UA Computer System Analyzes Holiday Traffic Crashes

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. ­ Each year thousands of Alabama motorists travel for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. Unfortunately, many of them don’t reach their destinations safely.

According to research at The University of Alabama, there were 1,058 traffic crashes in the state last year on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day combined.

Dr. David Brown, professor of computer science in UA’s College of Engineering and director of the computing and information division of the University Transportation Center, researches traffic crashes through a system developed at the University. The Critical Analysis Reporting Environment (CARE) system automatically searches traffic statistic databases in a process known as “information mining.”

“The crash records were provided by the Alabama Department of Public Safety,” Brown said. “Comparing holiday crashes to others in the state enables researchers to identify what makes these crashes unique and what the average driver can do to avoid them.”

Of the 1,058 crashes, six resulted in fatalities, while 270 caused bodily injury. The remaining 782 resulted in property damage only.

According to Brown, there are several reasons for the increase in crashes over the holidays, including short days and long nights. “This is a time of minimal daylight,” Brown said. “If you can get your driving done during the day it would help, especially during bad weather.”

While speeding and alcohol use are particularly problematic during the holidays, failure to heed road signs and anticipate unseen objects contributed to many of the occurrences.

“For some reason, animals are involved in holiday crashes by almost four times what we would expect,” Brown said. “This might be due to the heavy hunting of deer and their being displaced to different areas by hunters. Animals accounted for 80 of the crashes during the 1999 holidays.”

Last year’s crashes showed some similarities in cause between Christmas incidents and those occurring during the New Year’s holidays, but differed by type, location and driver group.

Of the 553 New Year’s crashes, most occurred within 25 miles of the drivers’ homes and involved an above average number of 16 to 20-year-old drivers. “As expected in alcohol/drug crashes, the New Year’s crashes involved more single-vehicle, run-off-the-road and hit-object type crashes than those occurring at Christmas,” Brown said.

The 505 Christmas mishaps more frequently occurred farther than 25 miles from home and involved an above average number of middle-aged drivers. Crash occurrence for both periods was higher on the day before the holiday than on the holiday itself. Records also indicated higher seatbelt usage during the Christmas period.

According to Brown, there are several ways to make holiday travel safer. Following these guidelines will improve your chances of reaching your destination safely:

Do not drink and drive, and do not use the roads during those times when you know others might be driving drunk.

Always wear your restraints and make sure everyone in the car wears theirs.

Drive with the flow of traffic, and do not exceed the speed limit.

Get your Christmas shopping done early and avoid the December 24th late rush, especially after dark.

Enjoy the roads on Christmas and New Year’s Days since traffic is relatively light and these are much safer days to be on the road.