger cars, 1.1 percent of the passenger car crashes involved an overturned vehicle compared with 2.1 percent for pickup trucks and 2.6 percent for SUV's. In injury crashes the disparity is even greater, 4.9 percent of the pickup truck injury crashes were rollover crashes and rollover crashes represented 6.4 percent of the SUV injury crashes compared with 2.4 percent for passenger cars. The difference is even greater in fatal crashes. Rollover crashes account for one out of ten fatal crashes for passenger cars. In comparison one out of five fatal pickup truck crashes are rollover crashes. The crash data does not differentiate between large and small pickup trucks and does not contain the specific physical characteristics of pickup trucks or SUV's such as weight, wheel base, or other features so the crash data cannot be broken out by these specific vehicle characteristics. Type of Crash, 2006 Number of Vehicles and Percent Moving Fixed Crashes Overturn Percent Vehicle Percent Object Percent Passenger Car 4,242 1.1 322,177 87.2 23,378 6.3 Pickup Truck 2,156 2.1 85,340 84.8 6,643 6.6 Sport Utility Vehicle 2,464 2.6 83,440 86.9 5,141 5.4 Nonfatal Injury Crashes Passenger Car 2,258 2.4 81,589 86.2 7,306 7.7 Pickup Truck 1,256 4.9 21,376 83.0 2,135 8.3 Sport Utility Vehicle 1,579 6.4 20,758 83.6 1,702 6.9 Fatal Crashes Passenger Car 107 10.3 592 57.2 195 18.8 Pickup Truck 78 15.3 296 57.9 80 15.7 Sport Utility Vehicle 78 22.0 184 52.0 58 16.4 *Crash data does not differentiate between large and small makes of pickup trucks or SUV's. Total 369,661 100,637 96,051 94,660 25,751 24,823 1,035 511 354 Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 5 January 2008 Passenger Vehicles Crash Severity 2008 CASI Report Only pickup trucks showed a higher proportion of fatally injured occupants. Overall about 85 percent of all vehicle occupants escaped injury. Uninjured Minor Moderate Serious Injuries Fatal Total Occupants The number of vehicles in injury or fatal crashes is one measure of crash severity. Another measure is the proportion of vehicle occupants injured or killed in the crash. The proportion of passenger cars and SUV occupants that were seriously injured or killed is somewhat similar until the type of crash is examined. Pickup trucks showed a different pattern. Proportionally more occupants of pickup trucks were killed in crashes than cars and SUVs regardless of the crash type. Severity of Injury, 2006 Passenger Car Number Percent 416,923 84.10 59,334 11.97 15,743 3.18 3,052 0.62 78,129 15.76 724 0.15 495,776 --- Pickup Truck Number Percent 111,262 86.63 10,711 8.34 5,193 4.04 977 0.76 16,881 13.15 293 0.23 128,436 --- Sport Utility Vehicle Number Percent 120,529 85.84 14,087 10.03 4,791 3.41 800 0.57 19,678 14.02 210 0.15 140,417 --- In rollover crashes more pickup truck or SUV occupants suffered moderate, serious or fatal injuries than passenger car occupants. Fewer occupants of pickup trucks and SUV's escaped injury than occupants of passenger cars in overturn crashes. Although pickup trucks are included with passenger cars many of them are used as work vehicles transporting produce, equipment or livestock. Overturn Crashes Severity of Injury, 2006 Sport Utility Passenger Car Pickup Truck Vehicle Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent Uninjured 2,873 48.12 1,227 41.59 1,529 38.21 Minor 1,241 20.78 554 18.78 865 21.61 Moderate 1,499 25.10 897 30.41 1,316 32.88 Serious 246 4.12 190 6.44 207 5.17 Fatal 112 1.88 82 2.78 85 2.12 Total Occupants 5,971 --- 2,950 --- 4,002 --- *Crash data does not differentiate between large and small makes of pickup trucks or SUV's. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information In 2006, the average number of occupants per vehicle was 1.34 for cars, 1.28 for pickup trucks and 1.46 for SUV's. 6 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Large Trucks 2008 CASI Report Crashes between large trucks and smaller vehicles are deadly because large trucks are heavier than lighter vehicles and cannot stop quickly or maneuver to avoid a crash. One out of six fatalities in Georgia occurred in a crash involving a large truck. The number of crashes involving large trucks increased 12.22 percent from 2000 to 2006. The greatest increase was for tractors with twin trailers, 26.27 percent from 2000 to 2006. From 2000 to 2006, fatal crashes involving large trucks increased 12.26 percent. Fatal crashes involving both truck tractors and tractors with twin trailers increased more than 28 percent. Large Trucks Involved in Motor Vehicle Crashes, 2000-2006 2000 Crash Vehicles Truck Tractor 1,006 Tractor Trailer 11,401 Tractor / Twin Trailers 236 Logging Truck 223 Logging Tractor Trailer 635 Single Unit Truck 7,321 Total Large Truck 20,822 Nonfatal Injury Crash Vehicles Truck Tractor 230 Tractor Trailer 2,702 Tractor / Twin Trailers 72 Logging Truck 57 Logging Tractor Trailer 207 Single Unit Truck 1,759 Total Large Truck 5,027 Fatal Crash Vehicles Truck Tractor 7 Tractor Trailer 138 Tractor / Twin Trailers 3 Logging Truck 4 Logging Tractor Trailer 12 Single Unit Truck 48 Total Large Truck 212 2001 1,017 11,631 235 224 584 7,382 21,073 285 2,677 62 57 169 1,700 4,950 10 144 3 1 15 62 235 2002 920 11,779 262 189 641 7,046 20,837 232 2,676 50 35 215 1,620 4,828 11 131 3 1 12 53 211 2003 908 12,018 269 237 703 7,165 21,300 243 2,709 46 61 222 1,633 4,914 3 142 3 1 11 47 207 2004 1,003 12,861 269 214 702 7,463 22,512 236 3,019 63 58 222 1,683 5,281 10 151 4 0 16 64 245 2005 2006 972 13,784 294 176 682 8,202 24,110 1,004 13,275 298 238 685 7,866 23,366 214 3,226 73 38 219 2,919 78 54 217 1,896 5,664 207 1,767 5,244 3 9 162 158 5 4 2 2 13 9 68 56 253 238 Percent Change 2000-2006 -0.20 16.44 26.27 6.73 7.87 7.44 12.22 -4.78 8.03 8.33 -5.26 0.00 0.45 4.32 28.57 14.49 33.33 -50.00 -25.00 16.67 12.26 Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 7 January 2008 Large Trucks 2008 CASI Report The vast majority of the fatal large truck crashes in 2006 involved a crash with another moving vehicle, 79.4 percent compared with 57.2 percent for passenger cars. The proportion of rollover or fixed object fatal crashes was lower for large trucks. Rollover fatal crashes accounted for 3.8 percent of the large truck crashes compared with 10.3 percent for passengers crashes. Fixed object fatal crashes were 5.5 percent of the large truck crashes compared with 18.8 percent for passenger cars. Large Truck Motor Vehicle Crashes, 2006 Percent of Large Truck Crashes 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Tractor Trailer Single UnitTrucLkoTgrgainctgoTr ractor TTrraacilteorr/Twin TraileLrogging Truck Tractor trailers are the typical large commercial transport vehicles. Tractor trailers were involved in 56.8 percent of the large truck crashes and 66.4 percent of the fatal crashes involving large trucks. Single unit trucks are the smallest of the large trucks and the most numerous. Single unit trucks accounted for 33.4 percent of the large truck crashes and 23.5 percent of the fatal crashes. A truck tractor is the truck cab without the trailer. Truck tractors accounted for 4.3 percent of the large truck crashes and 3.8 percent of the fatal crashes. Tractor with twin trailers are one of the largest of the large trucks. They represented 1.28 percent of the crashes and 1.7 percent of the fatal crashes. Logging tractor trailers are larger than logging trucks and are not designed to go off the road on soft dirt and rough terrain. Logging tractor trailers were in 2.9 percent of the large truck crashes and 3.78 percent of the fatal crashes. Logging trucks are designed to go off the road and generally transport logs from the field to a transfer station. The lowest number of crashes occurred with logging trucks. Logging trucks are smaller than logging tractor trailers, spend a high percent of their time off road and when on road travel only short distances. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 8 January 2008 Large Trucks Crash Severity 2008 CASI Report A crash between incompatible vehicles such as when a much larger vehicle crashes with a smaller vehicle results in considerably greater damage to the smaller vehicle and the vast majority of injuries are to occupants of the smaller vehicle. The occupants of the large truck have a much lower risk of injury because the sheer mass of the large truck protects them in the event of a crash. In addition they sit very high up, well above the point of impact with a smaller vehicle thus reducing direct impact on the large vehicle occupant. Of the 270 fatalities that occurred in crashes involving at least one large truck in 2006, 86.3 percent of the people killed were occupants of the smaller vehicle compared with 13.7 percent for the large truck occupants. In 50.2 percent of the fatal multiple-vehicle crashes involving a large truck the impact point was the front of the large truck. In 16.7 percent of the fatal multiple-vehicle large truck crashes the large truck was struck from the rear by the other vehicle. Risk in Perspective: In a crash with a large truck you are in much greater risk of being injured or killed if you are in the smaller vehicle. Fewer occupants of large trucks are injured in crashes compared with occupants of passenger cars. In 2006, 15.8 percent of the occupants of passenger cars were injured compared with 6.9 percent of large truck occupants. Fatally Injured Occupants in Large Truck Crashes, 2006 250 200 150 100 50 0 Occupants in Occupants in Smaller Vehicle Large Truck Injured Occupants in Large Truck Crashes, 2006 8,000 6,000 4,000 2,000 0 Occupants in Occupants in Smaller Vehicle Large Truck Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 9 January 2008 Motorcycles 2008 CASI Report Motorcyclists are at greater risk of being injured or killed in motor vehicle crashes. Unlike other vehicles motorcycles do not provide any physical protection for the driver or passenger. Because of this risk motorcyclists require specialized driver education and unique driving skills. From 2000 to 2006, motorcycle crashes accounted for 774 fatalities and 15,292 injuries. Of all the people killed in motor vehicle crashes in Georgia in 2006 more than one out of 11 were killed in a motorcycle crash. The proportion of all Georgia fatalities that involved motorcycles increased from 2000 to 2006. In 2000 3.9 percent of all fatalities involved a motorcycle. In comparison in 2006 motorcycle crashes accounted for 8.69 percent of the fatalities. The number of registered motorcycles increased 60.1 percent from 2000 to 2006. The crash rate for motorcycles increased 25.34 percent from 2000 to 2006. Motorcycle injury crashes showed a similar increase. The motorcycle injury crash rate increased 22.13 percent from 2000 to 2006. In contrast the increase in the fatality rate for motorcycle crashes was more than double the increases for crashes and injury crashes. The motorcycle fatal crash rate increased 60.76 percent from 2000 to 2006. The actual number of motorcycles in fatal crashes went from 61 in 2000 to 157 in 2006. Motorcycles Involved in Motor Vehicle Crashes, 2000-2006 Number of Vehicles in Crashes and Rate per 10,000 Registered Motorcycles 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Crashes 2,083 2,533 Rate 236.5 275.5 Nonfatal Injury Crashes 1,521 1,851 Rate 172.7 201.3 Fatal Crashes 61 98 Rate 6.9 10.7 Registered Vehicles 88,071 91,946 *Includes motorcycles and minibikes 2,499 229.2 1,775 162.8 85 7.8 109,024 2,930 246.9 2,093 176.4 113 9.5 118,671 3,371 260.4 2,414 186.5 113 8.7 129,439 3,738 263.2 2,664 187.6 147 10.4 142,010 4,180 296.5 2,974 210.9 157 11.1 141,000 Percent Change 2000-2006 100.67 25.34 95.53 22.13 157.38 60.76 60.10 Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 10 January 2008 Motorcycles 2008 CASI Report The dramatic increase in fatal motorcycle crashes seen on the previous pages is not due solely to the increase in registered vehicles because the motorcycle crash rate did not increase as much as the fatal crash rate. Fatal crashes have different contributing factors and occur under different circumstances than non-fatal crashes. There was no difference between 2000 and 2006 for contributing factors or how the crash happened so what caused the increase in fatal motorcycle crashes? The major contributing factors in crashes overall are following too closely or failure to yield, in comparison fatal crashes more often involve driver lost control or speed. In 2006, the top contributing factors noted in motorcycle fatal crashes were driver lost control reported 56 times, and unsafe or illegal speed noted 36 times. Following too close was noted six times and failure to yield was recorded five times in fatal motorcycle crashes. In 2006, 59.9 percent of the motorcycle crashes involved collision with another vehicle. 24.8 percent of the motorcycle crashes were crashes with a fixed object and 10.2 percent were rollover crashes. In comparison in 2000 the pattern was similar except for a smaller proportion of motorcycles involved in crashes with another vehicle 50.8 percent in 2000 compared with 59.9 in 2006. One possible reason for the increase in fatal motorcycle crashes may be driver age. There has been a gradual but dramatic increase in motorcycle fatalities for middle age and older bikers. From 2000 to 2006, motorcycle drivers in fatal crashes under age 40 increased 117.1 percent. In contrast for drivers over age 39 the increase was 254.6 percent. Older persons not only are more susceptible to injury they also have serious physical challenges. A multitude of physical changes occur as people age: decline in vision, loss of flexibility resulting in trouble turning head, loss of bone density increasing risk of fractures, hearing impairment, lower reflexes and many other changes. These changes are a factor when driving any vehicle but are even more important as a motorcycle driver. Motorcycle Drivers in Fatal Crashes by Age Number and Percent of Total Drivers 2000 Number Percent Under Age 40 35 61.4 Over Age 39 22 38.6 All Drivers 57 --- Unknown Age 4 --- *Includes motorcycles and minibikes 2006 Number Percent 76 49.4 78 50.6 154 --- 3 --- Motorcycle crashes can inflict serious trauma and the older individual may not tolerate the injury as well as a younger person. Motorcycle driver education needs to be repeated periodically to ensure safety. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 11 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Motorcycles Crash Severity 2008 CASI Report Motorcycles are affected by incompatible vehicle size factors perhaps more than any single vehicle type. They are smaller then almost every other type of vehicle on the road. Seventy-two percent of motorcyclists were either injured or killed compared with only 16 percent of the occupants of passenger cars. In contrast, 84.1 percent of passenger car occupants in crashes were not injured compared with only 27.6 percent of motorcyclists. Severity of Injury, 2006 Motorcycle Number Percent Uninjured 1,236 27.55 Minor 767 17.09 Moderate 1,852 41.27 Serious 484 10.79 Fatal 148 3.30 Total Occupants 4,487 --- *Includes motorcycles and minibikes Passenger Car Number Percent 416,923 84.10 59,334 11.97 15,743 3.18 3,052 0.62 724 0.15 495,776 --- The percent of motorcyclists seriously injured was much greater than for passenger car occupants. 10.8 percent of motorcyclists were seriously injured compared with 0.6 percent of passenger car occupants. Even for moderate injuries motorcyclists had a higher risk, 41.3 percent of motorcyclists had moderate injuries compared with 3.18 percent for passenger car occupants. 82.1 percent of the motorcyclists killed were reported as wearing a helmet. Evaluating risk in motorcycle crashes is difficult because we have no measure of the miles traveled or possible exposure to crashes. But the proportion of vehicle occupants injured or killed can provide an accurate measure of injury risk. Fatally Injured Occupants in Motorcycle Crashes, 2006 200 150 100 50 By any measure motorcyclists face a higher risk of injury or death in motor vehicle crashes. 0 Motorcyclists Other Occupants Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Injured Occupants in Motorcycle Crashes, 2006 3,500 3,000 2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 500 0 M otor cyclis ts Othe r Occupants 12 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Vehicles Crash Severity The degree of risk involved with certain vehicle types can be determined by a number of means. Comparing the number of vehicles involved in crashes give us an idea of crash risk by vehicle type. Calculating a crash rate by dividing the number of crash vehicles by the number of registered vehicles provides the risk based on exposure by vehicle type when available. We do not have the actual number of vehicle miles traveled by each vehicle type although it would be a better estimate of risk. 2008 CASI Report The manner or way the crash occurred is an important factor. Some vehicle types have a lower risk when they are struck a certain way compared to others. Crashes that occur at an angle can be particularly serious. The impact point is often directly at the driver resulting in serious injury or death. Certain types of crashes have a higher risk of injury than others for certain vehicles. Rollover crashes pose a higher risk of injury and death than crashes with another vehicle. Roads play an important role as well and high risk roads are a critical factor for all types of vehicles. