The table overleaf reflects accident involvement and injury risk exposure for the most common car models in Finland. The accident involvement statistics are based on a total of 188,681 claims paid in 1991 to 1995 under compulsory Motor Liability Insurance for crashes caused on public roads and streets by drivers of privately used cars. The injury statistics are based on a total of 277,081 claims paid for two-car collisions which occurred on public roads and streets in 1987 to 1995, leaving 20,891 drivers injured. The total number of claims paid for two-car collisions in the same period was 467,052. The risk of accident involvement and driver injury varies from one car model to another. Much of this is explained by differences in driver distributions, mileages covered, driving speeds, and the driving environment, though car characteristics and controllability also play a role. The table overleaf presents the number of accidents caused by a car model in relation to the mileages covered, and the number of driver injuries related to all claims paid for two-car collisions. As these risk figures do not directly reflect the performance of the car itself, the University of Oulu has crafted a regression model, a Car Model Accident Classification system, which removes the effect of the driver's age and sex, mileage and driving environment. The same has been done with data recorded for the opposite car. Correspondingly, driver injury statistics have been adjusted under the Driver Injury Classification model for the impact of the driver's age and sex, speed limit zones and accident type, giving increased weight to serious injuries and fatalities. Furthermore, the model corrects a bias typical of minor crashes, viz that the innocent driver is injured nearly twice as often as the guilty driver on average. Injury figures for drivers of the opposite car have been adjusted in the same way, and the total risk of injury to both drivers is also indicated. The table figures and classifications show major differences between the car models. This leaflet is published in an effort to give general safety information to those who are choosing a car model. The information contained in this leaflet is based on research done in 1997 at the University of Oulu by Jani Huttula, Pasi Pirtala and Timo Ernvall on accident and driver injury risk by car model (Publication No. 40: Car Safety, Aggressivity and Accident Involvement Rates by Car Model, 1997). The research reveals that if the passive safety of all car models equalled the passive safety of the best model in each weight category, driver injuries would fall 21 per cent. In the same way, if the aggressivity of all car models equalled the aggressivity of the best model in each weight category, injuries would fall 25 per cent. The wide variation in passive safety between different car models justifies the need to establish minimum standards for passive safety. The risk of driver injury in the least protected cars is almost three times as high as in the safest cars. As the most aggressive cars expose the driver of the opposite car to an injury risk nearly three times as high as the least aggressive cars, the situation justifies the need to devise minimum standards for the crash compatibility of cars as well. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting