Solutions For The High Rate Of Road And Car Accident Rates In Third World Countries

Posted on October 25, 2011 by Simon

Because of their relatively greater numbers in developing countries, children represent a much greater proportion of road and car accident casualties than they do in developed countries. Thus a comparison of the age distribution of people in developed and developing countries showed that 20 per cent of those killed in road and car accidents in developing countries were aged under 15 whilst the equivalent figure killed in road and car accidents in developed countries was 10 per cent.

This points to the values of developing teaching aids regarding road and car accident safety for use in Third World Countries, similar to those developed for use in schools in Great Britain and other developed countries.

Another important factor is the implementation of police enforcement for road and car accident safety measures. The most promising evidence for the road safety benefits of enforcement in developing countries comes from Singapore and Egypt. In Singapore, a combined publicity and enforcement campaign appears to have lead to drops of 19 per cent in fatalities of road and car accidents and 50 per cent in serious injuries, of road and car accidents although there was a rise of 20 per cent in slight injuries of road and car accidents. In Egypt a package of police enforcement measures including radar, increased patrols and heavier penalties for traffic offences have had a significant effect on road and car accidents on two major inter-urban roads. On one of these roads there has been an overall reduction in the number of road and car accidents of over 50 per cent.

Perhaps the two most important measures that can be adapted to protect the road user during the course of car accidents are the use of seat belts for vehicle occupants, and crash helmets for motorcyclists. There has been growing evidence from the developed world that the compulsory wearing of seat belts results in a significant reduction in injuries, in car accidents particularly those of a more severe nature. The benefits of wearing a seat belt in any particular car accident situation should be similar in both developed and developing countries.

In view of the often poorer medical facilities, the benefits of wearing a seatbelt could in fact be greater in Third World Cities in the case of the more serious injuries a result of car accidents.

Regrettably, few Third World Countries have, as yet, introduced compulsory wearing of seat belts.

Road design is another factor thought to influence road and car accidents statistics. Outside central areas of cities only a relatively small proportion of road and car accidents may occur in clusters sufficiently large to justify the use of ‘site-specific’ engineering remedies. There is a tendency in residential area and often on arterial routes for road and car accidents to be scattered diffusely over the street system.

A considerable proportion of road and car accidents in those Third World Cities where data were available occurred on arterial routes (A and B roads) and in areas described as ‘other’, which were predominantly residential.

Work at the TRRL is currently directed towards dealing with this problem and research is being carried out in five cities in England. A preliminary study in Swindon showed that by the use of improved junction design, new or redesigned signal-controlled pedestrian crossings and the banning of right turns, road and car accidents in the study area were reduced by 10 per cent. On ‘controlled’ sections of arterial roads where no improvements were made, road and car accidents over the same period increased by 29 per cent, whilst on non-arterial routes, road and car accidents remained virtually the same.

It is important that safety features, such as those involving geometry, signing and delineation, be introduced at the design stage rather than be added later, as an ‘afterthought’. For example, it can often be greatly more expensive to widen the main roads at a T-junction after a road and car accident problem has built up than to incorporate it at the construction stage.

It has become appreciated in developed countries that planning can have a profound effect upon the level of road safety in a city reducing road and car accidents. The layout of roads in residential areas, for example, has been found to have a major impact upon the level of pedestrian accidents in particular.

Thus at the planning stage of residential areas in Third World cities, consideration should be given to road safety.

There is a lot that can be done to reduce road and car accidents in Third World Countries. Hopefully the resources will be made available to do this. In the long run there could be less car accidents and more lives saved.

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Are There More Car Accidents In Third World Cities Compared To Developed Cities

Posted on October 25, 2011 by Simon

Car Accidents happen everyday all around the world. Studies in the West have revealed the main cause of car accidents is driver behaviour, whilst other factors that cause car accidents may also include: road maintenance, car maintenance and road design. If you have ever traveled in a Third World Country you’ll know that traveling on the road can often be a whole new experience. My personal observations through my travels in the Third World have shown me that quite often driving is more dangerous, less rules are followed and there are less safety. Does this also mean there are more car accidents?