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation A different measurement of risk is to compare the injury severity of the vehicle occupants by vehicle type. This gives us the increased risk of injury for certain types of vehicles. Yet another measurement is to compare earlier years data to see if the risk has increased or decreased. This can be done by injury severity or just by the increase or decrease in the number of vehicles in crashes. Comparing overall crash frequency to injury or fatal crash frequency also provides a measure of risk of injury or death. 13 January 2008 Vehicles Crash Severity 2008 CASI Report In 2000 sport utility vehicles accounted for about one out of ten of all vehicles in injury and fatal crashes and crashes overall. In 2006 they represented one out of seven vehicles in all crashes. Vehicles in Fatal Crashes 2000 and 2006 1,400 1,200 1,000 In 2006, passenger cars represented 57.0 percent of all vehicles in fatal crashes. Pickup trucks accounted for 15.5 percent and sport- 800 utility vehicles accounted for 14.8 percent of the vehicles involved 600 in fatal crashes. 400 Vehicles by Crash Severity 2000 2006 Crash Percent Crashes Percent Crash Vehicle Passenger Car 364,773 62.2 369,661 57.0 Pickup Truck 95,387 16.3 100,637 15.5 Sport Utility Vehicle 53,543 9.1 96,051 14.8 Van 37,129 6.3 39,732 6.1 Large Truck 20,822 3.5 23,366 3.6 Motorcycle, Minibike 2,083 0.4 4,180 0.6 Other* 13,165 2.2 14,712 2.3 Total 586,902 100.0 648,339 100.0 Nonfatal Injury Crash Vehicle Passenger Car 100,986 62.9 94,660 56.4 Pickup Truck 25,287 15.7 25,751 15.3 Sport Utility Vehicle 14,095 8.8 24,823 14.8 Van 10,031 6.2 10,438 6.2 Large Truck 5,027 3.1 5,244 3.1 Motorcycle, Minibike 1,521 0.9 2,974 1.8 Other* 3,607 2.2 3,887 2.3 Total 160,554 100.0 167,777 100.0 Fatal Crash Vehicle Passenger Car 1,101 48.7 1,035 40.9 Pickup Truck 435 19.3 511 20.2 Sport Utility Vehicle 223 9.9 354 14.0 Van 142 6.3 143 5.6 Large Truck 212 9.4 238 9.4 Motorcycle, Minibike 61 2.7 157 6.2 Other* 85 3.8 94 3.7 Total 2,259 100.0 2,532 100.0 * Other includes Panel Truck, Vehicle with Trailer, Ambulance, Truck Towing Trailer, Motorized Recreational Vehicle, Moped, Bicycle, Farm or Construction Equipment, All Terrain Vehicle, Go-Cart, and Other 200 0 Passenger Car Sport Utility Vehicle 2000 2006 The proportion of large trucks in crashes remained about the same from 2000 to 2006. In 2006 large trucks accounted for 9.4 percent of the vehicles in fatal crashes although they represented 3.6 percent of the vehicles in crashes overall. In 2006 motorcycles and minibikes represented 6.2 percent of the vehicles in fatal crashes although they accounted for only 0.4 percent of the vehicles in crashes overall. The proportion of motorcycles and minibikes in crashes, injury crashes and fatal crashes increased from 2000 to 2006. The proportion of pickup trucks in crashes, injury crashes and fatal crashes remained essentially unchanged from 2000 to 2006. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 14 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Reducing Risk Vehicles and Seat Belt Use 2008 CASI Report In the event of a crash the safest place to be is securely belted in the passenger compartment often called the `room to live'. Without the protective restraint of the seat belt the passenger is propelled at massive velocity either against the vehicle compartment or ejected out of the vehicle. Over the past seven years, the lowest seat belt usage was for occupants who were fatally injured. Another way to examine the risk is to look at the severity of injury for those belted compared with unbelted passengers. More passengers were injured and their injuries were more severe if the passenger was not wearing their seat belts. In 2006, of the vehicle occupants not injured 80.5 percent were wearing their seat belts compared with only 37.5 percent for those killed. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation For seriously injured adult occupants seat belt usage was just 57.0 percent compared with 81.5 percent for those receiving only minor injuries. Seat belt usage is directly correlated with injury severity. The more severe the injury the lower seat belt usage. Clearly seat belts greatly reduce the risk of injury or death in a crash. 15 January 2008 Reducing Risk Vehicles and Seat Belt Use 2008 CASI Report In 2006 seat belt use was remarkably similar between pickup truck, passenger car and sport utility vehicle adult uninjured occupants. The differences in occupant seat belt use appear in injury and fatal crashes. In 2006 seat belt usage by adult occupants of pickup trucks in fatal crashes was 26.5 percent points lower than that for occupants of passenger cars. Pickup truck adult occupants have a lower seat belt usage than passenger cars and sport utility vehicles (SUV's) in crashes regardless of the level of injury. The seat belt usage for adult occupants of SUV's in fatal crashes was 10.3 percentage points lower than for occupants of passenger cars in fatal crashes. Adult Occupant Seat Belt Usage Percent Belted in Fatal Crashes, 2006 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Passenger Sport Utility Pickup Truck Car Vehicle Seat Belt Usage by Vehicle Type Number and Percent Belted Passenger Car Sport Utility Pickup Truck Vehicle 2000 2006 2000 2006 2000 2006 Uninjured Occupants 308,290 304,454 51,658 91,749 81,874 86,319 Belted 299,025 297,882 50,413 89,850 75,297 81,684 Percent Belted 97.0 97.8 97.6 97.9 92.0 94.6 Minor Occupants 52,773 48,286 6,229 11,695 9,058 9,068 Belted 50,592 46,846 5,936 11,288 7,855 8,105 Percent Belted 95.9 97.0 95.3 96.5 86.7 89.4 Moderate Occupants 15,061 12,872 2,468 4,020 4,418 4,316 Belted 12,489 11,281 2,040 3,388 2,836 2,884 Percent Belted 82.9 87.6 82.7 84.3 64.2 66.8 Serious Occupants 2,374 2,311 416 619 771 780 Belted 1,673 1,782 230 419 337 385 Percent Belted 70.5 77.1 55.3 67.7 43.7 49.4 Killed Occupants 669 608 112 186 229 255 Belted 327 311 37 76 45 63 Percent Belted 48.9 51.2 33.0 40.9 19.7 24.7 *Seat belt use as noted by law enforcement officers on the crash report for persons over age 5 From 2000 to 2006, seat belt usage increased for all three vehicle types regardless of severity of injury. The greatest increase in seat belt usage overall from 2000 to 2006 was for pickup truck and SUV occupants. The second greatest increase in seat belt usage in crashes was for SUV occupants. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 16 January 2008 Reducing Risk Emergency Medical Services 2008 CASI Report It is imperative once a crash has occurred to have EMS at the scene, immediate initial assessment and treatment saves lives. Airway assessment and clearing, cardiac evaluation and treatment and spinal immobilization on a back board are only a few of the emergency procedures that reduce death or disability. Proper emergency care reduces the chances of an injury becoming worse and reduces the risk of adverse complications later. EMS is essential. EMS is called to almost every crash in Georgia, that adds up to thousands of EMS calls each year for the almost 14,000 medics and 1,800 ambulances. The very people that we rely on to aid the injured, provide consolation to people under great stress, take injured people to safety and treatment, save lives in jeopardy and document all of this activity for later analysis can become crash victims themselves. Ambulances carry vital life saving equipment but that equipment in a crash can take the life of a medic. A very real risk in a crash is injury to the medics from heavy equipment falling on them as they treat an injured patient or if unrestrained being thrown against the compartment or heavy equipment. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 17 January 2008 Reducing Risk Emergency Medical Services 2008 CASI Report This photo is highly stylized but it represents very often how emergency medical services (EMS) must respond to a crash. The ambulance is in itself a high risk vehicle. They are top heavy which lends to rollover. They must of necessity travel at higher speeds than the roadway was designed for. Each road has a maximum design speed and exceeding it increases the risk of a crash. For EMS every call amounts to high risk and the risk is multiplied many times on high risk roads. All vehicles must move over, stop or slow down and give emergency vehicles the right of way but unfortunately not all drivers obey the law or understand the risks. Many drivers are unaware that they are not only breaking the law when they fail to yield, their irresponsible behavior could cost someone's life maybe their own. In the 286 ambulance crashes in 2006, the most frequent contributing factor was failure to yield by the other vehicle in the crash. Ambulances were involved in 286 motor vehicle crashes, 21.3 percent resulted in an injury and in 1.0 percent someone was killed. In the crashes where someone was injured or killed two-thirds involved a contributing factor attributed to the driver of the other vehicle. Ambulances Involved in Motor Vehicle Crashes, 2000-2006 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2000-2006 Crash Crash Crash Crashes Crashes Crashes Crashes Crashes 280 272 288 263 324 337 286 Nonfatal Injury Crashes 58 64 73 55 86 69 61 Fatal Crashes 0 2 3 2 0 1 3 2,050 466 11 Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 18 January 2008 Reducing Risk Vehicle Design 2008 CASI Report Hundreds of vehicle improvements have been made to reduce the risk of injury to the occupants, reduce the severity of injury and reduce the crash risk altogether. Safety Door Latches Head Restraints Rear Seat Lap- shoulder Belts Side Impact Bars Reinforced Side Door Structure Child proof Rear Door Locks Side-impact Air Bags Torso Air Bags Head Protection Air Bags Occupant Sensitive Dual Stage Air Bags Safety Glass Windows Electric Windshield Wipers Crumple-zone body Safety Padding on Dash Board Safety Cage Rollover Bar in Roof Speedometers Seat Belts Hub Steering Wheel Front Seat Lap- shoulder Belts Three-point Front Seat Belts Energy-absorbing Steering Column Air Bags Reduced Force Air Bags Adaptive Cruise Control/Collision Warning Knee Air Bags Electric Turn Signals Self-canceling Directional Signals Energy Absorbing Bumpers Daytime Running Lights Adaptive Headlights/Night Vision Assist Four-wheel Disk Brakes Dual Master Cylinder Brakes Anti-lock Brakes High Center Braking Light Dynamic Stability and Traction Control Collision Warning with Brake Support Tire Pressure Warning Systems Electronic Stability Control System Lane Departure Warning A complete list of all the vehicle improvements is beyond the scope of this document. Only a fraction of the risk reduction improvements can be covered here. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 19 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Reducing Risk Vehicle Design 2008 CASI Report Speedometers, 1914 Safety Glass Windows, 1924 Electric Windshield Wipers, 1925 Electric Turn Signals Self-canceling Directional Signals Safety Cage, 1944 Four-wheel Disk Brakes Seat Belts Crumple-zone body, 1951 Safety Padding on Dash Board, 1954 Safety Door Latches Hub Steering Wheel Front Seat Lap-shoulder Belts, 1959 Dual Master Cylinder Brakes, 1962 Childproof Rear Door Locks Rear Window Defroster, 1966 Rollover Bar in Roof Three-point Front Seat Belts Energy-absorbing Steering Column Head Restraints, 1968 Energy Absorbing Bumpers, 1974 Air Bags Anti-lock Brakes, 1985 High Center Braking Light, 1985 Rear Seat Lap-shoulder Belts, 1986 Side Impact Bars, 1991 Reinforced Side Door Structure Side-impact & Torso Air Bags, 1994 Daytime Running Lights, 1995 Reduced Force Air Bags, 1998 Dynamic Stability/Traction Control Head Protection Air Bags Rearview Camera/Parking Sensors Collision Warning with Brake Support Adaptive Cruise Control/Collision Warning Electronic Stability Control System Adaptive Headlights/Night Vision Occupant Sensitive Dual Stage Air Bags Knee Air Bags Lane Departure Warning Tire Pressure Warning Systems, 2008 This list is in general chronological order There is no doubt that the risk reduction improvements in vehicles prevent crashes and save lives, but by how many lives is a different question. It is difficult to determine exactly how many lives were saved by any single one of these risk reduction vehicle engineering advancements. Many were actually put in general use over a period of years gradually in all types of vehicles. The more recent improvements will take years before they are in all new vehicles sold. The sometimes slow addition of improvements is not just about money it is about determining how effective the design is and if it has adverse consequence. Crashes are complex unique events. The diverse factors that contribute in a crash or determine how serious the injury range from the type of collision, vehicle design and weight, the road type and if it has any separation, proximity to EMS and a trauma center, weather conditions, night visibility, vehicle weight, occupant age, weight and gender and a host of other possible reasons. Trying to replicate exactly complex real life crash conditions in a laboratory is next to impossible but methods for crash testing are changing constantly and improving. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation Georgia Fatalities 1940 838 1945 676 1950 905 1955 1,088 1960 1,038 1965 1,364 1966 1,605 1967 1,622 1968 1,790 1969 1,806 1970 1,802 1971 1,799 1972 1,896 1973 1,912 1974 1,545 1975 1,387 1976 1,289 1977 1,460 1978 1,490 1979 1,523 1980 1,503 1981 1,418 1982 1,229 1983 1,296 1984 1,410 1985 1,362 1986 1,542 1987 1,604 1988 1,660 1989 1,632 1990 1,564 1991 1,393 1992 1,324 1993 1,407 1994 1,437 1995 1,492 1996 1,582 1997 1,584 1998 1,579 1999 1,514 2000 1,549 2001 1,656 2002 1,531 2003 1,610 2004 1,641 2005 1,745 2006 1,703 20 January 2008 Reducing Risk Vehicle Design 2008 CASI Report The Risk Side Impact Crashes that occur at an angle account for 25.5 percent of the fatal crashes in Georgia in 2006. From 2000 to 2006 there have been 2,618 fatal crashes in Georgia. When a vehicle is struck from the side the force of impact causes creates a tremendous sideways force on the vehicle occupants. The degree can be measured by intrusion of the striking vehicle. The sharp snap that the head and neck receive in a side impact crash can cause serious permanent injury to the neck and spine and can also cause the aorta to tear leading to death. On the left is a list of vehicle improvements that are designed to reduce the risk of a crash and the risk of injury if a side impact crash occurs. The structure of the vehicle is an important factor in side impact crashes. Reinforced doors and crumple-zone vehicle body reduces the risk of injury to the occupants. At the same time disparity in vehicle size can override the risk reduction factors of the respective vehicles. Vehicle speed is also a factor. High enough excess or unsafe speed can off set the protective effects of any device designed to reduce injury risk. Newer innovations such as side impact, torso or head airbags provide even greater protection especially in the side impact crash. While most of these air bags were designed for the average adult it is thought that the torso air bags also protect even young children. Reducing the Risk: Energy Absorbing Bumpers Seat Belts Hub Steering Wheel Front Seat Lap-shoulder Belts Three-point Front Seat Belts Energy-absorbing Steering Column Air Bags Head Restraints Reduced Force Air Bags Adaptive Cruise Control/Collision Warning Knee Air Bags Safety Door Latches Head Restraints Rear Seat Lap-shoulder Belts Side Impact Bars Reinforced Side Door Structure Side Impact & Torso Air Bags Head Protection Air Bags Occupant Sensitive Dual Stage Air Bags Safety Glass Windows Crumple-zone body Safety Padding on Dash Board Another air bag improvement is the occupant dual stage air bags that sense and adjust across the spectrum of occupant weight and height. In spite of all the risk reduction devices listed above it is absolutely essential that seat belts be used. They are a vital part of the arsenal we have to protect ourselves on the road. Regardless of crash type seat belts really do save lives. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 21 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Reducing Risk Vehicle Design 2008 CASI Report The Risk Rollover Crashes From 2000 to 2006 there has been a steady increase in rollover crashes. The number of fatal rollover crashes went from114 in 2000 to 161 in 2006. As with other serious crashes vehicle structure and body strength play an important role in preventing injuries. In rollover crashes the unrestrained unprotected occupant can be thrown at a violent force against the roof and sides of the vehicle. In other circumstances the occupant can be totally or partially ejected from the vehicle. The type and severity of injury in a rollover crash depend on a number of factors including the vehicles tendency to overturn, speed of the vehicle and many other reasons. For many vehicles with a narrow wheel base and higher vehicle body the tendency to rollover is significant. Addition of dynamic stability and traction control systems is proving to be a major factor in reducing the rollover risk in these vehicles. Newer braking systems are also important in ensuring better vehicle control. As with other type of serious crashes air bags provide significant protection against injury. Most air bags that are designed for a frontal impact deflate almost immediately but a rollover crash may last multiple seconds depending on how many times the vehicle rolls over. Side, torso and curtain airbags are designed to deflate more slowly thus allowing greater protection. In addition as they cover the side windows they offer some protection against ejection from the vehicle. Reducing the Risk: Safety Cage Rollover Bar in Roof Four-wheel Disk Brakes Dual Master Cylinder Brakes Anti-lock Brakes Dynamic Stability and Traction Control Collision Warning with Brake Support Tire Pressure Warning Systems Electronic Stability Control System Lane Departure Warning Speedometers Seat Belts Hub Steering Wheel Front Seat Lap-shoulder Belts Three-point Front Seat Belts Energy-absorbing Steering Column Air Bags Reduced Force Air Bags Adaptive Cruise Control/Collision Warning Knee Air Bags Safety Door Latches Head Restraints Rear Seat Lap-shoulder Belts Side Impact Bars Reinforced Side Door Structure Side-impact & Torso Air Bags Head Protection Air Bags Occupant Sensitive Dual Stage Air Bags Safety Glass Windows Crumple-zone body Safety Padding on Dash Board Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 22 January 2008 Reducing Risk Vehicle Design The Past Before 1971 The Present -2008 2008 CASI Report There is a tendency for all of us to feel safe in our cars and trucks. That tendency is an illusion. Each of the vehicles pictured on the left promises safety, comfort and excellent performance engineering. The 1971 Monte Carlo with its weight and steel frame offers very real protection to its occupants despite the lack of risk reduction improvements found in newer vehicles. Its interior is spacious and with its solid construction it feels safe. The newer vehicles of today possess an array of features that reduce the risk of crashing and in the event of a crash offer a multitude of devices that reduce the risk of injuries. They handle better and you can hardly feel the road unlike older models. But they also pose a risk: a false sense of security. That false sense of security can make us forget the real risks out there on the road and insulate us so that we may tend to drive a little faster and take a few more chances that we would not take in a less `safe' vehicle. In addition every improvement may pose a risk of its own. Anti-lock brakes are a fundamental improvement but if the vehicle goes off road and hits soft dirt it can be misinterpreted as the brakes locking. Subsequently the anti-lock brakes will automatically reduce braking and thus the stopping distance may decline by as much as 10 to 20 feet a critical distance when at higher speeds approaching a fixed object. In any attempt to reduce risk it is important to tailor the fix to the individual circumstance. Air bags were originally thought to be safe for everyone but they were found to be a risk to shorter occupants. Newer air bags now have the ability to sense the occupant's weight and size and adjust accordingly. One size does not fit all and each of the improvements must be almost `designer' safety devices. In emergency medical services it is always preached `Treat the patient' as a warning that in spite of all the standard medical knowledge each patient is unique, motor vehicle crashes are no different. In spite of all the progress that has been made there is still much to learn. Total safety is an illusion. There are no risk free vehicles. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 23 January 2008 The Risk Vehicles on High Risk Roads Although risk can be measured in many ways the proportion of crashes that result in a fatality may be the most straight forward. High risk vehicles result in a higher proportion of fatal crashes than other vehicles. When high risk vehicles are driven on high risk roads such as those often found in rural counties the risk is compounded many times. In 2006, one out of three fatalities in Georgia occurred in a crash involving a pickup truck. A higher proportion of pickup crashes were fatal. The proportion of pickup truck crashes that were fatal was almost twice that of passenger cars. In 2006, one out of six fatalities in Georgia occurred in a crash involving a large truck. The proportion of large truck crashes that were fatal was almost four times greater than that of passenger cars. In 2006, almost one out of 10 fatalities in Georgia occurred in a crash involving a motorcycle. The proportion of motorcycle crashes that were fatal was twelve times greater than that of passenger cars. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 24 January 2008 The Risk Type of Road Vehicles on High Risk Roads The vast majority of fatal crashes occur on non-interstate roads regardless of vehicle type. Almost nine out of ten fatal crashes occur on non-interstate roads. Non-interstate roads are often not as well engineered and may have frequent entering and exiting traffic which greatly increases the risk of a crash. State routes accounted for the highest proportion of fatal crashes for passenger cars, pickup trucks, large trucks and motorcycles. Interstates and city streets accounted for the smallest proportion of fatal crashes involving passenger cars, pickup trucks and motorcycles about one out of ten for all three vehicle types. Of the 238 large trucks involved in fatal crashes 83 were in crashes on interstates one third of the fatal crashes involving large trucks. A greater proportion of large truck fatal crashes occurred on state routes. Over half of the fatal crashes involving large trucks were on state routes. Greater large truck travel may account for the high proportion of fatal crashes on interstates and state routes in addition to the higher speeds and the difficulty in stopping and maneuvering large trucks. The smallest proportion of fatal crashes was on city streets for passenger cars, pickup trucks and large trucks. Only for motorcycles was the proportion of fatal crashes higher on city streets than interstates. Fatal Crashes Involving Large Trucks, 2006 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 InterstateStateRoutCesountyRoutesCity Streets Fatal Crashes by Vehicle Type Interstate and Non-Interstate Roads, 2006 Passenger Car Number Percent Interstate 140 13.5 State Route 477 46.1 County Route 297 28.7 City Street 121 11.7 Total 1,035 100.0 *Includes motorcycles and minibikes Pickup Truck Number Percent 57 11.2 266 52.1 147 28.8 41 8.0 511 100.0 Large Truck Number Percent 83 34.9 131 55.0 13 5.5 11 4.6 238 100.0 Motorcycle* Number Percent 15 9.6 60 38.2 58 36.9 24 15.3 157 100.0 Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 25 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 The Risk Off Road Fatal Crashes Vehicles on High Risk Roads Off road fatal crashes accounted for 41 percent of all fatal crashes in Georgia in 2006. For all vehicle types the highest proportion of run off road fatal crashes was on county routes. Off Road Fatal Crashes Road and Vehicle Type, 2006 Percent Off Road 60 Almost half of the fatal crashes on county 50 routes involving passenger cars and pickup 40 trucks were run off road crashes. 30 Off Road Fatal Crashes by Road and Vehicle Type, 2006 Number and Percent Off Road Passenger Car Interstate State Route County Route City Street Total Pickup Truck Interstate State Route County Route City Street Total Number 140 477 297 121 1,035 57 266 147 41 Off Road Number Percent 33 23.57 118 24.74 138 46.46 30 24.79 319 30.82 13 22.81 53 19.92 70 47.62 11 26.83 Total 511 147 Large Truck Interstate 83 17 State Route 131 10 County Route 13 5 City Street 11 1 Total 238 33 Motorcycle* Interstate 15 5 State Route 60 17 County Route 58 20 City Street 24 8 Total 157 50 *Includes motorcycles and minibikes 28.77 20.48 7.63 38.46 9.09 13.87 33.33 28.33 34.48 33.33 31.85 20 10 0 InterstatSetate RoCutoeunty RouteCity Street Pickup Truck Motorcycles For passenger cars and pickup trucks one out of four interstate fatal crashes was a run off road crash compared with almost one out of two fatal crashes on county routes. Large trucks showed a different pattern compared with passenger cars and pickup trucks. A little over one out of three fatal crashes involving large trucks on county routes was an off road crash. Motorcycles demonstrated yet another pattern. For all types of road, about one out of three fatal crashes involved running off the roadway. Off road crashes are more often fatal because of the high risk for rollover or hitting a fixed object both result in more serious injuries and deaths. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 26 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 The Risk Curved Roads Vehicles on High Risk Roads Off Road Fatal Crashes On A Curve Road and Vehicle Type, 2006 Percent On Curve 100 80 60 40 In 2006, one out of two fatal off road crashes happened on a curve although straight roadway segments far outnumber curved roadway segments. For many narrow roads the edges of the road are easy to slip off of and the road edge drop off is very deep causing loss of control when vehicles try to return to the roadway and the vehicle swerves either into oncoming traffic or off the road into a post or tree. 20 0 InterstatSetate RoCuoteunty RouteCity Street Pickup Truck Motorcycles Horizontal curves are one of the major road characteristics that increase the risk of crashing. Almost half of the fatal off road crashes involving pickup trucks on state routes occurred on a curve. On county routes six out of ten fatal off road crashes involving pickup trucks occurred on a curve. For large trucks almost one-third of the fatal off road crashes on state routes was on a curve. For county routes the proportion was the same as for pickup trucks. Six out of ten fatal off road crashes involving large trucks on county routes occurred on a curve. A different pattern appears for fatal motorcycle crashes. The vast majority of fatal off road crashes involving motorcycles on interstates and county routes occurred on a curve. Vehicles in Off Road Fatal Crashes on a Curve, 2006 Number of Vehicles and Percent Off Road On Curve Number Number Passenger Car Interstate 33 7 State Route 118 59 County Route 138 86 City Street 30 10 Total 319 162 Pickup Truck Interstate 13 2 State Route 53 24 County Route 70 43 City Street 11 4 Total 147 73 Large Truck Interstate 17 4 State Route 10 3 County Route 5 3 City Street 1 0 Total 33 10 Motorcycle Interstate 5 4 State Route 17 11 County Route 20 19 City Street 8 3 Total 50 37 *Includes motorcycles and minibikes On Curve Percent 21.21 50.00 62.32 33.33 50.78 15.38 45.28 61.43 36.36 49.66 23.53 30.00 60.00 0.00 30.30 80.00 64.71 95.00 37.50 74.00 Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 27 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 The Risk Pickup Trucks Vehicles on High Risk Roads Almost half of the fatal crashes involving pickup trucks occurred in rural counties. For crashes overall one out of three involved pickup trucks in the five Atlanta metropolitan counties. In contrast only about one out of ten fatal pickup truck crashes happened in those urban counties. Pickup Trucks in Crashes by Region, 2006 Number and Percent Crashes Atlanta Suburbs Other MSA Rural GEORGIA Passenger Car Number Percent 186,125 50.4 47,837 12.9 70,508 19.1 65,191 17.6 369,661 100.0 Pickup Truck Number Percent 34,497 34.3 18,997 18.9 19,621 19.5 27,522 27.3 100,637 100.0 Non-Fatal Injury Crashes Atlanta 43,393 Suburbs 13,394 Other MSA 18,126 Rural 19,747 GEORGIA 94,660 45.8 14.1 19.1 20.9 100.0 7,455 5,078 4,841 8,377 25,751 29.0 19.7 18.8 32.5 100.0 Fatal Crashes Atlanta 304 29.4 70 13.7 Suburbs 164 15.8 110 21.5 Other MSA 203 19.6 93 18.2 Rural 364 35.2 238 46.6 GEORGIA 1,035 100.0 511 100.0 *Pre-2003 census definition was used. Five Atlanta Metropolitan Counties: Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett; Atlanta Suburban Counties: Barrow, Bartow, Carroll, Cherokee, Coweta, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Henry, Newton, Paulding, Pickens, Rockdale, Spalding, Walton; Other Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) Counties: Bibb, Bryan, Catoosa, Chatham, Chattahoochee, Clarke, Columbia, Dade, Dougherty, Effingham, Harris, Houston, Jones, Lee, Madison, McDuffie, Muscogee, Oconee, Peach, Richmond, Twiggs, Walker; Rural Counties: All other counties. Regardless of the type of crash or vehicle, rural counties have more fatal crashes than urban areas. In rural counties, 62.2 percent of the fatal crashes were off road crashes and of those 49.7 percent were on a curve. The proportion of pickup trucks in rollover crashes is twice that of passenger cars. The difference is even greater in fatal crashes. Rollover crashes account for one out of ten fatal crashes for passenger cars. In comparison one out of five fatal pickup truck crashes are rollover crashes. Rural counties accounted for 47 of the 78 fatal rollover crashes involving pickup trucks. Almost one-third of the fatal crashes involving pickup trucks occurred on a curve. Of those fatal crashes over one-half were in rural counties. The number of pickup trucks in fatal crashes increased 17 percent from 2000 to 2006. Even when adjusted for the increase in the number of registered vehicles the fatal crash rate increased 5.7 percent. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 28 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 The Risk Pickup Trucks Vehicles on High Risk Roads The vast majority of fatal crashes involving pickup trucks occurred in rural counties. These rural counties have a fatality rate higher than the fatal crash rate for Georgia overall. Counties with a fatality rate higher than the state fatality rate are in dark blue. In other words the highest risk of being killed in a pickup truck crash is in the counties in dark blue. Fatal Crash Rate per 10,000 Population Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 29 January 2008 The Risk Large Trucks Vehicles on High Risk Roads Almost half of the fatal crashes involving large trucks occurred in rural counties. The five Atlanta metropolitan counties accounted for almost half of the crashes involving large trucks. In contrast they only accounted for about one out of five fatal large truck crashes. Large Trucks in Crashes by Region, 2006 Number and Percent Crashes Atlanta Suburbs Other MSA Rural GEORGIA Passenger Car Number Percent 186,125 50.4 47,837 12.9 70,508 19.1 65,191 17.6 369,661 100.0 Large Truck Number Percent 10,548 45.1 3,822 16.4 3,412 14.6 5,584 23.9 23,366 100.0 Non-Fatal Injury Crashes Atlanta 43,393 Suburbs 13,394 Other MSA 18,126 Rural 19,747 GEORGIA 94,660 45.8 14.1 19.1 20.9 100.0 1,969 849 784 1,642 5,244 37.5 16.2 15.0 31.3 100.0 Fatal Crashes Atlanta 304 29.4 43 18.1 Suburbs 164 15.8 42 17.6 Other MSA 203 19.6 40 16.8 Rural 364 35.2 113 47.5 GEORGIA 1,035 100.0 238 100.0 *Pre-2003 census definition was used. Five Atlanta Metropolitan Counties: Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett; Atlanta Suburban Counties: Barrow, Bartow, Carroll, Cherokee, Coweta, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Henry, Newton, Paulding, Pickens, Rockdale, Spalding, Walton; Other Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) Counties: Bibb, Bryan, Catoosa, Chatham, Chattahoochee, Clarke, Columbia, Dade, Dougherty, Effingham, Harris, Houston, Jones, Lee, Madison, McDuffie, Muscogee, Oconee, Peach, Richmond, Twiggs, Walker; Rural Counties: All other counties. Crashes between large trucks and smaller vehicles are deadly. Over 86 percent of the people killed in large truck crashes were occupants of the smaller vehicle. The majority of the fatal large truck crashes in 2006 involved a crash with another moving vehicle, 79.4 percent compared with 57.2 percent for passenger cars. The proportion of rollover or fixed object fatal crashes was lower for large trucks even so about half of the fatal crashes involving large trucks happened in rural counties. In non-fatal injury crashes 37.5 percent occurred in the five Atlanta metropolitan counties with their high congestion and large number of passenger vehicles and trucks. As for passenger cars, pickup trucks and motorcycles the smallest proportion of fatal crashes was in suburban and other MSA counties. From 2000 to 2006, fatal crashes involving large trucks increased 12.26 percent. In 2006 fatalities involving large trucks represented almost one out of six fatalities in Georgia. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 30 January 2008 The Risk Large Trucks Vehicles on High Risk Roads The majority of fatal crashes involving large trucks occurred in rural counties. These rural counties have a fatality rate higher than the fatal crash rate for Georgia overall. Rural counties along the high traffic I-75 corridor and the I-95 corridor along the east coast have a higher large truck fatality rate than for Georgia overall. Counties with a fatality rate higher than the state fatality rate are in dark blue. In other words the highest risk of being killed in a crash with a large truck is in the counties in dark blue. Fatal Crash Rate per 10,000 Population Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 31 January 2008 The Risk Motorcycles Vehicles on High Risk Roads Almost one-third of the fatal motorcycle crashes occurred in rural counties. Unlike passenger cars for motorcycles a higher proportion of crashes occur in rural counties. Thirty percent of the motorcycle crashes happened in rural counties compared with 17.6 percent for passenger cars. Motorcycles in Crashes by Region, 2006* Number and Percent Crashes Atlanta Suburbs Other MSA Rural GEORGIA Passenger Car Number Percent 186,125 50.4 47,837 12.9 70,508 19.1 65,191 17.6 369,661 100.0 Motorcycle Number Percent 1,200 28.7 814 19.5 912 21.8 1,254 30.0 4,180 100.0 Non-Fatal Injury Crashes Atlanta 43,393 Suburbs 13,394 Other MSA 18,126 Rural 19,747 GEORGIA 94,660 45.8 14.1 19.1 20.9 100.0 786 606 633 949 2,974 26.4 20.4 21.3 31.9 100.0 Fatal Crashes Atlanta 304 29.4 41 26.1 Suburbs 164 15.8 30 19.1 Other MSA 203 19.6 37 23.6 Rural 364 35.2 49 31.2 GEORGIA 1,035 100.0 157 100.0 *Pre-2003 census definition was used. Five Atlanta Metropolitan Counties: Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett; Atlanta Suburban Counties: Barrow, Bartow, Carroll, Cherokee, Coweta, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Henry, Newton, Paulding, Pickens, Rockdale, Spalding, Walton; Other Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) Counties: Bibb, Bryan, Catoosa, Chatham, Chattahoochee, Clarke, Columbia, Dade, Dougherty, Effingham, Harris, Houston, Jones, Lee, Madison, McDuffie, Muscogee, Oconee, Peach, Richmond, Twiggs, Walker; Rural Counties: All other counties. *Includes motorcycles and minibikes Motorcyclists are at greater risk of being injured or killed in motor vehicle crashes. Almost three out of four motorcyclists were either injured or killed in crashes in 2006 compared with one out of six for passenger cars. Almost one out of three injury motorcycle crashes occurred in rural counties compared with one out of five for passenger cars. In 2006, rollover crashes accounted for 69 percent of the fatal motorcycle crashes in rural counties. In comparison no fatal motorcycle rollover crashes occurred in the five Atlanta metropolitan counties. One-third of the fatal crashes involving motorcycles involved running off the roadway. Of the 157 fatal motorcycle crashes in 2006, 69 or 44 percent occurred in rural counties on a curve compared with 26 percent for fatal crashes involving passenger cars. The increase in the fatality rate for motorcycle crashes was more than double the increase for motorcycle crashes and injury crashes. The motorcycle fatal crash rate increased 60.76 percent from 2000 to 2006. