Car accident
Encyclopedia
A traffic collision, also known as a traffic accident, motor vehicle collision, motor vehicle accident, car accident, automobile accident, Road Traffic Collision (RTC) or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collides
with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris
, or other stationary obstruction, such as a tree or utility pole
. Traffic collisions may result in injury, death and property damage.
A number of factors contribute to the risk of collision including; vehicle design, speed of operation, road design, road environment, driver skill and/or impairment and driver behaviour. Worldwide motor vehicle
collisions lead to death and disability as well as financial costs to both society and the individuals involved.
use the term road traffic injury, while the U.S. Census Bureau uses the term motor vehicle accidents (MVA) and Transport Canada uses the term "motor vehicle traffic collision" (MVTC). Other terms that are commonly used include auto accident, car accident, car crash, car smash, car wreck, motor vehicle collision (MVC), personal injury collision (PIC), road accident, road traffic accident (RTA), road traffic collision (RTC), road traffic incident (RTI), road traffic accident and later road traffic collision, as well as more unofficial terms including smash-up and fender bender.
Some organizations have begun to avoid the term "accident". Although auto collisions are rare in terms of the number of vehicles on the road and the distance they travel, addressing the contributing factors can reduce their likelihood. For example, proper signage can decrease driver error and thereby reduce crash frequency by a third or more. That is why these organizations prefer the term "collision" rather than "accident".
However, treating collisions as anything other than "accidents" has been criticized for holding back safety improvements, because a culture of blame may discourage the involved parties from fully disclosing the facts, and thus frustrate attempts to address the real root cause
s.
s, run-off-road collision
s, rear-end collision
s, side collision
, and rollover
s.
Other common types of Virginia DMV reportable crashes include those crashes which begin on a public highway with a vehicle loss of control and end upon private property.
A 1985 report based on British and American crash data found driver error, intoxication and other human factors contribute wholly or partly to about 93% of crashes.
An RAC
survey of British drivers found that most thought they were better than average drivers; a contradictory result showing overconfidence in their abilities. Nearly all drivers who had been in a crash did not believe themselves to be at fault. One survey of drivers reported that they thought the key elements of good driving were:
Although proficiency in these skills is taught and tested as part of the driving exam, a 'good' driver can still be at a high risk of crashing because:
An AXA
survey concluded Irish drivers are very safety-conscious relative to other European drivers. However, this does not translate to significantly lower crash rates in Ireland.
Accompanying changes to road designs have been wide-scale adoptions of rules of the road alongside law enforcement policies that included drink-driving laws, setting of speed limits, and speed enforcement systems such as speed cameras. Some countries' driving test
s have been expanded to test a new driver's behavior during emergencies, and their hazard perception.
There are demographic differences in crash rates. For example, although young people tend to have good reaction times, disproportionately more young male drivers feature in accidents,
with researchers observing that many exhibit behaviors and attitudes to risk that can place them in more hazardous situations than other road users.
This is reflected by actuaries when they set insurance rates for different age groups, partly based on their age, sex, and choice of vehicle. Older drivers with slower reactions might be expected to be involved in more accidents, but this has not been the case as they tend to drive less and, apparently, more cautiously.
Attempts to impose traffic policies can be complicated by local circumstances and driver behaviour. In 1969 Leeming warned that there is a balance to be struck when "improving" the safety of a road:
Many places that look dangerous have few or no accidents. Conversely, a location that does not look dangerous may have a high crash frequency. This is, in part, because if drivers perceive a location as hazardous, they take more care. Accidents may be more likely to happen when hazardous road or traffic conditions are not obvious at a glance, or where the conditions are too complicated for the limited human machine
to perceive and react in the time and distance available. (This fact can be used to improve safety, by putting up signs in accident-prone locations, like ones stated above.)
This phenomenon has been observed in risk compensation
research, where the predicted reductions in accident rates have not occurred after legislative or technical changes. One study observed that the introduction of improved brakes resulted in more aggressive driving, and another argued that compulsory seat belt laws have not been accompanied by a clearly attributed fall in overall fatalities.
In the 1990s Hans Monderman
's studies of driver behavior led him to the realization that signs and regulations had an adverse effect on a driver's ability to interact safely with other road users. Monderman developed shared space
principles, rooted in the principles of the woonerven
of the 1970s. He found that the removal of highway clutter, while allowing drivers and other road users to mingle with equal priority, could help drivers recognize environmental clues. They relied on their cognitive skills alone, reducing traffic speeds radically and resulting in lower levels of road casualties and lower levels of congestion.
Some crashes are intended, staged crash
es, for example, involve at least one party who hopes to crash a vehicle in order to submit lucrative claims to an insurance company. Latin immigrants in the 1990s were recruited to drive cars that were meant to be crashed. It was an illegal and risky job, for which they would be paid only $100. Jose Luis Lopez Perez, a staged crash driver, died after one such maneuver, leading to an investigation which uncovered the increasing frequency of this type of crash.
The Road and Traffic Authority (RTA) of the Australian state of New South Wales
(NSW) asserts speeding (travelling too fast for the prevailing conditions or above the posted speed limit
) is a factor in about 40 percent of road deaths. The RTA also say speeding increases the risk of a crash and its severity. On another webpage, the RTA qualify their claims by referring to one specific piece of research from 1997, and stating "research has shown that the risk of a crash causing death or injury increases rapidly, even with small increases above an appropriately set speed limit."
The contributory factor report in the official British road casualty statistics
show for 2006, that "exceeding speed limit" was a contributory factor in 5% of all casualty crashes (14% of all fatal crashes), and that "travelling too fast for conditions" was a contributory factor in 11% of all casualty crashes (18% of all fatal crashes).
Alcohol
In Canada 33.8% of motor vehicle deaths were associated with alcohol use. See also: alcohol-related traffic crashes in the United States
;
Physical impairment
Poor eyesight
and/or physical impairment
, with many jurisdictions setting simple sight tests and/or requiring appropriate vehicle modifications before being allowed to drive;
Youth
Insurance statistics demonstrate a notably higher incidence of accidents and fatalities among teenage and early twenty-aged drivers, with insurance rates reflecting this data. Teens and early twenty-aged drivers have the highest incidence of both accidents and fatalities among all driving age groups. This was observed to be true well before the advent of mobile phones. Females in this age group suffer a somewhat lower accident and fatality rate than males but still well above the median across all age groups. Also within this group, the highest accident incidence rate occurs within the first year of licensed driving. For this reason many US states have enacted a zero-tolerance policy wherein receiving a moving violation within the first six months to one year of obtaining a license results in automatic license suspension. No US state allows fourteen year-olds to obtain drivers licenses any longer.
Old age
Old age
, with some jurisdictions requiring driver retesting for reaction speed and eyesight after a certain age;
Sleep deprivation
Fatigue;
Drug use
Including some prescription drug
s, over the counter drugs (notably antihistamine
s, opioid
s and muscarinic antagonist
s), and illegal drugs.
Distraction
Research suggests that the driver's attention is affected by distracting sounds such as conversations and operating a mobile phone while driving
. Many jurisdictions now restrict or outlaw the use of some types of phone within the car. Recent research conducted by British scientists suggests that music can also have an effect; classical music
is considered to be calming, yet too much could relax the driver to a condition of distraction. On the other hand, hard rock
may encourage the driver to step on the acceleration pedal, thus creating a potentially dangerous situation on the road.
