An Empirical Estimation of Hazardous Material Highway Transportation Accident Frequencies for the State of Indiana

IN T R O D U C T IO N U tiliz ing the m ethods of Price, Schm idt, and Davis in V irg in ia (1), it is feasible to estim ate expected hazardous m aterial highw ay accident frequencies for the State of Indiana. Politicians, adm inistrators, and those otherwise interested in rendering the threat posed by hazardous m aterial highw ay transporta tion som ew hat m ore intelligible m ay find it of value. In contrast to the abundan t theoretically o riented risk evaluation and m anagem ent literature, the aim is directly applied. Evidently, no cognate study has ever been accom plished in Ind iana. A bstract and little understood theoretical problem s pose difficult first hurdles for rationally evaluating and m anaging the transpo rta tion of hazardous m aterials. For exam ple, risk-theoreticians com plain of finding a lack of uniform and consistent standards for de term in ing the nature of risks and for assessing the ir m agn itude. Eventual resolve of those theoretical problem s m ay render virtually obsolete m any of the highly subjective, em otional, and related policy decisions tha t now so often characterize the arena. M eanw hile, increm ental problem s in an em ­ phatically logistical context present opportun ity for applied research. U nfortunately , relevant d a ta are severely lim ited. C u rren tly , action is being taken by the Ind iana State Police to ob tain a data base which could help enable an analytically supported approach to associated deci­ sions of a procedural nature , such as designation of preferred routes. A key feature of that data collection effort involves utilization of state police officers to gather, using scientific sam pling protocol, hazardous m aterials data on w hat is being shipped on the highw ay, w here it is being shipped, and by w hom . M eanw hile, only m in im um pertinen t m easurem ent in ­ form ation is to be had. O ne problem posed for states and localities in general, by such limited