Analysis of Pennsylvania Crash Statistics Data · drivers aged 16 to 19 years old were involved in 4.6 fatal crashes per 100 million miles traveled, compared to 3.8 fatal crashes

Analysis of Pennsylvania Crash Statistics Data

By: Louis Pesci, Ph.D., Jeffrey Grim, P.T.P, Lucas Tatarko and Joseph Franze Indiana University of Pennsylvania

May 2017

Executive Summary In 2015, 1,200 Pennsylvanians died in reported motor vehicle crashes and another 80,004 were

injured. A disproportionate number of traffic fatalities in relation to the population occurs in rural areas

of Pennsylvania and nationwide.

This research analyzed vehicle crashes in Pennsylvania to determine if there are any differences

in the number or severity of crashes between rural and urban Pennsylvania. The researchers analyzed

vehicle crash data from 2010-2015 from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. The research

analyzed the demographic profile and causes of crashes for individuals in Pennsylvania by age group,

specifically for younger (16-20) and older (65+) drivers in Pennsylvania, by rural and urban municipality,

and by proximity to emergency service providers, local police, Pennsylvania State Police stations,

hospitals, and trauma center hospitals in Pennsylvania.

The research results indicated that:

• In Pennsylvania, 28.9 percent of all reported crashes resulting in injuries and fatalities

occur in rural areas: of these, 46.5 percent result in fatalities and 37.7 percent result in

major injuries.

• Rural areas have a higher share of crashes with major injuries and moderate injuries than

urban areas.

• In both rural and urban areas, occupants that use no restraints are about four times more

likely to suffer a fatality in an accident than occupants that use restraints (3.09 percent

versus 0.83 percent for urban areas, and 3.14 percent versus 0.79 percent for rural areas,

respectively).

• In both rural and urban areas, the highest percentage of crashes with an injury or fatality

occurs on state highways, followed by local roads or streets.

• In both rural and urban areas, males are two times more likely than females to be in a

crash with a fatality.

• Drugs and/or alcohol were not suspected in the majority of fatal crashes in both rural and

urban Pennsylvania.

• About 94 percent of all injury and fatal crashes in rural areas occur in townships of the

second class. This result was not surprising since these municipalities cover about 98

percent of rural Pennsylvania and include 88 percent of the rural population. In urban

areas, a plurality of injury and fatal crashes occur in cities and townships of the second

class.

• The largest percentages of injury and fatal crashes occur during daylight hours in both

rural and urban areas. However, in rural areas, higher percentages of injury and fatal

crashes occur on dark streets with no street lights than in urban areas.

• In both rural and urban areas, crashes on dry roads are more likely to involve a fatality

than crashes on roads that are wet, snow covered, icy or slushy.

• In both rural and urban areas, the highest percentage of those involved in injury and fatal

crashes are those aged 25 to 34. In rural areas, higher percentages of youth, aged 15 to

24, are involved in moderate and major injury and fatal crashes than youth, aged 15 to 24,

in urban areas.

• Crash areas that are more than 31 minutes from a trauma center have more than two times

the percent of fatalities as those within 15 minutes. This supports the “Golden Hour”

concept in emergency medicine that suggests the first hour after the occurrence of a

traumatic injury is the most critical for successful emergency treatment.

This project was sponsored by a grant from the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, a legislative agency of the

Pennsylvania General Assembly. The Center for Rural Pennsylvania is a bipartisan, bicameral legislative agency that

serves as a resource for rural policy within the Pennsylvania General Assembly. It was created in 1987 under Act 16,

the Rural Revitalization Act, to promote and sustain the vitality of Pennsylvania’s rural and small communities.

Information contained in this report does not necessarily reflect the views of individual board members or the Center

for Rural Pennsylvania. For more information, contact the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, 625 Forster St., Room 902,

Harrisburg, PA 17120, telephone (717) 787-9555, email: [email protected], www.rural.palegislature.us.

Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 1

Young Drivers ........................................................................................................................................... 1

Older Drivers ............................................................................................................................................ 2

Heavy Trucks ............................................................................................................................................ 2

The “Golden Hour” ................................................................................................................................... 2

Goals and Methodology ................................................................................................................................ 3

Data Collection ......................................................................................................................................... 3

Compiling and Formatting the Databases in Excel ................................................................................... 3

Crash Record Identifier ......................................................................................................................... 4

Latitude and Longitude ......................................................................................................................... 4

Replacing Empty Cells ......................................................................................................................... 4

Fatal and Injury Crash Data .................................................................................................................. 4

Mapping and Adding Attributes in ArcGIS .............................................................................................. 5

Projection .............................................................................................................................................. 5

Urban or Rural ...................................................................................................................................... 5

Destinations: Hospitals and Trauma Centers ........................................................................................ 6

Origins: Emergency Service Providers, Local Police Departments and State Police Stations ............. 7

Impact of the Marcellus Shale .............................................................................................................. 9

Objective 1 .............................................................................................................................................. 10

Objective 2 .............................................................................................................................................. 11

Results ......................................................................................................................................................... 11

Statewide Urban-Rural Demographic Profile of Injury and Fatal Crashes ............................................. 11

Statewide Urban-Rural Demographic Profile of Injury and Fatal Crashes with Proximity Data ........... 23

Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................. 29

Rural-Urban Differences ......................................................................................................................... 29

Limitations .............................................................................................................................................. 30

Areas of Future Research ........................................................................................................................ 30

References ................................................................................................................................................... 31

Analysis of Pennsylvania Crash Statistics Data 1

Introduction In 2015, 1,200 Pennsylvanians died and another 80,004 were injured in reportable motor vehicle

crashes (Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, 2015).

Each year, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) provides information on

these reportable crashes, defined as crashes “in which an injury or a fatality occurs or at least one of the

vehicles involved requires towing from the scene” (PennDOT, 2015). While the PennDOT reports

include statistics by county, they do not provide a breakdown by rural and urban Pennsylvania.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a disproportionate

number of traffic fatalities in relation to the population occur in rural areas in Pennsylvania and

nationwide (2013). Areas defined as rural or urban in the NHTSA report are those used by the U.S.

Census Bureau. According to the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), in 2011, about 50 percent

of all traffic fatalities occurred in rural Pennsylvania while about 27 percent of the population lived in

rural counties in 2010 (NHTSA, 2013). Also, in 2011, the national fatality rate per 100 million vehicle

miles traveled was 2.5 times higher in rural areas than in urban areas (1.82 and 0.73, respectively)

(NHTSA, 2013).

Young Drivers

According to Georges Benjamin of the American Public Health Association, “Motor vehicle

crashes remain the leading cause of death for youth and young adults between the ages of 5 and 24,” (U.S.

Department of Transportation, 2014). In the U.S. in 2010, 1,963 young drivers aged 15 to 20 years old

were killed and another 187,000 were injured in car collisions (NHTSA, 2012). Even though young

drivers represent 6.4 percent of licensed drivers in the U.S., they made up 10 percent of the drivers in fatal

crashes and 14 percent of all drivers in all crashes (NHTSA, 2012).

According to the most recent data from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, in 2008,

drivers aged 16 to 19 years old were involved in 4.6 fatal crashes per 100 million miles traveled,

compared to 3.8 fatal crashes for drivers aged 20 to 24 and 1.2 fatal crashes for drivers aged 30 to 59.

These data indicate that, on a per-mile-driven basis, young drivers tend to be more involved in crashes


(2011). When comparing driver fatalities versus passenger fatalities of teen drivers, 63 percent of

fatalities are passengers of teen drivers or occupants of other vehicles (Shults and Ali, 2010).