Combinations of factors
Several conditions can work together to create a much worse situation, for example:
Thus there are situations when a person may be impaired, but still legally allowed to drive, and becomes a potential hazard to themselves and other road users. Pedestrians or cyclists are affected in the same way and can similarly jeopardize themselves or others when on the road.
A 1985 US study showed that about 34% of serious crashes had contributing factors related to the roadway or its environment. Most of these crashes also involved a human factor. The road or environmental factor was either noted as making a significant contribution to the circumstances of the crash, or did not allow room to recover. In these circumstances it is frequently the driver who is blamed rather than the road; those reporting the accident have a tendency to overlook the human factors
involved, such as the subtleties of design and maintenance that a driver could fail to observe or inadequately compensate for.
Research has shown that careful design and maintenance, with well-designed intersections, road surfaces, visibility and traffic control devices, can result in significant improvements in accident rates.
Individual roads also have widely differing performance in the event of an impact. In Europe there are now EuroRAP
tests that indicate how "self-explaining" and forgiving a particular road and its roadside would be in the event of a major incident.
In the UK, research has shown that investment in a safe road infrastructure programme could yield a ⅓ reduction in road deaths saving as much as £6billion per year. A consortium of 13 major road safety stakeholders have formed the Campaign for Safe Road Design
, which is calling on the UK Government to make safe road design a national transport priority.
Seatbelts
Research has shown that, across all collision types, it is less likely that seat belts were worn in collisions involving death or serious injury, rather than light injury; wearing a seat belt reduces the risk of death by about two thirds. Seat belt use
is controversial, with notable critics such as Professor John Adams suggesting that their use may lead to a net increase in road casualties due to a phenomenon known as risk compensation
.
Maintenance
A well-designed and well-maintained vehicle, with good brakes, tires and well-adjusted suspension will be more controllable in an emergency and thus be better equipped to avoid collisions. Some mandatory vehicle inspection
schemes include tests for some aspects of roadworthiness
, such as the UK's MOT test or German TÜV
conformance inspection.
The design of vehicles has also evolved to improve protection after collision, both for vehicle occupants and for those outside of the vehicle. Much of this work was led by automotive industry competition and technological innovation, leading to measures such as Saab
's safety cage and reinforced roof pillars of 1946, Ford´s 1956 Lifeguard
safety package, and Saab and Volvo
's introduction of standard fit seatbelts in 1959. Other initiatives were accelerated as a reaction to consumer pressure, after publications such as Ralph Nader
's 1965 book Unsafe at Any Speed
accused motor manufacturers of indifference towards safety.
In the early 1970s British Leyland started an intensive programme of vehicle safety research, producing a number of prototype experimental safety vehicles
demonstrating various innovations for occupant and pedestrian protection such as: air bags, anti-lock brakes, impact-absorbing side-panels, front and rear head restraints, run-flat tyres, smooth and deformable front-ends, impact-absorbing bumpers, and retractable headlamps. Design has also been influenced by government legislation, such as the Euro NCAP impact test
.
Common features designed to improve safety include: thicker pillars, safety glass, interiors with no sharp edges, stronger bodies
, other active or passive safety features, and smooth exteriors to reduce the consequences of an impact with pedestrians.
The UK Department for Transport
publish road casualty statistics for each type of collision and vehicle through its Road Casualties Great Britain
report.
These statistics show a ten to one ratio of in-vehicle fatalities between types of car. In most cars, occupants have a 2–8% chance of death in a two-car collision.
Center of gravity
Some crash types tend to have more serious consequences, Rollover
s have become more common in recent years, perhaps due to increased popularity of taller SUVs, people carriers, and minivan
s, which have a higher center of gravity
than standard passenger cars. Rollovers can be fatal, especially if the occupants are ejected because they were not wearing seat belts (83% of ejections during rollovers were fatal when the driver did not wear a seat belt, compared to 25% when they did).
After a new design of Mercedes Benz notoriously failed a 'moose test
' (sudden swerving to avoid an obstacle), some manufacturers enhance suspension using stability control
linked to an anti-lock braking system
to reduce the likelihood of rollover. After retrofitting these systems to its models in 1999–2000, Mercedes saw its models involved in fewer crashes
Now about 40% of new US vehicles, mainly the SUVs, vans and pickup trucks that are more susceptible to rollover, are being produced with a lower center of gravity
and enhanced suspension with stability control
linked to its anti-lock braking system
to reduce the risk of rollover and meet US federal requirements that mandate anti-rollover technology by September 2011.
Motorcycles
Motorcyclists have little protection other than their clothing
; this difference is reflected in the casualty statistics, where they are more than twice as likely to suffer severely after a collision. In 2005 there were 198,735 road crashes with 271,017 reported casualties on roads in Great Britain. This included 3,201 deaths (1.1%) and 28,954 serious injuries (10.7%) overall.
Of these casualties 178,302 (66%) were car users and 24,824 (9%) were motorcyclists, of whom 569 were killed (2.3%) and 5,939 seriously injured (24%).
resolution and debate was in 2003 The World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims
was declared in 2005. In 2009 the first high level ministerial conference on road safety was held in Moscow
.
The World Health Organization
, a specialized agency of the United Nations Organization, in its Global Status Report on Road Safety 2009, states that over 90% of the world’s fatalities on the roads occur in low-income and middle-income countries, which have only 48% of the world’s registered vehicles, and predicts that road traffic injuries will rise to become the fifth leading cause of death
by 2030
Source IRTAD for the following data :
Number of vehicles : 2005 except Ireland 2003 ; Luxembourg 2004 ; Slovakia 2002.
Length of the network: 2005 except Hungary and Luxembourg 2004 ; Germany and Danemark 2003 ; Slovakia 2002 ; Iceland 2000 ; Ireland 2001 ; Netherlands 1999 ; Greece and United Kingdom 1998 ; Portugal 1993 ; Italy 1992.
Distance in Kilometres : 2005 except Danemark 2004 ; Italy and Netherlands 2003 ; Ireland 2001 ; Iceland and Slovakia 2000 ; United Kingdom and Greece 1998.
Population : source IRTAD except for Ireland, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Sweden, Iceland and Norway: source INED.
The world’s first road traffic death involving a motor vehicle is alleged to have occurred on 31 August 1869. An Irish scientist Mary Ward
died when she fell out of her cousins' steam car and was run over by it.
The British road engineer
J. J. Leeming
, compared the statistics for fatality rates in Great Britain, for transport-related incidents both before and after the introduction of the motor vehicle, for journeys, including those once by water that now are undertaken by motor vehicle: For the period 1863–1870 there were: 470 fatalities per million of population (76 on railways, 143 on roads, 251 on water); for the period 1891–1900 the corresponding figures were: 348 (63, 107, 178); for the period 1931–1938: 403 (22, 311, 70) and for the year 1963: 325 (10, 278, 37). Leeming concluded that the data showed that "travel accidents may even have been more frequent a century ago than they are now, at least for men".
