Frequency and cost of crashes, fatalities, and injuries involving disabled vehicles

To quantify the total number and cost of crashes, fatalities, and injuries that could be addressed by improved conspicuity of disabled vehicles to approaching traffic.

Using the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and the Crash Report Sampling System (CRSS) this study defines three crash scenarios where insufficient conspicuity of a disabled vehicle ("low conspicuity emergency") resulted in injury or death: Scenario 1) Moving vehicle strikes non-moving vehicle following an initial event; Scenario 2) Pedestrian (primarily a motorist who has exited their vehicle) is struck while tending to a disabled or stopped vehicle; and Scenario 3) A vehicle departs the roadway and crashes unnoticed and rescue initiation is delayed significantly.

Annually, between the years 2016 and 2018, an estimated 71,693 people were involved in low conspicuity emergency events, including 566 fatalities and 14,371 injuries. Most (95 %) of these cases occurred under scenario 1. Notable, however, is the severity of scenario 2 crashes where the majority were severely injured (22 %) or killed (19 %). Based on the FARS data, nearly 300 people were killed under scenario 2 each year and cases have increased 27 % since 2014. Overall, crashes under these three scenarios resulted in an annual estimated $8.8 billion in societal costs, including the economic costs of medical payments and wage loses in addition to the value of quality of life lost due to death or disability. Scenario 1 crashes resulted in an average of $4.3 billion in losses, scenario 2 crashes in $3.4 billion in losses, and scenario 3 crashes in $1.2 billion in losses annually.

A significant number of people die or are injured in low conspicuity events every year; an estimated 1.55 deaths and nearly 40 injuries per day. This analysis highlights the risks to a special subset of pedestrians: motorists who exited their vehicles to attend to a disabled or stopped vehicle. These deaths and injuries that result from crashes related to low-conspicuity events are preventable. Countermeasures to reduce the incidence and severity of the crash scenarios studied should be explored.