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“A Review on Road Traffic Accident and Related Factors”

Article in International Journal of Applied Engineering Research · January 2015

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International Journal of Applied Engineering Research
ISSN 0973-4562 Volume 10, Number 11 (2015) pp. 28177-28183
© Research India Publications
http://www.ripublication.com

A Review on Road Traffic Accident and Related Factors

Muthusamy A P1*, Rajendran M2, Ramesh K3, Sivaprakash P4

1
Research Scholar, Anna University Chennai.
2
Principal, KGISL Institute of Technology, Coimbatore.
3
Assistant Professor, Government College of Technology, Coimbatore.
4
Associate Professor, A.S.L.Pauls College of Engineering and Technology,
Coimbatore.
*Corresponding Author Email: [email protected]

Abstract
Road traffic accidents are considered the most important general health
concern, as it results in numerous injuries and deaths worldwide. India is one
among the developing nation which experiences the highest rate of such
accidents. Thus the traffic agencies and public concentrates at the measures to
reduce such accident severity in order to reduce the fatality rate. This paper
reviews various factors and statistics related to road accidents occurred in
various countries and also studies different safety measures suggested by
researchers.

Keywords: Accidents, Causes, Safety, Severity, Fatality.

Introduction
The effects of injuries and fatalities due to road traffic accidents (RTAs) have a
tremendous impact on socio-economic development of a country. RTAs causing an
estimated 1.2 million deaths and 50 million injuries per year (World Health
Organization, 2004) are one of the most threatening issues to a government. The
major states that contribute to the development of country in various aspects,
encounters serious threat of RTAs. The major aim of this work is to collect the
empirical details and various important statistics related to the road accident severity
and the measures to reduce RTAs. Safety can be improved by successfully correlating
frequency of accident occurrence and severity of the causative variables. RTAs can be
reduced through proper education and promotional involvement that encourage the
use of safety equipments. Not much is known about the effects of safety education
programmes and driver education programmes. This work gives a wide analysis of
causes and frequency of accidents occurring in leading cities of the world. Also an
28178 Muthusamy A P

analysis was made to prevent the same in order to improve the socio-economic factors
of a country.

Major Causes of Road Traffic Accidents

Environmental factors and stress plays a vital role in causing major road traffic
accidents. Other important factors such as the age of the vehicle, safety measures,
human error and time and place of accident decide the fatalities and the seriousness of
the accidents.
Human error seems to be the major cause in majority of vehicular accidents.
Examination on the operator or human causes will be a critical component for
accident analyses. Investigation on the part played by the human component in the
traffic system is to be considered very important among road safety problems. Skill of
the operator and traffic scenario are other factors involved in collisions. Human error
is also caused by stress due to economic or family problems. Such a state of mind
makes them cause road accidents.
Carelessness is one of the causes of road accidents in our country. Some of the
examples include using mobile phone while driving a vehicle, ignoring the red signal
in traffic signals and emerging from a side road into the path of another vehicle. Over
speeding is one of the reason as injury severity increases with collision speed and the
lack of head protection accounts for the most severe but preventable injuries.
Insufficiently experienced drivers and authorizing improperly trained drivers and
insufficient knowledge of traffic signs tend to increase the number of road traffic
accidents.
Another important cause for alarming increase in number of road accidents is
driving of vehicle in drunken state. Under the influence of alcohol and other
intoxicated substances, the drivers lose the self consciousness and control over the
vehicle which ultimately forms the reason for accidents.
Lack of sensitivity and responsibility on the part of state authorities also forms one
of the reasons. The human sensibility and life respecting emotions of state authorities,
to look into situations on the roads like mal-functioning of traffic lights also causes
accidents if not properly maintained.

Road Accident Studies on Critical Factors

Extensive human and material losses, many temporary and permanent injuries and
enormous damages to the public and private properties are the ultimate results of road
traffic accidents.
The critical factors affecting accident severity were featured in various reports.
Kristle Young et al., (2007) reviewed the aspects on in-vehicle driver distraction,
focusing on mobile phone use in particular, stated that this device has received the
greatest attention in the driver distraction literature. The paper also discussed the
effect of in-vehicle devices on driving performance.
Haigney et al., (2000) studied the possible effects of mobile phone usage on
driving performance. The relative influences of using hand-held and hands-free
mobile phone on driving performance were studied with thirty participants using
stimulators and reported. The results disclosed decrease in mean speed and the
A Review on Road Traffic Accident and Related Factors 28179

standard of the participants during conversation on the mobile phone. The research
suggested that drivers are often involved in a range of compensatory approach in an
attempt to maintain an acceptable level of driving performance while interacting with
in-vehicle devices.