In 1969 a British road engineer
compared the circumstances around road deaths as reported in various American states before the widespread introduction of 55 mi/h speed limit
s and drunk-driving
laws.
to cover these potential costs. However, in the event of severe injuries or fatalities, victims may seek damages in civil court, often for well in excess of the value of insurance.
Additionally, drivers who are involved in a collision frequently receive one or more traffic citations, usually directly addressing any material violations such as speeding, failure to obey a traffic control device, or driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. In the event of a fatality, a charge of vehicular homicide
is occasionally prosecuted, especially in cases involving alcohol.
Convictions for traffic violations are usually penalized with fines, and for more severe offenses, the suspension or revocation of driving privileges. Convictions for alcohol offenses generally result in the revocation or long term suspension of the driver's license, and sometimes jail time and/or mandatory alcohol rehabilitation.
Due to increase in availability of cable news and Internet news, exposure to such legal actions has increased in recent years, specifically with coverage of cases and class action
suits concerning SUV rollover
s and recent incidents of sudden acceleration crashes highlighted by the 2010 Toyota Recall. Increased exposure has led to larger class action suits, and automobile owners' ability to link their collision causes and issues to ones in other regions has spread knowledge of external causes.
Collision
A collision is an isolated event which two or more moving bodies exert forces on each other for a relatively short time.Although the most common colloquial use of the word "collision" refers to accidents in which two or more objects collide, the scientific use of the word "collision" implies...
with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris
Road debris
Road debris, a form of road hazard, is debris on or off a road. Road debris includes substances, materials, and objects that are foreign to the normal roadway environment...
, or other stationary obstruction, such as a tree or utility pole
Utility pole
A utility pole is a pole used to support overhead power lines and various other public utilities, such as cable, fibre optic cable, and related equipment such as transformers and street lights. It can be referred to as a telephone pole, power pole, hydro pole, telegraph pole, or telegraph post,...
. Traffic collisions may result in injury, death and property damage.
A number of factors contribute to the risk of collision including; vehicle design, speed of operation, road design, road environment, driver skill and/or impairment and driver behaviour. Worldwide motor vehicle
Motor vehicle
A motor vehicle or road vehicle is a self-propelled wheeled vehicle that does not operate on rails, such as trains or trolleys. The vehicle propulsion is provided by an engine or motor, usually by an internal combustion engine, or an electric motor, or some combination of the two, such as hybrid...
collisions lead to death and disability as well as financial costs to both society and the individuals involved.
Terminology
Many different terms are commonly used to describe vehicle collisions. The World Health OrganizationWorld Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
use the term road traffic injury, while the U.S. Census Bureau uses the term motor vehicle accidents (MVA) and Transport Canada uses the term "motor vehicle traffic collision" (MVTC). Other terms that are commonly used include auto accident, car accident, car crash, car smash, car wreck, motor vehicle collision (MVC), personal injury collision (PIC), road accident, road traffic accident (RTA), road traffic collision (RTC), road traffic incident (RTI), road traffic accident and later road traffic collision, as well as more unofficial terms including smash-up and fender bender.
Some organizations have begun to avoid the term "accident". Although auto collisions are rare in terms of the number of vehicles on the road and the distance they travel, addressing the contributing factors can reduce their likelihood. For example, proper signage can decrease driver error and thereby reduce crash frequency by a third or more. That is why these organizations prefer the term "collision" rather than "accident".
However, treating collisions as anything other than "accidents" has been criticized for holding back safety improvements, because a culture of blame may discourage the involved parties from fully disclosing the facts, and thus frustrate attempts to address the real root cause
Root cause
A root cause is rarely an initiating cause of a causal chain which leads to an outcome or effect of interest. Commonly, root cause is misused to describe the depth in the causal chain where an intervention could reasonably be implemented to change performance and prevent an undesirable outcome.In...
s.
Classification
Motor vehicle collisions can be classified by mechanism. Common mechanisms include head-on collisionHead-on collision
A head-on collision is one where the front ends of two ships, trains, planes or vehicles hit each other, as opposed to a side collision or rear-end collision.-Rail transport:...
s, run-off-road collision
Run-off-road collision
A run-off-road collision is a type of single-vehicle accident that occurs when a vehicle leaves the roadway. Contributing factors often include loss of control or mis-judging a curve, or attempting to avoid colliding with another road user or an animal...
s, rear-end collision
Rear-end collision
A rear-end collision is a traffic accident wherein a vehicle crashes into the vehicle in front of it, usually caused by tailgating or panic stops...
s, side collision
Side collision
Side collisions are vehicle crashes where the side of one or more vehicles is impacted. These crashes often occur at intersections, in parking lots, when two vehicles pass on a multi-lane roadway, or when a vehicle hits a fixed object....
, and rollover
Rollover
A rollover is a type of vehicle accident in which a vehicle tips over onto its side or roof. The most common cause of a rollover is traveling too fast while turning.- Dynamics :Vehicles can roll over in several ways...
s.
Other common types of Virginia DMV reportable crashes include those crashes which begin on a public highway with a vehicle loss of control and end upon private property.
Causes
A 1985 study by K. Rumar, using British and American crash reports as data, found that 57% of crashes were due solely to driver factors, 27% to combined roadway and driver factors, 6% to combined vehicle and driver factors, 3% solely to roadway factors, 3% to combined roadway, driver, and vehicle factors, 2% solely to vehicle factors and 1% to combined roadway and vehicle factors.Human factors
Human factors in vehicle collisions include all factors related to drivers and other road users that may contribute to a collision. Examples include driver behavior, visual and auditory acuity, decision-making ability, and reaction speed.A 1985 report based on British and American crash data found driver error, intoxication and other human factors contribute wholly or partly to about 93% of crashes.
An RAC
RAC
-Companies:* Rent-A-Center, an American public furniture and electronics rent to own company* Royal Automobile Club, a private club in Pall Mall, London* RAC plc, a breakdown company in the United Kingdom...
survey of British drivers found that most thought they were better than average drivers; a contradictory result showing overconfidence in their abilities. Nearly all drivers who had been in a crash did not believe themselves to be at fault. One survey of drivers reported that they thought the key elements of good driving were:
- controlling a car including a good awareness of the car's size and capabilities
- reading and reacting to road conditions, weather, road signs and the environment
- alertness, reading and anticipating the behaviour of other drivers.
Although proficiency in these skills is taught and tested as part of the driving exam, a 'good' driver can still be at a high risk of crashing because:
...the feeling of being confident in more and more challenging situations is experienced as evidence of driving ability, and that 'proven' ability reinforces the feelings of confidence. Confidence feeds itself and grows unchecked until something happens – a near-miss or an accident.
An AXA
AXA
AXA S.A. is a French global insurance group headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. AXA is a conglomerate of independently run businesses, operated according to the laws and regulations of many different countries. The AXA group of companies engage in life, health and other forms of...
survey concluded Irish drivers are very safety-conscious relative to other European drivers. However, this does not translate to significantly lower crash rates in Ireland.
Accompanying changes to road designs have been wide-scale adoptions of rules of the road alongside law enforcement policies that included drink-driving laws, setting of speed limits, and speed enforcement systems such as speed cameras. Some countries' driving test
Driving test
A driving test is a procedure designed to test a person's ability to drive a motor vehicle. It exists in various forms worldwide, and is often a requirement to pass the exam to obtain a driver's license...
s have been expanded to test a new driver's behavior during emergencies, and their hazard perception.
