Unsecured cargo or other debris falling from a moving vehicle can pose a serious hazard to other motorists and can lead to property damage, injuries, or fatalities (see fig. 1). Examples of unsecured-load debris that often ends up on roadways include objects such as mattresses or box springs, ladders, and furniture items. NHTSA’s mission is to prevent motor vehicle crashes and reduce injuries, fatalities, and economic losses associated with these crashes. To carry out this mission, the agency conducts a range of activities, including setting vehicle safety standards; conducting research on a variety of safety issues; administering grant programs authorized by Congress; providing guidance and other assistance to states to help them address key safety issues, such as drunken driving and distracted driving; and collecting and analyzing data on crashes. NHTSA analyzes crash data to determine the extent of a problem and to determine what steps it should take to develop countermeasures. Regarding unsecured loads, NHTSA collects some data regarding whether a crash involved an unsecured load. Determining the number of crashes involving unsecured loads can be a challenge because data are limited. NHTSA does track the number of crashes involving road debris. However, as mentioned previously, these data include all types of road debris, including debris resulting from human error (e.g., unsecured load) and debris that is from natural elements (e.g., a fallen tree branch). Based on available NHTSA data, such crashes comprise a small percentage of total police-reported crashes. For example, in 2010, out of a total of about 5,419,000 crashes, about 1 percent— 51,000 crashes—involved a vehicle striking an object that came off another vehicle or a non-fixed object lying in the roadway. Of these 51,000 crashes, there were almost 10,000 people injured and 440 fatalities—about 1 percent of the total number of fatalities from motor vehicle crashes in that year (32,855). States determine what laws, if any, to apply to non-commercial vehicles carrying unsecured loads and whether to develop prevention programs geared towards reducing crashes of non-commercial vehicles carrying unsecured loads. State and local law enforcement agencies are responsible for enforcing these laws. While NHTSA currently collects limited information on crashes involving unsecured loads, the agency intends to make changes to its data systems to follow Congress’s direction to distinguish road obstructions resulting from human error from those involving natural elements. NHTSA’s changes to its data systems will allow the agency to better track crashes involving unsecured loads, but NHTSA will still face challenges with collecting this information because the determination as to whether a crash involved an unsecured load is made by state law enforcement officials and can be difficult to make. Further, there are some limitations with respect to the state data collected in police crash reports, and data improvements will take time to implement. NHTSA collects data on crashes and fatalities that may involve both commercial and non-commercial vehicles carrying unsecured loads in two data systems—FARS and NASS GES. (see table 1). The FARS provides a census of police-reported traffic crashes nationwide in which at least one fatality occurred. The NASS GES provides national estimates of crash statistics based on a sample of police-reported crashes. For both data systems, police crash reports, which are unique to each state, are a key source of data. NHTSA gathers this information from states and recodes it into a uniform format. Currently, there are three data categories in these systems that track data on crashes involving road debris. However, as noted previously, these data categories do not currently distinguish between different types of roadway debris (i.e., debris resulting from natural/environmental sources versus debris resulting from human error). As a result, NHTSA cannot currently identify how many crashes involve vehicles carrying unsecured loads. In response to the congressional direction to improve its data on unsecured-load crashes, NHTSA officials stated that they are currently making changes to the FARS and the NASS GES to collect better information and better track crashes involving unsecured loads. Specifically, NHTSA has developed changes to both systems to (1) revise two existing data categories on road debris and (2) add two new data categories. The revised and new categories will provide more specific information on unsecured-load crashes. (See appendix III for current FARS and NASS GES data category definitions and planned 2013 changes.) For example, NHTSA will now be able to distinguish between the following two types of crash scenarios that involve an object being set in motion by one vehicle and striking another vehicle, a person, or property, causing injury or damage: Cargo, such as a mattress, being transported by one motor vehicle becomes dislodged and strikes another vehicle, a person, or property. An object in the road, such as a tree branch, is struck by a motor vehicle and then strikes another vehicle, a person, or property. NHTSA will also be able to distinguish between two types of crash scenarios that involve a vehicle striking an object already in the road (without striking another vehicle, a person, or property): A motor vehicle strikes a non-fixed object already at rest in the roadway, such as a mattress, and the object is known to have been cargo from an unsecured load. A motor vehicle strikes a non-fixed object already at rest in the roadway, such as a tree branch, and the object is known to have not come from a motor vehicle, or it is unknown if it came from a motor vehicle. NHTSA officials stated that they intend to analyze this data in the future to determine whether actions are needed to address this problem. They explained that in deciding when to take actions regarding a traffic safety issue, NHTSA first tries to determine the extent of the problem by looking at counts or trends. The agency then may conduct research to better understand the problem and work toward developing countermeasures. According to NHTSA officials, these changes will be effective in the FARS and NASS GES during the 2013 data collection year, which begins January 2013. To implement these changes, NHTSA plans to develop a 2013 coding manual between mid-August 2012 and December 5, 2012, and develop data-entry specifications by November 2012. NHTSA officials stated that they plan to train FARS analysts at the state level and NASS GES data coders on how to use the new and revised data elements in early December 2012. Public users will first have access to the 2013 data in 2014 after data collection and quality control checks are completed. While NHTSA’s changes to the FARS and NASS GES data systems will allow the agency to better track crashes involving unsecured loads, it still faces challenges collecting data on these crashes. Two primary factors affect NHTSA’s ability to collect this information: (1) law enforcement officials face difficulties in determining whether a crash involved an unsecured load and (2) states do not collect uniform data on unsecured loads in their police crash reports. Even with the changes that NHTSA is making in its data collection processes and procedures, the resulting data will be imprecise because it relies on state reporting of crashes and data improvements will take time to implement as acknowledged by NHTSA. NHTSA officials stated that they will make every effort to capture the data available in the source documents to provide the most accurate assessment of this safety issue. Even though NHTSA is improving its data systems, determining whether a crash is a result of an unsecured load will remain a challenge. Several law enforcement officials we spoke with indicated that classifying a crash involving an unsecured load is difficult in some cases, because it is unclear whether the object on the road was as a result of an unsecured load or another factor. One law enforcement official explained that if an object falls from a moving vehicle and immediately hits a vehicle or a person, the crash is generally classified as an unsecured-load crash. However, if an object falls from a moving vehicle onto the road and remains on the road for some time before another vehicle subsequently strikes the object, then the crash will generally not be classified as an unsecured-load crash unless there is a witness available to report that the object originally fell off of another vehicle (see fig. 2). The official explained that identifying the first incident as an unsecured-load crash is generally easier because of a higher likelihood of witnesses at the scene who saw the crash occur and saw the unsecured-load fall from the vehicle. In the second scenario, where debris remains on the road for some time, there may be no information to explain how the object on the road ended up there. According to this official, it is up to the reporting officer to determine how to classify or describe the crash in the police report. Under NHTSA’s planned data system changes, the agency will be able to specify in their data systems crashes that involve unsecured loads if all pertinent information is available to the reporting officer. However, if the incident is not identified by the reporting officer as an unsecured-load crash in the first place, it may not be flagged as such in NHTSA’s data systems. NHTSA officials acknowledged that it can be difficult in some cases to determine if something in the road fell off a vehicle if there is no evidence available. States do not uniformly define and report data on unsecured loads in police crash reports. NHTSA uses information from police crash reports to determine whether a crash is an unsecured-load incident or another type of incident. Some state crash reports contain a field where officers can check off a box indicating whether “unsecured loads” were a contributing factor in a crash while others rely on the officer to explain in the narrative section of the report whether the incident involving an unsecured load or other factor. NHTSA uses information from both sections of the report in developing their data.