A recent study found that road and car accident fatality rates were up to thirty times greater in Third World cities than in cities in the developed world. Overall studies of road-user behaviour carried out in a number of Third World Cities show driver behaviour to be markedly poorer at pedestrian crossings and signed controlled junctions in the Third World cities than at similar sites in two cities in Great Britain resulting in more road and car accidents.

One way of examining road and car accidents in Third World Cities is to compare fatality rates of road and car accident deaths per 10,000 vehicles registered in each city with those derived for urban areas in the developed world.

Fatality rates as a result of road and car accidents in the cities of developed countries range from 1.4 in Tokyo, Japan to 2.8 in Greater Manchester, UK.

Rates of fatalities as a result of road and car accidents in the Third World cities are much higher and also show much greater variation. In the Third World cities, rates of fatalities of road and car accidents range from 10 fatalities per 10,000 registered vehicles in Bangkok, Thailand and Hong Kong up to 43 in Seoul, Korea and 45 in Amman, Jordan. The figures of fatalities of road and car accidents suggest that in comparison with cities in developed countries, those in the developing world have considerably higher road and car accident death rates.

The proportion of vehicles involved in road and car accidents varied greatly between Third World and Developed Countries. As might be expected, with the relatively low level of car ownership existing in the Third World, the proportion of cars and taxis involved in car accidents was considerably less than in Great Britain. The proportion of two-wheeled motor vehicles involved in accidents varied considerably in the various cities, being as low as one per cent in Addis Ababa and as high as 38 per cent in Surabaya.

In the cities where cycle rickshaws operate, such as Bangalore, Jakarta and Surabaya, the proportion of these vehicles involved in road and car accidents are considerable. Observations suggest there is a tendency for the drivers of these vehicles to disobey traffic regulations (traffic signals, one-way streets etc) and the vehicles themselves provide passengers with little protection.

In the Third World Cities both commercial and public service vehicles form “a high proportion of the total number of vehicles involved in car accidents. Studies in Kenya and elsewhere have shown that commercial vehicles are commonly used to transport people (particularly to places of work) as well as goods and the numbers of people injured in a road or car accident involving a truck carrying people in this way is often high.

There are many factors to consider with Third World Countries and road and car accident statistics. As well as driver behaviour, road conditions are often poorer and there is a culture of not adopting safety policies like wearing seatbelts or crash helmets. What remains true though is that statistics show Third World Countries and cities do have a higher incidence of road and car accidents.

 

 

 

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Factors Influencing Car Accidents In Third World Countries

Posted on October 25, 2011 by Simon

The factors influencing car accidents varies considerably between Third World Cities and Developed Citis. There are different reasons for this, which we’ll examine in this article.

In researching road and car accidents in developing countries it has, in the past, proved difficult to carry out detailed ‘on the-spot’ road and car accident investigations that enable the relative contributions made by the road, vehicle, human factors and environment in road and car accidents to be assessed. However, in some Third World countries the police have attempted to attribute a main cause to each road and car accident and in the analysis of results for five countries, road user error was identified as the main cause in at least 70 per cent of the road and car accidents.

The police definitions of main causes vary considerably from one country to another and it is likely that in many of the road and car accidents there was more than one cause. Thus these figures must be treated with caution; it is probable, for example, that they underestimate the contribution of the road environment, which in some countries is incredibly poor. Nevertheless they do support the finding of ‘on-the-spot’ road and car accident investigations carried out in Great Britain that road-user behaviour is the major contributory factor in road and car accidents.

Because of the importance of road-user behaviour as a factor in car accidents and because of requests made by road safety authorities, preliminary studies were made by the Overseas Unit, TRRL of road-user behaviour, at junctions and pedestrian crossings, in selected urban areas in a number of developing countries to reduce the number of road and car accidents. Wherever possible results were compared with those of similar studies of road and car accidents carried out in Great Britain.

