Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Graduate Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 2008 Improving safety for slow-moving vehicles on Iowa's high speed rural roadways Caroline Rachel Kinzenbaw Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd Part of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons Recommended Citation Kinzenbaw, Caroline Rachel, "Improving safety for slow-moving vehicles on Iowa's high speed rural roadways" (2008). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 11078. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/11078 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Improving safety for slow-moving vehicles on Iowa’s high speed rural roadways by Caroline Rachel Kinzenbaw A thesis submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE Major: Civil Engineering (Transportation) Program of Study Committee: Shauna Hallmark, Major Professor Nadia Gkritza David Plazak Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2008 Copyright © Caroline Rachel Kinzenbaw, 2008. All rights reserved. ii DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to the lives of drivers that have been lost due to crashes involving slow-moving vehicles. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................................................... V LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................................... VI LIST OF EQUATIONS ................................................................................................................................... VII ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................................... VIII CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................................................... 4 BACKGROUND .................................................................................................................................................... 4 National Statistics ......................................................................................................................................... 4 Agricultural Equipment ............................................................................................................................................. 4 Horse-Drawn Buggies ............................................................................................................................................... 6 Iowa Crash Statistics for SMVs .................................................................................................................... 8 Agricultural Equipment ............................................................................................................................................. 8 Horse-Drawn Buggies ............................................................................................................................................. 10 International Statistics ................................................................................................................................ 13 CURRENT PRACTICES ....................................................................................................................................... 14 National Practices ...................................................................................................................................... 14 Agricultural Equipment ........................................................................................................................................... 14 Horse-Drawn Buggies ............................................................................................................................................. 23 Iowa Code Law ........................................................................................................................................... 31 All-Terrain Vehicles and Off-Road Motorcycles .................................................................................................... 31 SMV Safety Standards & Lighting ......................................................................................................................... 35 Licensing Requirements .......................................................................................................................................... 36 CHAPTER 3: CHARACTERISTICS OF SLOW-MOVING VEHICLE CRASHES IN IOWA ............... 38 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................................................ 38 SMV CRASH ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................................... 41 Rural Crash Analysis .................................................................................................................................. 43 Crash Severity ......................................................................................................................................................... 43 Night vs. Day .......................................................................................................................................................... 49 Time of Year ........................................................................................................................................................... 51 Speed Limit ............................................................................................................................................................. 52 Manner of Crash/Collision ...................................................................................................................................... 52 Vehicle Action ........................................................................................................................................................ 55 Driver Age .............................................................................................................................................................. 58 Major Cause ............................................................................................................................................................ 60 Responsibility of Crash ........................................................................................................................................... 64 CRASH ANALYSIS SUMMARY OF FINDINGS ...................................................................................................... 66 CHAPTER 4: FARM VEHICLE CRASH SEVERITY MODEL ................................................................. 68 TRANSFERABILITY TEST – TOTAL VS . SINGLE & MULTIPLE VEHICLE CRASHES .............................................. 75 Total Crashes Model ................................................................................................................................... 76 Single Vehicle Crash Model ........................................................................................................................ 76 Multiple Vehicle Crash Model .................................................................................................................... 77 Transferability Likelihood Ratio Test ......................................................................................................... 77 TRANSFERABILITY TEST – TOTAL VS . RURAL & URBAN CRASHES .................................................................. 78 Transferability Test Total Crashes Model .................................................................................................. 78 Transferability Test Rural Crashes Model .................................................................................................. 79 Transferability Test Urban Crashes Model ................................................................................................ 79 Transferability Likelihood Ratio Test ......................................................................................................... 79 FINAL MODELS ................................................................................................................................................. 80 Urban Crash Severity Model ...................................................................................................................... 80 iv Overall Description ................................................................................................................................................. 80 Overall Fit ............................................................................................................................................................... 82 Individual Parameter Significance .........................................................................................................................