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NATIONAL
NCHRP REPORT 665
COOPERATIVE
HIGHWAY
RESEARCH
PROGRAM
Identification of Vehicular Impact
Conditions Associated with
Serious Ran-off-Road Crashes
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TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD 2010 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE*
OFFICERS
CHAIR: Michael R. Morris, Director of Transportation, North Central Texas Council of Governments, Arlington
VICE CHAIR: Neil J. Pedersen, Administrator, Maryland State Highway Administration, Baltimore
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Robert E. Skinner, Jr., Transportation Research Board
MEMBERS
J. Barry Barker, Executive Director, Transit Authority of River City, Louisville, KY
Allen D. Biehler, Secretary, Pennsylvania DOT, Harrisburg
Larry L. Brown, Sr., Executive Director, Mississippi DOT, Jackson
Deborah H. Butler, Executive Vice President, Planning, and CIO, Norfolk Southern Corporation, Norfolk, VA
William A.V. Clark, Professor, Department of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles
Eugene A. Conti, Jr., Secretary of Transportation, North Carolina DOT, Raleigh
Nicholas J. Garber, Henry L. Kinnier Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, and Director, Center for Transportation Studies, University of
Virginia, Charlottesville
Jeffrey W. Hamiel, Executive Director, Metropolitan Airports Commission, Minneapolis, MN
Paula J. Hammond, Secretary, Washington State DOT, Olympia
Edward A. (Ned) Helme, President, Center for Clean Air Policy, Washington, DC
Adib K. Kanafani, Cahill Professor of Civil Engineering, University of California, Berkeley
Susan Martinovich, Director, Nevada DOT, Carson City
Debra L. Miller, Secretary, Kansas DOT, Topeka
Sandra Rosenbloom, Professor of Planning, University of Arizona, Tucson
Tracy L. Rosser, Vice President, Corporate Traffic, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Mandeville, LA
Steven T. Scalzo, Chief Operating Officer, Marine Resources Group, Seattle, WA
Henry G. (Gerry) Schwartz, Jr., Chairman (retired), Jacobs/Sverdrup Civil, Inc., St. Louis, MO
Beverly A. Scott, General Manager and Chief Executive Officer, Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, Atlanta, GA
David Seltzer, Principal, Mercator Advisors LLC, Philadelphia, PA
Daniel Sperling, Professor of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science and Policy; Director, Institute of Transportation Studies; and Interim
Director, Energy Efficiency Center, University of California, Davis
Kirk T. Steudle, Director, Michigan DOT, Lansing
Douglas W. Stotlar, President and CEO, Con-Way, Inc., Ann Arbor, MI
C. Michael Walton, Ernest H. Cockrell Centennial Chair in Engineering, University of Texas, Austin
EX OFFICIO MEMBERS
Peter H. Appel, Administrator, Research and Innovative Technology Administration, U.S.DOT
J. Randolph Babbitt, Administrator, Federal Aviation Administration, U.S.DOT
Rebecca M. Brewster, President and COO, American Transportation Research Institute, Smyrna, GA
George Bugliarello, President Emeritus and University Professor, Polytechnic Institute of New York University, Brooklyn; Foreign Secretary,
National Academy of Engineering, Washington, DC
Anne S. Ferro, Administrator, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, U.S.DOT
LeRoy Gishi, Chief, Division of Transportation, Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, DC
Edward R. Hamberger, President and CEO, Association of American Railroads, Washington, DC
John C. Horsley, Executive Director, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, Washington, DC
David T. Matsuda, Deputy Administrator, Maritime Administration, U.S.DOT
Victor M. Mendez, Administrator, Federal Highway Administration, U.S.DOT
William W. Millar, President, American Public Transportation Association, Washington, DC
Robert J. Papp (Adm., U.S. Coast Guard), Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Washington, DC
Cynthia L. Quarterman, Administrator, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, U.S.DOT
Peter M. Rogoff, Administrator, Federal Transit Administration, U.S.DOT
David L. Strickland, Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S.DOT
Joseph C. Szabo, Administrator, Federal Railroad Administration, U.S.DOT
Polly Trottenberg, Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy, U.S.DOT
Robert L. Van Antwerp (Lt. Gen., U.S. Army), Chief of Engineers and Commanding General, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington, DC
*Membership as of July 2010.
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NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM
NCHRP REPORT 665
Identification of Vehicular Impact
Conditions Associated with
Serious Ran-off-Road Crashes
King K. Mak
MAK & ASSOCIATES
San Antonio, TX
Dean L. Sicking
Francisco Daniel Benicio de Albuquerque
MIDWEST ROADSIDE SAFETY FACILITY
Lincoln, NE
Brian A. Coon
CITY ENGINEER'S OFFICE
Wichita, KS
Subscriber Categories
Safety and Human Factors
Research sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials
in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration
TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD
WASHINGTON, D.C.
