43
COLLISIONS
Figure 20. Indiana traffic collisions, by primary factor and severity, 2011
Non-fatal collisions
Figure 22. Indiana traffic collisions and serious injury collision rates, by road class, 2007-2011
100,000 90,000 80,000 70,000 60,000 50,000 40,000 30,000 20,000 10,000 0
35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0
Collision counts (bars) Serious injury collision rate (lines)
Figure 21. Indiana traffic collisions and serious injury collision rates, by locale, 2007-2011
Source: Indiana State Police Notes:
Includes only collisions where valid road class was identified.
Serious injurycollisions are defined as collisions with one or more fatalor incapacitatinginjuries.
Serious injurycollision rate is calculated per 1,000 total collisions in each road class.
125,000
100,000
75,000
50,000
25,000
0
45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0
Collision counts (bars) Serious injury collision rate (lines)
07 08 09 10 11 07 08 09 10 11 07 08 09 10 11 07 08 09 10 11
Urban Suburban Exurban Rural
07 08 09 10 11 07 08 09 10 11 07 08 09 10 11 07 08 09 10 11 07 08 09 10 11
County road Interstate Local/city road State road US route
Source: Indiana State Police Notes:
Includes only collisions where valid locale was identified.
Serious injurycollisions are defined as collisions with one or more fatalor incapacitatinginjuries.
Serious injurycollision rate is calculated per 1,000 total collisions in each locale.
45
COLLISIONS
Table 22. Indiana traffic collisions by severity and road parameters, 2011
Source: Indiana State Police Notes:
Serious injurycollisions are defined as collisions with one or more fatalor incapacitatinginjuries.
Serious injurycollision rate is calculated per 1,000 total collisions in each road parameter category.
Collisions, by severity Serious injury
per 1,000 collisions
Total Fatal Incapacitating
Non- incapacitating
Property damage By road class
County road 20,988 133 510 3,559 16,786 30.6
Interstate 14,348 72 185 1,915 12,176 17.9
Local/city road 84,666 161 1,085 14,612 68,808 14.7
State road 27,058 201 570 5,014 21,273 28.5
US route 17,724 96 385 3,537 13,706 27.1
Unknown 23,348 11 123 1,239 21,975 5.7
By junction type
Five point or more 500 1 9 108 382 20.0
Four-way 37,358 101 649 8,295 28,313 20.1
Interchange 715 2 9 136 568 15.4
No junction 126,208 510 1,843 17,465 106,390 18.6
Ramp 3,038 4 40 469 2,525 14.5
T-intersection 18,874 49 285 3,221 15,319 17.7
Traffic circle/roundabout 643 2 5 49 587 10.9
Y-intersection 719 5 18 130 566 32.0
Unknown 77 0 0 3 74 0.0
By road character
Straight 163,571 529 2,359 26,135 134,548 17.7
Level 136,450 438 1,871 21,777 112,364 16.9
Graded 21,567 65 384 3,383 17,735 20.8
Hillcrest 5,554 26 104 975 4,449 23.4
Curve 18,559 141 464 3,448 14,506 32.6
Level 11,081 85 257 2,039 8,700 30.9
Graded 6,211 46 175 1,168 4,822 35.6
Hillcrest 1,267 10 32 241 984 33.1
Non-roadway crash 5,822 4 35 286 5,497 6.7
Unknown 180 0 0 7 173 0.0
Roadway surface type
Asphalt 166,260 597 2,564 26,716 136,383 19.0
Concrete 18,318 64 245 2,798 15,211 16.9
Gravel 2,529 6 30 234 2,259 14.2
Other 886 7 18 125 736 28.2
Unknown 139 0 1 3 135 7.2
All collisions 188,132 674 2,858 29,876 154,724 18.8
Low High
Table 23. Indiana traffic collisions, by severity and manner of collision, 2011
Table 24. Indiana collisions, by severity and traffic control type, 2011
Source: Indiana State Police Notes:
Serious injurycollisions are defined as collisions with one or more fatalor incapacitatinginjuries.
Serious injurycollision rate is calculated per 1,000 total collisions by each traffic control type.
