Traffic collisions in an urban area of Great Britain

S LawsonCity Engineer's Department, Birmingham City Council and Accident Research Unit, Automotive Engineering Centre, University of Birmingham

Cost: 28,000 per annum over three years
Published: October 1989

Work on the urban accident research project began in July 1988 and the 'rolling' programme was financed by the Foundation for three years. The project covered studies of prominent accident problems, and examination of remedial measures, based on detailed analysis of accidents in the West Midlands urban area.

The initial task was to examine relevant statistics to identify areas of concern, and potential for accident reduction. The results of this review were compiled into the above named report.

Initial findings relating to the City of Birmingham showed:

• 25 per cent of accidents on minor roads involve child pedestrians, compared with eight per cent on "A" roads;
• 12 per cent of accidents involve child pedestrians, and a further 17 per cent involve adult pedestrians;
• 22 per cent of accidents at roundabouts involve cyclists, but at traffic light-controlled junctions only eight per cent involve cyclists;

and recommendations were made for:

• better road-accident recording methods;
• more details of accident-producing road features to be held by local authorities;
• greater efforts on urban road safety management and road safety education of children.