Evaluation of 2008 Alaska crash data reported to the MCMIS Crash File

Abstract

This report is part of a series evaluating the data reported to the Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS) Crash File undertaken by the Center for National Truck and Bus Statistics at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. The earlier studies showed that reporting to the MCMIS Crash File was incomplete. This report examines the factors that are associated with reporting rates for the State of Alaska. MCMIS Crash File records were matched to the Alaska crash file to determine the nature and extent of underreporting. It is estimated that Alaska reported 62.4 percent of this subset of reportable crash involvements in 2008. Reporting rates were found primarily to be related to crash severity and the configuration of the vehicle. Eighty percent of fatal crash involvements were reported, 73.9% of injured/transported, and 58.7 percent of towed/disabled involvements. Trucks were reported at about the same rate as buses as a whole, 61.4% to 66.0%. Large trucks such as tractor-semitrailers were reported at a higher rate than smaller single unit trucks. Missing data rates are low for most variables. Corresponding data elements in the MCMIS and Alaska crash files were reasonably consistent,