Manner of collision
Collisions, by severity Serious injury
per 1,000 collisions
Total Fatal Incapacitating
Non- incapacitating
Property damage
Backing 19,634 2 38 439 19,155 2.0
Head on 20,845 170 469 3,233 16,973 30.7
Left turn 8,974 12 142 1,782 7,038 17.2
Left/right turn 2,180 3 23 286 1,868 11.9
Non-collision 2,518 15 97 565 1,841 44.5
Opposite direction sideswipe 4,993 12 52 555 4,374 12.8
Ran off road 22,416 199 678 5,012 16,527 39.1
Rear end 44,231 67 447 8,284 35,433 11.6
Rear to rear 376 0 4 37 335 10.6
Right angle 31,322 133 622 6,891 23,676 24.1
Right turn 2,616 3 19 237 2,357 8.4
Same direction sideswipe 18,712 15 69 1,280 17,348 4.5
Other collision manner 8,558 42 196 1,245 7,075 27.8
Unknown 757 1 2 30 724 4.0
All collisions 188,132 674 2,858 29,876 154,724 0.4
Traffic control type
Collisions, by severity Serious injury
per 1,000 collisions
Total Fatal Incapacitating
Non- incapacitating
Property damage
Lane control 44,291 235 741 7,325 35,990 22.0
Traffic control signal 33,131 56 463 6,945 25,667 15.7
Stop sign 17,928 55 349 3,738 13,786 22.5
No passing zone 4,932 53 136 931 3,812 38.3
Other regulatory sign 1,355 4 15 204 1,132 14.0
Yield sign 1,485 3 20 270 1,192 15.5
Flashing signal 1,232 9 35 288 900 35.7
Railroad crossing 400 9 5 67 319 35.0
Person directing traffic 224 3 5 47 169 35.7
None 82,875 246 1,088 10,052 71,489 16.1
Unknown 279 1 1 9 268 7.2
All collisions 188,132 674 2,858 29,876 154,724 18.8
Source: Indiana State Police Notes:
Serious injurycollisions are defined as collisions with one or more fatalor incapacitatinginjuries.
Serious injurycollision rate is calculated per 1,000 total collisions by each manner of collision. Low High
Low High
47
COLLISIONS
Source: Indiana State Police Notes:
Serious injurycollisions are defined as collisions with one or more fatalor incapacitatinginjuries.
Serious injurycollision rate is calculated per 1,000 total collisions in each environmental condition category.
Table 25. Indiana traffic collisions, by severity and environmental conditions, 2011
Collisions, by severity Serious injury
per 1,000 collisions
Total Fatal Incapacitating
Non- incapacitating
Property damage
All collisions 188,132 674 2,858 29,876 154,724 18.8
By light conditions
Daylight 123,002 353 1,809 20,654 100,186 17.6
Dark (not lighted) 28,680 201 510 3,793 24,176 24.8
Dark (lighted) 26,363 82 419 4,081 21,781 19.0
Dawn/dusk 8,775 36 117 1,336 7,286 17.4
Unknown 1,312 2 3 12 1,295 3.8
By weather conditions
Clear 110,076 438 1,850 17,867 89,921 20.8
Cloudy 41,629 140 579 6,605 34,305 17.3
Rain 22,431 68 284 3,727 18,352 15.7
Snow 8,905 12 80 1,018 7,795 10.3
Blowing sand/soil/snow 2,215 7 14 292 1,902 9.5
Sleet/hail/freezing rain 1,599 3 30 232 1,334 20.6
Fog/smoke/smog 644 2 16 89 537 28.0
Severe cross wind 249 4 5 44 196 36.1
Unknown 384 0 0 2 382 0.0
By road surface conditions
Dry 133,144 535 2,207 21,766 108,636 20.6
Wet 33,969 99 453 5,578 27,839 16.3
Snow/slush 11,717 21 91 1,269 10,336 9.6
Ice 7,294 11 80 950 6,253 12.5
Loose material on road 726 5 12 141 568 23.4
Water (standing or moving) 795 1 13 146 635 17.6
Muddy 138 2 2 21 113 29.0
Unknown 349 0 0 5 344 0.0
Low High
Table 26. Economic cost of traffic collisions in Indiana, by collision type, 2011
Figure 23. Average economic cost of Indiana traffic collisions, 2011
Collision Type Count of collisions Total cost (millions)
All crashes 188,132 $4,381.27
Speeding 17,517 $560.82
Alcohol-impaired 4,938 $466.27
Alcohol-involved 8,355 $288.05
Distracted, any type 9,386 $235.14
Hit-and-run 22,633 $225.09
Disregarding a signal 3,955 $148.29
Aggressive driving 4,320 $163.69
In a work zone 4,836 $116.23
Distracted, cell phone 1,168 $34.85
All collisions
Aggressive driving
Alcohol-impaired
Alcohol-involved
Disregarding a signal
Distracted, any
Distracted, cell phone
Hit-and-run
Speeding
Work zone
$23,288
$37,892
$58,333
$55,808
$37,494
$25,052
$29,833
$9,945
$32,015
$24,034
$0 $10,000 $20,000 $30,000 $40,000 $50,000 $60,000 $70,000
Source: Indiana State Police
Note: See Appendix A for details on cost computations.