Observations were also made at signed-controlled junctions in the same cities and the proportions of drivers stopping at the red signal were recorded. The percentage of drivers choosing not to stop at the red signal in the Third World cities was greater than in Reading and London, causing more road and car accidents.

Recent (unpublished) research carried out by the Overseas Unit, TRRL in Islamabad and Rawalpindi,

Pakistan investigated driver behaviour at sites where improvements in road markings were introduced. At major – minor junctions where stop lines were implemented, and at sites where double white fines were painted on the centre of the carriageway, driver behaviour was little changed. It may well be that in Third World cities low cost measures such as improved road markings may be much less effective for controlling driver behaviour than in the developed world and therefore have less of an impact on the prevention of road and car accidents.

My own experience of traveling on a dirt road in Laos from the border to of Cambodia to Siem Reap was more than an adventure. I felt grateful not to be involved in a car accident. The driver in this instance drove pretty safely considering. However, we were 13 travelers crammed in the back of the pick up truck. Had there been a car accident we would have flown out all over the place. The road conditions made staying put in the back quite difficult. The road was bumpy and full of potholes. In parts it was flooded and the small rickety bride we crossed was so dangerous in fact we all got out of the pick up and shimmied along it after the truck crossed. We were fortunate to avoid being involved in a car accident. Luck was on our side even if road conditions were not.

There is a stark difference between rates of road and Car accident rates in Third World countries compared with Developed countries where resources, namely funds are less available to implement road safety.

 

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Car Accidents, Colour And Time Of Day

Posted on October 21, 2011 by Simon

When choosing a car one might consider many factors like style, speed, trend, safety and colour. Mot would not think that the last two safety and colour are linked any way. Research shows they are and there thee is a correlation between colour of car and car accidents. See my previous blog: Car Colour And Its Impact On Car Accidents

When choosing the colour of your car you might like to know that it’s been linked to personality types and these reflect how likely a person is to be involved in a car accident. Red and black being highest up on the list and pink and white further down.

Another study reports that the colour of your car at different times of the day will impact the chances of your being involved in a car accident.

So if you didn’t think the color of your car was a safety feature think again, a light color can reduce your chances of being in a car accident, and a dark color can increase your risk of being in a car accident. A study conducted in Sweden found that across all car body types, the lowest car accident rates belonged to pink cars, and black cars had the highest accident rates.

If you just can’t see yourself driving a pink car, consider silver. New Zealand researchers found that in car accidents the rate of injury for drivers and passengers of silver cars was significantly lower than for any other color. The study, published in the British Medical Journal, also found that occupants of black, brown, and green cars suffered the highest rates of injury from car accidents.

A follow-on study out of the Monash University Accident Research Centre in Australia looked at more than 800,000 serious car accidents and evaluated risk and damage from the perspective of visibility and available light. Using white cars as their comparison standard, researchers looked at car accident rates for cars by color. They examined rates for cars in the colors red, yellow, green, blue, grey, brown, black, maroon, orange, pink, and purple, and compared the car accident rates for cars of each color to that of white cars.

Not surprisingly, they found that in daylight, colors that ranked lower on the visibility index were at greater risk for car accident involvement. Black and gray cars were at a particularly significant disadvantage compared to white cars of being involved in a car accident. Black cars had a 12 percent greater risk, and grey cars an 11 percent greater risk than white cars did of being involved in a car accident. Silver color did not offer much protection from car accident involvement; silver cars were 10 percent more likely than white to get into car accidents.

At dusk and dawn, when visibility is poorest, the risk for black cars shot up to a 47 percent greater chance than a white car for a car accident. Silver cars’ risk increased modestly, to 15 percent of being involved in a car accident. In full darkness, the risk difference between colors and white was much less, with red cars being 10 percent more likely to have a car accident, and silver 8 percent riskier of having a car accident.

