From Analysis to Action: Investigating Crash Readiness and the Role of Vehicle Features in Kansas Fatal and Serious Injury Crashes

The U.S. Department of Transportation's National Roadway Safety Strategy (NRSS) and other safety programs aim to eliminate road fatalities and serious injuries. The NRSS uses a Safe System Approach (SSA), which is a holistic and comprehensive approach that provides a guiding framework to make places safer for people. The SSA emphasizes infrastructure, human behavior, safe vehicle and transportation oversight, and emergency response which encompasses Safer People, Safer Roads, Safer Vehicles, Safer Speeds and Post-Crash Care as the objectives of the Safe System Approach. Some of the SSA objectives, such as, Safer People have been expanded upon by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Countermeasures That Work, while the Federal Highway Administration's Proven Safety Countermeasures have focused on Safer Roads. While driver behavior and road conditions are extensively investigated, one issue that is often overlooked is the role of the vehicle and its characteristics. Safer Vehicles are vehicles “designed and regulated to minimize the occurrence and severity of collisions using safety measures that incorporate the latest technology” (FHWA). Between 2019 and 2023, there were a total of 8,423 crashes on Kansas roads, with fatal (K) and serious injury (A) crashes accounting for 1,817 and 6,606, respectively. In terms of crash type, angle-side impact collisions resulted in 384 fatalities and 1,500 serious injuries, while head-on collisions resulted in 238 fatalities and 419 serious injuries, and rear-end collisions resulted in 110 fatalities and 638 serious injuries. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) evaluate a vehicle’s crash readiness through a series of tests that assess its crashworthiness and crash avoidance capabilities. However, a thorough analysis is needed to identify potential correlations between fatalities or serious injuries, crash types, and vehicle types and their safety features in Kansas. More specifically, it is important to identify the vehicle features that appear to be less involved in fatal or serious injury crashes, and therefore, have the potential to reduce crash severity. Such analysis will allow the the Kansas Department of Transportation (KsDOT) to better allocate resources and to make informed decisions concerning infrastructure policies to support vehicle safety features, as well as target behavioral safety and educational campaigns for drivers who use different vehicle models.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $85,000.00
• Contract Numbers:

  K-TRAN: KU-26-4

  RE-0928-01

  C2260

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Kansas Department of Transportation

  Eisenhower State Office Building
  700 SW Harrison Street
  Topeka, KS  United States  66603-3754
• Performing Organizations:

  University of Kansas Center for Research, Incorporated

  2291 Irving Hill Drive, Campus West
  Lawrence, KS  United States  66045
• Principal Investigators:

  Kondyli, Alexandra

  Schrock, Steven

• Start Date: 20250701
• Expected Completion Date: 20260930
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash injuries; Crashworthiness; Fatalities; Vehicle safety
• Geographic Terms: Kansas
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01976230
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Kansas Department of Transportation
• Contract Numbers: K-TRAN: KU-26-4, RE-0928-01, C2260
• Files: RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Jan 13 2026 3:11PM