Car accidents
There are many factors to consider with a car accident. Many jurisdictions require the collection and reporting of road traffic incident statistics. This data collects personal injuries, property damage to be produced and deaths. Analysis of this data could allow the causes of incidents to be identified. A study by K. Rumar, in 1985, used British and American crash reports as data, and found that 57% of crashes were due to driver factors. 27% involved roadway and driver factors.
6% combined both vehicle and driver factors. 3% was solely due to roadway factors and 1% to combined roadway and vehicle factors. As the factors involved in collisions have been understood, the term ‘accident’ is sometimes avoided by some organisations, as it suggests an unpreventable and unpredictable event. Although these events are rare in terms of the number of drivers and vehicles on the road, addressing the contributing factors can reduce the possibility of a collision. Hence, this is why these organisations prefer the term ‘crash’. A report by the Road and Traffic Authority in New South Wales, found that speeding factored 40% of road deaths.
It was stated that “speeding increases the risk of a crash and the severity of the crash”.
The Official British road casualty statistics show in 2006, exceeding speed limits contributed to 5% of all casualty deaths. A driver’s impairment can also have effects on the road. A road user’s capability is affected by the physical and mental ability to assess conditions and thus induce a response. Common conditions can impair this judgement, such as tiredness, poor eyesight, excessive alcohol and illegal drugs. Road design is another dynamic contributing to road accidents. A study in 1985 by the USA found that 34% of serious crashes were produced by the roadway or its environment.
Most of these crashes, did involve human factor. The road either added to the road user error, or did not allow room to recover from such an error. A potential long fall stopped by an early guardrail ca 1920 or median barriers, can help reduce the consequences of an accident to reduce damage. As these contributory factors have become more widely studies, attempts have been made to reduce the number of crashes, by modifying the physical road conditions. For example, road layout changes with redesigned junctions, grade separated interchanges, roundabouts and through-traffic bypassing could all help reduce a crash.
Motorways, however, generally have all these features, and as a consequence, within each nation, motorways have the best safety record. For most of the 20th century, common school of thought was that traffic should be separated and controlled by class e.g pedestrian, bicyclist and motor vehicle driver. This will combine high speed use of motor vehicles with good traffic safety. This alternative approach has lead to widespread use of traffic lights, belisha beacons, and cycle lanes. Parking sensors give audible warnings when approaching an object. Sobriety detectors detect significant alcohol levels of the driver. Drifting monitors helps with lane markers.
Although these alternatives, do attempt to make the roads safer, ultimately, accidents and crashes do happen. Some argue that the effects of an injury or loss due to a crash are equivalent to that of a crime victim. Therefore, several campaigning organisations that provide support mechanisms, also draw attention to road safety issues with the attention of introducing law reform e.g. MADD.
Unfortunately, many deaths go unrecorded. This is because modern accident statistics often focus on reportable injury accidents, (including deaths) rather than reporting on deaths alone. It is also believed that serious accidents often go under-reported, under- recorded and misclassified.Therefore the completeness of reporting may vary between sources and time. Car accidents can affect everyone in a family, so seeking physical and mental advice/support is vital.
Updated on 6/30/2008