Investigation of Crashes and Identifying the Best Practices for Setting up Speed Zones in Towns Along Rural Highways in Nevada

 Although fraction of PDO and non-fatal injury-causing crashes are very small for rural areas, almost half the fatal crashes occurs in rural areas.  Majority of crashes occurred in occurred in normal driving conditions but severe crashes were associated with factors like inattention, speeding, and driving under influence.  Total number of crashes, number of injuries, and number of PDO crashes were significantly correlated with the percentage of vehicle exceeding posted speed limits.  Overall fatigue and inattention, run off lane/road, failure to yield, turning related, and animal/object in roadway were top 5 factors associated with crashes.  Various states uses different guidelines prepared by corresponding DOTs, there is no nationally accepted speed zone guidelines. But the basic principles in those guidelines are same.  Proper guidelines as well as enforcement is necessary to reduce crashes in the towns along the rural highways of Nevada. This will be an important step towards achieving “Zero Fatalities” in Nevada. Crash data comparison of the 11 towns (2002 – 2010)