Older Drivers

The number of older drivers has increased dramatically as the Baby Boomer generation began

turning 65 in 2010. Nationwide, 16 percent of drivers are 65 years old and older. By 2030, this proportion

is expected to rise to at least 20 percent (Goodwin et al., 2013). According to Goodwin et al., “As drivers

age, their physical and mental abilities, driving behaviors, and crash risks all change, though age itself

does not determine driving performance. Many features of the current system of roads, traffic signals and

controls, laws, licensing practices, and vehicles were not designed to accommodate older drivers. Older

Americans are increasingly dependent on driving to maintain their mobility, independence, and health.

The challenge is to balance mobility for older drivers with safety for all road users.” (2013)

Heavy Trucks

Improving truck safety is especially critical in the rural areas of Pennsylvania that have seen

crashes increase due to the presence of Marcellus Shale drilling activities. An Associated Press analysis

of traffic deaths and U.S. Census data in six drilling states showed that fatalities have more than

quadrupled in some places since 2004, a period when most U.S. roads have become much safer, even as

the population has grown (Begos and Fahey, 2014).

The “Golden Hour”

The “Golden Hour” is a term used by emergency medical services to describe the concept of

bringing severely injured trauma patients and surgeons together as quickly as possible to increase the

patients’ chances of survival (Eisele, 2008). Although the medical community has debated the actual

length of time, the validity of the concept remains. Using the Center for Rural Pennsylvania’s definitions

for urban and rural counties, and data from the Pennsylvania Department of Health, the researchers

identified 32 trauma hospitals, 25 of which are in the state’s 19 urban counties and 7 of which are in the


state’s 48 rural counties. Eighteen of the total 32 trauma hospitals are located in the southeastern region of

the state. Where regionalized trauma centers are present, death rates among severely injured car crash

patients are significantly lower (Institute of Medicine, 2006).

Seriously injured trauma victims are 25 percent less likely to die if they are treated at a trauma

center (Centers for Disease Control, 2009). Individuals that are seriously injured in crashes located in

rural areas may wait for hours to receive the appropriate care at trauma centers (Institute of Medicine,

2006). In rural areas, the most common first responders are emergency service providers and local and

state police agencies.

Goals and Methodology The goal of the research, which was conducted in 2016, was to analyze 2011 to 2015

Pennsylvania Department of Transportation injury and fatal crash data for rural and urban Pennsylvania

to determine if: crash statistics data vary for rural and urban Pennsylvania and crash severity varies

spatially with proximity to hospitals and trauma centers, emergency service providers, local and state

police agencies, and Marcellus Shale well locations in Pennsylvania.

Data Collection The analysis is based on reportable motor vehicle crash databases for Pennsylvania from the

Pennsylvania Department of Transportation for the years 2011 to 2015.

Compiling and Formatting the Databases in Excel

To complete the formatting for use in ArcGIS, the researchers compiled five databases into one

large database, modified the crash record identifier, converted the latitude and longitude units, replaced

empty cells with a specific value, and selected injury and fatal crashes.


Crash Record Identifier

Each crash record has a unique identifier assigned by the Pennsylvania Department of

Transportation in the field “CRN,” which stands for crash record number; each 10-digit CRN begins with

the four-digit year of the crash. When converting the Excel database into a shapefile, the field CRN was

defaulted into a field with ten digits with the last digit being a decimal. This caused the last digit of the

identifier to be a zero. The unique identifier was needed to join the data to person data.

To solve this issue, the researchers created the field “CRN_2” in the Excel database. The field

was populated by using the following formula: “CRN/1000.” This gave the unique identifier three

decimal places while decreasing the numbers in front of the decimal. When the database was converted

to a shapefile, the unique identifier in field CRN_2 remained intact.

Latitude and Longitude

Nearly 99 percent of all records have latitude and longitude coordinates. To map them using

ArcGIS, the researchers converted the units from units of degrees-minutes-seconds to units of decimal

degrees. This computation was performed for all crash records. The 2,144 crash records without latitude

and longitude coordinates were not used in this analysis.

Replacing Empty Cells

ArcGIS is unable to compute empty cells while joining different data sets. Therefore, the

researchers found all empty cells and replaced them with the value “999.” After trial and error, the

researchers found that replacing the empty cells prior to merging the databases helped to avoid slow

processing times.

Fatal and Injury Crash Data

The original dataset contained all reportable crashes in Pennsylvania. Reportable crashes include

three types of crashes: fatal crashes, where one or more of the involved persons died within 30 days of the

crash and the death(s) is attributable to the crash; injury crashes, where none of the involved persons were


killed, but at least one was injured; and property damage only crashes, where no one was killed or injured

but damage occurred to a vehicle requiring towing. Due to the large sample size of 319,455 records, fatal

and injury crashes were selected to be used for the crash analysis. This limited the number of records that

were analyzed to 217,323 records.

Mapping and Adding Attributes in ArcGIS

To prepare the database for analysis, the researchers used ArcGIS to map the data and execute

geoprocessing tools to add fields with proximity data. They then assigned the crash records the following

variables: as either urban or rural; minutes from trauma centers; whether they occurred within a

municipality whose center is 5 miles from a hospital, a trauma center, an emergency service agency, a

local police department, or a state police station; and areas that were identified by density of Marcellus

Shale gas wells.

Projection

When originally displayed, crash records had only latitude and longitude reference but no defined

projection. A defined projection allows geoprocessing tools to be used since the software can overlay the

crash records with other geographic layers, like counties and municipalities. Once properly projected, 10

records that were outside of Pennsylvania were eliminated from the sample, because they could not be

assigned proximity data.

Urban or Rural

The researchers used the Center for Rural Pennsylvania’s definition of urban and rural

municipalities to assign each record as urban or rural. A municipality is rural when the population density

within the municipality is less than 284 persons per square mile or the municipality’s total population is

less than 2,500, unless more than 50 percent of the population lives in an urbanized area, as defined by

the U.S. Census Bureau. All other municipalities are considered urban. Urban and rural municipalities are

displayed in Figure 1.


Additionally, the research identified 19 crashes that did not have an urban or rural code. Each of

these 19 crashes was then located on a map and coded according to their location. Nine of the 19 crashes

fell between municipalities that were urban and rural. These nine crashes were coded “999,” since urban

or rural could not be determined.

Figure 1: Rural and Urban Pennsylvania Municipalities

Source: Center for Rural Pennsylvania, 2014, and Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, 2015.

Destinations: Hospitals and Trauma Centers

One key task of the “Golden Hour” is delivering patients to quality care as quickly as possible.

Figure 2 shows the locations of hospitals and trauma centers. Trauma centers are a subset of hospitals.

The major feature that differentiates trauma centers from hospitals is the requirement for 24-hour

availability of a team of specially trained health care providers who have expertise in caring for severely

injured patients (Pennsylvania Trauma Systems Foundation, 2016).

Distance to trauma centers was determined for all injury and fatal crash records. Every crash

record was coded based on the crash’s location within 15, 30, 45, or 60 minutes of driving time to trauma


centers (See Figure 2). Crashes outside 60 minutes driving time were coded “0,” inside 60 minutes but

outside 45 minutes were coded “1,” inside 45 minutes but outside 30 minutes were coded “2,” inside 30

minutes but outside 15 minutes were coded “3,” and those inside 15 minutes were coded “4.” The

number of records for each driving time distance was recorded to make sure all records were coded.

Figure 2: Hospitals, Trauma Centers, and Drive Time to Trauma Centers

Sources: Pennsylvania Department of Health, 2012, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, 2015, and the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, 2014.

