Assessment of Wheel Separations From Light-Duty Vehicles
Author(s): Jeff Turner
Slidedeck Presentation:
Abstract:
Wheel separations from light-duty vehicles have been tracked by Ontario's police services, for more than four years, in the Greater Toronto Area, starting at the beginning of 2013. This initiative was undertaken due to concerns about the frequent reports of wheel separation from cars, mini-vans and light trucks without the benefit of a consolidation and analysis of these occurrences. Analysis of the available data should provide a greater understanding of the cause(s) and magnitude of the problem. The analysis covers year-to-year wheel separation trends, variation in occurrences between different vehicle types, time of year and modes of separation. Wheel separations from light-duty vehicles is a significant issue on Ontario's highways. Data analysis will provide an estimate on the scale of this problem, contributing factors and clues as to how best to address this issue. There are suggestions on how to improve data quality and quality, as well as proposals on how best to use the information obtained to improve road safety. Wheel separations from light-duty vehicles are a serious problem, resulting in a significant number of injuries and extensive property damage each year.
Efforts should be taken to increase public awareness of this issue as well as development of means by which the problem may be most effectively addressed.