49 WORK ZONE COLLISIONS
The number of collisions occurring in work zones increased from 3,284 in 2007 to 4,309 in 2011, but decreased from a 5- year high in 2011 of 4,683. The work zone collision rate was 22.9 in 1,000 collisions in 2011. The serious injury rate for work zone collisions (13.2) was less than the serious injury rate for non-work zone collisions (18.9). Among work zone collisions, those occurring in the construction zone type of intermittent/moving workhad the highest rate of serious injury collisions (18.8 per 1,000 collisions). In terms of hourly incidence, overall collision counts were higher dur- ing afternoon/evening rush hour periods, while work zone collision rates peaked during mid-day hours.
Work zone collision rates per 1,000 total collisions were higher in urban(26.6 ) and suburban(17.9 ) locales than in exurban(11.8) and rural(9.5) locales. Serious injury collision rates among work zone collisions were highest in exurban (64.5 per 1,000 work zone collisions) and rural(50.0) areas than in other areas.
The rates of collisions occurring in work zones were highest on interstates(91.9 per 1,000 collisions) and lowest on coun- ty roads (6.3 per 1,000 collisions). Rates of serious injury collisions in work zones were highest on state roadsin 2011.
Environmental conditions such as light, weather, and road surface conditions also played a factor in work zone colli- sions. While 73 percent of all work zone collisions (3,160/4,309) occurred during daylight, serious injury work zone collision rates were highest in light conditions report- ed as dark (not lighted) (17.1 per 1,000 work zone collisions) and dawn/dusk(17.1 per 1,000 work zone collisions). Severe cross windwas the weather condition with the highest rate of serious injury in work zone collisions (125), and loose material on roadwas the road surface condition with the highest rate of serious injury (40). The highest serious injury rates in work zone collisions occurred under the traffic con- trol types of person directing traffic(61.9 per 1,000) and no passing zone(35.7).
COLLISIONS
Source: Indiana State Police
Figure 24. Indiana work zone collisions, 2007-2011
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
25.0
20.0
15.0
10.0
5.0
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 0.0
Work zone collisions counts (bars) Work zone collisions per 1,000 total collisions (line)
16.0
19.4
21.3
24.3
22.9
3,284
3,981 4,031
4,683
4,309
Table 27. Indiana work zone collisions, by severity and construction type, 2011
Source: Indiana State Police Notes:
Serious injurycollisions are defined as collisions with one or more fatalor incapacitatinginjuries.
Serious injurycollision rate is calculated per 1,000 total collisions in each construction zone type category.
Figure 25. Indiana work zone collisions, by hour, and day of week, 2011
Source: Indiana State Police Notes:
Data exclude collisions with invalid time reported.
Work zone collision rate is calculated per 1,000 collisions by hour and day.
3,250 3,000 2,750 2,500 2,250 2,000 1,750 1,500 1,250 1,000 750 500 250 -
45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0
Collision counts (bars)
am pm am pm am pm am pm am pm am pm am pm
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
Day/Hour
Collisions, by severity Serious injury
per 1,000 collisions
Total Fatal Incapacitating
Non- incapacitating
Property damage
All collisions 188,132 674 2,858 29,876 154,724 18.8
All construction types 4,309 17 40 646 3,606 13.2
Not in construction zone 183,823 657 2,818 29,230 151,118 18.9
Construction zone type
Lane closure 2,296 8 19 340 1,929 11.8
Cross-over/lane shift 456 3 5 64 384 17.5
Intermittent/moving work 533 3 7 84 439 18.8
Work on shoulder 1,017 3 9 157 848 11.8
Other/not reported 7 0 0 0 7 0.0
Work zone collision rate (lines)
51
COLLISIONS
Figure 26. Indiana work zone collisions, by locale, 2011
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Urban Suburban Exurban Rural
Work zone collisions per 1,000 total collisions (bars) Serious injury collisions per 1,000 work zone collisions (line)
Notes:
Serious injurycollisions are defined as collisions with one or more fatalor incapacitatinginjuries.