Factor this into your car buying formula and save yourself a car accident or have two cars: One for day and one for night :)

 

 

 

 

 

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Car Colour And Its Impact On Car Accidents

Posted on October 21, 2011 by Simon

When you’re choosing which car to buy you may just choose the colour that looks the nicest, or perhaps your favourite colour. Maybe you’re one of the people that really doesn’t care so just chooses whichever colour the dealer has in stock or is cheapest!  What we don’t think about is how likely the colour of car we chooses will increase or decrease our chances of being involved in a car accident. What we may think about is what the advertisers have fed us over the years E.G. bright reds and yellows as faster cars, silver and white are great at hiding scratches, green is becoming more popular in line with all this green living, and gold shades hide dirt better. But studies are showing there is a lot more at stake, like your driving safety and potential car accident risk.

Researchers in Australia believe they have discovered a link between car accident risk and the colour of your car. Many large insurance companies actually use this in their quotes and premiums.  So certain color choices can and do lead to higher rates and significantly higher car accident risks.  And if you think about it, insurance companies spend millions of dollars on great research to find out what causes car accidents and what lowers them.  So, this is not some out of the blue idea.  Certain color choices will definitely increase your car accident risks and should be avoided.

There is a popular urban legend that says that people who own red cars get more speeding tickets than people with other colour cars. Well the owners of such cars do seem to back up this legend, but it’s still not proven yet.

Could it be that drivers who drive red cars do actually drive faster and have more car accidents? The reason they choose red is because it is a racey car indicative of danger, perhaps reflecting their personality? Do owners of red cars get involved in more car accidents.

Two questions prevail here.

1) Does your personality type indicate how likely you are to be involved in a car accident?

2) Can your personality type be guessed from the colour of car that you drive (and this in turn reveal how likely or not you are to be involved ina car accident)?

Red Car Personality and Car Accident Risk

A New Zealand study of serious car accidents conducted by Furness et al. found that red cars had a higher likelihood of being involved in car accidents than grays, silvers, and blues, but lower chance of being involved in a car accident than blacks, and much lower than browns and yellows.

Yellow Car Personality and Car Accident Risk

The UK study found yellow car owners are often associated with an upbeat, optimistic personality.

The New Zealand car accident study found that drivers of yellow cars may be a little too optimistic. They had the highest percentage of car accidents in relation to their total numbers, although the likelihood of having a car accident was reduced significantly when the researchers controlled for driver age, speed, use of drugs and alcohol, and other factors.

Green Car Personality and Car Accident Risk

The UK study found that green car drivers are perhaps a little too whimsical – this colour was associated with hysterical tendencies.

Green cars showed a similar risk to red in the New Zealand car accident study. Was this high car accident rate due to the driver’s hysterical tendencies?

Blue Car Personality and Car Accident Risk

The UK study found drivers of blue cars to be more cautious and introspective, on average.

In the New Zealand study, blue cars had a slightly lower risk of being involved in car accidents than red, green, or black, and a much lower risk than yellow or brown.

Gray Car Personality and Car Accident Risk

The UK study found gray cars owners to be sober, calm, and hardworking.

Supporting these associations, the New Zealand study found gray cars to have a relatively low car accident rate compared to most other colours.

White Car Personality and Car Accident Risk nRisk

The UK study found that white cars were often preferred by status-seeking extroverts, and the New Zealand car accident study found that white cars had a mid-range car accident rate, similar to that of red and green.

Brown Car Personality and Car Accident Risk

The UK study found deep brown cars usually state that the owner is down to earth, and lighter brown or tan can hint at taste in simplicity.

In the New Zealand car accident study, the car accident rate for brown cars was second only to yellow. So maybe being down to earth doesn’t mean so in touch with nature that you are saved from being more at risk from having a car accident.

Silver Car Personality and Car Accident Risk

The UK study found silver car owners to be calm, cool, and somewhat detached.

Support for the calm, confident persona is provided by the fact that silver cars had the lowest likelihood of being involved in serious crashes in the New Zealand study.

Pink Car Personality and Car Accident Risk

The UK study found that pink cars are most commonly driven by gentle, loving people.

This was backed by the New Zealand study that found pink cars were the least likely to be involved in a car accident.

 

Black Car Personality and Car Accident Risk

The UK study found that black cars were usually driven by aggressive outsiders with a high car accident risk.

