ANALYSIS OF SERIOUS TRUCK CRASHES IN THE UNITED STATES

Hazmat heavy truck shipments represent less than eight percent of all commodity shipments. However, the consequences from a hazmat crash can be greater than that for a non hazmat truck shipment. In addition to crash impacts associated with non-hazmat shipments, hazmat crash impacts may result in: more fatalities and injuries, additional environmental consequences, higher property damage and clean up costs and longer incident delay. Presently, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration of the U.S Department of Transportation relies on the Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS) to provide data for analyzing serious crashes. A crash is defined as serious if it results in one of the following: a fatality, an injury requiring transport to a facility for immediate medical attention, or at least one vehicle towed from the scene as a result of disabling crash damages. Objectives The objectives of this project were: to enhance the current methodology for identifying and characterizing serious hazmat truck crashes in the U.S. and to support the implementation of hazmat truck transportation risk reduction strategies. The project’s approach was to enhance the serious hazmat truck crash identification, data collection, and analysis process. Data from roughly half the hazmat crashes reported in MCMIS for 2002, were supplemented with data from police accident reports, conversations with the carriers and HM spill data from the Hazardous Materials Information System (HMIS). This data was entered into a separate hazmat database. The enhanced data provided insights into the nature of hazmat crashes and was analyzed to help develop more in depth analyses of the hazmat crashes. Discussion The Hazmat Database design and data entry system provides a methodology by which hazmat crash data can be collected, validated, and utilized in support of motor carrier safety policy analysis. The process utilizes MCMIS and then enhances the accuracy, completeness, and breadth of crash records, by incorporating information collected from other sources. As a result, significant findings were identified with fewer crashes and more comprehensive safety analysis can be performed.