TITLE:
Evaluation of Crash Contributing Factors
AUTHORS:
Ye Dong, Jonathan S. Wood
KEYWORDS:
Contributing Factors, Human Factors, Vehicle Factors, Environmental Factors, Crash Data, Vision Zero
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Transportation Technologies,
Vol.15 No.1,
January
24,
2025
ABSTRACT: Understanding crash contributing factors is essential in safety management and improvement. These factors drive investment decisions, policies, regulations, and other safety-related initiatives. This paper analyzes factors that contribute to crash occurrence based on two national datasets in the United States (CISS and NASS-CDS) for the years 2017-2022 and 2010-2015, respectively. Three taxonomies were applied to enhance understanding of the various crash contributing factors. These taxonomies were developed based on previous research and practice and involved different groupings of human factors, vehicle factors, and roadway and environmental factors. Statistics for grouping the different types of factors and statistics for specific factors are provided. The results indicate that human factors are present in over 95% of crashes, roadway and environmental factors are present in over 45% of crashes, and vehicle factors are present in less than 2% of crashes. Regarding factors related to human error and vehicle maintenance, speeding is involved in over 25% of crashes, distraction is involved in over 20% of crashes, alcohol and drugs are involved in over 9% of crashes, and vehicle maintenance is involved in approximately 0.45% of crashes. Approximately 4.4% of crashes involve a driver who “looked but did not see.” Weather is involved in over 13% of crashes. Conclusions: The findings indicate that, consistent with previous research, human factors or human error are present in around 95% of crashes. Infrastructure and environmental factors contribute to about 45% of crashes. Vehicle factors contribute to only 1.67% - 1.71% of crashes. The results from this study could potentially be used to inform future safety management and improvement activities, including policy-making, regulation development, safe systems and systemic safety approaches to safety management, and other engineering, education, emergency response, enforcement, evaluation, and encouragement activities. The findings could also be used in the development of future Driver Assistance Technologies (DAT) systems and in enhancing existing technologies.