There are demographic differences in crash rates. For example, although young people tend to have good reaction times, disproportionately more young male drivers feature in accidents,
with researchers observing that many exhibit behaviors and attitudes to risk that can place them in more hazardous situations than other road users.
This is reflected by actuaries when they set insurance rates for different age groups, partly based on their age, sex, and choice of vehicle. Older drivers with slower reactions might be expected to be involved in more accidents, but this has not been the case as they tend to drive less and, apparently, more cautiously.
Attempts to impose traffic policies can be complicated by local circumstances and driver behaviour. In 1969 Leeming warned that there is a balance to be struck when "improving" the safety of a road:
Many places that look dangerous have few or no accidents. Conversely, a location that does not look dangerous may have a high crash frequency. This is, in part, because if drivers perceive a location as hazardous, they take more care. Accidents may be more likely to happen when hazardous road or traffic conditions are not obvious at a glance, or where the conditions are too complicated for the limited human machine
Human factors
Human factors science or human factors technologies is a multidisciplinary field incorporating contributions from psychology, engineering, industrial design, statistics, operations research and anthropometry...
to perceive and react in the time and distance available. (This fact can be used to improve safety, by putting up signs in accident-prone locations, like ones stated above.)
This phenomenon has been observed in risk compensation
Risk compensation
In ethology, risk compensation is an effect whereby individual people may tend to adjust their behavior in response to perceived changes in risk. It is seen as self-evident that individuals will tend to behave in a more cautious manner if their perception of risk or danger increases...
research, where the predicted reductions in accident rates have not occurred after legislative or technical changes. One study observed that the introduction of improved brakes resulted in more aggressive driving, and another argued that compulsory seat belt laws have not been accompanied by a clearly attributed fall in overall fatalities.
In the 1990s Hans Monderman
Hans Monderman
Hans Monderman was a Dutch road traffic engineer and innovator. He was recognized forradically challenging criteria used to evaluate engineering solutions for street design...
's studies of driver behavior led him to the realization that signs and regulations had an adverse effect on a driver's ability to interact safely with other road users. Monderman developed shared space
Shared space
Shared space is an urban design concept aimed at integrated use of public spaces. It encourages traffic engineers, urban planners and experts from other fields to consult with users of public space when planning and designing streets and squares in both built and non-built environments...
principles, rooted in the principles of the woonerven
Woonerf
A woonerf in the Netherlands and Flanders is a street where pedestrians and cyclists have legal priority over motorists. The techniques of shared spaces, traffic calming, and low speed limits are intended to improve pedestrian, bicycle, and automobile safety.-By country:In 1999 the Netherlands had...
of the 1970s. He found that the removal of highway clutter, while allowing drivers and other road users to mingle with equal priority, could help drivers recognize environmental clues. They relied on their cognitive skills alone, reducing traffic speeds radically and resulting in lower levels of road casualties and lower levels of congestion.
Some crashes are intended, staged crash
Staged crash
According to the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, staged car crashes are a growing criminal problem.Drivers maneuver unsuspecting motorists into crashes in order to make false insurance claims. The cars generally suffer little damage in relation to the large demand that is then fraudulently...
es, for example, involve at least one party who hopes to crash a vehicle in order to submit lucrative claims to an insurance company. Latin immigrants in the 1990s were recruited to drive cars that were meant to be crashed. It was an illegal and risky job, for which they would be paid only $100. Jose Luis Lopez Perez, a staged crash driver, died after one such maneuver, leading to an investigation which uncovered the increasing frequency of this type of crash.
Motor vehicle speed
The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration review research on traffic speed in 1998. The summary states:- That the evidence shows that the risk of having a crash is increased both for vehicles traveling slower than the average speed, and for those traveling above the average speed.
- That the risk of being injured increases exponentially with speeds much faster than the median speed.
- That the severity of a crash depends on the vehicle speed change at impact.
- That there is limited evidence that suggests that lower speed limits result in lower speeds on a system wide basis.
- That most crashes related to speed involve speed too fast for the conditions.
- That more research is needed to determine the effectiveness of traffic calming.
The Road and Traffic Authority (RTA) of the Australian state of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
(NSW) asserts speeding (travelling too fast for the prevailing conditions or above the posted speed limit
Speed limit
Road speed limits are used in most countries to regulate the speed of road vehicles. Speed limits may define maximum , minimum or no speed limit and are normally indicated using a traffic sign...
) is a factor in about 40 percent of road deaths. The RTA also say speeding increases the risk of a crash and its severity. On another webpage, the RTA qualify their claims by referring to one specific piece of research from 1997, and stating "research has shown that the risk of a crash causing death or injury increases rapidly, even with small increases above an appropriately set speed limit."
The contributory factor report in the official British road casualty statistics
Road Casualties Great Britain
Reported Road Casualties Great Britain , formerly Road Casualties Great Britain and before that Road Accidents Great Britain is the official statistical publication of the UK Department for Transport on traffic casualties, fatalities and related road safety data...
show for 2006, that "exceeding speed limit" was a contributory factor in 5% of all casualty crashes (14% of all fatal crashes), and that "travelling too fast for conditions" was a contributory factor in 11% of all casualty crashes (18% of all fatal crashes).
Driver impairment
Driver impairment describes factors that prevent the driver from driving at their normal level of skill. Common impairments include:Alcohol
Alcohol-related traffic crashes in the United States
Alcohol-related traffic crashes are defined by the United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as alcohol-related if either a driver or a non-motorist had a measurable or estimated BAC of 0.01 g/dl or above...
;
Physical impairment
Poor eyesight
Visual perception
Visual perception is the ability to interpret information and surroundings from the effects of visible light reaching the eye. The resulting perception is also known as eyesight, sight, or vision...
and/or physical impairment
Disability
A disability may be physical, cognitive, mental, sensory, emotional, developmental or some combination of these.Many people would rather be referred to as a person with a disability instead of handicapped...
, with many jurisdictions setting simple sight tests and/or requiring appropriate vehicle modifications before being allowed to drive;
Youth
Insurance statistics demonstrate a notably higher incidence of accidents and fatalities among teenage and early twenty-aged drivers, with insurance rates reflecting this data. Teens and early twenty-aged drivers have the highest incidence of both accidents and fatalities among all driving age groups. This was observed to be true well before the advent of mobile phones. Females in this age group suffer a somewhat lower accident and fatality rate than males but still well above the median across all age groups. Also within this group, the highest accident incidence rate occurs within the first year of licensed driving. For this reason many US states have enacted a zero-tolerance policy wherein receiving a moving violation within the first six months to one year of obtaining a license results in automatic license suspension. No US state allows fourteen year-olds to obtain drivers licenses any longer.
Old age
Old age
Old age
Old age consists of ages nearing or surpassing the average life span of human beings, and thus the end of the human life cycle...
