Pedal Misapplication

Abstract

Pedal misapplication (PM) is an operator error in which the driver presses one pedal while intending to press another. The goal of this study is to identify the frequency and associated characteristics of PM crashes, bringing us one step closer to mitigating the effects of PM.This study uses the National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Survey (NMVCCS) dataset, a nationally-representative sample of 5,470 crashes from 2005 to 2007, and a comprehensive statewide dataset of 1,869,886 police-reported crashes in North Carolina (NC) from January 2014 to May 2020. Identifying PM crashes is challenging, as they are not directly coded into any state or national database. As a result, these databases were selected because of their searchable, descriptive crash narratives. Using a custom algorithm, the crash narratives were parsed and searched for pedal- and mistake-related keywords. After identifying a subset of possible PM crashes, their narratives were manually and individually inspected. The confirmed PM crashes were analyzed for a variety of factors hypothesized to associate with PM, including, but not limited to: age, gender, height, inattention, fatigue, weather, crash type, injury severity, and alcohol involvement.In NMVCCS, there were 33 confirmed PM crashes of 110 crashes identified as possible PM. Preliminary results from the most recent year of NC data produced 283 confirmed PM crashes from 381 possible PM crashes. While the limitations of this study suggest that our calculations may underestimate the true frequency of PM, we estimate PM to account for at least 0.48% of all NMVCCS cases, 0.22% of all NMVCCS weighted cases, and 0.10% of NC cases. Analysis of PM crash characteristics as compared to all crashes indicate that drivers who are female, under 25 years old, and over 75 years old may be more likely to commit PM, which tend to result in run-off-road or rear-end crash types with lower injury severities, involve inattention and/or fatigue, and occur in moderate- to low-speed commercial or residential areas. Anecdotally, the narratives contained repeated evidence of driver distraction, inexperience/unfamiliarity, shoe-malfunction, and extreme stress.

Full Text

Smith, CP, Sherony, R, Gabler, HC, "Identification and Characterization of Pedal Misapplication Crashes Using National and State Datasets." IRCOBI Conference Proceedings. 2021. Remote.