Urban accidents: why do they happen? Contributory factors in urban road traffic accidents

H R Kirby, M T Southwell, M Tight, O M J Carsten, B PlowsInstitute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds

Cost: 130,000
Published: April 1990

In the 1970s the Transport Research Laboratory carried out detailed, on-the-spot investigations of road-traffic accidents in rural areas of Berkshire. The intention of the AA Foundation project was to make detailed studies of contributory factors in non-metropolitan urban road traffic accidents; it also investigated road-user contributory factors in greater depth.

The study was conducted in a group of police sub-divisions in the Leeds area, within which all reported accidents were eligible for inclusion. Interviews were sought with drivers of all vehicles and with pedestrians who had been injured. Accident information was added to the data file if at least one interview was successfully completed for each given incident.

Among the report's recommendations were:

• young male drivers in particular should be made more aware of the dangers of driving too fast for traffic conditions, and of risks when passing parked vehicles;
• pedestrians should be helped to cope with a hostile road environment;
• pedestrian drunkenness should be addressed;
• more attention should be given to road safety training and education, including that in schools;
• conspicuity should be improved for cyclists/motorcyclists;
• further road-junction accident analysis should be undertaken;
• studies should be made into how changes to roadside parking might reduce hazards to pedestrians.

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