Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Office of Contracts and Procurement, NAD-30, 400 Seventh Street, S.W., Room 5301, Washington, D.C. 20590

B -- ASSOCIATION BETWEEN DRIVING SPEEDS AND CRASH PROBABILITIES -- PILOT STUDY SOL DTNH22-97-R-05141 DUE 060997 POC Point of Contact -- Contacting Officer, S. Peter Shultz, (202) 366-9561 This procurement will implement a pilot study to acquire preliminary data on quantitative properties of the association between driving speeds and highway vehicle crash probabilities. 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 in 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 pilot study to establish a method by which questions such as 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 pilot 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 equip approximately 100 vehicles with devices it has procured to continuously measure both speed and roadway location. This will enable development of speed profiles for drivers. Second, measurement of speed distributions at a few selected roadway locations will be conducted to allow sample calculations of the role of speed in relation to prevailing travel speeds. It is the objective of this 4 month pilot study to determine the feasibility of conducting a full-scale study on speed related crash risk using a large sample of vehicles in which a number of crashes are likely to occur. Any full-scale study will be performed undera separate procurement. The solicitation for this pilot study will be mailed to those interested parties responding by letter or FAX (202) 366-9555. No telephone requests, please. The anticipated RFP issue date is 7 May 1997 (0107)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0019 19970421\B-0010.SOL)