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 32 Georgia Department of Transportation The Risk Motorcycles Vehicles on High Risk Roads The majority of injury crashes involving motorcycles occurred in rural northern counties and along the coast. These rural counties have an injury rate higher than the injury crash rate for Georgia overall. The northern counties with their winding country roads are desirable recreational roads for motorcyclists. The challenge of the curves and hills is what attracts motorcyclists and also at the same time what increases the risk. The high coastal motorcycle traffic along I-95 leading down to Daytona Florida where many motorcycle activities occur may account for the higher fatality rate in those rural counties. Counties with an injury crash rate higher than the state injury crash rate are in dark blue. In other words the highest risk of being in a motorcycle injury crash is in the counties in dark blue. The injury rate here includes all injuries including fatal injuries. Injury Crash Rate per 10,000 Population Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 33 Georgia Department of Transportation The Risk In Perspective Vehicles on High Risk Roads Regardless of the type of vehicle, rural counties have more fatalities than urban areas. Rural counties accounted for 41.9 percent of the fatal crashes involving another vehicle, 49.6 percent of the fatal fixed object crashes and 62.2 percent of the fatal roll over crashes although they accounted for only 37 percent of the vehicle travel in the state. Proportionally more occupants of pickup trucks were killed in crashes than cars and SUV's and almost half of the fatal crashes involving pickup trucks occurred in rural counties. Rural counties accounted for 60 percent of the fatal rollover crashes involving pickup trucks. Almost one-third of the fatal motorcycle crashes occurred in rural counties. Of the 157 fatal motorcycle crashes in 2006, 44 percent occurred in rural counties on a curve compared with 26 percent for fatal crashes involving passenger cars. Over 86 percent of the people killed in large truck crashes were occupants of the smaller vehicle. Almost half of the fatal crashes involving large trucks occurred in rural counties. The proportion of rollover fatal crashes was lower for large trucks. Even so about half of the fatal crashes involving large trucks happened in rural counties. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 34 January 2008 Risk and the People..... Section IV Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Section IV Risk and the People..... Connections..... Risk and the People Injuries Fatalities Seat Belts and Child Safety Seats School Age Children Pedestrians & Bicyclists Drivers Driver Contributing Factors Young Drivers Older Drivers Intersections Drivers on High Risk Roads: Special Report 2008 CASI Report Section IV 1 2 3 5 7 10 11 17 21 25 28 30 32 To estimate risk or measure the reduction of risk we only have the quantitative crash data that gives us generalizations. We do not have data on near misses or crashes that would have happened if for example the driver had been paying attention and swerved at the last moment. But we do have additional information from the personal accounts of individuals, law enforcement officers and emergency medical technicians at the crash scene. This qualitative information is extremely valuable in understanding the risk. As a way of harvesting that qualitative information we have included accounts from emergency medical technicians and law enforcement officers. Their stories help bring all of the data into perspective and literally tell a story of life and death on our roads. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Connections..... The Crash Report `Vehicle was traveling north and failed to negotiate a curve. Vehicles tires gouged into soft dirt causing the vehicle to overturn several times. The vehicle came to rest 42 feet off the roadway. The unbelted male driver was ejected from the vehicle and came to rest 65 feet from the vehicle. Belted adult female passenger sustained moderate injuries and two young children who were in child safety seats had only minor injuries.' -Law Enforcement Officer and EMS on scene. Crash report narrative is taken from crash reports by Georgia law enforcement officers. Photographs are purely for descriptive purposes and are not from the crash scene. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 1 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Risk and the People 2008 CASI Report It's all about the risk we face on the roads and from the map below it is clear there is a much higher risk in rural counties. There are many reasons for the higher risk in rural areas and the lack of trauma centers increases the already high risk. When a serious injury occurs immediate emergency care can mean life or death. From 2000 to 2006, 47,044 people received serious, incapacitating injuries such as traumatic head injuries, paralysis, internal bleeding or other severe injuries. Crashes that occurred from 2000 to 2006 resulted in 225,963 moderate injuries including fractured ribs, dislocated shoulders, lacerations and broken protruding fractures. Counties with a fatality rate higher than the state fatality rate are in dark blue. In other words the highest risk of being killed in a crash is in the counties in dark blue. Trauma centers are noted by the gold stars. The majority are in the Atlanta area with very few in the rural counties of Georgia and those are the counties with the higher fatality rates. 2000-2006 Fatal Crash Rate per 100 Million VMT Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 2 January 2008 Injuries 2008 CASI Report Almost one million men, women and children were injured in motor vehicle crashes in Georgia from 2000 to 2006. Over that seven year period crashes resulted in more than 2,500 injuries on average each week. For many age groups the number of injuries has declined from 2000 to 2006. However the number of injuries increased for persons aged 45-74, ages 21-24 and children under age five. From 2000 to 2006, 84,950 young children under age 15 were injured. On average 234 young children were injured each week. For teenagers ages 15-19 the number is even greater with 126,499 teens ages 15-19 injured from 2000 to 2006. On average each week 348 teens were injured in motor vehicle crashes. Injuries by Age Number and Rate per 10,000 Population Ages 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2000-2006 0-4 Number 3,181 3,105 3,181 3,234 3,299 3,466 Rate 53.2 50.1 49.9 49.3 48.9 50.1 5-9 Number 4,152 4,037 4,099 3,994 4,100 4,121 Rate 67.5 65.4 66.2 64.3 65.3 64.4 10-14 Number 5,000 4,868 4,879 4,925 4,964 4,699 Rate 81.6 77.1 75.5 74.9 74.8 70.8 15-19 Number 18,255 18,241 18,220 17,733 18,122 18,299 Rate 304.5 305.1 302.4 289.9 287.2 279.0 20-24 Number 17,930 17,803 18,319 18,514 19,091 19,064 Rate 299.2 283.7 282.9 285.8 291.0 292.3 25-34 Number 27,141 27,250 26,579 26,776 27,814 27,772 Rate 208.7 208.1 201.6 202.2 207.5 205.0 35-44 Number 22,268 22,781 22,530 22,448 23,151 23,379 Rate 163.9 164.9 161.8 160.4 164.0 163.5 45-54 Number 14,962 15,634 16,158 16,238 17,260 17,690 Rate 137.0 137.0 138.4 135.4 140.0 139.1 55-64 Number 7,865 8,317 8,678 9,124 9,943 10,462 Rate 117.8 119.8 116.2 114.9 118.3 117.8 65-74 Number 4,518 4,845 4,592 4,623 4,895 4,867 Rate 103.6 109.4 102.1 100.6 104.3 100.1 >74 Number 3,061 3,069 3,028 3,092 3,059 3,147 Rate 86.8 85.1 81.9 81.5 79.2 78.9 *Injury severity as noted by the law enforcement officer on the crash report. 3,380 48.1 3,839 57.8 4,427 66.2 17,629 260.3 18,320 279.1 25,939 188.6 22,263 152.9 17,190 130.7 10,409 111.3 4,693 93.1 2,942 72.0 22,846 49.9 28,342 64.3 33,762 74.3 126,499 289.1 129,041 287.6 189,271 203.0 158,820 161.6 115,132 136.7 64,798 116.4 33,033 101.7 21,398 80.6 Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 3 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Injuries 2008 CASI Report By comparing injury rates we can estimate the risk of being injured in a crash. The risk of a teenager or young adult of being injured in a crash is more than double the risk for persons ages 45-54. For all ages the injury rate declined from 2000 to 2006 even when the actual number of injuries increased. This is due to the increase in population that statistically offsets the increase. The injury rate is generally highest for teenagers and young adults and gradually declines with increasing age. The lower injury rate for older people is in stark contrast to the fatality data. The fatality rate for older persons is much higher than the fatality rate of younger people. The lowest injury rate was for infants and toddlers ages 0-4, a rate of 49.9 per 10,000 population. The rate for young children ages 5-9 was 22 percent higher at 64.3 per 10,000 population. Even higher in comparison was the rate for children ages 10-14 at 74.3 it was 49 percent higher than the rate for children ages 0-4. 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 0-4 Injury Rate per 10,000 Population 2000-2006 5-9 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74Over 74 Crash injuries reflect multiple opposing factors all acting at the same time. An increased population produces more people at risk yet protective behaviors such as seat belt use greatly reduce the number of people injured. Calculating a rate per 10,000 population gives us an idea of the proportional risk to a specific age group compared with another age group. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 4 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Fatalities 2008 CASI Report From 2000 to 2006 in Georgia, 11,435 people lost their lives in motor vehicle crashes. On average 31 people die in crashes each week. The number of fatalities increased for ages 0-4, 20-34, and 45-64. The largest increase in the number of fatalities was 53.6 percent for persons ages 55 to 64. The fatality rate increased for ages 20-24, and 45-64. The greatest increase was for persons ages 20 to 24, an increase of 17.8 percent. The fatality rate declined for the younger age groups. All age groups under age 20 demonstrated a decline in the fatality rate ranging from 50.1 percent for ages 10-14 to 7.4 percent for ages 0-4. Fatalities by Age Number and Rate per 10,000 Population Ages 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 0-4 Number 34 27 27 19 33 37 Rate 0.57 0.44 0.42 0.29 0.49 0.54 5-9 Number 26 27 29 22 22 22 Rate 0.42 0.44 0.47 0.35 0.35 0.34 10-14 Number 33 46 27 43 33 28 Rate 0.54 0.73 0.42 0.65 0.50 0.42 15-19 Number 181 199 186 192 157 187 Rate 3.02 3.33 3.09 3.14 2.49 2.85 20-24 Number 186 219 177 190 212 217 Rate 3.10 3.49 2.73 2.93 3.23 3.33 25-34 Number 282 261 256 260 273 287 Rate 2.17 1.99 1.94 1.96 2.04 2.12 35-44 Number 245 279 256 276 260 257 Rate 1.80 2.02 1.84 1.97 1.84 1.80 45-54 Number 182 215 212 225 229 243 Rate 1.67 1.88 1.82 1.88 1.86 1.91 55-64 Number 110 124 117 138 152 196 Rate 1.65 1.79 1.57 1.74 1.81 2.21 65-74 Number 121 111 97 94 114 114 Rate 2.77 2.51 2.16 2.04 2.43 2.34 >74 Number 123 127 124 122 137 140 Rate 3.49 3.52 3.35 3.22 3.55 3.51 2006 2000-2006 37 214 0.53 0.47 22 170 0.33 0.39 18 228 0.27 0.50 177 1,279 2.61 2.92 240 1,441 3.66 3.21 296 1,915 2.15 2.05 236 1,809 1.62 1.84 244 1,550 1.86 1.84 169 1,006 1.81 1.81 121 772 2.40 2.38 113 886 2.77 3.34 Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 5 January 2008 Fatalities 2008 CASI Report Although teens historically have been thought to have the highest fatality rate they are now third with a fatality rate of 2.9 per 10,000 population. The fatality rate per 10,000 population is generally high for teenagers and young adults and gradually declines with increasing age until about age 65. The fatality rate then begins to increase with increasing age. The highest fatality rate was for persons over age 74, 3.4 per 10,000 population. Older persons face a greater risk of injury or death in motor vehicle crashes due to a greater susceptibility to physical injury. The second highest fatality rate was for young adults ages 20-24, a rate of 3.2 per 10,000 population over the seven-year period from 2000 to 2006. The lowest fatality rate was for young children. The fatality rate for children ages 5-9 was 0.39 per 10,000 population. 4.0 3.5 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 0-4 Fatality Rate per 10,000 Population 2000-2006 5-9 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74Over 74 A plane crash that kills 30 people will get national news but that many people die each week in crashes in Georgia alone. A violent crime that takes the life of one young person is viewed as a national tragedy but remember more than three teens die each week in crashes. Crashes are not a natural cause of death they are violent deaths and they can be prevented. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 6 January 2008 Seat Belt Usage 2008 CASI Report Fatally injured occupants have the lowest seat belt usage. For fatally injured people seat belt usage has remained at a little over 40 percent from 2000 to 2006. People with minor injuries had the highest seat belt use. 95.1 percent of those with minor injuries such as minor scrapes and bruises were reported as using their seat belts. Seriously injured people, those with life threatening head, neck, abdominal or other serious injuries had a seat belt usage of 69.6 percent in 2006. The crash data seat belt usage obtained from the crash report is what is observed at the crash scene and often is simply self reported to the law enforcement officer by the occupant involved in the crash. Self reported data under these circumstances can be unreliable. Seat Belt Use By Severity of Injury, 2006 100 80 60 40 20 0 Minor Moderate Serious Fatal Seat belts do not prevent crashes they prevent injuries. Failure to use seat belts is directly correlated to injury severity. The lower the seat belt use, the more serious the injury. Motor Vehicle Occupants and Seat Belt Use* Number and Percent Belted Percent 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Change 2006 2000-2006 All Occupants 735,731 757,541 776,816 778,630 799,668 805,958 786,007 6.83 Percent Belted 94.1 94.8 95.2 95.6 95.4 95.4 95.7 1.60 Uninjured Percent Belted Minor Injury Percent Belted Moderate Injury 614,779 95.3 87,175 93.5 27,799 635,194 95.9 88,536 94.2 27,641 654,317 96.1 89,068 94.7 27,636 656,206 96.5 89,001 95.4 27,494 672,538 96.3 92,141 95.2 28,677 677,947 96.3 93,046 95.2 28,507 664,162 96.6 88,703 95.1 26,826 8.03 1.30 1.75 1.73 -3.50 Percent Belted 78.8 80.5 82.3 83.2 82.8 82.8 82.6 4.83 Serious Injury 4,712 4,842 4,589 4,682 5,021 5,104 5,007 6.26 Percent Belted Fatal Injury 62.5 1,266 64.4 1,328 67.4 1,206 69.2 1,247 68.5 1,291 67.7 1,354 69.6 1,309 11.32 3.40 Percent Belted 40.1 44.3 43.1 45.3 44.4 42.1 42.8 6.68 * Seat belt use as noted by the law enforcement officer on the crash report for occupants over age 5. Percent belted calculated excluding unknown seat belt usage. Persons on motorcycles, mopeds, bicycles, farm and construction equipment, motorized recreational vehicles or all terrain vehicles are excluded. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 7 January 2008 Seat Belt Usage Who Still Wasn't Belted in 2006? 2008 CASI Report Overall seat belt usage is over 90 percent but although over nine out of ten vehicle occupants are now using seat belts the remaining people have not been persuaded that seat belts will work to prevent them from being injured or killed. For all age groups male occupants use seat belts less than female occupants do. For occupants in crashes male seat belt use was 2.4 percentage points lower than for female occupants. In fatal crashes male seat belt use was 18.6 percentage points lower than for female occupants. High-risk drivers in crashes used seat belts less often than non high-risk drivers. This increases the risk of injury in multiple ways. First high-risk driving increases the likelihood of a crash where an injury could occur and second not using a seat belt increases the risk of the occupant being injured. For drivers in speed related crashes seat belt use was 11.5 percentage points lower than for drivers in crashes overall. In crashes that resulted in a minor injury seat belt use by occupants of pickup trucks was 7.6 percentage points lower than for occupants of passenger cars. In fatal crashes the difference was even greater, seat belt use by fatally injured occupants of pickup trucks was 26.5 percentage points lower than for occupants of passenger cars. Seat Belt Use in Fatal Crashes, 2006 Percent Belted by Age and Gender 100 80 60 40 20 0 15-19 20-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 Over 74 Female Male Seat belt use by drivers in fatal crashes was 57.5 percentage points lower than for drivers in crashes overall. Teens and young adults have had historically the lowest seat belt use however for fatal crashes equally low usage is found until about age 55. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 8 January 2008 Child Safety Seats Infants and Toddlers 2008 CASI Report In 2006, 4,029 vehicle occupants age five and under were injured in crashes, 194 more children than in 2000. Although seat belt use for adults is now about 95 percent only about 68 percent of young children in crashes are properly restrained in child safety seats. Properly used child safety seats reduce the risk of fatal injury to young children in motor vehicle crashes by 71 percent for infants and 54 percent for toddlers. Children Properly Restrained in Child Safety Seats by Severity of Injury, 2006 80 60 40 Percent On July 1, 2004 the child safety seat law in Georgia changed, children age five and under must be in a child safety seat when transported in a passenger car, van or pickup truck unless the child is over 4' 9" tall. The child safety seat should be placed in the rear seat unless appropriate rear seating positions are occupied by other children. 20 0 Minor Moderate Serious Fatal From 2000 to 2006 in Georgia, 204 infants and toddler vehicle occupants were killed in crashes. 1,105 children age five and under were seriously injured in crashes and 7,464 received moderate injuries. 32 children under age six were killed in crashes in 2006 a number not different from 2000. Proper Child Safety Seat Use* Number and Percent Proper Use Percent Change 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2000-2006 All Occupants 35,694 37,241 37,944 38,118 38,811 40,098 39,536 10.76 Percent Belted 75.3 77.6 78.8 64.4 67.1 68.6 68.2 -9.37 Uninjured 31,859 33,488 34,089 34,227 34,803 35,876 35,475 11.35 Percent Belted 76.7 79.0 80.2 65.6 68.4 69.8 69.5 -9.35 Minor Injury 2,562 2,508 2,636 2,606 2,758 2,926 2,856 11.48 Percent Belted 65.9 70.3 69.8 55.7 59.2 60.9 57.6 -12.58 Moderate Injury 1,091 1,098 1,064 1,087 1,058 1,063 1,003 -8.07 Percent Belted 59.8 56.2 60.0 50.2 52.8 56.0 57.9 -3.20 Serious Injury 150 121 130 180 160 194 170 13.33 Percent Belted 46.1 52.1 52.0 35.4 37.1 47.9 40.6 -11.77 Fatal Injury 32 26 25 18 32 39 32 0.00 Percent Belted 28.6 57.1 42.9 18.8 33.3 22.6 40.7 42.59 * Proper child safety seat use as noted by the law enforcement officer on the crash report for vehicle occupants under age 6. Percent proper child seat use calculated excluding unknown usage. Children on motorcycles, mopeds, bicycles, farm and construction equipment, motorized recreational vehicles or all terrain vehicles are excluded. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 9 January 2008 School Age Children 2008 CASI Report In 2006 alone the number of injured children ages 5-9 would fill not 10 classrooms, not 50 classrooms but 128 classrooms. For middle school age children ages 10-14 the number is even greater. The number of injured children ages 10-14 in 2003 would fill 148 Georgia classrooms. 62,104 children ages 5 to 14 were injured in motor vehicle crashes from 1996 to 2003. On average 24 children were injured each day. In 2006, 7,664 school age children were injured as passengers in vehicles and 25 were killed. Although seat belt use for children increased, it has remained at about 80 percent over the past five years. All children need to buckle up. Adult seat belts are not effective unless the child is able to sit against the back of the seat with their legs bent comfortably over the seats edge. The belt should be over the shoulder and across the chest with the lap belt touching the thighs. Until then children should be in a booster seat to prevent the internal injuries that could result in a crash. A disproportionate number of children are injured or killed in pedestrian or bicycle crashes. For children ages 5 to 14 who were struck by vehicles 88.2 percent were injured and 2.3 percent were killed. In comparison, only 14.1 percent of the children who were vehicle occupants were injured and 0.05 percent were killed. Children Ages 5-14, Children Ages 5-14, Percent Injured 2006 Percent Killed 2006 It is unfortunate that children engaged in healthy physical activity such as running, rollerblading or biking are at risk of serious injury or death. Safety education needs to start early especially in grade school and middle school and be continued for all ages into adulthood and adults need to be good role models for their children. 100 80 60 40 20 0 Pedestrian Bicyclist Vehicle Occupant 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 Pedestrians Bicyclist Vehicle Occupant Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 10 January 2008 Pedestrians 2008 CASI Report A total of 1,087 pedestrians lost their lives from 2000 to 2006. One out of every 16 pedestrians in crashes was killed. Pedestrian crashes represented less than one percent of all motor vehicle crashes. However, a far disproportionate number of pedestrians die. Pedestrians accounted for one out of nine of the fatalities in Georgia from 2000 to 2006. Pedestrians are without any physical protection. A crash that would cause only minor injury to the occupants of a vehicle can result in serious injury or death to a pedestrian. All crash deaths are violent but pedestrians killed by vehicles die a particularly violent death. From 2000 to 2006 on average three pedestrians were killed each week. Forty pedestrians were injured on average each week. Georgia law recognizes the risks pedestrians face. Georgia law not only protects pedestrians within designated pedestrian crossings, it also stipulates that `drivers must exercise due care' in regard to pedestrians in any part of the roadway. The fact that a pedestrian was not using a crosswalk does not eliminate driver responsibility in a crash. Special care must be exercised at dusk or after dark when visibility is especially poor. Even momentary driver inattention or a small lapse of judgment can result in death to a pedestrian. Pedestrians in Motor Vehicle Crashes Number and Rate per 10,000 Population 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2000-2006 Pedestrians 2,482 2,552 2,561 2,524 2,435 2,567 2,542 17,663 Rate 3.0 3.0 3.0 2.9 2.7 2.8 2.7 2.9 Injuries 2,066 2,146 2,118 2,086 1,983 2,076 2,057 14,532 Rate 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.4 2.2 2.3 2.2 2.4 Fatalities 139 158 166 161 156 150 157 1,087 Rate 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 *We have no measure of the frequency of pedestrian traffic. Rate per 10,000 population may provide a limited measure of the frequency or risk to pedestrians in Georgia. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 11 January 2008 Pedestrians and Bicyclists Severity of Injury 2008 CASI Report Pedestrians are 32 times more likely to be killed in motor vehicle crashes than vehicle occupants are. The serious risk pedestrians face on the road can be demonstrated by examining the proportion of injuries that result when a vehicle hits a pedestrian compared with a vehicle to vehicle collision. From 2000 to 2006, 82.3 percent of pedestrians were injured compared with 15.4 percent of vehicle occupants. Severity of Injury, 2000-2006 Percent Injured or Killed 100 80 60 40 6.15 percent of pedestrians in motor vehicle crashes were killed compared with only 0.19 percent of crash 20 vehicle occupants. The risk of a pedestrian being seriously injured in a motor vehicle crash is 19 times greater than the risk of serious injury to a crash vehicle occupant. In 2006, only 0.75 percent of vehicle occupants were seriously injured compared with 14.4 percent of pedestrians. Only 12 percent of the pedestrians involved in motor vehicle crashes were uninjured compared with 84 percent of crash vehicle occupants. From 2000 to 2006, 74.7 percent of all bicyclists in motor vehicle crashes were injured and 1.74 percent were killed. 0 Pedestrians Bicylists Vehicle Occupants Severity of Injury, 2000-2006 Percent Injured or Killed Pedestrians Bicyclists Vehicle Occupants Percent Percent Injured Killed 82.3 6.15 74.7 1.74 15.4 0.19 Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation Bicyclists are nine times more likely to be killed in crashes than vehicle occupants. 1.74 percent of bicyclists in motor vehicle crashes were killed compared with 0.19 percent of vehicle occupants. The risk of a bicyclist being seriously injured in a motor vehicle crash is ten times greater than the risk of serious injury to a crash vehicle occupant. In 2006, only 0.75 percent of vehicle occupants were seriously injured compared with 7.6 percent of bicyclists. 12 January 2008 Pedestrians 2008 CASI Report From 2000 to 2006 over eight out of ten of the pedestrians struck by vehicles were injured. Of those injured one out of five were children under the age of 15. Over the past eight years 3,177 children ages 0-14 were injured as pedestrians while crossing the street, walking or playing in the roadway. The pedestrian injury rate per 10,000 population is greater for young persons than older persons. The pedestrian injury rate per 10,000 population for teens ages 15-19 is double the rate for adults over age 24. From 2000 to 2006, 1,772 teenagers ages 15-19 and 1,412 young adults ages 20-24 were injured. The pedestrian injury rate gradually declines after age 19. Pedestrian Injuries by Age Number and Rate per 10,000 Population Ages 0-4 5-9 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 >74 Number Rate Number Rate Number Rate Number Rate Number Rate Number Rate Number Rate Number Rate Number Rate Number Rate Number Rate 2000 84 1.40 204 3.31 211 3.45 222 3.72 181 3.02 284 2.18 318 2.34 240 2.20 107 1.60 44 1.01 39 1.11 2001 75 1.20 183 2.96 234 3.71 286 4.77 182 2.95 319 2.43 336 2.45 229 2.04 108 1.56 47 1.06 40 1.12 2002 74 1.15 176 2.85 227 3.54 220 3.63 231 3.64 257 1.93 349 2.53 244 2.13 113 1.55 51 1.14 40 1.09 2003 66 1.00 170 2.75 259 3.99 258 4.21 214 3.31 275 2.04 292 2.11 247 2.12 111 1.44 52 1.14 62 1.67 2004 70 1.04 137 2.18 238 3.58 229 3.63 201 3.06 278 2.07 281 1.99 267 2.17 100 1.19 63 1.34 30 0.78 2005 48 0.69 144 2.25 219 3.30 284 4.33 198 3.04 290 2.14 287 2.01 248 1.95 154 1.73 55 1.13 32 0.80 2006 52 0.74 123 1.85 183 2.73 273 4.03 205 3.12 279 2.03 277 1.90 273 2.08 160 1.71 54 1.07 42 1.03 2000-2006 469 1.02 1,137 2.58 1,571 3.46 1,772 4.05 1,412 3.15 1,982 2.13 2,140 2.18 1,748 2.08 853 1.53 366 1.13 285 1.07 Pedestrian rates can be very misleading. We have no measure of pedestrian traffic or number of people that walk or how many miles they walk. Therefore we don't know if low numbers equal safety or simply fewer people walking. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 13 January 2008 Bicycles Critical Issues 2008 CASI Report In Georgia from 2000 to 2006 there were 6,797 bicyclists involved in crashes, 5,078 injuries resulted and 118 bicyclists died. Bicycle crashes are deadly. Bicyclists are ten times more likely to be killed in crashes than vehicle occupants are. Bicycle helmets reduce the risk of head injury by 85 percent. Helmets must be positioned correctly centered on the bicyclist's head and not tipped back. The helmet straps should always be buckled and the helmet should not rock from side to side or forward and backward. The helmet should meet or exceed the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's safety standards. Of the 6,797 bicyclists in crashes from 2000-2006 only 12.2 percent were wearing a bicycle helmet, only 827 riders. 118 people died in bicycle crashes from 2000 to 2006. Only twenty-two were wearing a helmet. The majority of bicyclists in crashes were male. From 2000 to 2006 over eight out of ten of the bicyclists in crashes was male. Although safety issues that affect pedestrians also affect bicycles, bicycles are vehicles and as such must follow all rules of the road. The top three bicyclist errors were failure to yield, wrong side of road and failure to stop at stop sign or signal. Children ages 5 to 14 accounted for 20 percent of the injured bicyclists in crashes from 2000 to 2006. In comparison children ages 5-14 were 6.6 percent or one out of twenty of the total injuries from 2000 to 2006. Half of the bicycle crashes occurred on city streets. From 2000 to 2006 six out of ten bicycle crashes were on city streets. In comparison the vast majority of fatal bicycle crashes were on roads designated as state routes. Bicyclists Injuries Fatalities Bicyclists: Crashes, Injuries and Fatalities 2000 1,018 760 14 2001 977 727 20 2002 948 711 12 2003 973 749 16 2004 963 707 18 2005 959 705 21 2006 959 719 17 2000-2006 6,797 5,078 118 Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 14 January 2008 Pedestrians Critical Issues 2008 CASI Report From 2000 to 2006 city streets had the highest number of pedestrian crashes however state routes had the highest number of pedestrian fatalities. City streets accounted for the vast majority of pedestrian crashes. Almost one out of two pedestrian crashes occurred on city streets. Out of the 17,663 pedestrians hit by vehicles 8,240 were struck on city streets. Very few neighborhoods in Georgia have sidewalks or bicycle paths. This may be reflected in the high number of pedestrian crashes on city streets. In contrast the highest number of fatal pedestrian crashes occurred on state routes. From 2000 to 2006 four out of ten fatal pedestrian crashes occurred on state roadways. Of the 1,087 pedestrians killed 486 died on state roads. The combination of infrequent crosswalks, no pedestrian walkways and high speed may account for the high number of fatalities on state routes. Regardless of the severity of injury half of the pedestrian crashes occurred at an intersection. 55.5 percent of the pedestrian crashes happened at an intersection, and they accounted for 45.9 percent of the pedestrian injuries and 55.3 percent of the pedestrian fatalities. Positive actions that protect pedestrians: Use the crosswalk Look in all directions before entering and while crossing the street Walk facing oncoming traffic Always be aware of where vehicles are Wear light or reflective clothing at dusk and night Do not play in the road and do not let children play in roadway Never attempt to cross interstates or other high speed roads Assume drivers make mistakes mistakes that could cost your life. Pedestrian Fatalities by Pedestrian Action 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 In 2006 driver error was reported to be a contributing factor 1,021 times in pedestrian crashes. Failure to yield was the most frequent driver error it was reported 272 times in pedestrian crashes. From 2000 to 2006, 6,670 pedestrians were struck while attempting to cross the street not at a crosswalk. In comparison, 2,591 pedestrians were struck by vehicles when using the crosswalk to cross the street. One out of two pedestrians was killed crossing a street and not using a crosswalk. 517 pedestrians were killed crossing the street not using a crosswalk and 57 were killed using the crosswalk. 1,333 pedestrians were hit while walking with traffic compared with 578 who were walking facing oncoming traffic. 94 pedestrians died while walking with traffic compared with 27 who were walking against traffic. NotFaAattcWiiCCtnrrhgoossTTssrraawwffffaaiillckck Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 15 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Pedestrians Urban and Rural Roads 2008 CASI Report The highest pedestrian fatality rate occurred in metropolitan statistical areas other than Atlanta. The pedestrian fatality rate for the other MSA's was double the fatality rate for the Atlanta suburban counties. The fifteen Atlanta suburban counties had the lowest number of pedestrian crashes, injuries and fatalities. In 2006 the five Atlanta metropolitan counties accounted for 42.7 percent of the pedestrian fatalities. When compared to 2000 the pedestrian fatality rates declined for all regions except the five Atlanta counties and counties in the other MSA's in Georgia that showed the greatest increase, 17.2 from 2000 to 2006. The greatest decline in the pedestrian fatality rate was in rural counties, 18.7 percent from 2000 to 2006. Pedestrian Crashes Injuries and Fatalities by Region* 2000 to 2006 Number and Rate per 100 Million Vehicle Miles Traveled Percent Percent 2000 2006 Change in Change in Number Rate Number Rate Number Rate Crashes Atlanta 1,266 4.32 1,266 3.73 0.00 -13.52 Atlanta Suburban 190 1.65 231 1.53 21.58 -7.55 Other MSA 599 3.85 583 3.51 -2.67 -8.72 Rural Counties 427 1.69 462 1.70 8.20 0.58 Injuries Atlanta 1,075 3.67 1,017 3.00 -5.40 -18.18 Atlanta Suburban 158 1.37 182 1.20 15.19 -12.41 Other MSA 489 3.14 486 2.93 -0.61 -6.79 Rural Counties 344 1.36 372 1.37 8.14 0.53 Fatalities Atlanta 55 0.19 67 0.20 21.82 5.35 Atlanta Suburban 12 0.10 15 0.10 25.00 -4.95 Other MSA 32 0.21 40 0.24 25.00 17.23 Rural Counties 40 0.16 35 0.13 -12.50 -18.66 *Pre-2003 census definition was used. Five Atlanta Metropolitan Counties: Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett; Atlanta Suburban Counties: Barrow, Bartow, Carroll, Cherokee, Coweta, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Henry, Newton, Paulding, Pickens, Rockdale, Spalding, Walton; Other Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) Counties: Bibb, Bryan, Catoosa, Chatham, Chattahoochee, Clarke, Columbia, Dade, Dougherty, Effingham, Harris, Houston, Jones, Lee, Madison, McDuffie, Muscogee, Oconee, Peach, Richmond, Twiggs, Walker; Rural Counties: All other counties. