Car-lorry rear rams cause most severe road injuries
Page 34
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MAKING LORRIES more conspicuous and eliminating rear overhang could reduce the deaths caused by collisions between cars and lorries, says a report in the British Medical Journal dated January 13, but more fundamental measures would be the segregation of lorries from cars and the return of traffic to rail.
The report, prepared by Dr William Gissane and Dr John Bull, directors, Road Injuries Research Group, Birmingham Accident Hospital, points out, however, that collisions resulting from cars running into the rear of lorries caused the most severe injuries.
A total of 564 car occupant deaths was studied and the report was produced after considering 224 car occupant deaths from car /lorry collisions included in that total. This revealed that on the London-Birmingham stretch of M1 and M45 fatalities from collisions between cars and lorries accounted for twice the number of deaths as those between car and car. On M6 and M62 the ratio was three to one and on link roads two to one.
Only in rural Warwickshire and the urban roads of Birmingham did the fatalities from car-to-car collisions exceed those of car and lorry collisions.
Fatal injuries were caused, predominantly, by deformation or penetration of the passenger compartment of cars, causing impacts on body areas above the level of the car seat.
About motorway accidents, the report states that although the provision of safety features, such as central reservations, almost eliminate many types of collision common on other roads, the very high speeds which the motorway encourages lead to very severe injuries if collisions do occur.
Collisions studied between cars and lorries travelling in the same direction numbered 34, involving 48 car occupant deaths; 26 occurred on the inside lane or hard shoulder, four in the middle lane and four in the outside lane. Of the inside lane or hard shoulder incidents, the report says that 18 of the lorries were • either moving slowly or were stationary. Six of those which were stationary were on the hard shoulder.
These accidents, the report considers, were particularly difficult to understand. Damage to the vehicles suggested that drivers recognized their danger too late and pulled over to the offside at the last moment. This was supported by the higher number of passengers killed in accidents of this type than drivers. Penetra
tion of the windscreens of the cars by the rear overhang of the lorry accounted for 32 of the 48 deaths.
Seven collisions referred to lorries running into the rear of cars, five in the dark and two in fog.
There were 18 motorway collisions between vehicles travelling in opposite directions. On 13 occasions cars crossed the central reservation; five cases were because of bald or burst tyres and seven were attributable to wet and icy roads.
Link roads lack most of the built-in safety features of the motorway but, says the report, they take a heavy load of mixed traffic directly off the motorways. On these roads there were 68 collisions in the sample resulting in 75 car occupant deaths.
Because link roads have no central reservation, collisions between vehicles travelling in opposite directions outnumber all others. In the sample there were 53 such collisions resulting in 58 car occupant and three lorry driver deaths. On three occasions accidents were caused by lorry drivers crossing a line of oncoming traffic to enter or leave service stations on the opposite side of the road. The three lorry driver deaths were not caused by collisions with other cars but from loss of control following another accident sequence.
Collisions between cars and lorries travelling in the same direction on link roads numbered 15 and caused 17 car occupant and one lorry driver deaths. Twelve of the accidents happened in the dark hours and on 11 of those occasions the lorries were stationary and on two others they were travelling slowly, about to enter service stations. A daylight incident involved an insecure lorry sheet which blew away and completely obscured the view of a car driver who pulled aside and was killed in collision with another lorry.
On rural roads in Warwickshire, there were 37 car /lorry collisions resulting in 49 car occupant and one lorry driver deaths. Overtaking and high speeds on sharp bends were the causes of most of the accidents. One incident involved a collision between a car and a lorry on a narrow bridge judged to be incapable of taking the lorry.
On urban roads in Birmingham there were far fewer car /lorry collision deaths than • those caused by car /pedestrian collisions. Those that did occur often seemed to be caused by poor street lighting and confusing shadows.
See also Topic by Janus, page 42.