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Core 1: Health Priorities in Australia
What are the priority areas for improving Australia’s health?
Road and traffic related injuries
Risk factors
Road and traffic accidents can be caused by one factor alone or a combination of factors. All risk factors that contribute to road crashes can be categorised as:
| Risk factor | Description |
|---|---|
| Human factors | The things people do/don’t do. |
| Vehicle factors | Design/mechanical faults of the vehicle, including maintenance. |
| Road environment | The road, road construction/faults, includes things such as the road, weather conditions, signage and lighting. |
Major factors contributing to motor vehicle crashes
The following diagram shows the contributing factors to motor vehicle crashes. The contributing factors can be the sole cause of a crash or may combine with other factors.
Source: Road Whys
speeding module presenter’s booklet
Regret is such a short distance.NSW Roads and
Traffic Authority, 1996.
The diagram above shows that in:
- 67% of crashes, human factors alone are the major contributors.
- 4% of crashes, vehicle factors alone are the major contributors.
- 4% of crashes, road environment factors alone are the major contributors.
- 95% of road crashes, human factors alone or in combination with other factors are the major contributors.
95 % of all road crashes can be attributed to human behaviours alone or combined with other factors. This means that the majority of accidents are caused by the actions and behaviours of individuals and are therefore largely preventable.
It is important to note that these behaviours are not necessarily accidents such as a person having a lapse in concentration. Quite often these human factors are intended human behaviours such as speeding or not wearing a seatbelt.
Student activity |
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Human behaviour contributes to 95% of all road
accidents.
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Haddon’s Matrix is a framework that can be used to examine the various risk factors that contribute to road crashes.
Refer to the graph showing the Major factors contributing to motor vehicle crashes
The risk factors can be grouped into 3 main areas: human, environmental and vehicle. Haddon’s matrix also divides the crashes into time periods i.e. pre-crash, crash and post-crash.
Teenagers killed in Car Fireball
Two teenage boys were incinerated when a car driven by a P-plate driver became airborne, smashed into two cars and burst into flames.
Neighbours Glen 17, and David 16, were in a 1985 Holden commodore. The car had been recently purchased for a very good price. The car was driven by their 17-year-old mate when it careered out of control along the Great Western Highway, about 6pm yesterday. The two boys were burnt to death in the mangled wreck which ran out of control after hitting a car in an adjacent lane.
The car crossed the median strip, became airborne and then bounced off the roof of a 1990 Honda Accord sedan travelling in the opposite direction.
The Accord burst into flames seconds later as the Commodore continued on the wrong side of the road before smashing head-on into another car. Seconds afterwards the boys’ car was engulfed by a fireball.
The driver scrambled clear of the wreck but his young mates were trapped inside by the jamming doors and perished in the flames. Intense heat kept horrified bystanders from reaching the boys.
The 43-year-old driver of the Accord was able to pull himself clear of the burning car.
A fleet of ambulances and fire rescue officers were unable to save the boys.
The Great Western Highway was closed for four hours as police and fire brigade officers cleared the wreckage and Accident Investigation Squad police examined the scene. There was no indication of brakes being applied.
The drivers of the Commodore and Accord were taken to Hospital suffering burns to their hands and facial lacerations. A third driver, believed to be a 27-year-old woman was allowed to leave the same hospital last night.
Police said today the accident scene was in an 80km/hr
zone and that the stretch of road was notorious for
crashes.
“It’s hard to say exactly what happened”
Sergeant Peter Kurtis said. “It was a pretty nasty
stretch of road.
It’s pretty hard to estimate how fast each car was travelling. But Accident Investigation Squad police are carrying out a full-scale investigation”.
A fire brigade spokesman said today the emergency call was for two cars on fire. “At that stage we didn’t know there was a rescue involved”, he said. “We immediately despatched a fire brigade rescue team.”
It is not yet known where the boys had been or where they were heading when the accident happened.
Source: Adapted from the
Driving with Attitude,
Years 11-12 PDHPE: NSW Roads and Traffic Authority,
1994
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HADDON’S MATRIX
Read the article above and determine the human factors, environmental factors and vehicle/equipment factors that have contributed to the accident. Once you have completed this task determine whether the factor was before the crash (pre-crash), during the crash (crash) or after the crash (post-crash) and then place them in the matrix below. Some examples have been included. |
| Human factors | Environment factors | Vehicle/equipment factors | |
|---|---|---|---|
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Pre – crash
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inexperience
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Crash
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median strip
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Post Crash
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doors jammed
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Human factors
The major behaviours that contribute to accidents are identified as speeding, drink driving, driver fatigue and non use of occupant restraints. It is important to realise that there are other factors that contribute to these behaviours such as driver inexperience, risk-taking, overconfidence and peer influences.
The graph below shows a comparison of the four major behavioural factors contributing to road accident fatalities. The graph also compares the statistics for country areas and metropolitan areas.
It is important to note that statistics add up to more than 100% as two or more factors can combine to cause an accident.
Student activity |
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Analyse the graph and complete the following
tasks:
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