2010
www.TRB.org
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NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY NCHRP REPORT 665
RESEARCH PROGRAM
Systematic, well-designed research provides the most effective Project 17-22
approach to the solution of many problems facing highway ISSN 0077-5614
administrators and engineers. Often, highway problems are of local ISBN 978-0-309-15507-6
interest and can best be studied by highway departments individually Library of Congress Control Number 2010936963
or in cooperation with their state universities and others. However, the © 2010 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
accelerating growth of highway transportation develops increasingly
complex problems of wide interest to highway authorities. These
problems are best studied through a coordinated program of COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
cooperative research.
Authors herein are responsible for the authenticity of their materials and for obtaining
In recognition of these needs, the highway administrators of the written permissions from publishers or persons who own the copyright to any previously
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials published or copyrighted material used herein.
initiated in 1962 an objective national highway research program Cooperative Research Programs (CRP) grants permission to reproduce material in this
employing modern scientific techniques. This program is supported on publication for classroom and not-for-profit purposes. Permission is given with the
understanding that none of the material will be used to imply TRB, AASHTO, FAA, FHWA,
a continuing basis by funds from participating member states of the
FMCSA, FTA, or Transit Development Corporation endorsement of a particular product,
Association and it receives the full cooperation and support of the method, or practice. It is expected that those reproducing the material in this document for
Federal Highway Administration, United States Department of educational and not-for-profit uses will give appropriate acknowledgment of the source of
any reprinted or reproduced material. For other uses of the material, request permission
Transportation.
from CRP.
The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies was
requested by the Association to administer the research program
because of the Board's recognized objectivity and understanding of
NOTICE
modern research practices. The Board is uniquely suited for this
purpose as it maintains an extensive committee structure from which The project that is the subject of this report was a part of the National Cooperative Highway
Research Program, conducted by the Transportation Research Board with the approval of
authorities on any highway transportation subject may be drawn; it the Governing Board of the National Research Council.
possesses avenues of communications and cooperation with federal,
The members of the technical panel selected to monitor this project and to review this
state and local governmental agencies, universities, and industry; its report were chosen for their special competencies and with regard for appropriate balance.
relationship to the National Research Council is an insurance of The report was reviewed by the technical panel and accepted for publication according to
procedures established and overseen by the Transportation Research Board and approved
objectivity; it maintains a full-time research correlation staff of
by the Governing Board of the National Research Council.
specialists in highway transportation matters to bring the findings of
The opinions and conclusions expressed or implied in this report are those of the
research directly to those who are in a position to use them. researchers who performed the research and are not necessarily those of the Transportation
The program is developed on the basis of research needs identified Research Board, the National Research Council, or the program sponsors.
by chief administrators of the highway and transportation departments The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, the National Research
and by committees of AASHTO. Each year, specific areas of research Council, and the sponsors of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program do not
needs to be included in the program are proposed to the National endorse products or manufacturers. Trade or manufacturers' names appear herein solely
because they are considered essential to the object of the report.
Research Council and the Board by the American Association of State
Highway and Transportation Officials. Research projects to fulfill these
needs are defined by the Board, and qualified research agencies are
selected from those that have submitted proposals. Administration and
surveillance of research contracts are the responsibilities of the National
Research Council and the Transportation Research Board.
The needs for highway research are many, and the National
Cooperative Highway Research Program can make significant
contributions to the solution of highway transportation problems of
mutual concern to many responsible groups. The program, however, is
intended to complement rather than to substitute for or duplicate other
highway research programs.
Published reports of the
NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM
are available from:
Transportation Research Board
Business Office
500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001
and can be ordered through the Internet at:
http://www.national-academies.org/trb/bookstore
Printed in the United States of America
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COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAMS
CRP STAFF FOR NCHRP REPORT 665
Christopher W. Jenks, Director, Cooperative Research Programs
Crawford F. Jencks, Deputy Director, Cooperative Research Programs
Charles W. Niessner, Senior Program Officer
Emily R. Greenwood, Senior Program Assistant
Eileen P. Delaney, Director of Publications
Natalie Barnes, Editor
NCHRP PROJECT 17-22 PANEL
Field of Traffic--Area of Safety
Richard B. Albin, Federal Highway Administration, Lakewood, CO (Chair)
Jonathan Becker, South Dakota DOT, Pierre, SD
Don J. Gripne, Trinity Highway Products, LLC, Olympia, WA
Douglas E. McClure, South Carolina DOT, Columbia, SC
Catherine McCullough, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, DC
Ronald J. Seitz, Kansas DOT, Topeka, KS
Manu G. Shah, Hanover, MD
Harry W. Taylor, Jr., Taylor Consulting, Washington, DC
Richard Pain, TRB Liaison
AUTHOR ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors wish to acknowledge several sources that made a contribution to this project: (1) the Trans-
portation Research Board of the National Academies for managing this project and (2) the NCHRP Proj-
ect 17-22 panel for its guidance.
