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Should car accidents have more prominent reporting?

johncrossley

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Should car accidents have more prominent reporting in the media? The lack of reporting of car accidents (even those leading to death) means that people have an unrealistically good perception of car safety compared to other modes of transport. If so, how can this be implemented?
 
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GusB

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In this part of the world a fatal accident will certainly make the local/regional news but, unless it's particularly severe, it's very rare for it to make the UK-wide headlines. Even a fairly serious collision that doesn't result in fatalities will still normally warrant a report in the local press, especially if it has caused road closures that require lengthy diversions. Unfortunately there are so many collisions, fatal or not, that there would be no room to report anything else if each event was given more prominence.

That said, the chances of surviving a severe collision are so much greater these days and cars are much safer than they were in previous decades; if I had a smash in my current vehicle I'd stand a much better chance of walking away from it than I would have done in my old Mk1 Fiesta. I wouldn't say that it gives me an unrealistic perception of car safety, though - the fact is that there's so much more to collide with than there was when I passed my test 34 years ago (good grief, was it that long ago?! :))
 

Paul_10

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Usually major accidents get reported by the local media outlets if they occured on a major motorway but it would seem unrealistic too me to report every accident that occurs.

Also bear in mind just how many cars and journeys that are made by road then you could argue car accidents are pretty rare and you be very unlucky if your involved in one or get caught up in someone else's accident.
 

deltic

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There are very rarely car accidents; collisions and incidents yes but rarely accidents. The road safety bodies have stopped using the term and I'm surprised RAIB hasnt changed its name. The term accident gives the impression it was an unforeseen act of God and no-one is to blame or there are no lessons to be learnt. We need HSE to step up and investigate all fatal road traffic collisions involving someone travelling in the course of work, which account for around a third of such incidents. If we had canage on that level in any other workplace it would have been shut down years ago.
 

Egg Centric

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Should car accidents have more prominent reporting in the media?
No, this would be very boring. With few exceptions (often from Russia) they're neither interesting nor spectacular. Plenty of dashcam compliations are available on YouTube.
The lack of reporting of car accidents (even those leading to death) means that people have an unrealistically good perception of car safety compared to other modes of transport.
Not convinced that this is the case. I would say that trains are much safer than cars is common knowledge. The truth is that almost all forms of transport in this country are incredibly safe. Zimbabwe has something like 30 - 100x our car fatality figure (depending on whether you do it on a mileage or population basis)
If so, how can this be implemented?
Since this would be of no interest to the wider public, implementation would require state coercion. So I would suggest an enormous amount of taxpayer money on a "Today's car crashes" daily newspaper (harder to ignore than something online) distributed free of charge to every household. Achieves cross subsidy of the Royal Mail too.
 

Kilopylae

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So I would suggest an enormous amount of taxpayer money on a "Today's car crashes" daily newspaper (harder to ignore than something online) distributed free of charge to every household. Achieves cross subsidy of the Royal Mail too.
On the plus side, the letterhead - today's Car Crashes - would surely make for a fantastic reaction image during political drama.
 

Magrar

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There could and should be more national reporting of the statistics behind road deaths identifying broad risk factors. There's been progress in areas such as rules for young drivers off the back of exactly this kind of effort.

As to the general level of awareness however, I think the combination of what remians of local reporting, plus Facebook, plus roadside shrines, and indeed just being out and about, surely already gives most people a good idea of how dangerous the roads are.

Setting the bar of national news to the truly horrific cases, especially where there's been gross criminal negligence (and an unduly lenient sentence), seems about right to me.
 

styles

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They can't really, because they're too frequent.

On average, 5 people a day die in motor vehicle incidents. There just isn't the room on the BBC News front page to report them all.

It is however frustrating when you see the hand-wringing if a cyclist kills a pedestrian. Happens once every few years on average but it makes the front page, and then the government dog whistles by making some new law for dangerous cycling even though the laws already exist. The old tropes about licence plates and insurance get rolled out and we just accept this as some sort of rational debate.
 

The exile

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It may just be my invalid impression, but it seems to me that when road accidents do get reported on, it’s with a subliminal message of “it’s tragic but these things happen” whereas with rail there’s a greater emphasis on cause etc - without stressing that the reason behind the difference is the fact that the British rail safety record is second to very few (any?).
 

Russel

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As thing stand now, almost everyone knows at least one person that has been in car crash yet only a very small number of people know someone that has been in a train crash, so I'm not sure if perception needs changing...
 

JohnofWessex

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The real issue I suggest is the demise of the local paper

But what are we attempting to achieve?

The French talk about 'Le Denunciation'

My suggestion might be that all Courts should publish the names and sentences of those convicted on the internet.

It would make public those who have offended and the Courts sentence.

It might at least embarrass some offenders and possibly help protect from domestic abuse. I would also suggest that motoring offences should be made 'recordable' so they would appear on DBS checks
 

bluenoxid

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I’m not sure that more prominent reporting would be that helpful. There are two points that come to mind.

1. Those drivers being prosecuted are bad drivers
2. I’m not a bad driver

Whilst the first step in resolving a problem is recognising that you have got one, I would suggest that helping others needs to be framed in what the outcome is going to be, which should be to improve road safety.