Frequency of Road Traffic Accidents

An estimated 1.2 million people die in road traffic accidents each year while about 50
million are being injured and about 85% are in developing countries.
The highest frequency of traffic accidents in the world takes place in India. As per
the report of National Crime Records Bureau more than 135000 traffic accident
deaths occur in India.
The result of a population based study on injuries conducted by Moshiro et al.,
(2001) revealed that between 1992 and 1998 transport related accidents were the
leading cause of injury in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.Over 37,000 people die in road
crashes each year as per the Annual United States Road Crash Statistics.
In 2012, there were 195,723 reported casualties on the roads of Great Britain,
including 1,754 fatalities and 23,039 serious casualties.The Ministry of Interior and
the Ministry of Transportation issued a joint report noting that 100,000 crashes had
occurred between 2008 and 2012, taking 33,000 lives, injuring 150,000, and
destroying 125,000 vehicles.In Washington, D.C. the average likely occurrence of an
accident is a startling every 4.8 years more than twice as often as the national average
of 10 years.

Road Traffic Accident Studies in Various Countries

The impact of traffic law enforcement on road accident fatalities in Botswana has
been collected and drafted by Thuso Mphela (2005). In this study the impact of traffic
law enforcement on fatalities in Botswana was assessed using multiple regression
analysis using secondary data and interview data obtained from law enforcers. The
study concluded that licensed drivers in the age group 30 to 45 years have the lowest
rate of fatalities.
Road Traffic Accident Situation in Khulna city, Bangladesh was reported by
Hossain et al., (2005). Two year data pertaining to road accidents were gathered from
different police stations located in the city. During the report period, 157 road
accidents occurred and 25% of the victims were in the age group of 30 to 39 years,
33% of pedestrians lost their life and 34% of them got injured. Omar and Ashawesh
(2008) forecasted that by the year 2020, road accidents would move up to third place
in the table of major causes of death and disability.
Atubi (2010) had performed a monthly analysis of road traffic accident with data
from secondary source in selected local Government Grease of Laos state, Nigeria.
This study suggested preventive & corrective safety measures towards reducing road
traffic accidents. In Nigeria, over the past thirty years disturbing road traffic accident
situation has been witnessed. The chance of a person getting killed in Nigeria when
compared with that in Britain is 47 times higher.
Road Accident and safety study in Bangladesh has been analyzed by Banik et al.,
(2011). The north-eastern division of Bangladesh named Sylhet, witnesses with rapid
28180 Muthusamy A P

growth of road vehicle and development in economic tourism, at the same time; it
experiences severe road traffic accidents. A better understanding and consciousness of
the accident causes can prevent and minimize the severity of road accidents.
Igor Radun et al., (2009) studied the contribution of fatigue for occurrence of
accident without a reliable fatigue detector and concluded that 3% of single vehicle
accidents reported to the police were fatigue related. A driver causing an accident
after being awake for more than 24 consecutive hours can be convicted, sentenced to
up to 10 years and fined.
Shanjun Li (2012) investigated the relationship existing between traffic safety and
vehicle choice. This was done through quantification of the effects of the arms race on
vehicle demand, producer performance, and traffic safety. The accident externality of
a light truck amounts to $2444 during vehicle lifetime and that 12% of new light
trucks sold in 2006 and 204 traffic fatalities could have been attributed to the arms
race, the design mismatch between light trucks and passenger cars being the reason.
Brake failure and its effect on road traffic accident in Kumasi Metropolis, Ghana
had been discussed by Seth Daniel Oduro (2012). The research design used for this
study was survey which relied on questionnaire to generate data for analysis and
discussion. 40% of the vehicle users agreed that brake failure is cause by low or
shortage of brake fluid and 33% of the respondents said it was due to brake
overheating. The major contributing factor of the road accidents is the motor vehicle
that plying on the roads, gross indiscipline on our roads, over loading and fatigue
driving.

