Areas with elevated relative risk for at-fault commercial truck collisions at night in Kentucky

Background and Objective: Public rest areas along US highways have a limited number of commercial parking spaces and are often overcrowded during the overnight hours. At the same time, truck traffic continuous to increase. Sleepiness and fatigue are primary risk factors for fatal injuries among commercial drivers. A spatial analysis was conducted to identify locations where commercial truck drivers were at higher risk for at-fault collisions during the night versus the daylight in Kentucky.

Methods: This investigation was based on the Kentucky State Police Collision Report Analysis for Safer Highways (CRASH) data set covering the period 2002 to 2006. Geographical areas with elevated relative risk were identified using the k-th nearest neighbor method.

Results: Commercial truck drivers were at higher risk for at-fault night-time collisions in two geographical areas - in western Kentucky and in the northern end of the state. The cluster in the northern area was within two truck stops off interstate I-75; inattention and misjudged clearance were most often cited as factors for night-time collisions. The second area of high relative risk had a different profile: more than 70% of the night-time collisions occurring on I-65 or on the Western Kentucky Parkway, involved single vehicle collisions and sideswipe collisions.

Conclusions: The identification of specific geographic locations will be used to inform agencies and organizations involved with transportation safety and to direct occupational injury prevention efforts to reduce the risk of commercial motor vehicle collisions in Kentucky.