Epidemiology of motor vehicle collisions

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Deaths for road traffic collisions per 100,000 inhabitants in 2012:
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Deaths for road traffic collisions per 100,000 inhabitants in 2012:
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Road fatalities per 1 billion vehicle-km in 2004:
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Road fatalities per 1 billion vehicle-km in 2004:
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Worldwide, it was estimated that 1.25 million people were killed and many millions more were injured in motor vehicle collisions in 2013. [2] This makes motor vehicle collisions the leading cause of death among young adults of 15–29 years of age (360,000 die a year) and the ninth most frequent cause of death for all ages worldwide. [3] In the United States, 40,100 people died and 2.8 million were injured in crashes in 2017, [4] and around 2,000 children under 16 years old die every year. [5]

Contents

Annual US traffic fatalities per billion vehicle miles traveled (red), miles traveled (blue), per one million people (orange), total annual deaths (light blue), VMT in tens of billions (dark blue) and population in millions (teal), from 1921 to 2017 US traffic deaths per VMT, VMT, per capita, and total annual deaths.png
Annual US traffic fatalities per billion vehicle miles traveled (red), miles traveled (blue), per one million people (orange), total annual deaths (light blue), VMT in tens of billions (dark blue) and population in millions (teal), from 1921 to 2017

Road toll figures in developed nations show that car collision fatalities have declined since 1980. Japan is an extreme example, with road deaths decreasing to 5,115 in 2008, which was 25% of the 1970 rate per capita and 17% of the 1970 rate per vehicle distance travelled. In 2008, for the first time, more pedestrians than vehicle occupants were killed in Japan by cars. [6] Besides improving general road conditions like lighting and separated walkways, Japan has been installing intelligent transportation system technology such as stalled-car monitors to avoid crashes.

In developing nations, statistics may be grossly inaccurate or hard to get. Some nations have not significantly reduced the total death rate, which stood at 12,000 in Thailand in 2007, for example. [7]

In the United States, twenty-eight states had reductions in the number of automobile crash fatalities between 2005 and 2006. [8] 55% of vehicle occupants 16 years or older in 2006 were not using seat belts when they crashed. [9]

Road fatality trends tend to follow Smeed's law, [10] an empirical schema that correlates increased fatality rates per capita with traffic congestion.

Deaths in 2005

According to Eurostat the automobile is one of the least safe means of transport, if safety is measured as the fewest fatalities per travelled distance. Based on data by EU-27 member nations, 2008-2010. Road-way vs. railway safety.png
According to Eurostat the automobile is one of the least safe means of transport, if safety is measured as the fewest fatalities per travelled distance. Based on data by EU-27 member nations, 2008–2010.

Crashes are categorized by what is struck and the direction of impact, or impacts. These are some common crash types, based on the total number that occurred in the US in 2005, the percentage of total crashes, and the percentage of fatal crashes: [13]

Rollover, head-on, pedestrian, and bicyclist crashes combined are only 6.1% of all crashes, but cause 34.5% of traffic-related fatalities.

Sometimes the vehicles in the collision can suffer more than one type of impact, such as during a shunt or high-speed spin. This is called a "second harmful event," such as when a vehicle is redirected by the first crash into another vehicle or fixed object.

CountrySurface

(thousands of km2)

Population

(millions)

Population Density/km2Vehicles in circulation

(thousands)

Length

of road network (kilometers)

Circulation

(millions of vehicles x km)

