The aim of this accident analysis has been to investigate whether a detailed description of the design of the junctions could provide the basic data by means of which it would be possible to distinguish junctions in which traffic safety is below, or above, average. The investigation can be regarded as a pilot study and should therefore also furnish information on how to conduct extensive future studies. Primarily the investigation has been concentrated on junctions outside built-up areas. All accidents reported by the police which occurred at these junctions in 1972-75 have been studied. Data on the design and traffic conditions of the junctions have been obtained from the road data bank at the road administration and also from a special inventory which was drawn up. These data include the number of public road connections and other connections, road number, width of surfacing, speed limit, traffic flow, regulations concerning obligation to give way, lighting, channelisation, painting, number of traffic lanes, shoulder, surfacing, road barriers, side installations, and bus stops. Data on type of accident, type of conflict, injury consequence, date and hour, state of the road and lighting conditions have been procured by means of transcriptions of accidents based on the traffic accident register kept at the road administration. For abstract of part 1, description of the design and traffic conditions, see IRRD abstract no 228519.
Abstract