Main cause of accidents in Cov
FIGURES FROM DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT LIST CAUSES OF ACCIDENTS, AS RECORDED BY POLICE.
More people lose their lives and are injured on Britain’s roads in accidents caused be driver error than for any other reason. Pete Williams, RAC
STORM Callum may be raging, causing problems on our roads, but bad weather isn’t the main cause of accidents in Coventry.
The condition of the roads isn’t even the main culprit either – with figures revealing that bad drivers are in fact the main cause of accidents in the region.
Motorists failing to look properly contributed to 129 accidents in the last year. The second most common cause was the driver or rider being careless and reckless, which occurred in 57 incidents in Coventry . These figures, which come from the Department for Transport, list contributory factors for accidents, as recorded by police. There are 78 different factors for officers to choose from.
They can record more than one reason for an accident, which, for example, could be caused by bad driving, poor weather conditions, pedestrians stepping into the road, or a combination of all three.
An accident is registered when at least one person suffers a slight injury in an incident with a vehicle.
The injury does not have to involve cars. It could be a bike colliding with a pedestrian, or someone falling over while cycling.
Other common factors in Coventry were the driver or rider failing to judge another vehicle’s speed, pedestrians failing to look properly and bad turns or manoeuvres. Across the West Midlands the most common reason was the driver not looking properly. RAC road safety spokesman, Pete Williams, said: “More people lose their lives and are injured on Britain’s roads in accidents caused by driver or rider error than for any other reason. “Last year nearly two thirds of the fatalities on our roads were put down to mistakes. The two biggest driving errors that led to the most deaths and accidents were losing control of a vehicle and failing to look properly. “Sadly, the picture doesn’t seem to be improving as these figures are fairly typical of recent years’ data. We need to better understand the root causes of accidents and therefore require more data – something a dedicated road accident investigation body could provide. “While everyone makes mistakes while driving, motorists need to realise the potential consequences of losing focus on what is a complex and demanding task. “There are, of course, plenty of accidents that are wholly avoidable and result from driver distractions or impairment such as drink, handheld mobile phone use and driver fatigue.” The figures also show the number of road casualties in Coventry. There were 830 casualties in 2017, during which three people were killed and 115 seriously injured. In Warwickshire, there were 483 accidents in which the driver or rider failed to look properly. The second most common cause was the driver or rider failing to judge another vehicle’s speed, which occurred in 278 incidents in Warwickshire.