Number of vehicles/100 inhabitantsDeaths per million

inhabitants

Deaths per billion km travelled
Austria 848.297.75,279107,14382,22164.593.89.3
Belgium 3310.4320.36,159151,37294,67759.1104.511.5
Czech Republic 7910.2129.64,73255,49550,26246.395.817.2
Denmark 435.41262,57072,07447,94047.3616.9
Finland 3385.215.52,87179,15051,67554.772.27.3
France 55160.5109.737,1681,002 486552,80061.477.99.6
Germany 35782.5231.154,520626,981684,28366.174.87.8
Greece 13211.1846,64140,16481,63559.9149.120.3
Hungary 9310.1108.53,370180,994ND33.496.6ND
Republic of Ireland 714.158.61,93795,75237,84046.796.210.5
Italy 30158.1192.843,141305,388654,19774.3948.3
Luxembourg 30.5179.83582,8762,8757798.916.0
Netherlands 4216.3392.58,627117,430133,80052.9465.6
Poland 32338.5119.416,815381,462377,28943.681.310.4
Portugal 9310.5113.35,48181,739ND52.2118.8ND
United Kingdom 24460.2246.733,717413,120499,3965655.96.7
Slovakia 495.4110.11,83417,75513,40234112.645.4
Slovenia 202971,15020,19615,51958.569*16.6
Spain 50543.48627,657666,204ND63.7103.1ND
Sweden 450920.15,131214,00075,19656.848.75.9
Partial Total Eu (20 countries)3809451.1118.4269,1584,631,7813,451,93859.787.511.6
Iceland 1030.32.923691,9162,00680.364.69.5
Norway 3244.614.32,93892,51136,55063.648.56.1
Switzerland 417.4179.65,04371,02762,6856855.26.5

Representation of regional death statistics on map reveals significant differences even between neighboring regions. [16]

Source IRTAD for the following data:

Deaths

Deaths per passenger-kilometer

The 28 EU-28 countries, for the 28 members, computed an indicator named "per 10 billion pkm". Pkm is an indicator of traffic volume which is used for not having consistent vehicle-kilometre data. Are counted cars and estimated motorised two-wheelers. In 2016, this indicator ranges from 23 for Sweden to 192 for Romania, with a value of 52 for the EU-28. In Germany, France, the UK and Italy, this score is respectively 33, 46, 28, 44. [17]

Deaths in Europe

In 2019, the 27 members states of the European Union had 51 road deaths per million inhabitants. [18] Because the UK had less fatalities than the average EU and due to Brexit; this rate raised to 51. Including the UK, the rate of the 28 would have been 48. [19]

The safest of those 28 nations was Sweden (22 deaths/million inhabitants) while Romania reported the highest fatality rates of the EU in 2019. (96/million). [18]

Deaths in the United States of America

In 2022, the NHTSA counted 42,795 fatalities in motor vehicle traffic crashes; that is 13.5 fatalities per billion vehicle miles traveled (21.6 fatalities per billion vehicle kilometers). [20]

See also

Nations:

Notes

  1. "WHO Disease and injury country estimates". World Health Organization. 2014. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  2. World Health Organization. "Number of road traffic deaths" . Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  3. "Global status report on road safety 2015" (PDF). World Health Organization. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  4. "U.S. vehicle deaths topped 40,000 in 2017, National Safety Council estimates" (Press release). National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  5. Dow Chang. "Comparison of Crash Fatalities by Sex and Age Group". nhtsa.dot.gov. Archived from the original on 31 January 2017.
  6. "Pedestrians become chief victims of road accident deaths in 2008". Archived from the original on 25 July 2009.
  7. "365 Days for Stopping Accident Deaths". Archived from the original on 25 May 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2009.
  8. "2006 Crash Statistics". NHTSA. 2006.
  9. NCSA Research Note (DOT-HS-810-948). US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. May 2008.
  10. Adams, John. "Smeed's Law : some further thoughts" (PDF). University College London. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 May 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2009.
  11. "Statistics database for transports". epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu (statistical database). Eurostat, European Commission. 20 April 2014. Archived from the original on 3 June 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  12. Vojtech Eksler, ed. (5 May 2013). "Intermediate report on the development of railway safety in the European Union 2013" (PDF). era.europa.eu (report). Safety Unit, European Railway Agency & European Union. p. 1. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  13. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Traffic Safety Facts 2005, 2007, P. 54.
  14. The Risk of Reverse. The New York Times 10 April 2009.
  15. "Building Safer Highway Work Zones: Measures to Prevent Worker Injuries From Vehicles and Equipment" (PDF). NIOSH, April 2001.
  16. "Map of road accident statistics by region in Europe in 2016".
  17. "Mobility and transport". 16 May 2023.
  18. 1 2 "Road safety: Europe's roads are getting safer but progress remains too slow". 10 June 2020.
  19. "Press corner".
  20. "NHTSA Releases 2022 Crash Fatality Data | NHTSA".

References