Includes only collisions with valid locale reported.
Notes:
Serious injurycollisions are defined as collisions with one or more fatalor incapacitatinginjuries.
Includes only collisions with valid road class reported.
Figure 27. Indiana work zone collisions, by road class, 2011
90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
25
20
15
10
5
0 County road Interstate Local/city road State road US route
Work zone collisions per 1,000 total collisions (bars) Serious injury collisions per 1,000 work zone collisions (line)
26.6
6.3
17.9
91.9
11.8
21.8 21.4
9.5
20.0 8.5
0.0
29.4
64.5
24.1
19.8
8.1 15.9
50.0
Table 28. Indiana work zone collisions, by severity and environmental conditions, 2011
Source: Indiana State Police Notes:
Serious injurycollisions are defined as collisions with one or more fatalor incapacitatinginjuries.
Serious injurycollision rate is calculated per 1,000 total collisions in each environmental condition category.
Work zone collisions, by severity Serious injury per 1,000 collisions
Total Fatal Incapacitating
Non- incapacitating
Property damage
All work zone collisions 4,309 17 40 646 3,606 13.2
By light conditions
Daylight 3,160 12 30 461 2,657 13.3
Dark (not lighted) 410 2 5 60 343 17.1
Dark (lighted) 557 1 4 94 458 9.0
Dawn/dusk 175 2 1 31 141 17.1
Unknown 7 0 0 0 7 0.0
By weather conditions
Clear 2,784 14 23 443 2,304 13.3
Cloudy 922 1 12 131 778 14.1
Rain 455 1 3 57 394 8.8
Snow 79 0 1 7 71 12.7
Blowing sand/soil/snow 21 0 0 1 20 0.0
Sleet/hail/freezing rain 20 0 0 3 17 0.0
Fog/smoke/smog 19 1 0 2 16 52.6
Severe cross wind 8 0 1 2 5 125.0
Unknown 1 0 0 0 1 0.0
By road surface conditions
Dry 3,430 15 32 530 2,853 13.7
Wet 665 1 5 94 565 9.0
Snow/slush 87 0 2 12 73 23.0
Ice 49 0 0 5 44 0.0
Loose material on road 50 1 1 3 45 40.0
Water (standing or moving) 19 0 0 2 17 0.0
Muddy 8 0 0 0 8 0.0
Unknown 1 0 0 0 1 0.0
53
COLLISIONS
Table 29. Indiana work zone collisions, by severity and traffic control type, 2011
Source: Indiana State Police Notes:
Serious injurycollisions are defined as collisions with one or more fatalor incapacitatinginjuries.
Serious injurycollision rate is calculated per 1,000 total collisions in each traffic control type category.
Source: Indiana State Police Notes:
Serious injurycollisions are defined as collisions with one or more fatalor incapacitatinginjuries.
Serious injurycollision rate is calculated per 1,000 total collisions in each roadway surface type category.
Table 30. Indiana work zone collisions, by severity and roadway surface, 2011
Work zone collisions, by severity Serious injury per 1,000 collisions
Total Fatal Incapacitating
Non- incapacitating
Property damage
All work zone collisions 4,309 17 40 646 3,606 13.2
Roadway surface type
Asphalt 3,273 14 31 515 2,713 13.7
Concrete 963 3 8 124 828 11.4
Gravel 40 0 0 3 37 0.0
Other 31 0 1 4 26 32.3
Unknown 2 0 0 0 2 0.0
Work zone collisions, by severity Serious injury per 1,000 collisions
Total Fatal Incapacitating
Non- incapacitating
Property damage
All work zone collisions 4,309 17 40 646 3,606 13.2
Traffic control type
Lane control 1,896 7 17 243 1,629 12.7
Traffic control signal 1,030 1 3 186 840 3.9
Stop sign 179 0 2 21 156 11.2
No passing zone 56 0 2 13 41 35.7
Other regulatory sign 135 1 0 16 118 7.4
Yield sign 30 0 0 2 28 0.0
Flashing signal 41 0 1 4 36 24.4
Railroad crossing 8 0 0 1 7 0.0
Person directing traffic 97 3 3 22 69 61.9
None 835 5 12 138 680 20.4
Unknown 2 0 0 0 2 0.0
The vehicle section summarizes data on motor vehicles involved in Indiana collisions in 2011. Special emphasis is given to passenger cars, pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles, vans, large trucks, and school buses. Except as noted, motorcycles and mopeds are described in the Motorcycles section of this report. Vehicle data are categorized by collision severity, vehicle use, location, road class, and collision primary factors. Note that the majority of vehicles had a driver; however, some involve a driver hitting a parked, unoccupied vehicle.
