Traffic collision
A traffic collision, also called a motor vehicle collision among other terms, occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other stationary obstruction, such as a tree, pole or building. Worldwide, motor vehicle collisions lead to death and disability as well as financial costs to both society and the individuals involved. Traffic collisions often result in injury, death, and property damage. In 2013, 54 million people worldwide sustained injuries from traffic collisions. This resulted in 1.4 million deaths in 2013, up from 1.1 million deaths in 1990. About 68,000 of these occurred in children less than five years old. While the death rate in Africa is the highest, the lowest rate is to be found in Europe.
A number of factors contribute to the risk of collision, including vehicle design, speed of operation, road design, road environment, and driver skill, impairment due to alcohol or drugs, and behavior, notably distracted driving, speeding and street racing. Almost all high-income countries have decreasing death rates, while the majority of low-income countries have increasing death rates due to traffic collisions. Middle-income countries have the highest rate with 20 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, accounting for 80% of all road fatalities with 52% of all vehicles.
Terminology
Traffic collisions can be classified by general types. Types of collision include head-on, road departure, rear-end, side collisions, and rollovers. Other common terms include auto accident, car accident, car crash, car smash, car wreck, motor vehicle collision, personal injury collision, road accident, road traffic accident, road traffic collision, and road traffic incident as well as more unofficial terms including smash-up, pile-up, and fender bender. Census Bureau uses the term motor vehicle accidents, and Transport Canada uses the term "motor vehicle traffic collision". Some organizations have begun to avoid the term "accident", instead preferring terms such as "collision", "crash" or "incident". Many different terms are commonly used to describe vehicle collisions.The World Health Organization uses the term road traffic injury, while the U.S. Historically, in the United States, the use of terms other than "accidents" had been criticized for holding back safety improvements, based on the idea that a culture of blame may discourage the involved parties from fully disclosing the facts, and thus frustrate attempts to address the real root causes. This is because the term "accident" implies that there is no-one to blame, whereas most traffic collisions are the result of driving under the influence, excessive speed, distractions such as mobile phones or other risky behavior.
Health effects
Following collisions, long-lasting psychological trauma may occur. These issues may make those who have been in a crash afraid to drive again. A number of physical injuries can commonly result from the blunt force trauma caused by a collision, ranging from bruising and contusions to catastrophic physical injury or death. In some cases, the psychological trauma may affect individuals' life can cause difficulty to go to work, attend school, or perform family responsibilities.Causes
A 1985 study by K. Rumar, using British and American crash reports as data, suggested 57% of crashes were due solely to driver factors, 27% to combined roadway and driver factors, 6% to combined vehicle and driver factors, 3% solely to roadway factors, 3% to combined roadway, driver, and vehicle factors, 2% solely to vehicle factors, and 1% to combined roadway and vehicle factors. A 1985 report based on British and American crash data found driver error, intoxication and other human factors contribute wholly or partly to about 93% of crashes. Human factors in vehicle collisions include anything related to drivers and other road users that may contribute to a collision. Examples include driver behavior, visual and auditory acuity, decision-making ability, and reaction speed. Dialing a phone is the most dangerous distraction, increasing a drivers’ chance of crashing by 12 times, followed by reading or writing, which increased the risk by 10 times.Drivers distracted by mobile devices had nearly four times greater risk of crashing their cars than those who were not. An AXA survey concluded Irish drivers are very safety-conscious relative to other European drivers. However, this does not translate to significantly lower crash rates in Ireland. Some countries' driving tests have been expanded to test a new driver's behavior during emergencies, and their hazard perception. This is reflected by actuaries when they set insurance rates for different age groups, partly based on their age, sex, and choice of vehicle. High incidence of crashes is not indicative of high injury risk. Crashes are common in areas of high vehicle congestion, but fatal crashes occur disproportionately on rural roads at night when traffic is relatively light. Most claims of risk compensation offsetting the effects of vehicle regulation and belt use laws have been discredited by research using more refined data. The evidence shows the risk of having a crash is increased both for vehicles traveling slower than the average speed, and for those traveling above the average speed.
The safety performance of roadways is almost always reported as a rate. That is, some measure of harm divided by some measure of exposure to the risk of this harm. Rates are used so the safety performance of different locations can be compared, and to prioritize safety improvements. In the United States, individuals involved in motor vehicle collisions may be held financially liable for the consequences of a collision, including property damage, and injuries to passengers and drivers. Because the financial liability that results from causing an accident is so high, most U.S. states require drivers to carry liability insurance to cover these potential costs. In the event of serious injuries or fatalities, it is possible for injured persons to seek compensation in excess of the at-fault driver's insurance coverage.