, with some jurisdictions requiring driver retesting for reaction speed and eyesight after a certain age;
Sleep deprivation
Fatigue;
Drug use
Including some prescription drug
Prescription drug
A prescription medication is a licensed medicine that is regulated by legislation to require a medical prescription before it can be obtained. The term is used to distinguish it from over-the-counter drugs which can be obtained without a prescription...
s, over the counter drugs (notably antihistamine
Antihistamine
An H1 antagonist is a histamine antagonist of the H1 receptor that serves to reduce or eliminate effects mediated by histamine, an endogenous chemical mediator released during allergic reactions...
s, opioid
Opioid
An opioid is a psychoactive chemical that works by binding to opioid receptors, which are found principally in the central and peripheral nervous system and the gastrointestinal tract...
s and muscarinic antagonist
Muscarinic antagonist
In neurochemistry, a muscarinic receptor antagonist is an agent that reduces the activity of the muscarinic acetylcholine receptor. Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter, whose receptor is a protein found in synapses and other cell membranes...
s), and illegal drugs.
Distraction
Research suggests that the driver's attention is affected by distracting sounds such as conversations and operating a mobile phone while driving
Mobile phones and driving safety
Mobile phone use while driving is common, but dangerous. Due to the number of accidents that are related to cell phone use while driving, some jurisdictions have made the use of a cell phone while driving illegal. Others have enacted laws to ban handheld mobile phone use, but allow use of a...
. Many jurisdictions now restrict or outlaw the use of some types of phone within the car. Recent research conducted by British scientists suggests that music can also have an effect; classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
is considered to be calming, yet too much could relax the driver to a condition of distraction. On the other hand, hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
may encourage the driver to step on the acceleration pedal, thus creating a potentially dangerous situation on the road.
Combinations of factors
Several conditions can work together to create a much worse situation, for example:
- Combining low doses of alcohol and cannabisCannabisCannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. These three taxa are indigenous to Central Asia, and South Asia. Cannabis has long been used for fibre , for seed and seed oils, for medicinal purposes, and as a...
has a more severe effect on driving performance than either cannabis or alcohol in isolation, or - Taking recommended doses of several drugs together, which individually do not cause impairment, may combine to bring on drowsiness or other impairment. This could be more pronounced in an elderly person whose renal function is less efficient than a younger person's.
Thus there are situations when a person may be impaired, but still legally allowed to drive, and becomes a potential hazard to themselves and other road users. Pedestrians or cyclists are affected in the same way and can similarly jeopardize themselves or others when on the road.
Road design
Human factors
Human factors science or human factors technologies is a multidisciplinary field incorporating contributions from psychology, engineering, industrial design, statistics, operations research and anthropometry...
involved, such as the subtleties of design and maintenance that a driver could fail to observe or inadequately compensate for.
Research has shown that careful design and maintenance, with well-designed intersections, road surfaces, visibility and traffic control devices, can result in significant improvements in accident rates.
Individual roads also have widely differing performance in the event of an impact. In Europe there are now EuroRAP
EuroRAP
European Road Assessment Programme is a non-profit road safety organisation which aims to reduce death and serious injury on Europe's roads...
tests that indicate how "self-explaining" and forgiving a particular road and its roadside would be in the event of a major incident.
In the UK, research has shown that investment in a safe road infrastructure programme could yield a ⅓ reduction in road deaths saving as much as £6billion per year. A consortium of 13 major road safety stakeholders have formed the Campaign for Safe Road Design
Campaign for Safe Road Design
The Campaign for Safe Road Design is a partnership between 13 UK major road safety stakeholders that is calling for the UK Government to invest in a safe road infrastructure which in their view could cut deaths on British roads by 33%.-Aims:...
, which is calling on the UK Government to make safe road design a national transport priority.
Vehicle design and maintenance
Research has shown that, across all collision types, it is less likely that seat belts were worn in collisions involving death or serious injury, rather than light injury; wearing a seat belt reduces the risk of death by about two thirds. Seat belt use
Seat belt legislation
Seat belt legislation requires the fitting of seat belts to motor vehicles and/or the wearing of seat belts by motor vehicle occupants. The U.S. state of Wisconsin introduced legislation in 1961 requiring front seat belt anchorages to be fitted to cars. The Australian state of Victoria mandated...
is controversial, with notable critics such as Professor John Adams suggesting that their use may lead to a net increase in road casualties due to a phenomenon known as risk compensation
Risk compensation
In ethology, risk compensation is an effect whereby individual people may tend to adjust their behavior in response to perceived changes in risk. It is seen as self-evident that individuals will tend to behave in a more cautious manner if their perception of risk or danger increases...
.
Maintenance
A well-designed and well-maintained vehicle, with good brakes, tires and well-adjusted suspension will be more controllable in an emergency and thus be better equipped to avoid collisions. Some mandatory vehicle inspection
Vehicle inspection
Vehicle inspection is a procedure mandated by national or subnational governments in many countries, in which a vehicle is inspected to ensure that it conforms to regulations governing safety, emissions, or both. Inspection can be required at various times, e.g., periodically or on transfer of...
schemes include tests for some aspects of roadworthiness
Roadworthiness
Roadworthiness or streetworthiness is a property or ability of a car, bus, truck or any kind of automobile to be in a suitable operating condition or meeting acceptable standards for safe driving and transport of people, baggage or cargo in roads or streets....
, such as the UK's MOT test or German TÜV
Tuv
Tuv may refer to the following geographical locations:*Töv Province in Mongolia*Tuv in Hemsedal municipality, Buskerud, Norway*Tuv in Bodø municipality, Nordland, NorwayTUV may also refer to the following:*Tuvalu, a Pacific Island nation...
conformance inspection.
The design of vehicles has also evolved to improve protection after collision, both for vehicle occupants and for those outside of the vehicle. Much of this work was led by automotive industry competition and technological innovation, leading to measures such as Saab
Saab Automobile
Saab Automobile AB, better known as Saab , is a Swedish car manufacturer owned by Dutch automobile manufacturer Swedish Automobile NV, formerly Spyker Cars NV. It is the exclusive automobile Royal Warrant holder as appointed by the King of Sweden...
's safety cage and reinforced roof pillars of 1946, Ford´s 1956 Lifeguard
Lifeguard (Automobile safety)
Lifeguard was the name of a 1956 safety package marketed by the Ford Motor Company.Spurred by Robert McNamara, the Cornell University crash research program and the first year of Ford's own crash testing the Lifeguard package included:...
safety package, and Saab and Volvo
Volvo Cars
Volvo Car Corporation, or Volvo Personvagnar AB, is a Swedish automobile manufacturer founded in 1927, in Gothenburg, Sweden. It is owned by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. Volvo was originally formed as a subsidiary company to the ball bearing maker SKF. When Volvo AB was introduced on the Swedish...
's introduction of standard fit seatbelts in 1959. Other initiatives were accelerated as a reaction to consumer pressure, after publications such as Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....
's 1965 book Unsafe at Any Speed
Unsafe at Any Speed
Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile by Ralph Nader, published in 1965, is a book detailing resistance by car manufacturers to the introduction of safety features, like seat belts, and their general reluctance to spend money on improving safety...
accused motor manufacturers of indifference towards safety.
