Determining Causal Factors of Severe Crashes on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Montana

Indian reservations have been struggling with the highest rate of crashes that lead to fatal and incapacitating injuries across the United States for decades. The US government has been striving to improve roadway safety on Indian reservations to reduce such crashes. However, the rustic nature of th...

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Main Authors: Sahima Nazneen, Mahdi Rezapour, Khaled Ksaibati
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2018-01-01
Series:Journal of Advanced Transportation
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2018/5942686
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author Sahima Nazneen
Mahdi Rezapour
Khaled Ksaibati
author_facet Sahima Nazneen
Mahdi Rezapour
Khaled Ksaibati
author_sort Sahima Nazneen
collection DOAJ
description Indian reservations have been struggling with the highest rate of crashes that lead to fatal and incapacitating injuries across the United States for decades. The US government has been striving to improve roadway safety on Indian reservations to reduce such crashes. However, the rustic nature of the reservations, issues of jurisdictional coordination and collaboration, inadequate resources, and limited crash data make it challenging for the tribes to reduce the number of severe crashes. Determining factors associated with crashes is one of the most efficient and effective ways to select appropriate countermeasures for improving roadway safety and reducing crashes. Due to the unique nature of each of the reservations, factors contributing to crashes vary across the reservations as well as across the different roadways within the reservations. Only a few researches have investigated factors contributing to crashes on Indian reservations, and no studies have determined the factors separately for different roadways within the reservations. Therefore, this study was conducted to identify the contributory factors to fatal and injury crashes in the Fort Peck Indian Reservation (FPIR). The crash database covering a ten-year period from 2005 to 2014 was obtained from the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT). During this period, 940 crashes occurred on state, county, city, and tribally owned roads. Binary logistic regression models were developed to determine the factors associated with fatal and injury crashes for all roads within the FPIR and separately for the roads maintained by different agencies. The analysis identified unique contributory factors to fatal or injury crashes for different roadways, which justified separating crashes based on different road types. Impaired driving, adverse weather condition, collision with a ditch/embankment, pedestrian involvement, and overturn/rollover crashes were some of the factors that significantly contribute to increasing the risk associated with fatal and injury crashes. Impaired driving was found to be the most significant factor contributing to crash severity in all three roadways. Indian reservation roads were found to be possessing the highest risk of fatal and injury crashes due to impaired driving among the three roadway systems. The results of the study provide the Fort Peck Tribes with the opportunity to determine the countermeasures for safety improvements on their roadway systems efficiently.
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spelling doaj-art-8e7e25d9a3fa42028ea8d726a4177e7d2025-02-03T06:08:35ZengWileyJournal of Advanced Transportation0197-67292042-31952018-01-01201810.1155/2018/59426865942686Determining Causal Factors of Severe Crashes on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, MontanaSahima Nazneen0Mahdi Rezapour1Khaled Ksaibati2Department of Civil & Architectural Engineering, University of Wyoming, Office EN 3084, 1000 E University Ave, Dept. 3295, Laramie, WY 82071, USADepartment of Civil & Architectural Engineering, University of Wyoming, Office EN 3084, 1000 E University Ave, Dept. 3295, Laramie, WY 82071, USAWyoming Technology Transfer Center, 1000 E. University Avenue, Department 3295, Laramie, WY 82071, USAIndian reservations have been struggling with the highest rate of crashes that lead to fatal and incapacitating injuries across the United States for decades. The US government has been striving to improve roadway safety on Indian reservations to reduce such crashes. However, the rustic nature of the reservations, issues of jurisdictional coordination and collaboration, inadequate resources, and limited crash data make it challenging for the tribes to reduce the number of severe crashes. Determining factors associated with crashes is one of the most efficient and effective ways to select appropriate countermeasures for improving roadway safety and reducing crashes. Due to the unique nature of each of the reservations, factors contributing to crashes vary across the reservations as well as across the different roadways within the reservations. Only a few researches have investigated factors contributing to crashes on Indian reservations, and no studies have determined the factors separately for different roadways within the reservations. Therefore, this study was conducted to identify the contributory factors to fatal and injury crashes in the Fort Peck Indian Reservation (FPIR). The crash database covering a ten-year period from 2005 to 2014 was obtained from the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT). During this period, 940 crashes occurred on state, county, city, and tribally owned roads. Binary logistic regression models were developed to determine the factors associated with fatal and injury crashes for all roads within the FPIR and separately for the roads maintained by different agencies. The analysis identified unique contributory factors to fatal or injury crashes for different roadways, which justified separating crashes based on different road types. Impaired driving, adverse weather condition, collision with a ditch/embankment, pedestrian involvement, and overturn/rollover crashes were some of the factors that significantly contribute to increasing the risk associated with fatal and injury crashes. Impaired driving was found to be the most significant factor contributing to crash severity in all three roadways. Indian reservation roads were found to be possessing the highest risk of fatal and injury crashes due to impaired driving among the three roadway systems. The results of the study provide the Fort Peck Tribes with the opportunity to determine the countermeasures for safety improvements on their roadway systems efficiently.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2018/5942686
spellingShingle Sahima Nazneen
Mahdi Rezapour
Khaled Ksaibati
Determining Causal Factors of Severe Crashes on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Montana
Journal of Advanced Transportation
title Determining Causal Factors of Severe Crashes on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Montana
title_full Determining Causal Factors of Severe Crashes on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Montana
title_fullStr Determining Causal Factors of Severe Crashes on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Montana
title_full_unstemmed Determining Causal Factors of Severe Crashes on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Montana
title_short Determining Causal Factors of Severe Crashes on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Montana
title_sort determining causal factors of severe crashes on the fort peck indian reservation montana
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2018/5942686
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