Rear-end, roadway departure, and lane-change crashes accounted for about 60 percent of all light vehicle and heavy commercial truck crashes, resulting in 1,550,000 and 69,000 injured persons, respectively. The U.S. DOT estimated that the economic costs of motor vehicle crashes in the United States totaled $230.6 billion in the year 2000 [1]. Included in these crash losses are lost productivity, medical costs, legal and court costs, emergency service costs, insurance administration costs, travel delay, property damage, and workplace losses. A U.S. DOT study also determined that 43 percent of the total economic costs were associated with roadway departure, rear-end, and lane-change/merge crashes [2]. Widespread deployment of integrated countermeasure systems could prevent over 48 percent of rear-end, run-off-road, and lane change crashes.

References

[1] Blincoe, L., A. Seay, E. Zaloshnja, T. Miller, E. Romano, S. Luchter, and R. Spicer (2002). The Economic Impact of Motor Vehicle Crashes 2000, DOT HS 809 446, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, DC.

[2] Wang, J.S., R.R. Knipling, and L.J. Blincoe (1999). The Dimensions of Motor Vehicle Crash Risk, Vol. 2, No.1, Journal of Transportation and Statistics, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Washington, DC.