EXAMINATION OF SINGLE VEHICLE ROADWAY DEPARTURE CRASHES AND POTENTIAL IVHS COUNTERMEASURES. FINAL REPORT

The report provides an analysis of single vehicle roadway departure (SVRD) crashes to guide the development of Intelligent Vehicle Highway Systems (IVHS) crash avoidance systems. It introduces the problem of SVRD crashes: a crash is defined as a SVRD when the first harmful event is the departure from the roadway, thus excluding departures resulting from prior impacts. Two crash subtypes are identified and casual factors that contribute to SVRD crashes are assessed clinically from a sample of SVRD crashes. From these data, functional goals for IVHS SVRD crash avoidance systems are described.