ROAD ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION TEAMS IN FINLAND

Accident investigation teams were first organized in Finland in 1968 by the Finnish Motor Insurers' Bureau. This report first describes briefly the operation of road accident teams. The accidents in which a vehicle occupant was killed have been investigated in the whole country for over ten years. The causal factors of the accidents, as given by the investigation teams, are divided into direct (immediate) causes and indirect (background) causes. In the two groups human factors accounted for 96-59%, vehicular factors for 3-9%, and traffic environment factors for 18-32%. The accident prevention possibilities in these groups were respectively 77%, 8% and 15%. Speeding in the accident situation was the case in 6-15% of the automobile drivers and 40% of the motorcyclists. The unexpectedness of the accidents is evident from the fact that some 50% of the automobile drivers had two seconds or less from noticing the other party to the moment of accident. The percentages of the influence of alcohol were: automobile drivers under 10%, cyclists 14% and pedestrians 20%. The use of safety belts in the back seat was estimated to have had a positive effect for 22% of all persons involved. The protective effect calculated for the persons killed or injured was 59% for back seat occupants and 81% for front seat occupants. (TRRL)

• Availability:
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• Corporate Authors:

  Helsinki University of Technology, Finland

  02150 Espoo 15,   Finland 
• Authors:
  • Karttunen, R
  • Hakkinen, S
• Publication Date: 1986

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: 50 p.
• Serial:
  • Publication of: Helsinki University of Technology, Finland
  • Issue Number: 96
  • Publisher: Helsinki University of Technology, Finland
  • ISSN: 0781-5816

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alcoholic beverages; Crash causes; Crash investigation; Drivers; Drunk driving; Fatalities; Human characteristics; Human factors; Manual safety belts; Motorcyclists; Pedestrians; Prevention; Rear seat occupants; Safety; Speeding; Traffic crashes
• Old TRIS Terms: Pedestrian characteristics
• ITRD Terms: 1643: Accident; 1612: Accident rate; 6471: Analysis (math); 9003: Cause; 5911: Efficiency; 8035: Finland; 2755: Highway; 1611: On the spot accident investigation; 1476: Safety belt
• Subject Areas: Highways; Passenger Transportation; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors; Security and Emergencies; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00470377
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
• ISBN: 951-753-961-4
• Report/Paper Numbers: HS-040 685
• Files: HSL, ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Aug 31 1990 12:00AM