NIGHT TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS. A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

MOERKERTRAFIKOLYCKOR. EN LITTERATURSTUDIE

This study aimed at giving a picture of the research that has been carried out on accidents in the dark, especially regarding the circumstances and situations in which the accidents occur and the relevant factors involved. The accident rate is much higher in the dark than in daylight. The severity of the accidents is higher and the accidents costs are higher in the dark than during daylight. Single vehicle and pedestrian accidents are especially usual in the dark. Young drivers have, relatively speaking, more accidents in the dark than in daylight in comparison to older drivers. Women have less accidents at night than men. Accidents in which the driver is alone in the car are somewhat more concentrated at night than accidents in which the driver is accompanied by passengers. Factors that strengthen the unfavourable influence that darkness has on traffic safety are road conditions and weather, alcohol and fatigue. Measures that have been undertaken to reduce the accident rate in the dark are mentioned; road lighting and reflectorized licence plates have positive effects. The risk for cyclists and pedestrians is larger in darkness than in daylight. /TRRL/

• Corporate Authors:

  Swedish National Road and Traffic Research Institute

  Drottning Kristinas Vaeg 25
  S-11428 Stockholm,   Sweden 
• Authors:
  • Widen, S
• Publication Date: 1974

Language

• Swedish

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 82 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Adolescents; Age; Alcohols; Costs; Crash rates; Crash severity; Crashes; Cyclists; Drivers; Females; Highways; Human beings; Injury severity; License plates; Lighting; Males; Night; Pedestrian vehicle crashes; Pedestrians; Physiological fatigue; Reflectorized materials; Safety; Single vehicle crashes; State of the art reports; Street lighting; Teenage drivers; Traffic safety; Weather
• Uncontrolled Terms: Severity
• Old TRIS Terms: Male drivers
• ITRD Terms: 1643: Accident; 1612: Accident rate; 1757: Age; 7347: Alcohol; 224: Cost; 1742: Cyclist; 1772: Driver; 2222: Fatigue (human); 2755: Highway; 545: Lighting (street); 1787: Man; 9052: Night; 1346: Number plate; 1733: Pedestrian; 4523: Reflectorized material; 1665: Safety; 1623: Severity (accid, injury); 8588: State of the art report; 2545: Weather; 1788: Woman
• Subject Areas: Finance; Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors; I81: Accident Statistics; I82: Accidents and Transport Infrastructure; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00096780
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL)
• Report/Paper Numbers: Report 56 R&D Rpt.
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 15 1975 12:00AM