Origins: Emergency Service Providers, Local Police Departments and State Police Stations

Another “Golden Hour” key task is responding to incidents as quickly as possible. For this study,

emergency service providers, local police departments and state police stations were selected as the

agencies most likely to be first responders at the incident scene. Emergency service providers include

Basic Life Support (BLS) agencies, Advanced Life Support – Medical Command (ALS-MC), and

Advanced Life Support – Squad (ALS-SQ). The list of providers was obtained from the Pennsylvania


Trauma Systems Foundation (PTSF, 2014). Because more than half of the addresses could not be

geocoded, the data were grouped by ZIP Code, given a value of “1” if any provider within the zip code

offered the service and a ‘0’ if not, and then joined to a 2009 U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/line 5-digit zip

code shapefile downloaded from the Pennsylvania Spatial Data Access (PASDA).

Local police department data were obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of Community

and Economic Development’s (DCED) Municipal Statistics Municipal Police Service database (DCED,

2016). The data include municipalities in Pennsylvania by type of police service, which are “Own

Municipal Police Force,” “Regional Police Force,” “Police Service Contracted from Another

Municipality,” and “State Police Coverage Only” (See Figure 3).

Crash data included the municipality where the crash occurred and the first police agency that

responded to the 911 call. Local police were defined as a municipal or regional police departments. Using

this information, the researchers determined the number and percent of crashes where the local police

responded. If the local police did not respond, the state police were typically first on scene. This was done

by calculating the total number of crashes in a municipality and the number of accidents where local

police responded. From this data, the researchers identified “high responsive” local police departments,

which were defined as local police agencies that either responded to 80 percent or more of the

municipality’s reportable traffic crashes or responded to 100 reportable traffic crashes. If a local police

department is not considered a high responsive police department, it infers that it did not have the

capacity to respond to traffic accidents or it did not have 100 or more crashes in a year.

In addition, 87 Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) station locations, included the nine stations used

by PSP Troop T, which is charged with patrolling the Pennsylvania Turnpike, were obtained from the

PSP website and geocoded (See Figure 3). This helped to identify all municipalities with a state police

presence and to determine which crashes occurred in a municipality with a state police presence.


Figure 3: Pennsylvania Municipalities by Type of Police Coverage

Source: Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, 2011-2015 and Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, 2016.

A new field was added to the crash database called “PoliceResp.” This field was created to

combine high responsive local police presence with municipalities with state police stations. The field

included the following formula, [State_Pol] + [GrNum100] + [Gr80], and then converted to “0” for low

responsive or no department and “1” for high responsive local department or state police stations.

Impact of the Marcellus Shale

Pennsylvania was divided into six regions based on the presence of gas wells as shown in Figure

4. After mapping the active unconventional gas wells, however, two high density areas, one in the

southwest (Region 1) and one in the northeast (Region 2) were identified (See Figure 4). Counties vary in

size, so the number of wells per county is somewhat arbitrary used alone. The number of active wells

combined with the density of wells was used to determine if the counties were “high-density,”,


“moderate-density,” or “limited-density.” The six regions shown in Figure 4 were coded as follows:

high-density gas well counties of the southwest are coded “1,” high-density gas well counties of the

northeast are coded “2,” moderate-density gas well counties of the western part of the state are coded “3,”

limited-density gas well counties in the northwest are coded “4,” limited-density gas well counties in the

southeast are coded “5,” and Allegheny County is coded “6” because it had a temporary moratorium

prohibiting unconventional gas wells.

Figure 4: Pennsylvania Active Unconventional Gas Wells by Defined Region

Source: Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, 2015 and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, 2015.

Objective 1

The researchers created a demographic profile and cause of crashes for individuals in

Pennsylvania from 2011 to 2015. The profile included the total number of injury and fatal crashes, the

number and percent of crashes by injury severity (death, major injury, moderate injury, minor injury, and

property damage only, injury severity by occupant protection (safety belt, child safety seat, none, other),

injury severity by seat position (driver, front seat passenger, second or third row, bus, other), road owner


(interstate, state highway, local), the number and percent of crashes by person type (driver, passenger,

pedestrian, other), number of vehicles and persons involved, sex (male or female), and injury severity by

suspected use of alcohol or drugs.

Once a baseline was established, the data were analyzed by age. Age classes of particular

importance are young drivers (aged 15 to 20) and older drivers (aged 65 and older) because of their

likelihood to be involved in more reportable crashes and more fatal crashes than other age groups. These

age classes were defined using the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) Fatality

Analysis Reporting System (FARS) data classes. The “young driver” class starts at 15 since some states

have a lower driving age than Pennsylvania. This range was maintained for this study, because the

researchers also used the person type field and variable driver to select only young drivers. Data of all

crash victims, and, in some cases, of only drivers, were aggregated as follows: ages 0 to 4; ages 5 to 9;

ages 10 to 14; ages 15 to 20; ages 21 to 24; ages 25 to 34; ages 35 to 44; ages 45 to 54; ages 55 to 64;

ages 65 to 74; ages 75 to 84; and ages 85 and older.

Objective 2

This report assessed the impact of the crash’s proximity to hospitals, trauma centers, Marcellus

Shale gas wells, emergency service providers, local police departments, state police stations, and high

responsive local police departments. The researchers used drive-time data from the Pennsylvania

Department of Health. These files were used in GIS to create a field with five codes: less than 15-minute

drive time; 16 to 30-minute drive time; 31 to 45-minute drive time; 46 to 60-minute drive time, and more

than 60 minute drive time. Marcellus Shale gas well location data were from the Pennsylvania

Department of Environmental Protection Oil and Gas Reports.

Results

Statewide Urban-Rural Demographic Profile of Injury and Fatal Crashes

The following tables and charts comprise the statewide demographic profile for injury and fatal

crashes in Pennsylvania from 2011 to 2015. Table 1 shows the total number and percent of injury and

fatal crashes from 2011 to 2015. Over this time period, the percent of crashes in rural areas has been


slowly decreasing. Each year is within 1 percent of the 5-year average of 71 percent urban and 29 percent

rural crashes.

Table 1: 2011-2015 Pennsylvania Injury and Fatal Crashes by Urban-Rural and Year of Crash Year Urban Percent Rural Percent Statewide Total 2011 31,743 70% 13,427 30% 45,170 2012 32,026 71% 13,023 29% 45,049 2013 30,518 71% 12,555 29% 43,073 2014 29,745 71% 11,880 29% 41,625 2015 30,502 72% 11,885 28% 42,387 Statewide Total 154,534 71% 62,770 29% 217,304 Source: Authors calculations from Pennsylvania Department of Transportation data, 2015.

As shown in Table 2, 28.9 percent of all injury and fatal crashes occur in rural areas, of which

46.5 percent are fatal crashes and 37.7 percent are major injury crashes. The Pennsylvania Department of

Transportation (PennDOT) identifies three types of injury: major, moderate and minor. A major injury is

defined as any injury, other than fatal, which by its severity requires immediate emergency transport, such

as an ambulance, to a hospital or clinic for medical treatment and/or hospitalization. A moderate injury is

defined as any injury that may require some form of medical treatment, but is not life threatening or

incapacitating and should be visible. A minor injury is defined as any injury that can be treated by first

aid application, whether at the scene of the crash or in a medical facility. Complaints of injuries that are

not visible, and do not appear to be of any major or moderate nature, should be considered as minor

injuries (PennDOT, 2015).