HIGHLIGHTS
There were 329,389 vehicles involved in collisions in Indiana in 2011, a crash rate of 50.9 vehicles per 1,000 registered vehicles.
This rate is down slightly from 51.5 in 2010, but consistent with previous years of 2007 and 2008. Passenger cars composed 58 percent of the vehicles involved in collisions, while pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) each comprised 13 per- cent of vehicles involved. Large trucks accounted for 4 percent of total vehicles in all collisions, but 13 percent of vehicles involved in fatal collisions, representing an increase of 3 percentage points from 2010. Motorcycles comprised 1 percent of total vehicles involved in all collisions, but 11 percent of vehi- cles involved in fatal collisions.
The majority (91 percent) of vehicles involved in collisions were for personal use. Commercial use vehicles comprised 12 per- cent of the vehicles involved in fatal collisions, but only 4 per- cent of vehicles involved in all collisions. Overall, vehicles were involved in 3.2 fatal collisions per 1,000 collisions, although the fatality rate varied by vehicle use. Ambulances, though public safety vehicles, had a slightly higher rate (5.3). Commercial vehicles had the highest fatality rate (10.4).
Prior to all collisions as well as fatal collisions, the majority of vehicles were going straight.Proportionately, the next highest pre-collision maneuver was slowing or stopped in traffic for all collisions. The next highest percentage for passenger cars involved in fatal collisions was driving left of center(9.8 percent).
Nearly 5 percent of large trucks were changing lanes prior to a collision, compared to 2 percent for other vehicle types.
Only 13 percent of large trucks were involved in single-vehicle fatal collisions, compared to 30 (or more) percent for other vehicle types. For injury collisions, 80 percent or more of all vehicle types were involved in multiple-vehicle collisions.
Based on U.S. Census locality definitions (urban, suburban,
exurban, and rural), most vehicles involved in fatal collisions occurred within urban and suburban locales. The exception was SUVs. Large trucks involved in fatal collisions were distributed among suburban (22.4 percent), rural (21 percent), exurban (18.9 percent), and urban (31.5 percent) locales. For all vehicle types involved in injury collisions, the majority again were in urban locations, with suburban being proportionately second.
For all vehicle types except passenger cars, January was pro- portionately the highest month that vehicles were involved in all collisions. The highest proportional month for passenger cars was November. For vehicles involved in fatal collisions, however, the proportionately highest month varied by vehicle type (passenger cars—July; pickup trucks—October; SUVs—
December; vans—February; large trucks—August). While the distribution per month for all collisions was fairly similar across vehicle types, for fatal collisions, the distribution was more scattered.
For every 1,000 passenger cars involved in collisions, 6 were involved in fatal collisions on state roads and 4.4 oncounty roads.
For every 1,000 large trucks involved, 26 were involved in fatal collisions on U.S. routesand 22.8 on state roads. The highest fatal rates for pickup trucks occurred on U.S. routes and for vans occurred on county roads. Local/cityroads had the lowest fatal rates for all vehicle types.
Failure to yield right of waywas the most common collision pri- mary factor in serious injury collisions. Only seven percent of large trucks involved in serious injury collisions ran off the road rightas a primary factor in the collision, compared to nearly 15 percent for pickup trucks.
Considering serious injury collisions, the majority of all vehicle types collided with another motor vehicle. Less than one per- cent of large trucks involved in serious injury collisions collided with a tree; this compared to three percent for pickup trucks (calculated from table).
Overall, of the 13,941 large trucks involved in collisions, 1.5 per- cent (203) had a hazard release in the collision. Of the 143 large trucks involved in fatal collisions, 10 were indicated as display- ing a hazard placard and 5 had a hazard release.
Collisions involving school buses increased in 2011, from 808 in 2010 to 874. In 2011, the majority (89 percent) of collisions involving school buses were property damage only. There were five fatalities involved in school bus collisions: one was a non-