Wednesday 11th May 2005

Inattention causes accidents: survey

Friday 13th not significant, says insurer

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You're no more at risk on Friday 13th

Friday 13th is coming up this week, but there's no need to take special measures. As any fule kno, superstition is bunkum, as figures released by insurer Hyperformance for reported accidents in 2003 show.

Friday 13th in 2003 was an average day with 120 claims received, apparently. But while the date was not significant, it seems the day can be.

Four of the top ten worst days for reporting accidents last year were Fridays, reckoned the insurer, and six of the worst 10 days were in January, backing up industry statistics that more accidents occur during winter months. In contrast, Thursdays turn out to be the safest day of the week for motoring.

The worst day of 2003 was Wednesday 8 January with 171 motoring accidents reported to the insurers, while Monday 3 March was the safest with 89 reports filed. No one knows why -- though the weather might have had something to do with it.

Hyperformance said these and many other road casualty statistics don’t help motorists understand why accidents happen. It argued that more should be done to broaden the scope of the information recorded on accidents in a bid to better understand their causes.

The company said that on the few occasions this has been done in the past it has led to some interesting findings. Several police forces ran a trial back in 1996 and recorded contributory factors in road accidents. Although the trial was unscientific, it found the five most frequent causes of accidents to be:

• A driver’s failure to judge another person’s path or speed
• Careless/thoughtless or reckless behaviour
• Inattention
• Looking but failing to see
• Excessive speed

Impairment due to alcohol was down the list in ninth place, even though official statistics prove that one in five drivers or riders killed on the road are over the limit.

"Getting accurate information on the causes of accidents could have a real benefit for road safety. Even partial statistics could help change motorists’ perception of the risks and so make a valuable contribution," said marketing director Steve McPherson. "Anything that makes motorists stop and think about what they are doing and alters their approach to driving can help to improve road safety. The most important thing to do is to use every means possible to get the message across."

[mybrainhurts]

Recent government blurb put excessive speed at number 7.......

[chippy17]

really; inattention causes accidents, well I never, how much did they pay some research company for that little nugget!

[annodomini2]

Well, DUH!

[mikeatBB]

This story quotes the causes of accidents, thats ALL accidents, then refers to the % drivers killed who are over the DD limit........the apparent discrepancy is due to there being 100s times more accidents than fatalities AND in a modern vehicle you have to try pretty hard to kill yourself. The drunks are particularly good at it and often do it by driving at silly speeds into trees and brick walls. So they skew the fatal figures AND the % caused by EXCESS SPEED. Anyone who is interested in stopping the speed camera abuses should spend enough time on the safespeed website so that they know what the truth is then pass it on in EVERY conversation they have on the subject.