In the early 1970s British Leyland started an intensive programme of vehicle safety research, producing a number of prototype experimental safety vehicles
Experimental Safety Vehicle
Experimental Safety Vehicle is the designation for experimental concept cars which are used to test car safety ideas.In 1970 the U.S. DOT announced its ESV project, the aim of which was to obtain safer vehicles by 1980. : A car produced by this effort was known as the Minicar RSV.In 1991, the ESV...
demonstrating various innovations for occupant and pedestrian protection such as: air bags, anti-lock brakes, impact-absorbing side-panels, front and rear head restraints, run-flat tyres, smooth and deformable front-ends, impact-absorbing bumpers, and retractable headlamps. Design has also been influenced by government legislation, such as the Euro NCAP impact test
Crash test
A crash test is a form of destructive testing usually performed in order to ensure safe design standards in crashworthiness and crash compatibility for various modes of transportation or related systems and components.- Types :...
.
Common features designed to improve safety include: thicker pillars, safety glass, interiors with no sharp edges, stronger bodies
Crumple zone
The crumple zone is a structural feature mainly of automobiles. Crumple zones have also been incorporated into railcars in recent years.They are designed to absorb the energy from the impact during an accident by controlled deformation. This energy is much higher than is commonly recognized...
, other active or passive safety features, and smooth exteriors to reduce the consequences of an impact with pedestrians.
The UK Department for Transport
Department for Transport
In the United Kingdom, the Department for Transport is the government department responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland which are not devolved...
publish road casualty statistics for each type of collision and vehicle through its Road Casualties Great Britain
Road Casualties Great Britain
Reported Road Casualties Great Britain , formerly Road Casualties Great Britain and before that Road Accidents Great Britain is the official statistical publication of the UK Department for Transport on traffic casualties, fatalities and related road safety data...
report.
These statistics show a ten to one ratio of in-vehicle fatalities between types of car. In most cars, occupants have a 2–8% chance of death in a two-car collision.
Center of gravity
Some crash types tend to have more serious consequences, Rollover
Rollover
A rollover is a type of vehicle accident in which a vehicle tips over onto its side or roof. The most common cause of a rollover is traveling too fast while turning.- Dynamics :Vehicles can roll over in several ways...
s have become more common in recent years, perhaps due to increased popularity of taller SUVs, people carriers, and minivan
Minivan
Minivan is a type of van designed for personal use. Minivans are typically either two-box or one box designs for maximum interior volume – and are taller than a sedan, hatchback, or a station wagon....
s, which have a higher center of gravity
Center of gravity
In physics, a center of gravity of a material body is a point that may be used for a summary description of gravitational interactions. In a uniform gravitational field, the center of mass serves as the center of gravity...
than standard passenger cars. Rollovers can be fatal, especially if the occupants are ejected because they were not wearing seat belts (83% of ejections during rollovers were fatal when the driver did not wear a seat belt, compared to 25% when they did).
After a new design of Mercedes Benz notoriously failed a 'moose test
Moose test
A moose test or elk test is a test to determine how a certain vehicle acts when the driver evades a suddenly appearing obstacle...
' (sudden swerving to avoid an obstacle), some manufacturers enhance suspension using stability control
Electronic Stability Control
Electronic stability control is a computerized technology that may potentially improve the safety of a vehicle's stability by detecting and minimizing skids. When ESC detects loss of steering control, it automatically applies the brakes to help "steer" the vehicle where the driver intends to go...
linked to an anti-lock braking system
Anti-lock braking system
An anti-lock braking system is a safety system that allows the wheels on a motor vehicle to continue interacting tractively with the road surface as directed by driver steering inputs while braking, preventing the wheels from locking up and therefore avoiding skidding.An ABS generally offers...
to reduce the likelihood of rollover. After retrofitting these systems to its models in 1999–2000, Mercedes saw its models involved in fewer crashes
Now about 40% of new US vehicles, mainly the SUVs, vans and pickup trucks that are more susceptible to rollover, are being produced with a lower center of gravity
Center of gravity
In physics, a center of gravity of a material body is a point that may be used for a summary description of gravitational interactions. In a uniform gravitational field, the center of mass serves as the center of gravity...
and enhanced suspension with stability control
Electronic Stability Control
Electronic stability control is a computerized technology that may potentially improve the safety of a vehicle's stability by detecting and minimizing skids. When ESC detects loss of steering control, it automatically applies the brakes to help "steer" the vehicle where the driver intends to go...
linked to its anti-lock braking system
Anti-lock braking system
An anti-lock braking system is a safety system that allows the wheels on a motor vehicle to continue interacting tractively with the road surface as directed by driver steering inputs while braking, preventing the wheels from locking up and therefore avoiding skidding.An ABS generally offers...
to reduce the risk of rollover and meet US federal requirements that mandate anti-rollover technology by September 2011.
Motorcycles
Motorcyclists have little protection other than their clothing
Motorcycle safety clothing
To improve motorcycle safety many countries mandate the wearing of personal protective equipment such as protective clothing and helmets. Protective clothing may include certain types of jackets, gloves, boots, and pants. Jackets meant for motorcyclists are typically made of nylon, leather, or Kevlar...
; this difference is reflected in the casualty statistics, where they are more than twice as likely to suffer severely after a collision. In 2005 there were 198,735 road crashes with 271,017 reported casualties on roads in Great Britain. This included 3,201 deaths (1.1%) and 28,954 serious injuries (10.7%) overall.
Of these casualties 178,302 (66%) were car users and 24,824 (9%) were motorcyclists, of whom 569 were killed (2.3%) and 5,939 seriously injured (24%).
Prevention
A large body of knowledge has been amassed on how to prevent car crashes, and reduce the severity of those that do occur. See Road Traffic Safety.United Nations response
Owing to the global and massive scale of the issue, with predictions that by 2020 road traffic deaths and injuries will exceed HIV/AIDS as a burden of death and disability, the United Nations and its subsidiary bodies have passed resolutions and held conferences on the issue. The first United Nations General AssemblyUnited Nations General Assembly
For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...
resolution and debate was in 2003 The World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims
World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims
The World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims takes place on the third Sunday in November every year as the appropriate acknowledgment of victims of road traffic crashes and their families. It was started by RoadPeace in 1993 and was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in...
was declared in 2005. In 2009 the first high level ministerial conference on road safety was held in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
.
The World Health Organization
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
, a specialized agency of the United Nations Organization, in its Global Status Report on Road Safety 2009, states that over 90% of the world’s fatalities on the roads occur in low-income and middle-income countries, which have only 48% of the world’s registered vehicles, and predicts that road traffic injuries will rise to become the fifth leading cause of death
Cause of Death
Cause of Death is a 1990 album by American death metal band Obituary. Cause of Death is considered a classic album in the history of death metal. The artwork was done by artist Michael Whelan...
