Crashes Involving Long Combination Vehicles: Data Quality Problems and Recommendations for Improvement

Abstract

In 1999–2000, the Automobile Association of America Foundation for Traffic Safety conducted a research program to identify the barriers to analysis of large-truck safety experience in the United States. The primary focus was on so-called longer combination vehicles (LCVs)—the doubles and triples running on major highways throughout the country. Five states (Florida, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, and Utah) participated in a review and evaluation of their data-collection and analysis practices. Two of the states (Oregon and Utah) also participated in an audit of completed crash reports for crashes involving large trucks and specifically doubles and triples. The results show that none of the five states has a crash-reporting system that adequately supports the analysis of LCV safety. In general, there is a lack of reliable data on the exact configuration of vehicles involved in crashes and a lack of specific measures of exposure for LCVs. Without good data on configuration and good measures of exposure, the main question about LCV safety (i.e., are they more or less safe than other large commercial motor vehicles?) cannot be answered empirically. The report concludes with a series of recommendations for improving the quality of data for crashes involving large trucks and a state’s ability to analyze LCV crashes specifically.