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 16 January 2008 Drivers 2008 CASI Report In Georgia over 4 million drivers have been involved in motor vehicle crashes since 2000 and 16,877 people lost their lives in those crashes. On average 1,719 drivers were involved in motor vehicle crashes each day from 2000 to 2006 72 drivers every hour. Crashes are the result of a combination of factors. Consider the driver in a bad mood running late and driving too fast on an unfamiliar two-lane narrow winding road and it starts to rain. And he crashes. All we have is what is on the crash form and that will certainly be missing vital information. The driver's mood or attitude will most certainly not be recorded. In fact speeding may never be recorded on the crash report if there is no physical evidence such as skid marks. From the crash data we cannot place definitive blame on any one driver from the crash data. We can only look for reasons. We can use the contributing factors noted by the officer at the crash scene to give clues to errors in judgement or high-risk behavior in the crash but from that frequency we can make only certain limited assumptions. Law enforcement cannot be everywhere. Drivers need to understand the risk and drive accordingly. Too often drivers do not even perceive the risk. For some drivers their risk threshold is higher than average. Data indicates that risk taking can be addictive and reduce the perception of risk. Race car drivers although they may have superior driving skills have been shown to have a crash rate higher than other drivers. Younger and older drivers are especially at risk although for different reasons. For these drivers the risk increases on the high risk two-way roads where three out of four fatal crashes occur in Georgia. Drivers In Crashes Number and Rate per 10,000 Population 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2000-2006 Crash Drivers 585,916 603,217 621,439 626,906 648,701 657,322 647,402 4,390,903 Rate 931.9 937.4 945.6 937.3 948.9 939.5 900.7 934.1 Injury Crash Drivers 159,796 164,476 165,090 165,709 171,818 173,925 167,048 1,167,862 Rate 194.1 195.2 192.0 189.4 192.3 190.4 178.4 190.1 Fatal Crash Drivers 2,244 2,438 2,260 2,377 2,434 2,609 2,515 16,877 Rate 3.6 3.8 3.4 3.6 3.6 3.7 3.5 3.6 Data excludes bicyclists and pedestrians The population rate is used as a proxy measurement of risk exposure. We do not have a measure of actual miles driven by driver age or gender. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 17 January 2008 Drivers Gender 2008 CASI Report Almost three out of four of the drivers in fatal crashes were male drivers. From 2000 to 2006, male drivers were involved in 71.6 percent of the fatal crashes, although they accounted for only 49.2 percent of the population in Georgia. Drivers in Fatal Crashes by Gender, 2000-2006 28.4% The fatal crash rate for male drivers was more than two and onehalf times greater than the fatal crash rate for female drivers. From 2000 to 2006 the number of drivers in fatal crashes increased for both male and female drivers but the increase was greater for male drivers. The fatal crash rate for female drivers declined slightly from 2000 to 2006 but the fatal crash rate remained essentially the same for male drivers. 71.6% Male Female Male drivers represent the vast majority of drivers in fatal crashes. The reason may be due to higher risk taking. In 2006 male drivers accounted for 84.6 percent of the drivers in fatal crashes involving illegal or unsafe speed and three out of four of the drivers in deadly single vehicle crashes such as overturned or fixed object. In addition, male drivers in fatal crashes had only a 48 percent seat belt usage. In 2006 male drivers represented 78.6 percent of the drivers in fatal crashes on high risk curved roadways. Drivers in Crashes by Gender 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2000-2006 Crash Drivers Female 244,972 254,012 262,530 265,843 274,140 278,819 276,062 1,856,378 Rate 586.0 594.1 601.8 597.7 604.2 601.2 580.8 595.1 Male 340,944 349,205 358,909 361,063 374,561 378,503 371,339 2,534,524 Rate 841.9 841.8 847.4 839.3 851.7 842.1 805.3 838.2 Injury Crash Drivers Female 70,718 72,694 73,475 74,258 76,673 77,740 74,918 520,476 Rate 169.2 170.0 168.4 166.9 169.0 167.6 157.6 166.8 Male 89,078 91,782 91,615 91,451 95,145 96,185 92,130 647,386 Rate 220.0 221.2 216.3 212.6 216.4 214.0 199.8 214.1 Fatal Crash Drivers Female 655 682 632 678 714 725 703 4,789 Rate 1.57 1.60 1.45 1.52 1.57 1.56 1.48 1.54 Male 1,589 1,756 1,628 1,699 1,720 1,884 1,812 12,088 Rate 3.92 4.23 3.84 3.95 3.91 4.19 3.93 4.00 Data excludes bicyclists and pedestrians The population rate is used as a proxy measurement of risk exposure. We do not have a measure of actual miles driven by driver age or gender. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 18 January 2008 Drivers Out of State Drivers 2008 CASI Report One out of ten of the drivers in crashes in Georgia in 2006 had driver's licenses from other states or countries. This proportion is even greater for drivers in fatal crashes. About one out of eight of the drivers in fatal crashes in Georgia had out-of-state driver licenses. The majority of out-of-state drivers were from nearby states for both crashes and fatal crashes. 63.0 percent of the crash out-ofstate drivers and 72.1 of the fatal out-of-state drivers were from nearby states. 33.3 percent of the out-of-state drivers in crashes received citations compared with 28.2 percent of the crash drivers with Georgia licenses. Out-of-State Drivers in Crashes in Georgia, 2006 License State Crash Drivers in Crashes 590,266 Georgia License 535,741 Non-Georgia License 54,525 Percent Non-Georgia License 10.2 Excludes drivers with unknown or no license Fatal Crashes 2,314 2,020 294 12.7 Drivers in Crashes in Georgia From Nearby States, 2006 Number and Percent of Out-Of-State Drivers License State FL AL NC SC TN TX Total Crash Number Percent 10,226 18.8 6,430 11.8 5,533 10.1 4,853 8.9 4,723 8.7 2,562 4.7 34,327 63.0 Fatal Crashes Number Percent 54 18.4 42 14.3 34 11.6 27 9.2 32 10.9 23 7.8 212 72.1 Of the fatal crashes occurring on Georgia interstates one-third of the drivers with known licenses had out of state licenses. The lowest number of out-of-state drivers in fatal crashes was on county routes. One out of ten of the drivers in fatal crashes on state routes or city streets had out-of-state licenses. Drivers in Fatal Crashes by License State, 2006 Interstate Drivers in Fatal Crashes 363 Georgia License 239 Non-Georgia License 124 Percent Non-Georgia License 34.2 Excludes drivers with unknown or no license State Route 1124 1005 119 10.6 County Route 610 586 24 3.9 City Street 217 190 27 12.4 Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 19 January 2008 Drivers Citations 2008 CASI Report Drivers age 21 received the highest number of citations for a single age group. 8,737 traffic citations were written to 21-year-old drivers in crashes in 2006. The highest number of traffic citations was written for following too closely. The second greatest number of tickets was for failure to yield. 73,033 citations were written for following too closely and 31,670 for failure to yield. A total of 224,755 traffic citations were issued in the 342,534 motor vehicle crashes in 2006. Citation data can be unreliable due to the fact that when officers arrive at the crash scene it is not always possible to determine exactly what happened. In addition, citation data from fatal crashes may not give a true picture because citations are rarely given to drivers killed in crashes. Calculating a rate per population for each type of traffic citation gives us an idea of the risk or frequency for certain drivers. For example, the speeding citation rate per 10,000 crash drivers is 34.1 for crash drivers ages 18-20 compared with 6.1 for drivers ages 25-64. Unsafe or illegal speed is one of the top three contributing factors in fatal crashes involving drivers ages 18-20. The highest citation rate per 10,000 population for following too closely was for drivers ages 18-20. The highest number of citations was for following too closely and following too closely was also the highest contributing factor in crashes in 2006. Speeding Citation Rate by Driver Age, 2006 Rate per 10,000 Population 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 16-17 18-20 21-24 25-64 Over Age 64 Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation Following Too Closely Citation Rate by Driver Age, 2006 Rate per 10,000 Population 250 200 150 100 50 0 16-17 18-20 21-24 25-64 Over Age 64 20 January 2008 Driver Crash Contributing Factors 2008 CASI Report The crash contributing factors gives us potential reasons why the crash occurred. Although crashes are rarely caused by a single factor examining single contributing factors provides information on driver behaviors and errors that increase the risk of a crash occurring. Followed too closely has been the most frequent contributing factor in crashes for the past eleven years. In 2006 it was noted by law enforcement officers 119,305 times in motor vehicle crashes. One out of three drivers was noted as involving following too closely. Contributing Factors Crashes 2006 120,000 100,000 80,000 60,000 40,000 20,000 0 Followed Too CloFsaeillyureDtroiveYrieILmldopsrtoCpoerntLrUaonnlseaCfehoanr gIlleegal SOpbeDjeeicsdtreograArndeimdaSltWope/aStihgenraCl onditions Failure to yield was the second most frequent recorded crash contributing factor, reported 63,037 times in 2006. Over one out of five crashes involved failure to yield. Crash Contributing Factors Number and Rate per 10,000 Population Number Rate Follow Too Closely 119,305 127.41 Failure to Yield 63,037 67.32 Driver Lost Control 33,946 36.25 Improper Lane Change 26,891 28.72 Unsafe or Illegal Speed 19,071 20.37 Object or Animal 16,807 17.95 Disregarded Stop/Signal 12,907 13.78 Weather Conditions 12,449 13.29 *Count of number of times the contributing factor was noted for drivers in a crash. More than one contributing factor may be noted for a driver. The contributing factors listed do not represent all possible factors. Data excludes bicyclists and pedestrians. Unlike its high frequency in fatal crashes unsafe or illegal speed was noted in 19,071 crashes. One out of 17 crashes involved unsafe and or illegal speed. In 2006, driver lost control was noted 33,946 times and improper lane change was noted 26,891 times in crashes. Disregarded a stop sign or signal in crashes was noted by officers 12,907 times in 2006. Weather conditions were indicated as a contributing factor 12,449 times out of the 342,534 crashes in 2006. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 21 January 2008 Driver Contributing Factors in Fatal Crashes 2008 CASI Report Compared with other crashes fatal crashes have show a different pattern of contributing factors. In 2006, the highest contributing factor in fatal crashes was driver lost control compared with crashes overall in which following too closely was the leading contributing factor. Contributing Factors Fatal Crashes 2006 800 600 400 The second highest contributing factor in fatal crashes was unsafe or illegal speed compared with failure to yield for crashes overall. Driver lost control was the most frequently noted contributing factor in fatal crashes, reported 706 times for the 2,515 drivers in fatal crashes in 2006. It has been the most frequent contributing factor for the past 11 years. 200 0 DriverULnossatfeCoorntIrlloelWgarloSnpgeSeidde of Road Failure Alcohol to or Yield Drug ImpDariivreFedorlCloownedDdiitsiToroenogaCrldoesdelSytop/Signal Unsafe or illegal speed was the next highest contributing factor reported 370 times. Fatal Crash Contributing Factors Number and Rate per 10,000 Population Number Rate Driver Lost Control 706 0.75 Unsafe or Illegal Speed 370 0.40 Wrong Side of Road 225 0.24 Failure to Yield 212 0.23 Alcohol or Drug Impaired 149 0.16 Driver Condition 107 0.11 Follow Too Closely 81 0.09 Disregarded Stop/Signal 69 0.07 *Count of number of times the contributing factor was noted for drivers in a fatal crash. More than one contributing factor may be noted for a driver. The contributing factors listed do not represent all possible factors. Data excludes bicyclists and pedestrians. Out of the 2,515 drivers in fatal crashes in 2006 28 percent were noted as lost control of vehicle. Driving on the wrong side of the road was noted 225 times for the drivers in fatal crashes. Failure to yield was noted 212 times in the fatal crashes in 2006. Alcohol or drug impaired was reported 149 times and driver condition 107 times for drivers in fatal crashes. Often it is not one single factor, but several that combine and result in a deadly crash. Yet each factor is critical because they are part of the chain of events that lead to a fatal crash. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 22 January 2008 Speed & Crashes 0 2008 CASI Report Speeding may never be recorded on the crash report if there is no physical evidence such as skid marks however speed is closely associated with crashes involving loss of control of the vehicle, following too closely or failure to yield. Speed decreases the time available to make split second decisions, increases the difficulty in maneuvering the vehicle, reduces the time and ability to safely stop, and contributes significantly to the severity of impact. Unsafe or illegal speed is involved in at least one out of six fatal crashes in Georgia. 19,007 crashes and 370 fatal crashes involved unsafe or illegal speed in 2006. Young drivers are involved in speed related crashes more often than older drivers. Unsafe or illegal speed was noted for 23.1 percent of the drivers ages 18-20 in fatal crashes, compared with 14.2 percent of drivers in fatal crashes over age 24. For crashes and crashes that resulted in nonfatal injuries there has been little change in the number or rate of speed related crashes. Fatal crashes show a different pattern. The number of speed related fatal crashes has increased although the rate per 10,000 population has remained very much the same. Drivers in Unsafe or Illegal Speed Related Crashes Rate per 100 Million Vehicle Miles Traveled 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Drivers 20,262 20,128 21,202 20,776 20,628 20,734 19,007 Rate 19.6 18.8 20.5 19.2 18.4 18.6 17.1 Injury Drivers 8,529 8,612 8,934 8,617 8,727 8,720 8,081 Rate 8.2 8.1 8.6 8.0 7.8 7.8 7.3 Fatal Drivers 319 340 309 338 327 333 370 Rate 0.31 0.32 0.30 0.31 0.29 0.30 0.33 *Count of number of times the contributing factor was noted for drivers in a fatal crash. 2000-2006 142,737 18.9 60,220 8.0 2,336 0.31 Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 23 January 2008 Speed & Injuries 2008 CASI Report The chance of a crash being fatal is three times higher in crashes related to speed than crashes not speed related. In 2006 the percent of all crashes resulting in death was only 0.46 percent compared with 1.46 percent for speedrelated crashes. Unsafe or illegal speed increases not only the risk of a crash but the chance that someone will be injured or killed if a crash occurs. Small increases in speed can increase the severity of injury while small reductions in speed can be effective in preventing deaths and reducing injuries. Regions that have introduced speed cameras have seen reductions in fatalities and serious injuries on their roads. The chance of being seriously injured is three times higher in crashes related to speed than crashes not related to speed. In 2006 the percent of all crashes resulting in serious injury was only 1.1 percent compared with 3.4 percent for speed-related crashes. Injury severity follows simple physics, severity of injury equals severity of impact (mass x speed = force of impact). When a vehicle traveling at 70-mph strikes a fixed object or another vehicle the car stops suddenly. If unrestrained by a safety belt the occupants continue to move forward as fast as the vehicle was going until they strike the windshield or another part of the vehicle or are ejected as in many cases to be rolled over by their own vehicle. Severity of Injury Percent of Crashes Resulting in Serious Injury 4 Severity of Injury Percent of Crashes Resulting in De ath 2.0 3 1.5 2 1.0 1 0 Speed Related All Crashes Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 0.5 0.0 Speed Related All Crashes 24 January 2008 Young Drivers Critical Factors 2008 CASI Report The inexperience and immaturity of younger drivers are thought to be major contributing factors to their high crash fatality rate. Recent neurological research indicates that the decision making part of the brain, the frontal lobe, is not fully developed until about age 23. That is reflected in the crash data. The three top contributing factors to fatal crashes involving drivers ages 16-17 were driver lost control of vehicle, unsafe or illegal speed, and failure to yield. For drivers over age 24, the top three contributing factors to fatal crashes were the same but in lower proportions. Lost control of vehicle was noted for 38.3 percent of the drivers ages 16-17 in fatal crashes, compared with 32.1 percent of drivers over age 24 in fatal crashes. Unsafe or Illegal Speed was noted for 19.6 percent of the drivers ages 16-17 in fatal crashes, compared with 14.2 percent of drivers over age 24 in fatal crashes. Unsafe or Illegal Speed, 2006 Percent of Fatal Crash Drivers 30 20 10 0 Ages Ages Ages Over 16-17 18-20 21-24 Age 24 Risk taking such as speeding or riding a roller-coaster increase dopamine levels in the pleasure centers of the brain and induce a feeling of well-being. Research suggests that that this can be addictive and cause the person to take one more ride or push the pedal down more. Although this affects persons of all ages the younger person may be more affected. In spite of the higher fatal crash rate for younger drivers, drivers over the age of 24 accounted for three out of four drivers in fatal crashes. As in previous years, the most dangerous time of day for drivers age 16 is not late at night but after school in the afternoon rush hour. In 2006, one fourth of all fatalities in crashes involving at least one driver age 16 occurred from 3-6 PM. The most dangerous time was in the early evening hours from 6-9 PM when 28.2 percent of the fatalities happened. From midnight to 3:00 AM three fatalities occurred in crashes involving 16-year-old drivers. No fatalities occurred from 3 to 6:00 AM. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 25 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Young Drivers and the Teenage and Adult Driver Responsibility Act 2008 CASI Report From before the Teenage and Adult Driver Responsibility Act went into effect in 1996 to 2006 the number of fatal crashes involving drivers ages 16-17 declined dramatically. The Teenage and Adult Driver Responsibility Act went into effect on July 1, 1997 to reduce the number of lives lost in crashes involving young drivers. There was an immediate decline in fatal crashes involving drivers ages 16-17 that has held over the past 11 years. In crashes involving drivers ages 16-17 there were 6,160 fewer crashes in 2006 than in 1996. The crash rate per 10,000 population for ages 16-17 declined 37.1 percent from 1996 to 2006. Driver Fatal Crash Rate Percent Change From 1996 to 2006 0 -10 -20 -30 -40 -50 16-17 -60 18-20 21-24 Over 24 When comparing 1996 with 2006, the number of drivers ages 16-17 in fatal crashes declined 32.8 percent but the decline for drivers ages 18-20 was only 3.3 percent. In comparison the number of drivers over age 24 in fatal crashes increased 16.9 percent. From 1996 to 2006, the number of drivers in crashes increased for all age groups except for drivers ages 16-17 although the crash rate per 10,000 population declined for all types of crashes. A declining rate simply indicates the relative risk has declined it does not mean that all safety issues have been effectively addressed and the crash risk or risk of injury is still not significant. Young Drivers in Crashes Number and Rate per 10,000 Licensed Drivers 1996 Number Rate All Crashes 16-17 32,968 1,525.5 18-20 49,232 1,575.9 21-24 62,024 1,490.7 Over 24 388,466 835.8 Injury Crashes 16-17 10,848 502.0 18-20 15,956 510.7 2006 Number Rate 26,808 54,697 67,393 455,520 960.1 1,415.2 1,276.2 759.9 7,665 15,372 274.5 397.7 Percent Change in Number -18.68 11.10 8.66 17.26 -29.34 -3.66 Percent Change in Rate -37.06 -10.20 -14.39 -9.08 -45.31 -22.13 21-24 19,483 468.3 18,299 346.5 -6.08 -26.00 Over 24 117,769 253.4 118,945 198.4 1.00 -21.69 Fatal Crashes 16-17 128 5.9 86 3.1 -32.81 -48.00 18-20 210 6.7 203 5.3 -3.33 -21.86 21-24 247 5.9 269 5.1 8.91 -14.19 Over 24 1,583 3.4 1,851 3.1 16.93 -9.34 Data excludes bicyclists and pedestrians. Population is used as a proxy measurement of risk exposure. We do not have a measure of actual miles driven by driver age or gender. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 26 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 Young Drivers 2008 CASI Report Graduated licensing was designed to protect the youngest drivers and has been very effective for drivers age 16 and 17 but it was also thought that it 25000 might have long term effects and produce better future drivers. 20000 No reduction in fatal crashes in 2003 was seen for the drivers age 20 who had gone through graduated licensing at age 16 in 1999 when graduated licensing was in full effect 15000 in Georgia. Drivers in Crashes Drivers who were age 20 in 2003 and later years did not have fewer crashes than drivers who were age 20 in 1996 10000 before the law went into effect. Without knowing exactly which drivers went through graduated licensing it is impossible to say if it had long term effect on the young drivers. The data presented here is only by driver age and does not differentiate between young drivers who went through graduated licensing and those that didn't. 5000 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 Age 16 Age 18 Young Drivers in Crashes Crash Drivers Age 1996 16 16,143 17 16,825 18 17,366 19 16,453 20 15,413 21-24 62,024 Over 24 388,466 1997 14,843 17,253 17,613 16,401 15,845 60,373 397,202 1998 12,628 16,219 17,964 16,764 15,933 60,430 410,561 1999 12,803 15,424 18,045 17,158 15,987 59,190 402,664 2000 12,418 15,475 18,376 17,807 17,038 62,245 409,909 2001 12,670 15,464 18,853 18,264 17,245 64,577 421,933 2002 12,578 16,516 19,589 18,658 17,862 67,375 433,224 2003 11,906 16,012 19,009 18,404 17,849 68,150 439,399 2004 11,954 16,212 19,167 18,901 18,153 70,386 454,260 2005 11,739 15,766 19,200 19,066 18,050 69,678 462,806 2006 11,388 15,420 18,826 18,284 17,587 67,393 455,519 Fatal Crash Drivers 16 65 45 41 17 63 59 52 18 77 65 68 19 73 64 51 20 60 52 68 21-24 247 252 224 Over 24 1,583 1,631 1,696 Data excludes bicyclists and pedestrians. 43 53 75 61 67 188 1,597 40 46 76 62 56 219 1,686 50 57 74 79 64 276 1,776 44 49 70 60 48 219 1,682 44 68 70 51 65 239 1,769 33 46 79 71 68 246 1,817 39 47 74 79 75 248 1,962 39 47 70 64 69 269 1,851 Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 27 January 2008 Older Drivers 2008 CASI Report The older driver faces the same risks other drivers face but their driving challenges may be greater. Although possessing greater experience the older driver may have difficulty in seeing, hearing or mobility that can negatively impact their driving abilities. Older drivers often self regulate and either restrict their night driving or stop driving altogether when they feel their driving may be impaired. From 2000 to 2006 the number of drivers in crashes over ages 65-74 increased 12.4 percent although the rate per 10,000 population declined 2.8 percent. The number of drivers ages 65-74 in fatal crashes increased 19.1 percent and the rate increased 2.97 percent. Older Drivers In Crashes Rate per 10,000 Population 2000 2006 Percent Percent Number Rate Number Rate Change in Change in All Crashes Number Rate 16-24 143,359 1,327.6 148,898 1,247.3 3.86 -6.05 25-64 376,371 851.8 418,782 824.1 11.27 -3.25 65-74 21,146 484.7 23,770 471.3 12.41 -2.77 Over 74 12,392 351.5 12,968 317.4 4.65 -9.68 Non-Fatal Injury Crashes 16-24 41,296 382.4 41,336 346.3 0.10 -9.46 25-64 103,304 233.8 108,884 214.3 5.40 -8.35 65-74 6,064 139.0 6,441 127.7 6.22 -8.13 Over 74 3,686 104.5 3,620 88.6 -1.79 -15.24 Fatal Crashes 16-24 499 4.6 558 4.7 11.82 1.15 25-64 1,445 3.3 1,594 3.1 10.31 -4.08 65-74 126 2.9 150 3.0 19.05 2.97 Over 74 115 3.3 107 2.6 -6.96 -19.70 Data excludes bicyclists and pedestrians. Population is used as a proxy measurement of risk exposure. We do not have a measure of actual miles driven by driver age or gender. For drivers over age 74 the number of drivers in crashes increased 4.65 percent. The number of older drivers in fatal crashes declined 6.96 percent from 2000 to 2006. We have no measure of the actual miles traveled by older drivers so the measure of rate per population is only a proxy measurement. Using the rate per population may not provide a true picture of the crash risk to older drivers. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 28 January 2008 Older Drivers Critical Factors 2008 CASI Report A complicating factor in crashes involving older drivers is that older persons face a greater risk of injury or death in motor vehicle crashes than younger persons due to a greater susceptibility to physical injury. Also older persons may have previous existing medical conditions that added to the traumatic injury can greatly increase the risk of injury or death. Persons over age 64 were more often seriously injured or killed in crashes than younger persons. More than twice as many injured persons ages 65-74 were killed compared with persons under age 65. In 2006, 2.58 percent of the injured persons ages 65-74 were killed. Severity of Injury by Age, 2006 Percent Killed of Injured Persons 5.0 4.0 3.0 2.0 1.0 In 2006, persons over age 74 were almost four times more likely to be killed than younger persons under age 65. Of the persons over age 74 injured, 3.84 percent were killed compared with 1.12 percent for persons under age 65. 0.0 Under Age Age 65-74 Over Age 74 65 Older drivers often have older passengers. The older person's greater susceptibility to physical injury greatly increases the chance that someone in an older driver's vehicle will be seriously injured or killed in a crash. In crashes in 2006, 41.6 percent of the passengers in the older drivers vehicle were also over age 64. In comparison for all crash occupants only 4.12 percent were over age 64. It has been found that older persons have a higher risk of being injured in a crash partly due to a loss of bone density so vehicle interiors need to be designed to accommodate this. Many previous designs were to only the average middle-aged male occupant. Declining vision, hearing and reflexes contribute to the potential of a crash although older drivers compensate to some extent for these physical limitations and often self limit their driving. Roadway striping that is faded or worn out and poor signing may pose special difficulties to the older driver, especially at night. The lack of adequate funding for EMS and trauma centers is a special problem in rural areas. This deficiency complicates the outcome for older persons who are more susceptible to injury and may have previous existing medical conditions. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 29 January 2008 Intersections Older Drivers 2008 CASI Report One out of four fatal crashes in Georgia occurs at an intersection. The physical limitations faced by older drivers are especially critical at high risk locations such as intersections. In 2006, the most frequent contributing factor in fatal crashes involving drivers over age 64 was failure to yield. In comparison, the top contributing factor to fatal crashes for drivers under age 65 was lost control of vehicle. For drivers over age 64 in fatal crashes driver lost control was second most frequent contributing factor and following too closely was the third. Failure to yield, following too closely and disregarded stop sign or signal are often involved in intersection crashes. Failure to Yield, 2006 Percent of Fatal Crash Drivers 40 30 20 10 0 Under Age Ages 25-64 Over Age 65 64 Older drivers often have physical challenges due to poor physical mobility such as difficulty turning the head sufficiently to observe traffic on the side or coming from the rear or poor vision. This may be reflected in the high incidence of failure to yield in fatal crashes involving older drivers. In intersection crashes 15.2 percent of the drivers involved in fatal crashes were over age 64. In comparison in all fatal crashes 10.6 percent of the drivers were over age 64. Intersections are high risk for drivers of all ages and it is important to put that risk in perspective. Of all fatal crashes in Georgia one out of four is at an intersection and that means preventing these crashes could save about 400 lives each year. Driver Lost Control Unsafe or Illegal Speed Wrong Side of Road Alcohol or Drug Impaired Failure to Yield Driver Condition Follow Too Closely Other Total Fatal Crash Contributing Factors Drivers Number and Percent Under Age 65 Number Percent 650 33.91 348 18.15 205 10.69 146 7.62 134 6.99 96 5.01 63 3.29 275 14.35 1,917 100.00 Failure to Yield Driver Lost Control Follow Too Closely Wrong Side of Road Disregarded Stop/Signal Unsafe or Illegal Speed Driver Condition Other Total Over Age 64 Number Percent 72 36.92 39 20.00 16 8.21 15 7.69 13 6.67 10 5.13 9 4.62 21 10.77 195 100.00 Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 30 January 2008 Intersections 2008 CASI Report Intersections are particularly high risk because they are where multiple vehicles meet coming from many different directions. Driver error compounds the risk. Inattention, unsafe speed, physical difficulties are just a few of the factors that can lead to a crash at an intersection. Collisions occurring at an angle are the most frequent manner of collision at intersections. These occur when one vehicle is turning and struck from the side by another. Sixty-one percent of the vehicles in fatal intersection crashes were struck at an angle. Crashes occurring at an angle pose the greatest risk of injury or death to the vehicle being struck from the side where there is less protection to the occupant. Manner of Collision at Intersection Crashes Drivers in Fatal Crashes, 2006 Manner of Collision Angle Head On Rear End Sideswipe Same Direction Sideswipe Opposite Direction Not With Another Vehicle Total Number 553 44 50 25 9 227 908 Percent 60.90 4.85 5.51 2.75 0.99 25.00 100.00 It is important to first understand the exact factors that increase the crash risk at an intersection before implementing a solution. Depending on the conditions at the intersection one method may be more effective than another. The simple and economical addition of a four-way stop reduces turning crashes by reducing speeds, minimizing sight distance limitations and controlling traffic movement. Stop signals also achieve what four-way stops do and can also be used to regulate traffic efficiently thus reducing congestion and subsequent driver stress. Adding a stop sign or signal may not necessarily be the best solution. Installing turn lanes of sufficient length has been shown to significantly reduce crashes, injuries and fatalities. Conflict Points Another very effective approach is to construct a modern roundabout. They are smaller than old traffic circle, designed for slower entry and exit speeds, always follow a `yield at entry' rule and have no left turns. Because modern roundabouts reduce speed and have fewer vehicle conflicts there is more time to make decisions and if a crash does occur it is low impact. Normal Intersection Modern Roundabout Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 31 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 The Risk Drivers on High Risk Roads From 2000 to 2006, 47,044 people received serious, incapacitating injuries such as traumatic head injuries, paralysis, internal bleeding or other potentially fatal injuries. The majority of trauma centers are in the Atlanta area with very few in the rural counties of Georgia and those are the counties with the higher fatality rates. Driver lost control was the most frequently noted driver contributing factor in fatal crashes. It has been the most frequent contributing factor for the past 11 years and it leads to serious head on and run-off-road crashes. Off road crashes accounted for 41 percent of all fatal crashes in 2006. Although teens historically have been thought to have the highest fatality rate they are now third with a fatality rate of 2.9 per 10,000 population. The highest fatality rate was for persons over age 74, 3.4 per 10,000 population. Younger and older drivers are especially at risk although for different reasons. For these drivers the risk increases on the high risk two-way roads where three out of four fatal crashes occur in Georgia. One out of four fatal crashes in Georgia occurs at an intersection. The physical limitations faced by older drivers are especially critical at high risk locations such as intersections. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 32 January 2008 The Risk Young Drivers Drivers on High Risk Roads The fatal crash rate for drivers ages 16-17 in rural counties is almost double the fatal crash rate for drivers ages 16-17 in the five Atlanta metropolitan counties. Rural roads have a higher fatal crash rate for all drivers and young drivers are no exception. Rural roads are high risk because they are often narrow, two-lane roads with no physical barrier or division separating oncoming traffic, and have frequent entering and exiting traffic. This greatly increases the risk of a fatal crash and given the propensity of teen drivers for unsafe or illegal speed the result is often fatal. In 2006, 21 drivers ages 16-17 were involved in fatal crashes in Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett counties, compared with 34 drivers ages 16-17 involved in fatal crashes in rural counties. Number of Drivers Ages 16-17 in Fatal Crashes by Region, 2006 40 35 For drivers ages 18-20 the number of drivers in fatal crashes in rural counties was more than double the number in the five Atlanta metropolitan counties. In rural counties 86 drivers ages 18-20 were involved in fatal crashes compared with 46 in the five Atlanta counties. For all age groups rural counties have the highest number of drivers in fatal crashes and the highest driver fatal crash rate. 