What causes car accidents?????
Four factors contribute to the vast majority of collisions. In ascending order they are:
- Equipment Failure
- Roadway Design
- Poor Roadway Maintenance
- Driver Behavior
Over 95% of motor vehicle accidents involve some degree of driver
behavior combined with one of the other three factors. Drivers always
try to blame road conditions, equipment failure, or other drivers for
those accidents. When the facts are truthfully presented, however, the
behavior of the implicated driver is usually the primary cause. Most are
caused by excessive speed or aggressive driver behavior.
- Equipment Failure - Manufacturers are required
by law to design and engineer cars that meet a minimum safety standard.
Computers, combined with companies' extensive research and development,
have produced safe vehicles that are easy and safe to drive. The most
cited types of equipment failure are loss of brakes, tire blowouts or
tread separation, and steering/suspension failure. With the exception of
the recent rash of Firestone light-truck tire failures, combined totals
for all reported equipment failure accounts for less than 5% of all
motor vehicle accidents.
- Brakes - Modern
dual-circuit brake systems have made total brake failure an unlikely
event. If one side of the circuit fails, the other side is usually
sufficient to stop a vehicle. Disc brakes, found on the front wheels of
virtually every modern vehicle, are significantly more effective than
the older drum braking systems, which can fade when hot. ABS (Anti
Blockier System) or anti-lock brakes prevent the wheels from locking up
during emergency braking maneuvers, allowing modern vehicles to avoid
many accidents that previously would have occurred.
- Tires -
Today's radial tires are significantly safer than the bias-ply tires of
25 years ago. They still, however, need attention regularly. Under
inflation, the most frequent cause of tire failure is considered the
main culprit in the recent Firestone tire-failure fatalities. Uneven or
worn-out tires are the next most serious problem and can also lead to
tire failure. Uneven wear is caused by improperly balanced tires, or
misaligned or broken suspensions. Remember, all that keeps you connected
to the roadway is your tires. If you don't check your own, have your
mechanic check them every 5,000 miles.
- Steering & Suspension -
Your suspension keeps your tires in contact with the roadway in a
stable and predictable manner. Your steering enables you to go around
road obstacles and avoid potential accidents. Even a safe, well-trained
driver is helpless in the event of a steering or suspension system
failure. Such failures are catastrophic, especially at high speeds. Have
your suspension and steering systems checked out by a mechanic every
10,000 miles.
- With regular component inspections by trained individuals, equipment failures can be virtually eliminated.
- Roadway Design - Motorists may blame roadway design for accidents, but it's rarely the cause. Civil
engineers, local governments, and law enforcement agencies all
contribute to the design of safe road layouts and traffic management
systems. State and federal governments provide guidelines to their
construction, with design flexibility to suit local conditions. Roadways
are designed by engineers with special consideration given to the
following:
- Hazard Visibility - Permanent roadway
hazards consist of intersections, merging lanes, bends, crests, school
zones, and livestock or pedestrian crossings. Temporary hazards include
road construction, parked or disabled vehicles, accidents, traffic jams,
and wild animals (especially deer).
- Roadway Surfaces -
Engineers can use different surfaces (for example, grooved pavement)
depending on the environment, traffic speed, traffic volume, and
location of the roadway (noise barriers). Roadway markings let drivers
know about their ability to pass safely (dotted & double lines), the
location of the roadway in inclement weather (reflective cats-eyes
& stakes), and where road surface ends and the shoulder begins.
- Traffic Control Devices - Traffic
light signals, speed limit signs, yield and stop signs, school &
pedestrian crossings, turning lanes, police surveillance cameras, and
traffic circles or roundabouts.
- Behavioral Control Devices -
Built-in obstacles that limit the ability of a vehicle to travel,
including crash barrels, speed bumps, pedestrian islands, raised
medians, high curbing, guard rails, and concrete barriers.
- Traffic Flow -
Interstate highways remain the safest roads because their flow of
traffic is in one direction. One-way streets ease traffic congestion in
city centers as well. Rural two-lane roadways are statistically the most
dangerous because of a high incidence of deadly head-on collisions and
the difficulty impatient drivers’ face while overtaking slower vehicles.
- Roadway Identification Signs -
enable someone without a detailed map to travel from one place to
another. They give advance notice of intersections, destinations,
hazards, route numbers, mileage estimates, street names, and points of
interest.
- Weather - inclement conditions can aggravate existing hazards and sometimes create new road surfaces (ice & snow).
- Poor Maintenance -
Roadway maintenance contributes to some motor vehicle accidents, but
not to the extent that drivers use it as an excuse. Unfortunately
maintenance schedules and procedures vary greatly from city to city and
state to state, so nationwide standards don't exist. Below we outline
some potential roadway maintenance shortcomings that you should be aware
of.
- Debris on the roadway can be a problem, and is the responsibility of local highway departments.
