Bad driving behind most accidents
FIGURES HIGHLIGHT THE MOST COMMON FACTORS CAUSING ROAD COLLISIONS
DON’T blame the roads, don’t blame the weather, the main cause of accidents in Manchester is bad drivers, figures reveal.
The driver or rider failing to look properly contributed to 258 accidents last year.
The second most common cause was the driver or rider failing to judge another vehicle’s speed, which occurred in 135 incidents in Manchester.
The figures are from Department for Transport data, which lists 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 Manchester were the driver or rider being careless and reckless, bad turns or manoeuvres and pedestrians failing to look properly.
Across the north west 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.”
The figures also show the number of road casualties in Manchester. There were 1,379 casualties in 2017, during which 10 people were killed and 179 seriously injured.
Mr Williams added: “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.”
In the figures for the following areas, the main cause of accidents (first figure) was the driver/rider failing to look properly, with the second figure, failing to judge another person’s speed:
Salford: 107 accidents last year and 55 incidents.
Stockport: 57 accidents last year and 27 incidents.
Tameside: 71 accidents last year and 39 incidents.
Wigan: 90 accidents last year and 40 incidents.