HUMAN FACTORS IN ACCIDENTS ON THE DUTCH A-28 MOTORWAY. PART II: THE ACCIDENTS FURTHER CONSIDERED

This study describes accidents on part of the Dutch A-28 motorway, between the junction at Assen Noord and the city of Groningen. The first part of the study contains a descriptive analysis of the accidents on this stretch of road over the period 1980-1988, based on the standard accident registration data collected by the police. A total number of 498 accidents occurred. The analysis showed that: a) the accidents concentrated on six short stretches of road; b) in 55% of the accidents, there was only one vehicle involved; c) in 33% of the accidents, there were two or more vehicles involved; and d) 10% of the accidents resulted in injury of one or more road users. The second part of the study analyses a number of recent accidents in depth, based on interviews with road users involved in these accidents. This analysis focused on the human factors. Most of the accidents studied took place under bad weather circumstances. It was found that: (1) although there was ample information about bad driving conditions such as heavy snowfall, and skidded vehicles alongside the road, (i) many drivers were not willing to reduce their speed far enough, or (ii) were not able to judge what an acceptable speed would be under these circumstances; (2) most drivers involved in the accidents were familiar with the road; and (3) for those who were not, the relative unfamiliarity did not play a role in the accident process. It can be concluded that there were no factors contributing to the accidents that could have been influenced by the local road authority.