The New Zealand car accident data supports the latter two profiles, finding black cars to have a relatively high car accident risk.

So….

Different research has been carried out in different countries without conclusive results except one thing for sure is that red and yellow cars are at the top of the car accident risk list with Black following close behind

Are you paying a higher insurance premium because of the colour of your car? Is your personality a high-risk car accident factor.

Worth looking into don’t you think? It may not just be money that you save.

 

 

 

 

 

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Car Accidents And The Elderly – What Can Be Done To Address The Problem?

Posted on October 21, 2011 by Simon

As people live longer we have an increased number of older drivers on the road. Generally speaking older people are cautious drivers…sometimes too cautious. I’m sure there has been at least one occasion where you have muttered under your breath at an elderly person at the wheel driving very slowly. A more serious problem is the declining abilities amongst older drivers and the increase of car accidents as a result.

Older drivers may start to lose their hearing, suffer from poor vision, poor memory and slower reaction times. All of which can increase their chances of being involved in a car accident.

For drivers who are 85 and above, the rate of fatality due to car accidents is multiplied four times higher than those aged 75 – 84.

And according to the US Census Bureau, by 2030 when all baby boomers reach the age of at least 65, that age group will account for about 25 percent of all fatal car accidents.

What is being done to address the problem?

Mandatory driving tests: In some states of USA there are Mandatory Driving retests for drivers above 70 if they are involved in two or more car accidents in one year. Other states suggest that drivers should be required to take tests after the age of 70 regardless of whether they have been involved in a car accident. The problem here is that as drivers get more experienced they follow the rules less and the question that beckons is, would a driver of 40 years of age who has been driving for 20 years pass a driving test?

Senior-citizen lobbying groups say age-based measures are discriminatory. They claim that a person’s chronological age is not an accurate predictor of driving ability and the likelihood of being involved in a car accident. The lobbyists argue that if seniors are forced to take mandatory road tests in the absence of a car accident incident, other age groups should be required to take them as well.

Deficit reporting laws – Some states in America require physicians to report disabilities that may affect driving ability that can cause car accidents. Some physicians, however, are reluctant to jeopardize their relationship with a patient by making such a referral. Most other states do not require physicians to report psychomotor, visual, and cognitive deficiencies that may affect driving that leads to car accidents to licensing agencies. Should this be changed? Ideally drivers themselves would take responsibility for this. What if they don’t and are at risk of being injured themselves or injuring another in a car accident?

What else can be done to reduce car accidents amongst the elderly?

Deficit screening – Screening could be given to all drivers for whom age-related decline is suspected and whose performance is viewed as a safety concern for themselves and other motorists to prevent car accidents. In addition, health professionals and others who work with older populations could administer the tests. Screening could become a part of the regular process of license renewal. By reducing testing time, drivers could be quickly screened and identified either as capable, or as in need of further testing.

Car accident statistics – DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) and insurance company records can help identify high-risk older drivers who are more likely to be involved in a car accident. In addition to car accident counts, the details of the car accident (roadway condition, time of day, location, fault) are important. Some car accident patterns (e.g., the driver stopped in the middle of the roadway) may be better predictors of future car accidents than others. Given that many older drivers involved in car accidents have never had a car accident before and may not have another one during the following year, car accident records will identify only a few high-risk older drivers. However, car accident statistics may be an important part of a comprehensive program to identify high-risk older drivers.

Older drivers need to be aware that medications can significantly impair their driving by making them drowsy or distracted. Physicians and pharmacists should be consulted before starting new medications, to see if the drug can affect the ability to drive and be the cause of a car accident. Since side effects are often worse for the first few days of a new medication, people should avoid driving until they know exactly how a new drug affects them.

Eyes change with age. They lose the ability to focus quickly. Peripheral vision narrows and the retina become less sensitive to light. A person’s chronological age is not an absolute predictor of driving ability, but its impact should not be denied. It is worth getting an eye test rather than having an accident.