Studies on Various Road Safety Models

Gianluca Dell Acqua et al., (2003) illustrated road safety statistical models to predict
injury accidents. Two accident prediction models one associated with two-lane rural
roads and the other with multilane roadways were calibrated using procedure based on
least squares method with a confidence level of 95%. Traffic flow, lane width, vertical
slope and curvature change rate and roadways segments length were the explanatory
variables. 223 kilometers of Italian roadways were covered and analyzed within the
Salerno Province network. The Gauss-Newton method based on the Taylor series was
used to estimate the coefficients of employed variables.
Accident Analysis and prevention by Taimur Usman et al.,(2010) presented a
modelling approach that associated accident frequency with road surface conditions,
visibility and other influencing factors during a snow storm event. The findings of this
paper can be applied for assessing various maintenance strategies using safety as a
performance measure. The paper explained the empirical relationship between safety
and road surface conditions, and made quantification of safety benefits easier.
Tibebe Beshah et al., (2010) applied data mining technologies that linked recorded
road characteristic data with accident severity in Ethiopia, and proposed certain rules
that could be adopted by the Ethiopian Traffic Agency to improve safety. The
Ethiopian traffic control system data on several facets of traffic system, like traffic
volume, traffic concentration, and vehicular accidents. The study presumes that
accidents are not randomly scattered by the side of road network, and that drivers are
not involved in accidents at random. The accident record has more than 40 factors of
A Review on Road Traffic Accident and Related Factors 28181

text, numbers, dates and times. Among these, the car plate number, and driver’s name
were kept confidential for privacy purposes.
Ahmad Hasan Nury et al., (2012) provided methodological analysis of accident
prevalence and severity of traffic accident distributions in terms of locations,
frequency, vehicles and duration. Poisson and negative binomial regression models
are more appropriate tool in accident modeling (Lee 1999).
Lars Hultkrantz et al., (2006) reported the result of contingent valuation (CV)
study in Sweden of improved urban road safety. Respondents were trained in trading
income for reduced risk by acquainting them to risk reduction and cost assurgent and
compared responses from samples with different risk change magnitudes.
Baojin Wang (2002) had investigated a sample of evaluations by drivers regarding
typical road environments related to safety. A face to face survey data of a sample of
Sydney drivers was used to estimate an ordered probity model, a method often used in
travel behaviour studies. In the survey, a respondent evaluated 27 sceneries developed
to measure a driver’s perceived safety in the road environment.
The research by G A Hindle et al., (2011) reported the rates of personal injury
collisions (PIC) over the past decade on the roads of English local authority areas. A
significant difference in improvement rate was observed between urban and rural
dimension and was very much depended on prior PIC risk levels. The study featured
the accident scenario of sites under the continual surveillance of camera and its
impact on accidents.
Dinesh Mohan (2011) had demonstrated that information regarding road accidents
is not reliable in few developed countries whereas a few developing countries have
good data systems. This work had made a broad assessment of the status of road
safety in 178 countries. The data acquired from national governments in a
standardized survey form was used to recommend measures to be adopted for road
safety and policies needed to bring down road accidents. It was also shown that there
is no relation between a country’s income level and specific fatality rates of the road
users.
From the study on various safety models, coefficients of employed variables like
traffic flow, lane width, etc and various maintenance strategies for preventing
accidents can be estimated. The model studies are useful in determining factors
causing accidents and traffic accident distributions as preventive measures can be
devised suitably. Model studies on evaluation of driver’s situation and performance
can help in identifying preventive measures to avoid rider based accidents. Studies on
use of camera surveillance to monitor predicted accident spots showed the efficiency
of its usage in preventing accidents.

Conclusion
The results of various field works done on the road traffic accident in various
countries have been reported in this paper. This literature study helps the researchers
to have a nut shell view about the effect of RTAs and the safety measures to be
followed to avoid RTAs. The empirical details and various important statistics related
to the road accident severity and the measures to reduce RTAs discussed in various
28182 Muthusamy A P

studies were presented. Multifaceted review of various literatures has shown that
accidents occurrences are the effect of multiple human, vehicle and environmental
elements often interacting in a complicated manner to generate the initiation of the
event. The causes of road traffic accidents are not just human error or driver
negligence. There is need to view road traffic accident as an issue that needs urgent
attention aimed at reducing the health, social and economic impacts.

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