Table 2: 2011-2015 Pennsylvania Injury and Fatal Crashes by Urban-Rural and Maximum Severity of Crash, Percent of Total

Maximum Severity of Crash Urban Percent Rural Percent Statewide Total Fatal 3,056 53.5% 2,655 46.5% 5,712 Major Injury 8,387 62.3% 5,077 37.7% 13,464 Moderate Injury 34,941 68.4% 16,153 31.6% 51,100 Minor Injury 108,150 73.6% 38,885 26.4% 147,037 Statewide Total 154,534 71.1% 62,770 28.9% 217,313

Source: Authors calculations from Pennsylvania Department of Transportation data, 2015 data.


As shown in Table 3, a higher percentage of crashes in rural areas than urban areas result in

fatalities. Higher percentages of crashes in rural areas than urban areas also result in major and moderate

injuries.

Table 3: 2011-2015 Pennsylvania Injury and Fatal Crashes by Urban-Rural and Maximum Severity of Crash, Percent of Column Total

Maximum Severity of Crash Urban Percent Rural Percent Statewide Total

Fatal 3,056 2.0% 2,655 4.2% 5,712 Major Injury 8,387 5.4% 5,077 8.1% 13,464 Moderate Injury 34,941 22.6% 16,153 25.7% 51,100 Minor Injury 108,150 70.0% 38,885 61.9% 147,037 Statewide Total 154,534 62,770 217,313 Source: Authors calculations from Pennsylvania Department of Transportation data, 2015 data.

About 17 percent of all injury and fatal crashes involve occupants who are not wearing any type

of restraint. Of these crashes, fatalities were more frequent than injuries in both rural (45.7 percent) and

urban (38.3 percent) areas. In about 64 percent of all injury and fatal crashes, occupants used seat belts.

Of these crashes, fatalities were less frequent in both rural (2.9 percent) and urban (1.1 percent) areas than

major, moderate and minor injuries (See Table 4).


Table 4: Pennsylvania Injury and Fatal Crashes by Urban-Rural, Maximum Severity of Crash, and Occupant Protection, Percent of Column Total, 2011-2015

Urban Rural

Total Occupant Protection Fatal

Major Injury

Moderate Injury

Minor Injury Fatal

Major Injury

Moderate Injury

Minor Injury

None used or not applicable 38.3% 29.7% 20.0% 13.2% 45.7% 36.5% 23.5% 15.1% 17.1%

Seat belt used 38.1% 45.3% 58.5% 65.3% 41.9% 47.1% 63.7% 75.8% 63.9%

Child safety seat used 1.7% 2.1% 2.6% 3.2% 2.4% 3.0% 3.0% 3.5% 3.1%

Motorcycle helmet used 4.1% 3.8% 2.4% 0.8% 3.6% 5.8% 4.5% 1.6% 1.7%

Bicycle helmet used 0.1% 0.2% 0.2% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.0% 0.1%

Improper use 0.3% 0.3% 0.2% 0.2% 0.3% 0.5% 0.4% 0.2% 0.2%

Restraint used/Type unknown 0.2% 0.3% 0.2% 0.2% 0.0% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.2%

Unknown 17.3% 18.3% 15.8% 16.9% 5.9% 6.9% 4.8% 3.7% 13.7%

Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% Source: Authors calculations from Pennsylvania Department of Transportation 2015 data.

Table 5 again shows that seat belts save lives. In both rural and urban areas, occupants that use no

restraint are about four times more likely to be in a fatal accident than those using a seat belt (4.4 percent

versus 1.1 percent in urban areas and 10.5 percent versus 2.9 percent in rural areas, respectively). Vehicle

occupants that are unrestrained have similar fatality rates to motorcyclists wearing their helmets.


Table 5: Pennsylvania Injury and Fatal Crashes by Urban-Rural, Maximum Severity of Crash, and Occupant Protection, Percent of Total, 2011-2015

Urban Rural

Total Occupant Protection Fatal

Major Injury

Moderate Injury

Minor Injury Fatal

Major Injury

Moderate Injury

Minor Injury

None used or not applicable 4.4% 9.7% 27.4% 58.5% 10.5% 15.0% 29.4% 45.1% 100.0% Seat belt used 1.1% 3.8% 20.6% 74.5% 2.9% 5.8% 23.8% 67.6% 100.0% Child safety seat used 1.0% 3.7% 18.8% 76.4% 3.5% 7.7% 23.5% 65.3% 100.0% Motorcycle helmet used 5.5% 14.6% 38.3% 41.7% 6.1% 17.5% 41.3% 35.0% 100.0% Bicycle helmet used 1.4% 6.4% 31.1% 61.1% 6.0% 14.0% 44.0% 36.0% 100.0% Improper use 2.8% 7.6% 23.2% 66.5% 5.5% 14.3% 32.4% 47.9% 100.0%

Restraint used/Type unknown 1.5% 8.1% 24.0% 66.4% 1.3% 7.5% 23.8% 67.5% 100.0%

Unknown 1.9% 5.7% 20.6% 71.7% 6.3% 13.3% 28.3% 52.1% 100.0% Total 1.8% 5.2% 21.9% 71.0% 4.7% 8.4% 25.6% 61.2% 100.0% Source: Authors calculations from Pennsylvania Department of Transportation 2015 data.

Drivers make up the highest percentages of fatalities in motor vehicle crashes in both rural and

urban areas, followed by front seat passengers. A higher percentage of people that are not passengers or

occupants, likely pedestrians or bicyclists, suffer fatalities in a motor vehicle crash in urban areas than in

rural areas (See Table 6).


Table 6: Pennsylvania Injury and Fatal Crashes by Urban-Rural, Maximum Severity of Crash, and Seat Position, Percent of Column Total, 2011-2015

Urban Rural

Total Seat Position Fatal Major Injury

Moderate Injury

Minor Injury Fatal

Major Injury

Moderate Injury

Minor Injury

Not a passenger or occupant 9.2% 6.9% 4.4% 2.9% 2.2% 2.1% 0.9% 0.4% 2.8% Driver - all vehicles 61.6% 61.9% 65.8% 66.1% 60.9% 63.6% 66.9% 66.9% 65.9% Front seat middle position 0.2% 0.2% 0.2% 0.1% 0.2% 0.4% 0.4% 0.2% 0.2% Front seat right side 14.3% 14.8% 15.5% 15.6% 15.2% 15.9% 17.4% 16.8% 15.8% Second or third row 9.5% 11.2% 10.7% 11.7% 12.2% 13.2% 11.8% 11.7% 11.5%

Bus 3.6% 3.1% 2.2% 2.5% 7.7% 3.1% 1.8% 3.4% 2.7%

Other 0.5% 0.5% 0.4% 0.3% 0.9% 1.0% 0.5% 0.3% 0.3%

Unknown 1.2% 1.3% 0.9% 0.8% 0.7% 0.5% 0.3% 0.2% 0.7%

Total 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% Source: Authors calculations from Pennsylvania Department of Transportation 2015 data.

Table 7 shows urban and rural differences in crash severity by road owner. In both rural and

urban areas, the highest percentage of crashes with an injury or fatality occurs on state highways,

followed by local roads or streets.

Table 7: Pennsylvania Injury and Fatal Crashes by Urban-Rural, Maximum Severity of Crash, and Road Owner, 2011-2015

Urban Rural

Total Road Owner Fatal Major Injury

Moderate Injury

Minor Injury Fatal

Major Injury

Moderate Injury

Minor Injury

Interstate - non turnpike 5.6% 3.7% 3.8% 4.4% 6.2% 5.5% 5.2% 6.3% 4.6%

State highway 61.8% 55.9% 53.7% 53.5% 73.5% 69.3% 70.1% 69.4% 57.6%

County road 0.7% 0.5% 0.5% 0.5% 0.4% 0.4% 0.4% 0.4% 0.5% Local road or street 30.5% 38.7% 40.5% 40.4% 18.5% 23.4% 22.8% 22.0% 35.9% East-West portion of turnpike 0.9% 0.6% 0.7% 0.7% 0.7% 1.0% 0.9% 1.2% 0.8%

Turnpike spur (extension)

0.3% 0.3% 0.4% 0.3% 0.3% 0.3% 0.4% 0.5% 0.3%

Private Road 0.2% 0.2% 0.3% 0.3% 0.3% 0.1% 0.1% 0.2% 0.3% Other or Unknown 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% Source: Authors calculations from Pennsylvania Department of Transportation 2015 data.