So there are measures that could be taken to identify if an older person, who as a result of the aging process, is safe enough to drive on the road and not be at more risk of causing or being involved in a car accident. Since older people may not be fully aware how their health related to driving has degenerated, it is up to governing bodies to put laws in place to protect older drivers and the rest of the public from car accidents.

 

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Some Signs Of Unsafe Driving That Lead To Car Accidents Amongst The Elderly

Posted on October 21, 2011 by Simon

You are in your regular city rush to get somewhere and you are stuck behind an old biddy going 5MPH less than the speed limit. It seems as if they are intentionally crawling along like a snail and all you can think is, They are going to cause a car accident. In a culture where speed is time and money, frustration kicks in. You move lanes and the old biddy moves in front of you and slows down further, before taking a sharp left turn having almost missed their exit. Yep just as you predicted a near car accident.

Didn’t they see the speed limit? Didn’t they notice the sign for the exit 200 meters back?

The chances are they did not.

Overall, older drivers make appropriate adjustments for their abilities and limitations and are pretty safe too. Is this safety against causing car accidents actually causing more car accidents, as it doesn’t fit the culture of the roads?

The truth is the total number of car accidents that involve older drivers is lower than for any other age group. However, the number of car accidents per mile driven goes up around age 60, and gets much higher after 75. By the age of 85, the risk of car accidents exceeds that of the teenaged driver. In fact, car accidents are the number one cause of injury-related car accident deaths in people between 65 and 75.

What are some signs of unsafe driving that lead to car accidents?

Signs include:

* Merging or changing lanes without looking = possible car accident

* Trouble staying in the lane = possible car accident

* Turning from the wrong lane = possible car accident

* Stopping at a green light = possible car accident

* Stopping when there is no sign to stop = possible car accident

* Stopping in the middle of intersections = possible car accident

* Mistaking the gas pedal for the brake pedal = possible car accident

* Finding traffic signs and signals confusing = possible car accident

* Running stop signs or red lights without realizing it = possible car accident

* Hitting or nearly hitting cars, people or objects without realizing it = possible car accident

* Getting lost in familiar places = possible car accident

* Moving from one lane to another without looking = possible car accident

Anyone of the above signs could very well result in a car accident.

The question that comes to mind is,  Are older drivers aware of these risks? If so driving would be an irresponsible act on their behalf. The fact is older people don’t want to lose their independence; they also have their pride. I remember by grandfather, an established figure of the community losing it behind the wheel. His ears and eyes were not as sharp. Due to physical changes his driving was impaired. I’m sure he was aware but was in denial. There is no way he would want to put his family at risk but confidence can be a curse under such situations where the skill to back it up is not present.

Nobody wanted to be the bearer of bad news and crush his already deflating sense of pride, so we let him get on with it. In that sense if he was involved in a car accident we too would have been responsible. Luckily he never was. However plenty of older drivers are.

 

 

 

 

 

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Car Accidents Amongst Pension-Age Drivers

Posted on October 21, 2011 by Simon

The general consensus is young drivers are more likely to be involved in a car accident. Inexperience and young driver behaviour, namely: speed and DUI are some of the main causes for young people being involved in car accidents. More recently there is concern over older drivers of pension age being involved in car accidents.

In the next 20 years the number of elderly drivers (persons 70 & over) is predicted to triple in the United States.

Statistics show that older drivers are more likely than younger ones to be involved in multi-vehicle car accidents, particularly at intersections.

Research on age-related driving concerns has shown that at around the age of 65 drivers face an increased risk of being involved in a car accident. After the age of 75, the risk of driver fatality in car accidents increases sharply, because older drivers are more vulnerable to both car accident related injury and death.

Three behavioral factors in particular may contribute to these statistics: poor judgment in making left-hand turns; drifting within the traffic lane; and decreased ability to change behavior in response to an unexpected or rapidly changing situation.