A special thanks is also given to the following individuals who made a contribution to the completion
of this research project.
Midwest Roadside Safety Facility
John R. Rohde, Ph.D., P.E., Associate Professor
John D. Reid, Ph.D., Professor
Ronald K. Faller, Ph.D., P.E., Research Assistant Professor
Karla A. Lechtenberg, M.S.M.E., E.I.T., Research Associate Engineer
Robert W. Bielenberg, M.S.M.E., E.I.T., Research Associate Engineer
Scott K. Rosenbaugh, M.S.C.E., E.I.T., Research Associate Engineer
Undergraduate and Graduate Research Assistants
Transportation Research Board
NCHRP Project 17-22 Panel Members
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FOREWORD
By Charles W. Niessner
Staff Officer
Transportation Research Board
This report quantifies the characteristics of ran-off-road crashes and identifies appropri-
ate impact conditions for use in full-scale crash testing. Many of the decisions related to
design guidelines and policies can benefit from better information on the impact conditions
of ran-off-road crashes. The report will be of particular interest to personnel responsible for
the design of roadside safety features.
The primary goal of roadside design is to limit the number of serious injuries and fatali-
ties associated with ran-off-road crashes. Roadside geometrics and safety features have a
strong influence on the frequency and severity of crashes. To design optimum roadside geo-
metrics and to determine which roadside safety features are appropriate, it is imperative to
identify impact characteristics associated with serious injury and fatal crashes. This infor-
mation has a direct bearing on safety evaluation criteria used to assess the performance of
roadside safety features. However, the impact speeds, angles, and orientations used in the
current testing procedures are selected to represent a practical worst-case situation. It is
unclear to what degree this practical worst-case situation represents real-world conditions.
Consequently, it is important to have definitive data on whether there are real relationships
between the selected test impact conditions and actual crashes involving serious injuries and
fatalities.
Crash data will be useful in refining guidelines for roadside safety countermeasures and
calibrating roadside safety models [e.g., Roadside Safety Analysis Program (RSAP)] and
crash and vehicle dynamics simulation models. It will also be helpful in focusing designers'
attention on the roadside features that are involved in the greatest number of serious injury
and fatal crashes. Crash data will help designers spend safety dollars on improvements that
will have the greatest likelihood of reducing serious injuries and fatalities.
Under NCHRP Project 17-22, "Identification of Vehicular Impact Conditions Associated
with Serious Ran-off-Road Crashes," the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility identified the
data needs, developed a data collection plan, conducted a retrospective data collection effort
of crashes selected from the National Automotive Sampling System, developed a relational
database suitable for future research, and proposed an implementation plan for a long-term
data collection effort (The long-term data collection effort is continuing under NCHRP
Project 17-43).
The data from this study was used in the evaluation of the guardrail runout length calcu-
lation procedures and compared to the recommended runout lengths contained in the 2006
AASHTO Roadside Design Guide. The evaluation provides support for reducing the length
of guardrail used in advance of roadside obstacles.
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CONTENTS
1 Chapter 1 Introduction
1 1.1 Background
2 1.2 Objective
2 1.3 Scope
3 1.4 Report Organization
4 Chapter 2 Literature Review
4 2.1 In-Depth Crash Data Collection
7 2.2 Impact Conditions of Ran-off-Road Crashes
8 2.3 Data Needs for Study of Ran-off-Road Crashes
9 2.4 Reconstruction of Ran-off-Road Crashes
10 Chapter 3 Study Approach
10 3.1 General
10 3.2 Data Needs
10 3.3 Data Collection Alternatives
13 3.4 Data Collection Protocol
23 3.5 Data from Previous Studies
25 3.6 Relational Database
26 Chapter 4 Results
26 4.1 General
26 4.2 Descriptive Statistics
32 4.3 Departure Conditions
39 4.4 Impact Conditions
48 4.5 Encroachment Length
52 4.6 Significance for Guardrail Runout Length
55 Chapter 5 Long-Term Data Collection Plan
55 5.1 General
56 5.2 Data Collection Alternatives
56 5.3 Proposed Data Collection Plan
58 5.4 Pilot Study
62 5.5 Data Collection Protocol--Continuous Sampling Subsystem
63 5.6 Data Collection Protocol--Special Studies Subsystem
64 5.7 Summary
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65 Chapter 6 Summary of Findings
65 6.1 Study Approach
65 6.2 Findings
65 6.3 Long-Term Data Collection
67 References
69 Appendices
Note: Many of the photographs, figures, and tables in this report have been converted from color to grayscale
for printing. The electronic version of the report (posted on the web at www.trb.org) retains the color versions.