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Atlanta Suburban Other MSA Rural Atlanta Drivers In Fatal Crashes by Driver Age and Region, 2006 Number and Rate per 10,000 Population 16-17 18-20 21-24 Over 24 Number Rate Number Rate Number Rate Number Rate Atlanta 21 2.15 46 3.65 79 4.52 424 1.94 Atlanta Suburban 18 3.66 37 7.02 38 4.36 318 3.11 Other MSA 13 2.57 34 3.64 49 4.53 355 3.44 Rural 34 4.16 86 7.52 103 6.51 754 4.31 *Pre-2003 census definition was used. Five Atlanta Metropolitan Counties: Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett; Atlanta Suburban Counties: Barrow, Bartow, Carroll, Cherokee, Coweta, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Henry, Newton, Paulding, Pickens, Rockdale, Spalding, Walton; Other Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) Counties: Bibb, Bryan, Catoosa, Chatham, Chattahoochee, Clarke, Columbia, Dade, Dougherty, Effingham, Harris, Houston, Jones, Lee, Madison, McDuffie, Muscogee, Oconee, Peach, Richmond, Twiggs, Walker; Rural Counties: All other counties Data excludes bicyclists and pedestrians. The population is used as a proxy measurement of risk exposure. We do not have a measure of actual miles driven by driver age or gender. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 33 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 The Risk Older Drivers Drivers on High Risk Roads The number of older drivers in fatal crashes in rural counties is almost three times greater than the number of drivers in fatal crashes in the other three regions. In rural areas the lack of accessible public transportation necessitates driving on high risk rural roads. In addition the long distances to emergency care and trauma centers increase the risk of a serious injury leading to death. The fatal crash rate for drivers ages 65-74 in rural counties is more than double the fatal crash rate for drivers ages 65-74 in the five Atlanta metropolitan counties. In the 15 suburban Atlanta counties and in the other MSA counties the driver fatal crash rates were higher than the five Atlanta counties for all age groups. The lowest fatality rate for drivers age 64 and older was in the five Atlanta metropolitan counties. Number of Drivers Over Age 74 in Fatal Crashes by Region, 2006 60 50 40 30 The combination of high risk roadways and long 20 distances to medical care may account for the higher number of older drivers in fatal crashes. 10 For all age groups rural counties have the highest number of drivers in fatal crashes and the highest driver fatal crash rate. 0 Atlanta Suburban Other MSA Rural Atlanta Drivers In Fatal Crashes by Driver Age and Region, 2006 Number and Rate per 10,000 Population 16-24 25-64 65-74 Over 74 Number Rate Number Rate Number Rate Number Rate Atlanta 146 3.67 387 2.00 23 1.58 14 1.27 Atlanta Suburban 93 4.92 276 3.11 25 3.16 17 2.98 Other MSA 96 3.80 298 3.52 35 3.55 22 2.54 Rural 223 6.30 633 4.48 67 3.69 54 3.49 *Pre-2003 census definition was used. Five Atlanta Metropolitan Counties: Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett; Atlanta Suburban Counties: Barrow, Bartow, Carroll, Cherokee, Coweta, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Henry, Newton, Paulding, Pickens, Rockdale, Spalding, Walton; Other Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) Counties: Bibb, Bryan, Catoosa, Chatham, Chattahoochee, Clarke, Columbia, Dade, Dougherty, Effingham, Harris, Houston, Jones, Lee, Madison, McDuffie, Muscogee, Oconee, Peach, Richmond, Twiggs, Walker; Rural Counties: All other counties Data excludes bicyclists and pedestrians. Population is used as a proxy measurement of risk exposure. We do not have a measure of actual miles driven by driver age or gender. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 34 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 The Risk Intersections Drivers on High Risk Roads The highest number of fatal intersection crashes occurred in rural counties. Suburban Atlanta counties had the lowest number of fatal intersection crashes. When the numbers are adjusted by the rate per 10,000 population the intersection driver fatal crash rate in rural counties was 39 percent higher than the intersection driver fatal crash rate in the five Atlanta metropolitan counties. The second highest intersection driver fatal crash rate occurred in metropolitan statistical areas other than Atlanta. Drivers in Fatal Intersection Crashes by Region, 2006 Rate per 10,000 Population 1.4 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 The lowest intersection driver fatal crash rate was in the five Atlanta metropolitan counties. Drivers in Fatal Intersection Crashes by Region Number of Drivers and Rate per10,000 Population Atlanta Suburban Other MSA Rural Intersection Number Rate 238 0.70 133 0.84 195 1.17 342 1.26 All Fatal Crashes Number Rate 602 1.78 423 2.66 473 2.85 1,017 3.74 *Pre-2003 census definition was used. Five Atlanta Metropolitan Counties: Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett; Atlanta Suburban Counties: Barrow, Bartow, Carroll, Cherokee, Coweta, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Henry, Newton, Paulding, Pickens, Rockdale, Spalding, Walton; Other Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) Counties: Bibb, Bryan, Catoosa, Chatham, Chattahoochee, Clarke, Columbia, Dade, Dougherty, Effingham, Harris, Houston, Jones, Lee, Madison, McDuffie, Muscogee, Oconee, Peach, Richmond, Twiggs, Walker; Rural Counties: All other counties 0.2 0 Atlanta Suburban Other MSA Rural Atlanta Over one third of the drivers in fatal crashes were in crashes at intersections and the majority of these crashes occurred in rural counties. When adjusted for the number of people rural counties still represented a higher risk for fatal intersection crashes. The rural county driver fatal intersection crash rate per 10,000 population was 80 percent higher than the rate for the five Atlanta metropolitan counties. In many counties high speed state and county routes intersect. This greatly increases the chances of two vehicles meeting at high s peed. Data excludes bicyclists and pedestrians. Population is used as a proxy measurement of risk exposure. We do not have a measure of actual miles driven. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 35 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 The Risk Speed Drivers on High Risk Roads One out of six fatal crashes in Georgia in 2006 was related to illegal or unsafe speed. Forty percent occurred in rural counties compared with 21 percent in the five Atlanta metropolitan counties. The speed related fatal crash rate per 10,000 population in rural counties was more than double the speed related fatal crash rate in the five Atlanta metropolitan counties. From 2000 to 2006 the number of illegal or unsafe fatal crashes increased in the Atlanta suburban counties, counties in other metropolitan areas and rural counties. In the five Atlanta metropolitan counties the number of fatal crashes related to illegal or unsafe speed remained about the same although the rate per 10,000 population declined. Drivers in Speed Related Fatal Crashes by Region, 2006 Rate per 10,000 Population 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 Atlanta Suburban Other MSA Rural Atlanta Drivers in Speed Related Fatal Crashes by Region Number and Rate per 10,000 Population Percent Percent 2000 2006 Change in Change in Number Rate Number Rate Number Rate Atlanta 79 0.27 78 0.23 -1.27 -14.61 Atlanta Suburban 54 0.45 77 0.48 42.59 8.54 Other MSA 45 0.29 66 0.40 46.67 37.55 Rural Counties 141 0.56 149 0.55 5.67 -1.77 *Pre-2003 census definition was used. Five Atlanta Metropolitan Counties: Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett; Atlanta Suburban Counties: Barrow, Bartow, Carroll, Cherokee, Coweta, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Henry, Newton, Paulding, Pickens, Rockdale, Spalding, Walton; Other Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) Counties: Bibb, Bryan, Catoosa, Chatham, Chattahoochee, Clarke, Columbia, Dade, Dougherty, Effingham, Harris, Houston, Jones, Lee, Madison, McDuffie, Muscogee, Oconee, Peach, Richmond, Twiggs, Walker; Rural Counties: All other counties In July 1996, the speed limit was increased to 70 mph on rural interstates. Three years later the number of fatalities on rural interstate roads increased 67.5 percent when compared to the three-year period before the speed limit was raised. Data excludes bicyclists and pedestrians. Population is used as a proxy measurement of risk exposure. We do not have a measure of actual miles driven. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 36 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 The Risk Drivers on High Risk Roads Rural roads are high risk because they are often narrow, two-lane roads with no physical barrier or division separating oncoming traffic, and have frequent entering and exiting traffic. This greatly increases the risk of a fatal crash. Drivers need to understand the road characteristics that increase the risk and adjust their driving accordingly. For all age groups rural counties have the highest number of drivers in fatal crashes and the highest driver fatal crash rate. The number of older drivers in fatal crashes in rural counties is almost three times greater than the number of drivers in fatal crashes in the other three regions. In rural areas the lack of accessible public transportation necessitates driving on high risk rural roads. In addition the long distances to emergency care and trauma centers increase the risk of a serious injury leading to death. The chance of being seriously injured is three times higher in crashes related to speed than crashes not related to speed. One out of six fatal crashes in 2006 was related to illegal or unsafe speed. Forty percent occurred in rural counties compared with 21 percent in the five Atlanta metropolitan counties. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 37 January 2008 The Crash Reports Drivers on High Risk Roads In doing research for this document I read the narratives from the 1,562 fatal crash reports for 2006. Over and over I read the same words two-way road no separation, driver lost control, negotiating a curve, too fast for conditions, overcorrected, county or state route in a rural county. My observations are confirmed by the data but still I was shocked by these conditions being repeated over and over and over again. There are reasons for these fatal crashes and we know what they are and we can address them given the resources. In this driver section we have seen how driver factors meet road conditions and how drivers can meet death on high risk roads. There are many recommendations to drivers as to how to avoid crashes. But from these narratives and from the data one stands out pay attention and be aware of the road you are on or in other words think as you drive. If you are approaching a curve slow down. Don't be seduced by the tranquility of the two-way country road; remember that is where in Georgia three out of four people die. Pay particular attention to intersections where vehicles meet and always expect the unexpected. If the data and my words don't convince you below are just a few of the fatal crash reports and diagrams written by law enforcement officers at the scene of a fatal crash. Perhaps they will make you think. If you don't think of anything else think of the emergency medical technician that must fight for your life, the firefighter that may spend 20 minutes extricating you out of your vehicle and the officer or emergency department doctor that must tell your family you have died. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 38 January 2008 The Crash Reports Drivers on High Risk Roads Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 39 January 2008 The Crash Reports Drivers on High Risk Roads Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 40 January 2008 The Crash Reports Drivers on High Risk Roads Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 41 January 2008 Advice to Drivers Drivers on High Risk Roads Anticipate....... that car will not stop for the stop light, rain will make the roads slick, you are going too fast for the curve, the driver weaving all over the road will turn into your lane, drivers turn without signaling and signal with out turning and know you that are not the perfect driver you think you are. Driving our high risk roads: Pay attention and stay alert Anticipate the unexpected Watch the cars around you Avoid distractions Be aware of your surroundings Don't take chances Slow down on curves Slow down when in doubt Slow down Concentrate on driving Look when changing lanes Look when you turn Use your seat belt Use turn signals Follow traffic rules religiously Don't drive tired, stressed or angry and be considerate Turn lights on at dawn & dusk Turn lights on in rain Avoid left turns if possible Watch out for pedestrians Move to right, slow down and stop for emergency vehicles Know your vehicle Keep your vehicle running right Keep windshield, windows & mirrors clear I remember when I was in high school, a state patrol officer spoke to my class about seatbelts. He told us that in his entire history, he had never had to unbuckle a dead person. At the time, it made quite an impact and I began using my seatbelt with regularity. But 21 years later, and as a veteran paramedic, I realize the futility of his argument. I have unbuckled plenty of dead people. Now don't get me wrong, I believe in the value and utilization of modern safety equipment. But for so long, we basically told American kids that as long as they wore their seat belt, they would be "safe". This argument implies that vehicular safety design can forgive irrational or downright stupid decisions made by drivers. Of course we know this to be false. I am amazed every time I pull up to a fatality accident and see that we, as humans, have really invented no new ways of killing ourselves. We just keep finding new spins on old themes. The same mistakes that cost lives in the first automobiles are still at work today. I always leave with sorrow and regret for the wasted humanity that could have been a longer life had but one link in the accident chain been broken. I marvel at the frank stupidity of some act of aggression that goes horribly wrong. I also cry along with the family for the senseless loss of an innocent child. I just don't do it in front of them. I guess that's the hardest part in all of this. The control that is required to remain objective and task oriented takes a tremendous toll on the individual. We were created to share and display emotion, yet our job demands that we remain focused and task-oriented during the most heart wrenching times of our lives. This dichotomy is perhaps the defining emotive crisis that surrounds EMS personnel at these incidents. Commander Steven G. Folden, Paramedic, EMS Educator Fayette County Department of Fire & Emergency Services Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 42 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008 The Risk in Summary Drivers on High Risk Roads Three out of four fatal crashes occurred on two-way roads with no separation. They are the highest risk roadways. From 2000 to 2006 in Georgia, 11,435 people lost their lives in motor vehicle crashes. Over 8,500 men women and children died on two-way roads with no separation. From 2000 to 2006 over 4 million drivers have been involved in crashes resulting in almost a million injuries. That is on average 1,720 drivers each day 72 drivers every hour. In 2006 alone 1,703 men, women and children lost their lives on Georgia's roadways. In 2006 alone the number of injured children ages 5-9 would fill not 10 classrooms, not 50 classrooms but 128 classrooms. For middle school age children ages 10-14 the number is even greater. The number of injured children ages 10-14 in 2003 would fill 148 Georgia classrooms. For all age groups rural counties have the highest number of drivers in fatal crashes and the highest driver fatal crash rate. The fatal crash rate for drivers ages 16-17 in rural counties is almost double the fatal crash rate for drivers ages 16-17 in the five Atlanta metropolitan counties. The number of older drivers in fatal crashes in rural counties is almost three times greater than the number of drivers in fatal crashes in the other three regions. In rural areas the lack of accessible public transportation necessitates driving on high risk rural roads. In addition the long distances to emergency care and trauma centers increase the risk of a serious injury leading to death. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information Georgia Department of Transportation 43 January 2008 The Risk in Summary Drivers on High Risk Roads Unsafe or illegal speed is involved in one out of six fatal crashes in Georgia and forty percent of these fatal crashes occurred in rural counties. The chance of being seriously injured is three times higher in crashes related to speed than crashes not related to speed. Horizontal curves are one of the major road characteristics that increase the risk of speed related crashing. In 2006, one out of two fatal off road crashes happened on a curve although straight roadways segments far outnumber curved roadway segments. From 2000 to 2006, 49.6 percent of the fatal fixed object crashes occurred in rural counties. The disparity was even greater for overturn crashes, 62.2 percent occurred in rural counties. Off road fatal crashes accounted for 41 percent of all fatal crashes in Georgia in 2006. Overturn and fixed object crashes pose the highest risk of injury or death to the vehicle occupants. One out of three fatal crashes in Georgia in 2006 occurred on off-system roads and almost all of these fatal crashes were on two-way roads without any separation. Of the off road fatal crashes on two-way off-system roads 62 percent were on horizontal curves. Crash Analysis, Statistics & Information 44 Georgia Department of Transportation January 2008