by 2030
Epidemiology
| Vehicles in circulation (thousands) |
Length of the road network (kilometers) |
Circulation (millions of vehicles x km) |
Nb of the vehic. for 100 inhabitants |
Killed for million of inhabitants |
Killed for billion of km travelled | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... |
357 | 82.5 | 231.1 | 54,520 | 626,981 | 684,283 | 66.1 | 64.8 | 7.8 |
| Austria Austria Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the... |
84 | 8.2 | 97.7 | 5,279 | 107,143 | 82,221 | 64.5 | 93.8 | 9.3 |
| Belgium Belgium Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many... |
33 | 10.4 | 320.3 | 6,159 | 151,372 | 94,677 | 59.1 | 104.5 | 11.5 |
| Denmark Denmark Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark... |
43 | 5.4 | 126 | 2,570 | 72,074 | 47,940 | 47.3 | 61 | 6.9 |
| Spain Spain Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula... |
505 | 43.4 | 86 | 27,657 | 666,204 | ND | 63.7 | 103.1 | ND |
| Finland Finland Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside... |
338 | 5.2 | 15.5 | 2,871 | 79,150 | 51,675 | 54.7 | 72.2 | 7.3 |
| France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... |
551 | 60.5 | 109.7 | 37,168 | 1,002 486 | 552,800 | 61.4 | 87.9 | 9.6 |
| Greece Greece Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe.... |
132 | 11.1 | 84 | 6,641 | 40,164 | 81,635 | 59.9 | 149.1 | 20.3 |
| Hungary Hungary Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The... |
93 | 10.1 | 108.5 | 3,370 | 180,994 | ND | 33.4 | 126.6 | ND |
| Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,... |
71 | 4.1 | 58.6 | 1,937 | 95,752 | 37,840 | 46.7 | 96.2 | 10.5 |
| Italy Italy Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and... |
301 | 58.1 | 192.8 | 43,141 | 305,388 | 654,197 | 74.3 | 94 | 8.3 |
| Luxembourg Luxembourg Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south... |
3 | 0.5 | 179.8 | 358 | 2,876 | 2,875 | 77 | 98.9 | 16.0 |
| Netherlands Netherlands The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders... |
42 | 16.3 | 392.5 | 8,627 | 117,430 | 133,800 | 52.9 | 46 | 5.6 |
| Poland Poland Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north... |
323 | 38.5 | 119.4 | 16,815 | 381,462 | 377,289 | 43.6 | 141.3 | 14.4 |
| Portugal Portugal Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the... |
93 | 10.5 | 113.3 | 5,481 | 81,739 | ND | 52.2 | 118.8 | ND |
| United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... |
244 | 60.2 | 246.7 | 33,717 | 413,120 | 499,396 | 56 | 55.9 | 6.7 |
| Slovakia Slovakia The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south... |
49 | 5.4 | 110.1 | 1,834 | 17,755 | 13,402 | 34 | 112.6 | 45.4 |
| Slovenia Slovenia Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of... |
20 | 2 | 97 | 1,150 | 20,196 | 15,519 | 58.5 | 69* | 16.6 |
| Sweden Sweden Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund.... |
450 | 9 | 20.1 | 5,131 | 214,000 | 75,196 | 56.8 | 48.7 | 5.9 |
| Czech Republic Czech Republic The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest.... |
79 | 10.2 | 129.6 | 4,732 | 55,495 | 50,262 | 46.3 | 125.8 | 27.2 |
| Iceland Iceland Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population... |
103 | 0.3 | 2.9 | 236 | 91,916 | 2,006 | 80.3 | 64.6 | 9.5 |
| Norway Norway Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million... |
324 | 4.6 | 14.3 | 2,938 | 92,511 | 36,550 | 63.6 | 48.5 | 6.1 |
| Switzerland Switzerland Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition.... |
41 | 7.4 | 179.6 | 5,043 | 71,027 | 62,685 | 68 | 55.2 | 6.5 |
Source IRTAD for the following data :
Number of vehicles : 2005 except Ireland 2003 ; Luxembourg 2004 ; Slovakia 2002.
Length of the network: 2005 except Hungary and Luxembourg 2004 ; Germany and Danemark 2003 ; Slovakia 2002 ; Iceland 2000 ; Ireland 2001 ; Netherlands 1999 ; Greece and United Kingdom 1998 ; Portugal 1993 ; Italy 1992.
Distance in Kilometres : 2005 except Danemark 2004 ; Italy and Netherlands 2003 ; Ireland 2001 ; Iceland and Slovakia 2000 ; United Kingdom and Greece 1998.
Population : source IRTAD except for Ireland, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Sweden, Iceland and Norway: source INED.
History
Mary Ward (scientist)
Mary Ward was an Irish amateur scientist who was killed when she fell under the wheels of an experimental steam car built by her cousins. As the event occurred in 1869, she is the world's first known motor vehicle accident victim...
died when she fell out of her cousins' steam car and was run over by it.
The British road engineer
Traffic engineering (transportation)
For the engineering of communications and computer networks, see Teletraffic engineering.Traffic engineering is a branch of civil engineering that uses engineering techniques to achieve the safe and efficient movement of people and goods on roadways...
J. J. Leeming
J. J. Leeming
John Joseph Leeming was a British road engineer. He forwarded controversial ideas for the causes of, and remedies for, road crashes, including the notion that drivers should not always be assumed to be at fault.-Biography:...
, compared the statistics for fatality rates in Great Britain, for transport-related incidents both before and after the introduction of the motor vehicle, for journeys, including those once by water that now are undertaken by motor vehicle: For the period 1863–1870 there were: 470 fatalities per million of population (76 on railways, 143 on roads, 251 on water); for the period 1891–1900 the corresponding figures were: 348 (63, 107, 178); for the period 1931–1938: 403 (22, 311, 70) and for the year 1963: 325 (10, 278, 37). Leeming concluded that the data showed that "travel accidents may even have been more frequent a century ago than they are now, at least for men".
In 1969 a British road engineer
Traffic engineering (transportation)
For the engineering of communications and computer networks, see Teletraffic engineering.Traffic engineering is a branch of civil engineering that uses engineering techniques to achieve the safe and efficient movement of people and goods on roadways...
compared the circumstances around road deaths as reported in various American states before the widespread introduction of 55 mi/h speed limit
Speed limit
Road speed limits are used in most countries to regulate the speed of road vehicles. Speed limits may define maximum , minimum or no speed limit and are normally indicated using a traffic sign...
s and drunk-driving
Driving under the influence
Driving under the influence is the act of driving a motor vehicle with blood levels of alcohol in excess of a legal limit...
laws.
'They took into account thirty factors which it was thought might affect the death rate. Among these were included the annual consumption of wine, of spirits and of malt beverages — taken individually — the amount spent on road maintenance, the minimum temperature, certain of the legal measures such as the amount spent on police, the number of police per 100,000 inhabitants, the follow-up programme on dangerous drivers, the quality of driver testing, and so on. The thirty factors were finally reduced to six on elimination of those which were found to have small or negligible effect. The final six were:
- (a) The percentage of the total state highway mileage that is rural.
- (b) The percent increase in motor vehicle registration.
- (c) The extent of motor vehicle inspection.
- (d) The percentage of state-administered highway that is surfaced.
- (e) The average yearly minimum temperature.
- (f) The income per capita.
'These are placed in descending order of importance. These six accounted for 70% of the variations in the rate.'
Economic costs
The global economic cost of MVCs was estimated at $518 billion per year in 2003 with $100 billion of that occurring in developing countries. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimated the U.S. cost in 2000 at $230 billion.Legal consequences
In the United States, individuals involved in motor vehicle accidents can be held financially liable for the consequences of an accident, including property damage, injuries to passengers and drivers, and fatalities. Because these costs can easily exceed the annual income of the average driver, most US states require drivers to carry liability insuranceLiability insurance
Liability insurance is a part of the general insurance system of risk financing to protect the purchaser from the risks of liabilities imposed by lawsuits and similar claims. It protects the insured in the event he or she is sued for claims that come within the coverage of the insurance policy...
to cover these potential costs. However, in the event of severe injuries or fatalities, victims may seek damages in civil court, often for well in excess of the value of insurance.