In both rural and urban areas, the majority of fatalities and injuries involve the driver (See Table

8). Also, pedestrians make up a larger share of fatalities in urban areas than rural areas.

Table 8: Pennsylvania Injury and Fatal Crashes by Urban-Rural, Maximum Severity of Crash, and Person Type, 2011-2015

Urban Rural

Total Person Type Fatal Major Injury

Moderate Injury

Minor Injury Fatal

Major Injury

Moderate Injury

Minor Injury

Driver 64.6% 64.8% 71.1% 72.4% 62.4% 67.2% 73.0% 76.1% 72.2% Passenger 28.0% 28.8% 24.8% 24.9% 35.8% 30.9% 26.0% 23.4% 25.2% Pedestrian 6.6% 5.6% 3.5% 2.3% 1.6% 1.5% 0.6% 0.3% 2.2% Other 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.0% 0.1% Unknown 0.7% 0.6% 0.5% 0.4% 0.2% 0.3% 0.3% 0.1% 0.3% Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% Source: Authors calculations from Pennsylvania Department of Transportation 2015 data.

The majority of crashes in rural areas involve only one vehicle and the majority of crashes in

urban areas involve two vehicles (See Table 9).

Table 9: Pennsylvania Injury and Fatal Crashes by Urban-Rural, Maximum Severity of Crash and Vehicle Count, 2011-2015

Urban

Urban Total

Rural Rural Total Total

Vehicle Count Fatal

Major Injury

Moderate Injury

Minor Injury Fatal

Major Injury

Moderate Injury

Minor Injury

1 54.6% 48.9% 40.3% 30.9% 34.5% 57.8% 62.9% 61.7% 59.8% 60.5% 42.0% 2 35.7% 40.8% 47.2% 56.0% 52.8% 36.2% 31.7% 32.9% 35.1% 34.3% 47.4% 3 6.9% 7.3% 9.3% 10.3% 9.8% 4.6% 4.2% 4.3% 4.2% 4.3% 8.2% 4 or more 2.9% 3.0% 3.1% 2.8% 2.9% 1.4% 1.1% 1.1% 0.9% 1.0% 2.3% Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% Source: Authors calculations from Pennsylvania Department of Transportation 2015 data.

As Table 10 shows, rural injury and fatal crashes by the total number of persons in the crash were

more likely to involve only one person.


Table 10: Pennsylvania Injury and Fatal Crashes by Urban-Rural, Maximum Severity of Crash and Person Count 2011-2015

Urban

Urban Total

Rural Rural Total Total

Person Count Fatal

Major Injury

Moderate Injury

Minor Injury Fatal

Major Injury

Moderate Injury

Minor Injury

1 26.0% 24.1% 22.3% 18.7% 19.9% 38.6% 39.1% 43.4% 44.4% 43.5% 26.7% 2 40.0% 39.3% 38.7% 38.7% 38.8% 30.3% 32.0% 28.3% 28.1% 28.6% 35.8% 3 17.8% 17.9% 19.7% 21.1% 20.6% 15.1% 14.0% 14.8% 14.0% 14.3% 18.7% 4 7.6% 9.3% 9.4% 10.6% 10.2% 7.8% 7.3% 7.0% 6.8% 6.9% 9.2% 5 4.0% 4.6% 4.8% 5.5% 5.3% 4.0% 3.8% 3.3% 3.2% 3.3% 4.7% 6 or more 5% 5% 5% 5% 5% 4% 4% 3% 3% 3% 5% Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% Source: Authors calculations from Pennsylvania Department of Transportation 2015 data.

Table 11 shows the difference in injury and fatal crashes by gender. Females are less likely than

males to be in an injury or fatal crash. Males are more likely to be in fatal crashes with only slight

differences between urban and rural areas.

Table 11: Pennsylvania Injury and Fatal Crashes by Urban-Rural, Maximum Severity of Crash and Sex, 2011-2015

Urban Rural

Total Sex Fatal Major Injury

Moderate Injury

Minor Injury Fatal

Major Injury

Moderate Injury

Minor Injury

Female 33.05% 38.71% 44.34% 47.56% 32.74% 35.29% 40.52% 43.25% 44.94% Male 65.49% 60.17% 54.31% 51.09% 66.85% 64.46% 59.14% 56.30% 53.96% Unknown 1.46% 1.11% 1.35% 1.35% 0.40% 0.25% 0.34% 0.45% 1.11% Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% Source: Authors calculations from Pennsylvania Department of Transportation 2015 data.

About 85 percent of all persons involved in injury and fatal crashes were not suspected of using

alcohol or drugs (See Table 12).


Table 12: Pennsylvania Injury and Fatal Crashes by Urban-Rural, Maximum Severity of Crash, and Alcohol or Drugs Suspected, 2011-2015

Urban Rural

Total Alcohol or Drugs Suspected Fatal

Major Injury

Moderate Injury

Minor Injury Fatal

Major Injury

Moderate Injury

Minor Injury

No 53.4% 71.2% 84.3% 88.9% 58.0% 71.8% 82.8% 87.8% 85.4% Alcohol 10.3% 10.6% 5.7% 3.6% 12.0% 15.0% 9.4% 6.1% 5.5% Illegal drugs 2.1% 2.2% 1.0% 0.6% 2.2% 1.6% 1.0% 0.6% 0.8% Alcohol and drugs 2.8% 1.9% 1.2% 0.7% 2.4% 1.7% 1.5% 1.0% 1.0% Medication 0.9% 0.8% 0.7% 0.5% 0.9% 1.2% 1.3% 1.1% 0.7% Unknown 30.5% 13.3% 7.1% 5.8% 24.5% 8.6% 4.1% 3.3% 6.6% Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% Source: Authors calculations from Pennsylvania Department of Transportation 2015 data,

Table 13 shows the distribution of injury and fatal crashes along with the count, area in square

miles and population by municipality type by urban, rural and for all of Pennsylvania. About 73 percent

of rural municipalities are townships of the second class. These municipalities cover about 98 percent of

rural Pennsylvania and include 88 percent of the rural population. Therefore, it is not surprising that about

94 percent of all injury and fatal crashes in rural areas occur in townships of the second class.