Statistics, based on all people injured or killed in car accidents, indicate that older drivers are at a disproportionate risk for becoming involved in fatal car accidents. A NHTSA study of 1995 FARS (Fatal Accident Reporting System) data reports that senior citizens accounted for:

* 5% of all people injured in car accidents

* 13% of all traffic fatalities

* 13% of all car accident occupant fatalities

* 18% of all pedestrian fatalities

In a 1997 NHTSA study, older people made up 9 percent of the population but accounted for 14 percent of all car accident fatalities and 17 percent of all pedestrian fatalities. NHTSA’s “Traffic Safety Facts 1997: Older Population” (DOT HS 808 769) reports that:

* Representing 9 percent of the population in 1997, the 70-and-older age group grew 2.1 times faster from 1987 to 1997 than the total population.

* In 1986 older drivers were 7 percent of licensed drivers; in 1996 they were 19 percent of licensed drivers.

* When a car accident involved an older driver and a younger driver, the older driver was 3 times as likely as the younger driver to be the one struck. Moreover, 28 percent of car accidents involved older drivers turning left when they were struck– 7 times more often than younger drivers were struck while making left turns.

* On the basis of estimated annual travel, the car accident fatality rate for drivers 85 and over is nine times as high as the rate for drivers 25 through 69 years old.

Statistics show that in two-vehicle fatal car accident involving an older and a younger driver, it is 3.1 times as likely that the vehicle driven by the older person will be struck. In 27% of these two-vehicle fatal car accidents the older driver was turning left.

Drivers over 65, along with new teen-age drivers, have the highest accident rates per miles driven. Another NHTSA study found that on the basis of estimated annual travel, the fatality rate for drivers 85 and over is nine times as high as the rate for drivers 25 through 69 years old.

There clearly needs to be stricter regulations for older drivers. The law has not kept up with the times. Old people live longer but do they have the same capabilities as when they were younger? The simple answer is probably not. Are they aware? It’s likely as age is a creeper they are not aware of the full decline of their abilities. Driving regulations and tests for older drivers is one way to bring this problem to the forefront and increase awareness and hopefully reduce the number of car accidents amongst the elderly.

 

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Car Accidents: The Human Element

Posted on October 19, 2011 by Simon

A number of factors contribute to the risk of a car accident including; vehicle design, speed of operation, road design, road environment, driver skill and/or impairment and driver behaviour. Worldwide car accidents lead to death and disability as well as financial costs to both society and the individuals involved.

A 1985 study by K. Rumar, using British and American car accident reports as data, found that 57% of car accidents were due solely to driver factors, 27% of car accidents combined roadway and driver factors, 6% of car accidents combined vehicle and driver factors, 3% of car accidents were solely to roadway factors, 3% of car accidents were due to combined roadway, driver, and vehicle factors, 2% of car accidents were due to solely vehicle factors and 1% of car accidents were as a result of combined roadway and vehicle factors.

There are demographic differences in car accident rates. For example, although young people tend to have good reaction times, disproportionately more young male drivers feature in car accidents with researchers observing that many exhibit behaviors and attitudes to risk that can place them in more hazardous situations than other road users. Older drivers with slower reactions might be expected to be involved in more car accidents, but this has not been the case as they tend to drive less and, apparently, more cautiously.

If people have more safety does this then give them the leeway to take more risks?

Another interesting factor is that many places that look dangerous have few or no car accidents. Conversely, a location that does not look dangerous may have a high car accident frequency. This is, in part, because if drivers perceive a location as hazardous, they take more care. Car 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.

A similar phenomenon has been observed in risk compensation research, where the predicted reductions in car 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.

Driver Impairment increasing the risk of car Accidents.

Alcohol: In Canada 33.8% of car accident deaths were associated with alcohol use.

Poor Eyesight: A recent study showed a significant number of drivers were driving without having 20:20 vision highlighting the need for more drivers to have their eyes tested more regularly. It could avert a car accident.

Youth: Insurance statistics demonstrate a notably higher incidence of car 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 car accidents and fatalities among all driving age groups. Females in this age group suffer a somewhat lower car accident and fatality rate than males but still well above the median across all age groups. Also within this group, the highest car accident incidence rate occurs within the first year of licensed driving.

