THE ROLE OF ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION IN ROAD SAFETY

A road accident is a rare, random, multifactor event to which it is usually impossible to assign a single cause. In recent years a systematic approach to Accident Investigation has been adopted by many local authorities in the United Kingdom. A description of such an approach is based on the author's experience in the Accident Investigation Unit in Nottinghamshire. In the early stages of Accident Investigation, location in space and time makes it possible to identify accident clusters at specific sites or particular problem areas and to detect diurnal or seasonal variations within this distribution. More detailed investigation identifies a multiplicity of factors which may or may not have contributed to the accident. Frequently recurring factors may point to a predominant accident type or pattern at a particular site. A multidisciplinary approach to the second-level in-depth investigation is needed in order to identify important environmental and behavioural factors. From this information it is often poss...