Table 13: Pennsylvania Injury and Fatal Crashes by Municipality Type, 2011-2015 Urban

Municipality Type Count % Area (mi2) % Population %

Injury & Fatal Crashes %

First Class Township 92 9.4% 1,066 14.5% 1,558,464 15.7% 24,499 15.9% Second Class Township 286 29.3% 4,835 65.8% 3,095,975 31.2% 53,645 34.7% Borough 543 55.6% 1,014 13.8% 2,198,139 22.1% 24,187 15.7% City 55 5.6% 424 5.8% 3,064,743 30.9% 51,998 33.6% Town 1 0.1% 5 0.1% 14,855 0.1% 205 0.1% Total 977 7,344 9,932,176 154,534

Rural



First Class Township 1 0.1% 5 0.0% 2,354 0.1% 19 0.0% Second Class Township 1,168 73.3% 36,688 98.1% 2,442,550 88.1% 59,277 94.4% Borough 423 26.5% 617 1.6% 312,448 11.3% 3,335 5.3% City 2 0.1% 92 0.2% 13,910 0.5% 139 0.2% Town 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 0 0.0% Total 1,594 37,402 2,771,262 62,770

Total



First Class Township 93 3.6% 1,071 2.4% 1,560,818 12.3% 24,518 11.3% Second Class Township 1,454 56.6% 41,523 92.8% 5,538,525 43.6% 112,922 52.0% Borough 966 37.6% 1,630 3.6% 2,510,587 19.8% 27,522 12.7% City 57 2.2% 517 1.2% 3,078,653 24.2% 52,137 24.0% Town 1 0.0% 5 0.0% 14,855 0.1% 205 0.1% Total 2,571 44,746 12,703,438 217,304 Source: Authors calculations from Pennsylvania Department of Transportation 2015 data.

A higher percentage of injury and fatal crashes in rural areas occur on snow, slush or ice covered

roads, and these crashes are more likely to lead to injuries rather than fatalities. Crashes on dry roads are

more likely to be fatal in both rural and urban areas (See Table 14).


Table 14: Pennsylvania Injury and Fatal Crashes by Urban-Rural, Maximum Severity of Crash and Road Conditions, 2011-2015

Urban

Urban Total

Rural Rural Total Total Road Condition Fatal

Major Injury

Moderate Injury

Minor Injury Fatal

Major Injury

Moderate Injury

Minor Injury

Dry 81.1% 81.8% 79.1% 77.2% 78.0% 76.8% 76.7% 71.7% 65.8% 68.7% 75.3% Wet 14.8% 13.6% 15.4% 16.7% 16.2% 15.1% 13.5% 15.2% 16.6% 15.9% 16.1% Sand/mud/dirt/oil or gravel 0.3% 0.3% 0.2% 0.2% 0.2% 0.5% 1.3% 0.9% 0.6% 0.7% 0.3% Snow covered 1.0% 1.4% 1.8% 2.3% 2.1% 2.4% 3.5% 4.9% 7.2% 6.1% 3.3% Slush 0.6% 0.5% 0.7% 0.8% 0.8% 1.1% 1.2% 1.7% 2.6% 2.2% 1.2% Ice 0.9% 0.7% 1.1% 1.2% 1.1% 1.4% 1.3% 2.0% 2.9% 2.4% 1.5% Ice Patches 0.6% 1.0% 1.2% 1.2% 1.2% 1.7% 1.9% 2.7% 3.4% 3.0% 1.7% Water - standing or moving 0.3% 0.3% 0.2% 0.2% 0.2% 0.4% 0.4% 0.4% 0.7% 0.6% 0.3% Other 0.4% 0.4% 0.3% 0.2% 0.2% 0.6% 0.3% 0.4% 0.4% 0.4% 0.3% Unknown 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% Source: Authors calculations from Pennsylvania Department of Transportation 2015 data.

The majority of crashes in both rural and urban areas occur during daylight hours. Not

surprisingly, a higher percentage of crashes in rural areas occur on dark streets with no street lights than

in urban areas (See Table 15).

Table 15: Pennsylvania Injury and Fatal Crashes by Urban-Rural, Maximum Severity of Crash and Illumination, 2011-2015

Urban

Urban Total

Rural

Rural Total Total Illumination Fatal

Major Injury

Moderate Injury

Minor Injury Fatal

Major Injury

Moderate Injury

Minor Injury

Daylight 46.8% 57.0% 64.0% 68.9% 66.7% 54.4% 56.2% 61.6% 62.7% 61.5% 65.2%

Dark - no street lights

22.7% 14.0% 10.4% 8.4% 9.5% 37.5% 34.6% 29.4% 28.2% 29.4% 15.2%

Dark - street lights

26.3% 25.4% 21.8% 19.2% 20.3% 3.4% 4.7% 4.2% 4.4% 4.3% 15.7%

Dusk 1.8% 1.6% 2.0% 1.8% 1.8% 2.5% 2.1% 2.2% 1.9% 2.0% 1.9%

Dawn 1.7% 1.2% 1.3% 1.2% 1.2% 1.8% 1.8% 2.1% 2.3% 2.2% 1.5% Dark - unknown roadway lighting

0.5% 0.6% 0.4% 0.3% 0.4% 0.2% 0.5% 0.4% 0.4% 0.4% 0.4%

Other 0.2% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.2% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1%

Unknown 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%

Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% Source: Authors calculations from Pennsylvania Department of Transportation 2015 data.


Table 16 shows the percentage of injury and fatal crashes that occur by age group. Higher

percentages of rural youth, aged 15 to 24, are involved in moderate and major injury and fatal crashes

than urban youth, aged 15 to 24. The highest percentage of those involved in injury and fatal crashes are

those aged 25 to 34.

Table 16: Pennsylvania Injury and Fatal Crashes by Urban-Rural, Maximum Severity of Crash and Age Class, 2011-2015

Urban Rural

Total Age Class Fatal Major Injury

Moderate Injury

Minor Injury Fatal

Major Injury

Moderate Injury

Minor Injury

ages 0 to 4 1.9% 2.6% 2.5% 3.0% 2.4% 2.4% 2.5% 2.8% 2.8% ages 5 to 9 1.7% 3.1% 2.8% 3.4% 2.1% 2.9% 2.3% 3.2% 3.2% ages 10 to 14 2.3% 2.9% 3.1% 3.6% 3.3% 3.7% 3.4% 3.9% 3.5% ages 15 to 20 11.5% 12.9% 12.3% 12.8% 13.6% 16.9% 16.3% 17.6% 13.8% ages 21 to 24 10.5% 11.4% 10.4% 10.5% 10.0% 11.9% 10.9% 11.0% 10.7% ages 25 to 34 16.4% 18.5% 18.4% 18.0% 15.0% 17.5% 16.2% 16.3% 17.7% ages 25 to 44 1.3% 1.6% 1.5% 1.5% 1.4% 1.4% 1.2% 1.2% 1.4% ages 35 to 44 12.5% 13.1% 13.4% 13.1% 13.1% 12.9% 12.7% 12.2% 13.0% ages 45 to 54 14.0% 13.5% 13.7% 13.2% 14.6% 13.5% 14.3% 12.7% 13.4% ages 55 to 64 11.1% 9.8% 10.4% 9.9% 10.8% 9.2% 10.3% 9.6% 10.0% ages 65 to 74 7.4% 5.2% 5.6% 5.3% 7.6% 4.7% 5.8% 5.6% 5.5% ages 75 to 84 4.9% 2.8% 2.9% 2.7% 5.1% 2.6% 3.1% 2.8% 2.9% ages 85 and older 2.6% 1.1% 1.1% 1.0% 1.8% 0.8% 1.0% 0.9% 1.0% Other 0.0% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.0% 0.2% 0.2% 0.3% 0.1% Unknown 3.0% 3.0% 3.1% 3.3% 0.5% 0.8% 1.0% 1.0% 2.7% Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% Average Age (in years) 43 38 39 38 40 36 37 36 38

Source: Authors calculations from Pennsylvania Department of Transportation 2015 data.


Statewide Urban-Rural Demographic Profile of Injury and Fatal Crashes with Proximity Data

The research determined if there were differences in injuries and fatalities in terms of the

proximity of first responders to crash sites. According to the analysis, crashes in rural areas are more

likely to have a fatality, major injury or moderate injury than crashes in urban areas. The largest

difference in the percent of fatalities in rural areas comes when comparing crashes near PSP stations and

those that are not within 5 miles of PSP stations. There are also notable differences with the proximities

of Advanced Life Support – Medical Command, Advanced Life Support – Squad, and High Responsive

Police or PSP Stations (See Table 17).