Old age: Even though older driver are more experienced, at a certain old age not only can a person become complacent but lose reactions times and suffer from poor eyesight. For this reason driver retesting for reaction speed and eyesight after a certain age should be compulsory to avoid car accidents

Sleep deprivation & Fatigue: A fatigued driver is as likelya a drunk driving to cause and be involved in a car accident.

Drug use: Like alcohol, being under the influence of drugs whilst driving causes many car accidents. It’s not only illegal drugs but some prescription drugs, over the counter drugs (notably antihistamines, opiates and muscarinic antagonists) that can also impair driving and cause car accidents.

Distraction: Research suggests that the driver’s attention is affected by distracting sounds such as conversations and operating a mobile phone while driving. 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.

It’s clear that human beings are the cause of most car accidents. How many more people have to die or be injured before humans start to change their driver behaviour?

 

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Safety Features In Vehicles That Reduce Injury And Death In Car Accidents

Posted on October 19, 2011 by Simon

Many people own cars and if not they often travel in them. With cars come car accidents. In the past car accidents were more deadly as cars were less safe. These days even though car accidents have decreased slightly driver behavior means that car accidents are still occurring, often unnecessarily. Thankfully car safety has improved as has car technology reducing the severity of injuries and death from car accidents.

Below are eight safety features in cars that will reduce injury and death in a car accident:

•Safety seat belts

•Airbag

•Crumple zone

•Anti lock braking system

•Side impact bars (strong struts)

•Shatter- proof windscreen

•Headrest

•Padded dashboard

Seatbelts:

Prevent the passenger from being thrown out of the car in a car accident. Seatbelts slow down the forward movement of the passenger when the car stops abruptly in a car accident.

Airbags:

Airbag have a sensor to detect the sudden deceleration and impact on the car in a car accident. During a car accident when an impact occurs, it causes heating of a chemical called sodium azide. This releases nitrogen gas to quickly inflate the airbag within a fraction of a second.

Airbags act as cushion for the head and body in car accident and thus prevent injuries to the driver and passenger.

Shatter resistant glass:

Shatter resistant glass provides a windshield that breaks into numerous, harmless pieces in the event of a car accident. The windshields in earlier motor vehicles were dangerous. In a car accident if the windshield were shattered, the driver would be covered in shards of glass. Shatterproof glass is laminated in such a way as to prevent injuries in car accident.

Anti-lock braking systems:

The earliest braking systems in automobiles only applied braking pressure to the rear wheels. During emergency breaking situations the rear wheels would lock up, causing the vehicle to slide and swerve to a stop. It was not until the 1920′s that four wheel brakes where introduced. Four-wheel brakes helped prevent swerving in an emergency braking situation. The introduction of ABS solved the skidding problem and also allowed the driver to maintain control of steering, while braking on slick surfaces. Thus they have greatly reduced the number of car accidents and severity of car accidents.

Padded Dashboard:

Padded dashboards are used to reduce injury in car accidents. This is because as your head hits a hard object and stops your brain inside keeps moving and impacts with the inside of your skull, anything that slows down this deceleration will help to save your brain and also your skull, even a little padding can mean the difference between life and death in a car accident.

Crumple Zone:

Placed at the front and the rear of the car, they absorb the crash energy developed during an impact. This is achieved by deformation, something unheard of in the early days of automobile design. While certain parts of the car are designed to allow deformations, using high-strength steel and more beams strengthens the passenger cabin.

Secondly, crumple zones delay the collision. Instead of having two rigid bodies instantaneously colliding, crumple zones increase the time before the vehicle comes to a halt.

Side impact bars (strong struts)

Basically they reinforce the side of the car to prevent reduce death and injury in car accidents.

Pre-collision technology:

Many modern day cars have sensors that provide impact protection when an impending collision is detected. Seat belts get tighter, airbags align and brakes become preloaded to reduce shock.

Drivers can change their driving behavior; sadly not enough do resulting in far too many unnecessary car accidents. Car safety can reduce the severity of injury or death. Make sure your car is safe.

 

 

 

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