An idea I have comes from a road safety town that was trialled in the 50s or 60s. The town (Reading, Swindon, Slough, or somewhere similar) was used to trial proposed road standards under development and they established a pink light in the centre of town that was lit for two weeks following the most recent road death. I am interested to see if that would help with framing the conversation, providing a very simple trigger for it. It may not need to be a light. A website that shows this might be a starting point.
 
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Dr Day

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Do inquiries and reporting for road crash ever actually publish ‘X was late for work, had suffered a poor night’s sleep due to having a 3 month old baby, was driving 10 mph in excess of the speed limit and took a risk overtaking a slower moving vehicle in front. They had been on the phone 2 minutes before the collision. Y was coming the other way, travelling 5 miles below the speed limit. Both vehicles had valid insurance and MoT. ‘

Usually you just get ‘a 51year old woman was pronounced dead at the scene’ and maybe later ‘X was prosecuted for dangerous driving’. Ie the focus of the reporting is on the who rather than the why.
 

JohnofWessex

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There needs to be proper public investigations of Road Traffic Collisions.

Both for Criminal Justice and Driver Licencing and to ensure victims can obtain compensation
 

AlterEgo

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There needs to be proper public investigations of Road Traffic Collisions.

Both for Criminal Justice and Driver Licencing and to ensure victims can obtain compensation
What, every singe one?

Victims already are compensated for their injuries through insurance. What exactly are you proposing?
 

JohnofWessex

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What, every singe one?

Victims already are compensated for their injuries through insurance. What exactly are you proposing?

Many people find though that the absence of an official report into an incident makes it harder to make a successful claim against an at fault driver.
 

AlterEgo

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Many people find though that the absence of an official report into an incident makes it harder to make a successful claim against an at fault driver.
And this should happen 100,000 times a year?
 

Dr Day

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Put another way, why do the families of those killed in a train or plane crash get at least to understand the details of what happened, who was at fault, contributory factors and possibly get some comfort from knowing lessons learned will have been captured or even revised legislation, this doesn’t appear to apply for those killed in road crashes.

Clearly certain data is captured and changes to road engineering and car design has contributed to fewer fatalities but ‘dangerous driving’ even by professional drivers doesn’t appear to treated in the same way as it does in the rail and aviation industry (at least from a general public perspective).
 

JohnofWessex

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Put another way, why do the families of those killed in a train or plane crash get at least to understand the details of what happened, who was at fault, contributory factors and possibly get some comfort from knowing lessons learned will have been captured or even revised legislation, this doesn’t appear to apply for those killed in road crashes.

Clearly certain data is captured and changes to road engineering and car design has contributed to fewer fatalities but ‘dangerous driving’ even by professional drivers doesn’t appear to treated in the same way as it does in the rail and aviation industry (at least from a general public perspective).

My house is off a main road near a junction with traffic lights in a 30 mph zone next to a school and park.

Given the amount of roaring engines, popping exhausts and squealing tyres I hear every day I could fill several large lunatic asylums every week
 

AlterEgo

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Put another way, why do the families of those killed in a train or plane crash get at least to understand the details of what happened, who was at fault, contributory factors and possibly get some comfort from knowing lessons learned will have been captured or even revised legislation, this doesn’t appear to apply for those killed in road crashes.
Nearly every fatal road accident will result in an inquest which examines the circumstances of the crash and manner of death.
Clearly certain data is captured and changes to road engineering and car design has contributed to fewer fatalities but ‘dangerous driving’ even by professional drivers doesn’t appear to treated in the same way as it does in the rail and aviation industry (at least from a general public perspective).
Agreed. Mostly you get jailed for it if you kill someone on the road while doing something dangerous. In the air and on the railway you generally don't.
 

Sonic1234

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Safetyism extends to roads too. Most new housing developments or business units seems to be connected via a roundabout rather than a T junction, sometimes on trunk roads. I assume T junctions are considered unsafe now.

This slows down the main road (brake wear, emissions etc.) and doesn't practically improve safety as a lot of drivers don't give way to the right because "nothing ever comes around the roundabout" - until it does.

The A272 near Haywards Heath and A22 near Uckfield are bad for this.
 

The Ham

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They can't really, because they're too frequent.

On average, 5 people a day die in motor vehicle incidents. There just isn't the room on the BBC News front page to report them all.

It is however frustrating when you see the hand-wringing if a cyclist kills a pedestrian. Happens once every few years on average but it makes the front page, and then the government dog whistles by making some new law for dangerous cycling even though the laws already exist. The old tropes about licence plates and insurance get rolled out and we just accept this as some sort of rational debate.

Indeed, the other factor in cyclists causing fatalities is that a significant number of those who die are elderly where any form of fall is much more likely to result in death.

The other road safety factor which isn't well known is that elderly drivers can have accident rates similar to young drivers.

Safetyism extends to roads too. Most new housing developments or business units seems to be connected via a roundabout rather than a T junction, sometimes on trunk roads. I assume T junctions are considered unsafe now.

This slows down the main road (brake wear, emissions etc.) and doesn't practically improve safety as a lot of drivers don't give way to the right because "nothing ever comes around the roundabout" - until it does.