Urban

Origins: First Responders Fatal Major Injury

Moderate Injury

Minor Injury Total

No Basic Life Support (BLS) 2.9% 7.2% 24.0% 65.9% 100.0% Basic Life Support 1.9% 5.3% 22.5% 70.2% 100.0% No Advanced Life Support - Medical Command 2.6% 6.7% 23.4% 67.3% 100.0% Advanced Life Support - Medical Command 1.9% 5.2% 22.5% 70.5% 100.0% No Advanced Life Support - Squad 2.4% 6.2% 23.1% 68.3% 100.0% Advanced Life Support - Squad 1.7% 5.0% 22.4% 70.9% 100.0% No Pennsylvania State Police Station 2.0% 5.7% 23.3% 69.0% 100.0% Pennsylvania State Police Station 1.8% 4.7% 20.7% 72.9% 100.0% No Local Police 2.7% 6.0% 23.2% 68.2% 100.0% Local Police 1.9% 5.4% 22.5% 70.2% 100.0% Low Responsive Police 2.6% 6.0% 23.2% 68.1% 100.0% High Responsive Police or PSP Station 1.9% 5.3% 22.5% 70.3% 100.0% Urban Total 2.0% 5.4% 22.6% 70.0% 100.0%


Rural


Moderate Injury

Minor Injury Total

No Basic Life Support (BLS) 4.5% 8.2% 25.6% 61.6% 100.0% Basic Life Support 4.0% 8.0% 25.8% 62.2% 100.0% No Advanced Life Support - Medical Command 4.4% 8.1% 25.8% 61.7% 100.0% Advanced Life Support - Medical Command 3.8% 8.1% 25.4% 62.7% 100.0% No Advanced Life Support - Squad 4.3% 8.1% 25.8% 61.8% 100.0% Advanced Life Support - Squad 3.7% 8.1% 24.6% 63.6% 100.0% No Pennsylvania State Police Station 4.3% 8.1% 25.8% 61.7% 100.0% Pennsylvania State Police Station 3.3% 7.3% 24.5% 64.9% 100.0% No Local Police 4.3% 7.9% 25.6% 62.2% 100.0% Local Police 4.1% 8.6% 26.1% 61.3% 100.0% Low Responsive Police 4.3% 8.1% 25.7% 61.8% 100.0% High Responsive Police or PSP Station 3.7% 7.8% 26.1% 62.5% 100.0% Rural Total 4.2% 8.1% 25.7% 61.9% 100.0%

Total


Moderate Injury

Minor Injury Total

No Basic Life Support (BLS) 4.1% 8.0% 25.2% 62.7% 100.0% Basic Life Support 2.3% 5.9% 23.2% 68.6% 100.0% No Advanced Life Support - Medical Command 3.8% 7.6% 25.0% 63.6% 100.0% Advanced Life Support - Medical Command 2.1% 5.5% 22.8% 69.7% 100.0% No Advanced Life Support - Squad 3.4% 7.2% 24.5% 64.9% 100.0% Advanced Life Support - Squad 1.8% 5.2% 22.5% 70.5% 100.0% No Pennsylvania State Police Station 2.8% 6.5% 24.1% 66.6% 100.0% Pennsylvania State Police Station 1.9% 4.9% 21.1% 72.1% 100.0% No Local Police 3.9% 7.4% 25.0% 63.8% 100.0% Local Police 2.2% 5.7% 23.0% 69.2% 100.0% Low Responsive Police 3.8% 7.5% 24.9% 63.9% 100.0% High Responsive Police or PSP Station 2.0% 5.5% 22.7% 69.8% 100.0% Total 2.6% 6.2% 23.5% 67.7% 100.0% Source: Authors calculations from Pennsylvania Department of Transportation 2015 data, Pennsylvania Trauma Systems Foundation, 2014, Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, 2016, and Pennsylvania State Police, 2016.


The research also examined injuries and fatalities in relation to the site of the crash and the end of

trip destinations, including hospitals and trauma centers. In all cases, crashes in rural areas are more

likely to have a fatality, major injury or moderate injury than crashes in urban areas. The biggest decrease

is in rural areas near trauma centers, where the fatality rate decreased from 4.2 percent to 2.2 percent.

Trauma centers are a subset of hospitals that have special operations specifically for managing emergency

situations (See Table 18).


Urban

Destinations: Hospitals Fatal Major Injury

Moderate Injury

Minor Injury Total

No Hospital 2.7% 6.8% 23.7% 66.8% 100.0% Hospital 1.8% 5.1% 22.4% 70.7% 100.0% No Trauma Center 2.2% 6.0% 23.5% 68.3% 100.0% Trauma Center 1.6% 4.7% 21.4% 72.3% 100.0% Urban Total 2.0% 5.4% 22.6% 70.0% 100.0%

Rural


Moderate Injury

Minor Injury Total

No Hospital 4.3% 8.2% 26.0% 61.5% 100.0% Hospital 3.7% 7.8% 24.4% 64.1% 100.0% No Trauma Center 4.2% 8.1% 25.8% 61.9% 100.0% Trauma Center 2.2% 6.8% 23.8% 67.2% 100.0% Rural Total 4.2% 8.1% 25.7% 61.9% 100.0%

Total


Moderate Injury

Minor Injury Total

No Hospital 3.8% 7.7% 25.2% 63.4% 100.0% Hospital 2.0% 5.3% 22.5% 70.2% 100.0% No Trauma Center 3.1% 6.8% 24.4% 65.7% 100.0% Trauma Center 1.6% 4.7% 21.4% 72.3% 100.0% Total 2.6% 6.2% 23.5% 67.7% 100.0% Source: Authors calculations from Pennsylvania Department of Transportation 2015 data, and Pennsylvania Department of Health, 2014.


Table 19 shows the percentage of injury and fatal crashes according to different travel times to

trauma center hospitals. Crash sites that are more than 31 minutes from a trauma center have a higher

percentage of fatalities than those within 15 minutes of a trauma center. This supports Pollack et al. (2017

p.336) premise that the “Golden Hour” for emergency services includes 20 minutes for discovery of the

incident and activation of emergency services and 10 minutes for initial assessment and intervention,

leaving only about 30 minutes for transport time.

Table 19: Pennsylvania Injury and Fatal Crashes by Maximum Severity of Crash and Driving Time to Trauma Center, 2011-2015

Trauma Centers Fatal Major Injury

Moderate Injury

Minor Injury Total

15 minutes or less 1.8% 4.9% 22.0% 71.3% 100.0% Between 16 and 30 minutes 2.9% 6.5% 25.1% 65.6% 100.0% Between 31 and 45 minutes 3.5% 7.6% 24.7% 64.2% 100.0% Between 46 and 60 minutes 4.0% 8.0% 24.3% 63.7% 100.0% Crashes outside 60 minutes 4.0% 8.6% 24.9% 62.5% 100.0% Total 2.6% 6.2% 23.5% 67.7% 100.0% Source: Authors calculations from Pennsylvania Department of Transportation 2015 data and Pennsylvania Department of Health 2012 data.

Table 20 shows the percent of injury and fatal crashes by Marcellus Shale active gas well regions.

The column ‘Total’ shows the percent of crashes with an injury or fatality that occurred in each region.

The southwest and northeast regions with many wells have slightly more fatal crashes in rural areas than

the other four regions.


