- SOME COMMON CLUES TO LOOK FOR IN YOUR RECORDS
Location and features:
- particular stretch of highway-- ("Blood Alley")—High-speed, frontal collisions are associated with undivided straight roads
- Curves-- ("Dead man’s Curve ")—Downhill grades with curves of greater than six degrees are over represented for rollover/overturn crashes
- Intersection—A traffic light sequence with a yellow phase that is a few tenths of a second too short will result in a much higher collision incidence than one with a longer yellow phase
- Unlit residential area—Lack of lighting, highway speeds, obstructed visibility, no sidewalks and children playing near a busy roadway are common features of auto vs. pedestrian crashes. Alcohol and the elderly are also associated with auto vs. pedestrian fatalities, so a darkened area of highway with a bar or convenience store across from a primarily elderly residential area has potential
- Time of day—Bar break and 5:00 PM are over represented in traffic collisions
- Traffic patterns--Auto vs. auto collisions tend to happen during peak flow periods. Single occupant rollover crashes usually happen late at night on relatively deserted highways. Roads leading from a "wet" county that allows alcohol to a "dry" one are over represented for late night crash deaths due in part to commuting for alcohol
- Uncontrolled side streets with no turn lanes and narrow shoulders—A common cause of rear-end collisions. On busy two lane highways, vehicles stopping in the traffic lane to turn left sometimes shoot into the opposing lane when struck from the rear causing a secondary high-speed head-on collision with oncoming vehicles.
- Steep embankments, ditches, culverts, fixed objects, trees and bodies of water-- are all severe hazards in run off road crashes.
Swimming holes in rivers—These often change from year to year, the local friendly swimming hole may not be so friendly when the runoff is a little higher or colder than usual, or when a submerged root ball has rolled into the diving area during high water. The busiest swimming areas without lifeguards often have hazardous features that make them popular--rope swing, diving cliffs, fast water etc. Particularly hazardous times of year are, in warm weather during spring break, Memorial Day and the Fourth of July.
Next Page Table of Contents