ACCIDENT ANALYSIS AND CONFLICT BEHAVIOUR. ROAD USERS AND TRAFFIC SAFETY

The records of routinely police-reported accidents can form the basis for statistical information, but are of little use in accident analysis due to their limitations, inaccuracies and incompleteness. To understand the complex nature of an accident, new techniques in accident investigation have evolved. One of these is the use of multidisciplinary teams to conduct in-depth and on-the-spot accident investigations. Another major development concerns the use of observations of conflict behaviour that may lead to near accidents or accidents. A historical overview of accident investigation techniques over the past four decades and a critical evaluation of both multidisciplinary accident investigation and conflict behaviour studies are presented. (TRRL)