Table 20: Pennsylvania Injury and Fatal Crashes by Urban-Rural, Maximum Severity of Crash and Marcellus Shale Region, 2011-2015

Urban Rural

Total Person Count Fatal

Major Injury

Moderate Injury

Minor Injury Fatal

Major Injury

Moderate Injury

Minor Injury

1 Southwest - many wells 2.5% 6.6% 22.4% 68.5% 4.5% 9.5% 24.9% 61.1% 3.4% 2 Northeast - many wells 1.9% 4.8% 19.3% 74.0% 4.8% 7.8% 24.7% 62.7% 2.8% 3 Western - moderate 2.5% 6.5% 22.3% 68.7% 4.3% 8.6% 26.3% 60.7% 13.9% 4 Northwest - limited 2.4% 5.8% 23.6% 68.3% 4.3% 8.1% 25.0% 62.6% 3.8% 5 Southeast - limited 1.9% 5.2% 22.3% 70.5% 4.0% 7.6% 25.8% 62.6% 68.1%

6 Allegheny County - prohibited by ordinance

1.6% 5.8% 25.1% 67.5% 3.6% 12.1% 24.6% 59.8% 8.0%

Total 2.0% 5.4% 22.6% 70.0% 4.2% 8.1% 25.7% 61.9% 100.0% Source: Authors calculations from Pennsylvania Department of Transportation 2015 data and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection 2015 data.

Table 21 shows the typical fatal crash profile for selected characteristics for all of Pennsylvania,

and for rural and urban areas. The majority of crashes in rural and urban areas have similar

characteristics. Differences between rural and urban areas are typically more in magnitude, as illustrated

in the earlier analysis of tables.

Table 21: Crash Profiles by Urban and Rural

Profile of the Typical Fatal Crash

Profile of the Typical Fatal Rural Crash

Profile of the Typical Fatal Urban Crash

Urban (53.5 percent) Rural (100 percent) Urban (100 percent) No seat belt used (41.7 percent) or seat belt used (39.8 percent)

No seat belt used (45.7 percent) or seat belt used (41.9 percent)

No seat belt used (38.3 percent) or seat belt used (38.1 percent)

Driver (63.6 percent) and Driver’s seat position (61.3 percent)



On a state highway (66.7 percent) On a state highway (73.5 percent) On a state highway (61.8 percent) Dry conditions (79.1 percent) Dry conditions (76.8 percent) Dry conditions (81.1 percent) Daylight (50.3 percent) Daylight (54.4 percent) Daylight (46.8 percent) Involve single vehicle (56.1 percent)

Involve single vehicle (57.8 percent)

Involve single vehicle (54.6 percent)

2-person crash (35.5 percent) 1-person crash (38.6 percent) 2-person crash (40.0 percent) Male (66.1 percent) Male (66.9 percent) Male (65.5 percent) Age 15-24 (22.8 percent) Age 15-24 (23.6 percent) Age 15-24 (22.1 percent) No alcohol or drugs suspected (55.5%)

No alcohol or drugs suspected (58.0%)

No alcohol or drugs suspected (53.4%)


Table 22 shows crash rates by crash severity per 10,000 population, 100 road miles, and 100,000

vehicle miles traveled by urban and rural. The results indicate that per 10,000 population and 100,000

vehicle miles traveled, crash rates are always higher in rural areas. Crash rates are higher in urban areas

per 100 road miles.

Table 22: Crash Rates by Crash Severity, Population, Road Miles and Vehicle Miles Traveled by Urban and Rural

Urban

Per 10,000 population

Per 100 road miles

Per 100,000 vehicle miles traveled

Fatalities 3.1 6.4 1.7 Major injuries 8.4 17.6 4.7 Moderate injuries 35.2 73.4 19.5 Minor injuries 108.9 227.2 60.2 Total 155.6 324.7 86.0

Rural


Per 100 road miles



Total


Per 100 road miles



Source: Authors calculations from Pennsylvania Department of Transportation 2016 data and 2010 United States Census Bureau.


Conclusion

Rural-Urban Differences

According to the research results, 28.9 percent of all injury and fatal crashes occur in rural

Pennsylvania, with 46.5 percent resulting in fatalities and 37.7 percent resulting in injuries. Rural areas

tend to have a higher share of crashes with major injuries and moderate injuries than urban areas. Also,

there are higher fatality rates in rural areas than urban areas when a seat belt or child safety seat is used.

In both rural and urban areas: the highest percentage of crashes with an injury or fatality occurs

on state highways, followed by local roads or streets; males are two times more likely to be in a crash

with a fatality than females; and crashes with a fatality are more likely to not involve alcohol or drugs.

About 94 percent of all injury and fatal crashes in rural areas occur in townships of the second

class. This result was not surprising since these municipalities cover about 98 percent of rural

Pennsylvania and include 88 percent of the rural population. In urban areas, a plurality of injury and fatal

crashes occurred in cities and townships of the second class.

In both rural and urban areas, crashes on dry roads are more likely to involve a fatality than

crashes on roads that are wet, snow covered, icy or slushy. The majority of crashes in both rural and urban

areas occur during daylight hours. Not surprisingly, a higher percentage of crashes in rural areas occur on

dark streets with no street lights than in urban areas.

In both rural and urban areas, the highest percentage of those involved in injury and fatal crashes

are those aged 25 to 34. In rural areas, higher percentages of youth, aged 15 to 24, are involved in

moderate and major injury and fatal crashes than youth, aged 15 to 24, in urban areas.

The research also found that crash sites that are more than 31 minutes from a trauma center have

a higher percentage of fatalities than those within 15 minutes of a trauma center. This finding supports the

“Golden Hour” concept for emergency services that includes 20 minutes for discovery of the incident and

activation of emergency services, 10 minutes for initial assessment and intervention, and about 30

minutes for transport time.


Limitations

Study limitations are related to the availability and quality of the data. The Pennsylvania

Department of Transportation provides a robust database that was the basis for this analysis. However, the

inclusion of a field indicating if the patient was alive when reached by first responders would have been

useful for this analysis. These crashes should be a subset for the analysis of first responders and hospitals

and trauma centers.

Another limitation was defining the crash events by maximum severity. This does not allow for

analysis pre-crash and crash features that may have reduced injury, such as seat belt use. Defining crash

events by their expected maximum severity, calculated according to vehicle speeds and sizes, would

allow for an analysis of features that reduce injury severity.

Areas of Future Research

This analysis affirms the difference in rural and urban crashes, particularly for fatal crashes, and

the importance of the “Golden Hour” for emergency medical services. Future research examining fatal

crashes by themselves, preferably with data showing time of fatality relative to the original call and first

responder response, would be worthwhile. In addition, an analysis that looks at origins and destinations

together is needed.


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The Center for Rural Pennsylvania Board of Directors

Chairman Senator Gene Yaw

Vice Chairman

Representative Garth D. Everett

Treasurer Representative Sid Michaels Kavulich

Secretary

Dr. Nancy Falvo Clarion University

Dr. Livingston Alexander University of Pittsburgh

Stephen M. Brame

Governor’s Representative

Dr. Michael A. Driscoll Indiana University

Dr. Stephan J. Goetz

Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development

Dr. Timothy Kelsey Pennsylvania State University

The Center for Rural Pennsylvania 625 Forster St., Room 902

Harrisburg, PA 17120 Phone: (717) 787-9555

www.rural.palegislature.us 1P0517

http://www.rural.palegislature.us/

Documents

Analysis of Pennsylvania Crash Statistics Data · drivers aged 16 to 19 years old were involved in 4.6 fatal crashes per 100 million miles traveled, compared to 3.8 fatal crashes