Longitudinal review of state-level accident statistics for carriers of interstate freight

Abstract

State-level accident rates by mode of freight transport have been developed and refined for application to the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) environmental mitigation program, which may involve largequantity shipments of hazardous and mixed wastes from DOE facilities. These rates reflect multiyear data for interstate-registered highway carriers, American Association of Railroads member carriers, and coastal and internal waterway barge traffic. Adjustments have been made to account for the share of highway combination-truck traffic actually attributable to interstate-registered carriers and for duplicate or otherwise inaccurate entries in the public-use accident data files used. State-to-state variation in rates is discussed, as is the stability of rates over time. Computed highway rates have been verified with actual carriers of high-and low-level nuclear materials, and the most recent truck accident data have been used, to ensure that the results are of the correct order of magnitude. Study conclusions suggest that DOE use the computed rates for the three modes until (1)improved estimation techniques for highway combination-truck miles by state become available, (2)continued evolution of the railroad industry significantly increases the consolidation of interstate rail traffic onto fewer high-capacity trunk lines, or (3)a large-scale off-site waste shipment campaign is imminent. 1 BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Carriers of freight, regardless of commodity or mode of carriage, are subject to the risk of accidents in which cargo may be damaged and people may be killed or injured. The Center for Transportation Research of Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) has developed a set of state-and waterway-specific "risk factors" aimed at increasing the underst_ading of accident risk involved in the transport of hazardous waste by authorized interstate carriers. The risk factors, which include accident involvements and accident-related fatalities and injuries, have been expressed as rates per unit-shipment distance.

Risk assessment for the off-site transportation of high-level waste for the U.S. Department of Energy waste management programmatic environmental impact statement

“…For the calculation of accident risks, vehicle accident and fatality rates are taken from data provided in Saricks and Kvitek (1994). For each transport mode, accident rates are generically defined as the number of accident involvements (or fatalities) in a given year per unit of travel of that mode in that same year.…”

“…For truck transportation, the rates presented in Saricks and Kvitek (1994) are specifically for heavy combination trucks involved in interstate commerce. Heavy combination trucks are rigs composed of a separable tractor unit containing the engine and one to three freight trailers connected to each other.…”

“…The truck accident rates are computed for each state on the basis of statistics compiled by the DOT Office of Motor Carriers for 1986-1988. Saricks and Kvitek (1994) present accident involvement and fatality counts, estimated kilometers of travel by state, and the corresponding average accident involvement, fatality, and injury rates for the 3 years investigated. Fatalities are deaths (including crew members) that are attributable to the accident and that occurred at any time within 30 days thereafter.…”

“…Rail accident rates are computed and presented similarly to truck accident rates in Saricks and Kvitek (1994); however, the unit of haulage is considered to be the railcar. Saricks and Kvitek base their state-specific rail accident involvement and fatality rates on statistics compiled by the Federal Railroad Administration for 1985-1 988.…”

“…Saricks and Kvitek (1994) point out that shippers and carriers of radioactive material generally have a higher-than-average awareness of transport risk and prepare cargoes and drivers for such shipments accordingly. This preparation should have a twofold effect of reducing component/equipment failure and mitigating the "human error" contribution to accident causation.…”