Road traffic accidents are responsible for over 3,000 deaths per year in the UK, according to Department for Transport (2004a) figures. Although progress is being made in a number of areas, vehicle occupant fatalities are not falling in line with casualty reduction targets for the year 2010 (DETR, 2000). A sample of 1,185 fatal vehicle occupant cases was considered, from 10 UK police forces, for the years 1994 to 2005 inclusive. Each case was summarised on a database, including the main objective features (such as time and place), a summary narrative, a sketch plan and a list of explanatory factors. The summary narrative, in particular, included judgements by the researchers that emphasised the sequence of events leading up to the accident. The main findings were as follows: • Over 65% of the accidents examined involved driving at excessive speed, a driver in excess of the legal alcohol limit, or the failure to wear a seat belt by a fatality, or some combination of these. • Young drivers have the great majority of their accidents by losing control on bends or curves, typically at night in rural areas and/or while driving for ‘leisure’ purposes. These accidents show high levels of deliberate speeding, alcohol involvement and recklessness. • Older drivers had fewer accidents, but the fatalities they were involved in tended to involve misjudgement and perceptual errors in ‘right of way’ collisions, typically in the daytime on rural rather than urban roads. Blameworthy right of way errors were notably high for drivers aged over 65 years, as a proportion of total fatal accidents in that age group. (Author/publisher)
Abstract