Additionally, drivers who are involved in a collision frequently receive one or more traffic citations, usually directly addressing any material violations such as speeding, failure to obey a traffic control device, or driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. In the event of a fatality, a charge of vehicular homicide
Vehicular homicide
Vehicular homicide in most states in the United States, is a crime. In general, it involves death that results from the negligent operation of a vehicle, or more so a result from driving while committing an unlawful act that does not amount to a felony...
is occasionally prosecuted, especially in cases involving alcohol.
Convictions for traffic violations are usually penalized with fines, and for more severe offenses, the suspension or revocation of driving privileges. Convictions for alcohol offenses generally result in the revocation or long term suspension of the driver's license, and sometimes jail time and/or mandatory alcohol rehabilitation.
Due to increase in availability of cable news and Internet news, exposure to such legal actions has increased in recent years, specifically with coverage of cases and class action
Class action
In law, a class action, a class suit, or a representative action is a form of lawsuit in which a large group of people collectively bring a claim to court and/or in which a class of defendants is being sued...
suits concerning SUV rollover
Rollover
A rollover is a type of vehicle accident in which a vehicle tips over onto its side or roof. The most common cause of a rollover is traveling too fast while turning.- Dynamics :Vehicles can roll over in several ways...
s and recent incidents of sudden acceleration crashes highlighted by the 2010 Toyota Recall. Increased exposure has led to larger class action suits, and automobile owners' ability to link their collision causes and issues to ones in other regions has spread knowledge of external causes.
In popular culture
- J. G. BallardJ. G. BallardJames Graham Ballard was an English novelist, short story writer, and prominent member of the New Wave movement in science fiction...
's renowned novel Crash presented a dystopiaDystopiaA dystopia is the idea of a society in a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian, as characterized in books like Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four...
n vision of the car-dominated world, where car crashes become an object of sexual obsessionSexual fetishismSexual fetishism, or erotic fetishism, is the sexual arousal a person receives from a physical object, or from a specific situation. The object or situation of interest is called the fetish, the person a fetishist who has a fetish for that object/situation. Sexual fetishism may be regarded, e.g...
, and introduced the notion of Autogeddon (from ArmageddonArmageddonArmageddon is, according to the Bible, the site of a battle during the end times, variously interpreted as either a literal or symbolic location...
), a fictional ultimate car disaster that will destroy the world. The novel was made into a film of the same nameCrash (1996 film)Crash is a 1996 Canadian/British drama thriller film written and directed by David Cronenberg based on the J. G. Ballard 1973 novel of the same name. It tells the story of a group of people who take sexual pleasure from car accidents, a notable form of paraphilia. The film generated considerable...
by David CronenbergDavid CronenbergDavid Paul Cronenberg, OC, FRSC is a Canadian filmmaker, screenwriter and actor. He is one of the principal originators of what is commonly known as the body horror or venereal horror genre. This style of filmmaking explores people's fears of bodily transformation and infection. In his films, the...
. - Heathcote WilliamsHeathcote WilliamsHeathcote Williams is an English poet, actor and award-winning playwright. He is also an intermittent painter, sculptor and long-time conjuror...
' poem Autogeddon satirizes human addiction to driving and bemoans the millions of deaths incurred by traffic collisions.
See also
- Black iceBlack iceBlack ice, sometimes called glare ice or clear ice, refers to a thin coating of glazed ice on a surface.While not truly black, it is virtually transparent, allowing black asphalt/macadam roadways to be seen through it, hence the term "black ice"...
- Crash testCrash testA crash test is a form of destructive testing usually performed in order to ensure safe design standards in crashworthiness and crash compatibility for various modes of transportation or related systems and components.- Types :...
- CrashworthinessCrashworthinessCrashworthiness is the ability of a structure to protect its occupants during an impact. This is commonly tested when investigating the safety of aircraft and vehicles. Depending on the nature of the impact and the vehicle involved, different criteria are used to determine the crashworthiness of...
- Defensive drivingDefensive drivingThe standard Safe Practices for Motor Vehicle Operations, ANSI/ASSE Z15.1, defines defensive driving as "driving to save lives, time, and money, in spite of the conditions around you and the actions of others." This definition is taken from the National Safety Council's Defensive Driving Course...
- Forensic engineeringForensic engineeringForensic engineering is the investigation of materials, products, structures or components that fail or do not operate or function as intended, causing personal injury or damage to property. The consequences of failure are dealt with by the law of product liability. The field also deals with...
- Global road safety for workersGlobal road safety for workersGlobal road safety for workers refers to the economic, societal, and legal ramifications of protecting workers from automobile-related injury, disability, and death. Road traffic crashes are a leading cause of occupational fatalities throughout the world, especially in developing countries...
- Hit and runHit and run (vehicular)Hit-and-run is the act of causing a traffic accident , and failing to stop and identify oneself afterwards...
- List of road accidents
- Multiple-vehicle collisionMultiple-vehicle collisionA multi-vehicle collision is a road traffic accident involving many vehicles. Generally occurring on high capacity and high speed routes such as freeways, they are one of the deadliest forms of traffic accidents...
- Roadside memorialRoadside memorialA roadside memorial is a marker that usually commemorates a site where a person died suddenly and unexpectedly, away from home. Unlike a grave site headstone, which marks where a body is laid, the memorial marks the last place on earth where a person was alive - although in the past travelers were...
- Skid markSkid markA skid mark is the mark a tire makes when a vehicle wheel stops rolling and slides or spins on the surface of the road. More generally, any solid which moves against another can cause visible marks, and is an important aspect of trace evidence analysis in forensic science and forensic engineering...
- TotaledTotaledIn motor insurance, a total loss is a situation in which a vehicle is damaged and the cost of repair and salvage would exceed the vehicle's market value...
- Transportation safety in the United StatesTransportation safety in the United StatesTransportation safety has steadily improved in the United States for many decades. Between 1920 and 2000, the rate of fatal automobile accidents per vehicle-mile decreased by a factor of about 17. Except for a pause during the 1960s, progress in reducing fatal accidents has been steady. Safety for...
- Unsafe at Any SpeedUnsafe at Any SpeedUnsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile by Ralph Nader, published in 1965, is a book detailing resistance by car manufacturers to the introduction of safety features, like seat belts, and their general reluctance to spend money on improving safety...
- Vehicular accident reconstructionVehicular accident reconstructionVehicular accident reconstruction is the scientific process of investigating, analyzing, and drawing conclusions about the causes and events during a vehicle collision...
- Vehicle extricationVehicle extricationVehicle extrication is the process of removing the vehicle from around a person that has been involved in a motor vehicle accident, when conventional means of exit are impossible or unadvisable. A delicate approach is needed to minimize injury to the victim during the extrication...
External links
- NHTSA Accident Statistics
- U.S. DOT Fatality Analysis Reporting System FARS
- Road Traffic Deaths 2009 WorldMap Road Traffic Deaths per 100,000 Population 2009