NY State Thruway Selected Crash Experience

Selected Crash Experience on New York State Thruway

Crashes shown only for roadway sections with shoulder rumble strips installed

All Causes
Year VKT*
(millions)		 Crashes Vehicles
Involved 		Injuries Fatalities
1991 10,900 2992 3756 1196 35
1992 12,250 2968 3686 1086 23
1993 12,500 3161 4072 1265 21
1996 13,700 3426 4452 1126 17
1997 14,000 3543 4616 1022 18
1998 15,370 3291 4266 985 15
Major portion of milled shoulder rumble strips installed on
NYSTA during 1994, 95 & 96. All locations completed by Fall
of 1996.

Selected Run-off-Road Causes**
Year VKT*
(millions)		 Crashes Injuries Fatalities
1991 10,900 557 358 17
1992 12,250 566 407 17
1993 12,500 558 328 8
1996 13,700 161 113 4
1997 14,000 74 54 1
1998 15,370 133 86 1
Major portion of milled shoulder rumble strips installed on
NYSTA during 1994, 95 & 96. All locations completed by Fall
of 1996.

* Vehicle Kilometers Traveled on entire NYS Thruway system (length,1032 km); in 1997 the VKT on all sections was 14.0 billion while for the rumble strip sections only (length, 785 km) the VKT was 9.9 billion.

** Single vehicle crashes with first event as run-off-road in which causes identified on crash reports were due to alcohol involvement, driver inattention, driver inexperience, drugs (illegal), fatigue/drowsiness, fell asleep, glare, illness, passenger distraction, other human and prescription medication.

Selected Crash Experience on New York State Thruway

Crashes shown only for roadway sections with shoulder rumble strips installed

All Run-off-Road Crashes***
Year Crashes Vehicles Involved Injuries Fatalities
1991 1498 1668 899 31
1992 1436 1573 762 20
1993 1517 1739 911 14
1996 921 1108 571 12
1997 872 1043 526 12
1998 685 839 414 6
Major portion of milled shoulder rumble strips installed on
NYSTA during 1994, 95 & 96. All locations completed by Fall
of 1996.

***Multiply and single vehicle run-off-road crashes from all causes.

Selected Crash Experience on New York State Thruway

Crashes shown only for roadway sections with shoulder rumble strips installed

Crashes
Year All Run off Road** % ROR
1991 2992 557 18.6%
1992 2968 566 19.1%
1993 3161 558 17.7%
1996 3426 161 4.7%
1997 3543 74 2.1%
1998 3291 133 4.0%
3 yr. total before rumble
strips installed		 9121 1681 18.4%
3 yr. total after rumble
strips installed		 10260 368 3.6%
incrs/decrs 12.5% -78.1%  
Major portion of milled shoulder rumble strips installed on
NYSTA during 1994, 95 & 96. All locations completed by Fall
of 1996.

Injuries
Year All Run off Road** % ROR
1991 1196 358 29.9%
1992 1086 407 37.5%
1993 1265 328 25.9%
1996 1126 113 10.0%
1997 1022 54 5.3%
1998 985 86 8.7%
3 yr. total before rumble
strips installed		 3547 1093 30.8%
3 yr. total after rumble
strips installed		 3133 253 8.1%
incrs/decrs -11.7% -76.9%  
Major portion of milled shoulder rumble strips installed on
NYSTA during 1994, 95 & 96. All locations completed by Fall
of 1996.


Fatalities
Year All Run off Road** % ROR
1991 35 17 48.6%
1992 23 17 73.9%
1993 21 8 38.1%
1996 17 4 23.5%
1997 18 1 5.6%
1998 15 1 6.7%
3 yr. total before rumble
strips installed		 79 42 53.2%
3 yr. total after rumble
strips installed		 50 6 12.0%
incrs/decrs -36.7% -85.7%  
Major portion of milled shoulder rumble strips installed on
NYSTA during 1994, 95 & 96. All locations completed by Fall
of 1996.

** Single vehicle crashes with first event as run-off-road in which causes identified on crash reports were due to alcohol involvement, driver inattention, driver inexperience, drugs (illegal), fatigue/drowsiness, fell asleep, glare, illness, passenger distraction, other human and prescription medication.

Program Contact

Cathy Satterfield

708-283-3552

What’s New

Proposed Revision of the 2009 MUTCD – Compliance Dates NEW!

FHWA Technical Advisory T 5040.40: Center Line Rumble Strips NEW!

FHWA Memo: Technical Advisories for Rumble Strips NEW!

Roadway Departure Safety Implementation Plans

Roadway Departure Countermeasures

Roadside Design: Steel Strong Post W-beam. A guidance memo was issued on May 17, 2010 on the height of guardrail for new installations. Guidance regarding existing guardrail will be developed in the next several months, in consultation with AASHTO's Technical Committee on Roadside Safety.

Pavement Marking Retroreflectivity Notice of Proposed Rulemaking [HTML, PDF]

MUTCD Text of the Proposed Pavement Marking Retroreflectivity Standard

Summary of the MUTCD Pavement Marking Retroreflectivity Standard

Revised Assessment of Economic Impacts of Pavement Marking Retroreflectivity

Publications

Low Cost Treatments for Horizontal Curve Safety

The Safety Edge