MECHANICAL FACTORS STUDY

THIS STUDY EXAMINED 409 FATAL SINGLE VEHICLE ACCIDENTS FOR MECHANICAL FAILURE. MECHANICAL DEFECTS WERE CLASSIFIED INTO THREE GROUPS: THOSE WITH NO BEARING ON THE ACCIDENT THOSE WHICH CONTRIBUTED, AND THOSE WHICH CAUSED THE ACCIDENT. OF THE VEHICLES EXAMINED, 29% HAD AT LEAST ONE MECHANICAL DEFECT. DEFECTS CAUSED THE ACCIDENT IN ABOUT 6.4% OF THE VEHICLES EXAMINED. BRAKE AND STEERING SYSTEM DEFECTS WERE THE MOST COMMONLY OBSERVED. THERE WERE 172 DEFECTS IN 119 VEHICLES, ALMOST ALL ATTRIBUTED TO WEAR AND LACK OF MAINTENANCE. DRIVERS OF DEFECTIVE VEHICLES WERE MORE LIKELY TO BE UNDER 20 AND LESS LIKELY TO BE OVER 60 THAN DRIVERS OF NONDEFECTIVE VEHICLES. DRINKING AND TIME OF DAY DID NOT DIFFER AS FACTORS INVOLVING DEFECTIVE AND NON-DEFECTIVE VEHICLES. /HSL/

• Corporate Authors:

  Calfornia Highway Patrol

  P.O. Box 942898
  Sacramento, CA  United States  94298-0001
• Authors:
  • Moss, A
  • Margroff, D
  • Knobel, L
  • Bieber, R A
  • Henry, E
• Publication Date: 1970-2

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Brakes; Crash causes; Defects; Fatalities; Mechanical failure; Single vehicle crashes; Steering gears; Traffic crashes; Vehicles
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00221199
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Highway Safety Literature
• Report/Paper Numbers: 115 pp
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Mar 24 1971 12:00AM