COMPARISON OF FATIGUE RELATED ROAD TRAFFIC CRASHES ON THE NATIONAL HIGHWAYS AND MOTORWAYS IN PAKISTAN

Driver Fatigue is one of the leading causes of Road Traffic Crashes (RTC) in Pakistan . An attempt has been made in this research to compare the proportion of driver fatigue related RTC on the Motorways and National Highways of Pakistan. Data were collected from the National Highways and Motorway Police (NHMP). Data for 2003 to 2012 of all RTC on Motorways and 2003-2011 on the National Highways (N-5) were examined extensively by applying Australian Transportation Safety Bureau (ATSB) criteria for determining fatigue related RTC. The Total number of RTC on Motorways during 2003-2012 was 1750 out of which 497 were fatigue-related. The total number of RTC on (N-5) during 2003-2011 was 5080 out of which 483 were fatigue-related. The average percentage of fatigue related RTC on Motorways was 28%, however on National Highways (N-5) it was found to be 10%. Fatigue-related RTC is thus more prevalent on the Motorways. It was also discovered that fatigue-related RTC result in mostly fatal accidents on the Motorway (54%) and serious injuries on N-5 (41%).

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