Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Office of Contracts and Procurement (NAD-30), 400 Seventh Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20590

B -- DETERMINE THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN DRIVING SPEEDS AND CRASH PROBABILITIES -- FULL SCALE STUDY SOL DTNH22-98-R-05141 DUE 082098 POC Contracting Officer, S. Peter Shultz, (202) 366-9561 This procurement will implement a full scale study to acquire data on quantitative properties of the association between driving speeds and highway vehicle crash probabilities. (A pilot study awarded in 1997, and now nearing completion, suggests that a full scale study can be successfully conducted.) Previous studies have used estimates of pre-crash speeds and compared those to measurements of prevailing travel speeds at the crash sites. This approach has suggested that deviations from prevailing speeds is a contributor to crash risk, however, there are inherent limitations. The accuracy of the pre-crash speeds is unknown because they have typically been based on a self or witness report, or on various crash reconstruction techniques. In addition, these previous studies do not provide a comprehensive set of data needed to link speeding, as it occurs under various conditions, with the risk of crashing under those conditions. It is the objective of this study to establish a method by which questions suchas the following may be answered: Under what conditions does exceeding the speed limit lead to crashes? Are drivers who routinely speed more likely to be involved in crashes than drivers who observe speed limits? Do drivers who speed subject themselves to higher risks of crashing under certain circumstances only? This study will seek to determine whether these questions can be answered by adopting a dual approach to determining the role of speed in crashes. First, the successful offeror will acquire data from approximately 2000 vehicles for a period of 2-3 years to continuously measure both speed and roadway location. These data will enable development of speed profiles for drivers. Second, speed distributions at crash sites will be acquired at the 250-450 crash locations that occur over the course of the study to allow calculations of the role of speed in relation to prevailing travel speeds. The solicitation for this study will be mailed to interested parties who respond by letter or FAX (202) 366-9555. Notelephone requests, please. The anticipated RFP issue date is 20 July 1998 (0173)

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