Publication Details

Small cars show higher crash rates than large cars

Type: article

Author(s): UNC Highway Safety Research Center,

Pages: 4

Url: https://trid.trb.org/View/60246

Publication Date: May-1977

Journal: Highway Safety Highlights

Volume: 10

Issue: 12

Abstract: The results of this study indicates that smaller cars, especially newer models, are more likely to be involved in a reportable crash than larger cars. This two-year study is one of the few to include calculations of crash rates for specific makes and models, based on vehicle miles of travel. The crash involvement and injury rates that were compared included a single vehicle rate, an overall crash rate, an overall injury rate, and vehicle severity rate. For standard-sized automobiles considered, the hardtops and two-door cars had higher accident rates than either sedans or station wagons. All of the data showed a decrease in mileage with increasing vehicle age. For recent models, station wagons had higher mileage than sedans or hard tops. Other small cars had considerably higher mileage than older cars. For newer models, the full-sized cars had somewhat higher annual mileage than middle-sized cars.