An analysis of the rates of accidents, injuries and fatalities under different light conditions: A Michigan Emergency Response Study of state police pursuits

Accidents, injuries and fatalities resulting from state police pursuits conducted during the Michigan Emergency Response Study (MERS) were compared with non‐pursuit police accidents and three‐ and five‐year means of general population accidents to examine the relative dangerousness of the police pursuits under varying light conditions. The Michigan State Police troopers, who were asked to complete a survey instrument each time a pursuit was conducted during the survey period of June 1991 through May 1992, reported 197 pursuits, 65 accidents with 30 injuries and one fatality. Pursuit accidents were significantly more likely to occur during the hours of darkness than the three comparable groups; however, pursuit injury accidents were more likely to occur during daylight and darkness, but not so during the hours of dusk and dawn. Significant differences in fatalities were not found during daylight, dawn or dusk, but the pursuit fatality rate was higher during darkness when compared with the three groups. Examines accident, injury and fatality rates of previous studies in the review of the literature. Overall, several similarities existed among the studies regardless of the number of pursuits reported.