Study Estimated 22 Percent Reduction in Large Truck Crashes When Equipped With Forward Collision Warning (FCW) Systems.
Impacts of In-Vehicle Warning and Automated Braking Systems Were Evaluated for Large Trucks in Real-World Crashes.
Nationwide, United States
Effectiveness of front crash prevention systems in reducing large truck real-world crash rates
Summary Information
While forward collision warning (FCW) and automatic emergency braking (AEB) systems have shown advantages in reducing front-to-rear crash rates for passenger vehicles, less is known about their effectiveness in large trucks. Motivated by this gap, the study utilized video data from 2017 to 2019 for commercial fleets, distinguishing those with FCW and AEB from those without, to analyze the differences in crash involvements and exposure.
METHODOLOGY
The commercial fleet safety video data that contained records for approximately 25,000 Class 8 trucks (mostly tractor-semitrailers with a gross vehicle weight rating of 33,000 pounds and more) with and without front crash prevention technologies operated by 62 carriers during 2017 and 2019. The crashes included in the study were rated as at least police-reportable in severity. The study also examined two exposure measures at the individual truck level: vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and vehicle hours driven. Crashes were disaggregated by crash types relevant to front crash prevention technology, as well as blind spot warning, lane departure warning, and electronic stability control. The study calculated rate ratios and 95 percent confidence intervals for trucks with and without FCW and AEB.
FINDINGS
- FCW was associated with a 22 percent decrease in police-reportable crashes per VMT, and a 44 percent reduction in the rear-end crash rate of large trucks
- AEB reduced 12 percent of overall crashes, and 41 percent of rear-end crashes
- 31 percent of FCW-equipped trucks received warnings for rear-end crashes
- AEB intervened in 43 percent of rear-end crashes
- Both FCW and AEB reduced speed by over half between the time of the intervention and impact.