- Faded
road signs, and signs obscured by foliage, occasionally contribute to
accidents. If you know of any offending signs, contact your local police
department to see if they can get the problem remedied.
- Potholes
cause a small number of accidents (primarily tire & suspension
failures), but the accidents usually occur at low speeds and don't cause
many injuries. Call the police to get large dangerous holes attended
to. Some Northern US cities have pothole complaint lines that are active
during the winter and spring.
- Roadway construction is an
oft-mentioned reason for accidents. Again the blame usually rests on
aggressive drivers who are unwilling to merge or slow down when
approaching a construction zone. In most states, fines are doubled in
work zones, making it expensive as well as unsafe to speed. Stop-and-go
traffic requires thoughtful, alert driving to avoid a collision with the
car in front of you. Too often we worry that someone will cut in front
of us in a traffic jam. The real problem is that drivers forget about
the vehicle directly in front, rear-ending it while looking in their
rearview mirror or daydreaming. Leave plenty of room between your car
and the one directly in front of you. Our 3 second rule applies to
traffic jams as well. If a few people cut in front of you, let them.
- Salting & Sanding -
Many wintertime accidents are blamed on inadequate salting or sanding
of icy roadways, but as so often, the real culprit is usually excessive
speed. And salting only works if the ambient temperature stays above the
middle teens. Recent environmental concerns have curbed widespread
salting in recent years so less effective materials like clay, sand, and
soot have replaced it in some areas. The fact remains that if highways
are icy, speed needs to be reduced whether the roadway is salted or not.
- Driver Behavior -
Humans tend to blame somebody or something else when a mistake or
accident occurs. A recent European study concluded that 80% of drivers
involved in motor vehicle accidents believed that the other party could
have done something to prevent the accident. A miniscule 5% admitted
that they were the only one at fault. Surveys consistently reveal that
the majority consider themselves more skillful and safer than the
average driver. Some mistakes occur when a driver becomes distracted,
perhaps by a cell phone call or a spilled cup of coffee. Very few
accidents result from an 'Act of God,' like a tree falling on a vehicle.
Speed Kills -
The faster the speed of a vehicle, the greater the risk of an accident.
The forces experienced by the human body in a collision increase
exponentially as the speed increases. Smart Motorist recommends that
drivers observe our 3 second rule in everyday traffic, no matter what
your speed. Most people agree that going 100 mph is foolhardy and will
lead to disaster. The problem is that exceeding the speed limit by only 5
mph in the wrong place can be just as dangerous. Traffic engineers and
local governments have determined the maximum speeds allowable for safe
travel on the nation's roadways. Speeding is a deliberate and calculated
behavior where the driver knows the risk but ignores the danger. Fully
90% of all licensed drivers speed at some point in their driving career;
75% admit to committing this offense regularly.
Consider this example:
a pedestrian walks out in front of a car. If the car is traveling at
just 30 mph, and the driver brakes when the pedestrian is 45 feet away,
there will be enough space in which to stop without hitting the
pedestrian. Increase the vehicle speed by just 5 mph and the situation
changes dramatically. At 35 mph, with the pedestrian 45 feet away and
the driver braking at the same point, the car will be traveling at 18
mph when it hits the pedestrian. An impact at 18 mph can seriously
injure or even kill the pedestrian.
Who are the bad drivers?
They are young, middle-aged, and old; men and women; they drive luxury
cars, sports cars, SUVs and family cars. Almost every qualified driver I
know admits to some type of risky driving behavior, most commonly
speeding.
Aggressive Drivers - As we've
described, modern cars are manufactured to very safe standards, and the
environment they're driven in is engineered to minimize the injuries
suffered during an accident. The most difficult area to change is
aggressive driver behavior and selfish attitudes. A 1995 study by the
Automobile Association in Great Britain found that 88% of the
respondents reported at least one of the behaviors listed below directed
at them (in order of descending frequency):
- Aggressive tailgating
- Lights flashed at them because the other motorist was annoyed
- Aggressive or rude gestures
- Deliberate obstruction -- preventing them from moving their vehicle
- Verbal abuse
- Physical assault
The
same group was then asked about aggressive behavior they had displayed
towards other drivers. 40% indicated that they had never behaved
aggressively towards another driver. A further 60% of the survey
respondents admitted to one or more of the following behaviors (listed
in order of descending frequency):
- Flashed lights at another motorist because they were annoyed with them
- Gave aggressive or rude gestures
- Gave verbal abuse
- Aggressively tailgated another motorist
- Deliberately obstructed or prevented another from moving their vehicle
- Physically assaulted another motorist (one positive response)
These
behaviors are probably under-reported, since most people are not
willing to admit to the more serious actions, even if no penalty exists.
The majority of these incidents happened during the daylight hours
(70%), on a main road (not freeway or divided highway).