The A272 near Haywards Heath and A22 near Uckfield are bad for this.

The use of roundabouts is definitely more common, however it's still entirely possible to create t-junctions for new estates, not only that, but it's something which is probably more common due to it being the only viable option for smaller developments (say up to 50 homes).

Roundabouts should mostly be used where the minor arm is 10% of the main road flow.

Part of the reason roundabouts may be being used inappropriately is down to visibly splay requirements. In that if there is a need for a visibility splay distance of 160m or more, it can be easier to facilitate this for a roundabout than for a t-junction, especially where traffic flows are such that a right turn lane is required.

Although as a driver, regardless of where this is (at traffic lights, at Roundabouts, at junctions, etc.) it should be the case that the driver should expect that someone may not giveway as expected.

Sometimes that's not always possible, in that on a road with a high approach speed cars maybe coming quite quickly. However, it should be possible in most cases to drive in such a way which reduces the risk.

In the same way pedestrians need to check that cars are stopping at traffic light controlled crossings, as unfortunately too many cars don't stop when they should.

Also, there's a perception that going a little bit faster doesn't matter. Unfortunately that's not the case.

For example, a car doing 40mph will have only slowed to 30mph by the time a car doing 30mph has stopped, and that's on Highway Code reaction times (which are much faster than most drivers generally can achieve - especially those who think "I'm a safe driver").

Even 3mph above the speed limit and a car doing 33mph will still be doing 17.5mph by the time a car doing 30mph has stopped.

Likewise, slowing by just 2mph to 28mph gains you over 25% more thinking time to be able to stop at the same point as a car traveling at 30mph.

Whilst, under Highway Code reaction times this is just shy of 1/5th of a second (0.19 seconds) as the Highway Code reaction time is 0.67 seconds (as I said, something few drivers achieve) that extra time is actuality quite significant.

It's why 20mph limits are useful even if the cars are going much faster than they should, as a car doing 26mph vs a car doing 32mph has a 1.2 second reaction time vs 0.67 second reaction time to be able to stop at the same end point.
 

The exile

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Safetyism extends to roads too. Most new housing developments or business units seems to be connected via a roundabout rather than a T junction, sometimes on trunk roads. I assume T junctions are considered unsafe now.

This slows down the main road (brake wear, emissions etc.) and doesn't practically improve safety as a lot of drivers don't give way to the right because "nothing ever comes around the roundabout" - until it does.

The A272 near Haywards Heath and A22 near Uckfield are bad for this.
Roundabouts, as long as they’re respected, do give motorists not on the “main flow” more of a chance. As traffic density grows that difference becomes more significant.
So it’s not always directly to do with safety - although someone who has been waiting well over 5 minutes at the front of the queue to pull out is probably going to start taking dangerous risks.
 

ainsworth74

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There needs to be proper public investigations of Road Traffic Collisions.
The Johnson Government did consult on the creation of a "Road Collision Investigation Branch" back in 2021 (see a thread from the time here) this eventually resulted in an intention to establish a "Road Safety Investigation Branch":

The government will recruit a specialised team of inspectors to join the country’s first ever Road Safety Investigation Branch (RSIB), looking at how and why incidents happen and to provide real insight into how new technologies – such as self-driving and electric vehicles – can be rolled out on our roads.

The branch will investigate themes in the causes of collisions, as well as specific incidents of concern, to learn valuable road safety lessons. It will make independent safety recommendations to organisations, such as government and police forces, to better shape the future of road safety policy and provide better, greener and safer journeys for people right across the country.

The specialised unit will also provide vital insight into safety trends related to new and evolving technologies, which could include self-driving vehicles, e-scooters and electric vehicles (EVs), to ensure the country maintains some of the highest road safety standards in the world and exciting new technology is deployed safely.


However I don't think this ever went anywhere as the Johnson government collapsed not long after and I think that the necessary legislation was never brought forward so I assume it's dead.
 

Mojo

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However I don't think this ever went anywhere as the Johnson government collapsed not long after and I think that the necessary legislation was never brought forward so I assume it's dead.
Not meaning to detract careless or reckless behaviour on the roads of which there is plenty, there will also be incidents can be attributed to poor road layout or vehicle design, of which there is definitely scope for some sort of body to review or make recommendations. I can think of a couple of such examples, both now corrected but which caused a number of incidents in past years; the Ipley Cross crossroads in the New Forest, where two roads meet at an angle but partially obscured by the blind spot created by the driver’s side door pillar, and the width restriction in Watford that a number of vehicles, including a police car, crashed in to in a viral video.
 

styles

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Not meaning to detract careless or reckless behaviour on the roads of which there is plenty, there will also be incidents can be attributed to poor road layout or vehicle design, of which there is definitely scope for some sort of body to review or make recommendations. I can think of a couple of such examples, both now corrected but which caused a number of incidents in past years; the Ipley Cross crossroads in the New Forest, where two roads meet at an angle but partially obscured by the blind spot created by the driver’s side door pillar, and the width restriction in Watford that a number of vehicles, including a police car, crashed in to in a viral video.
I don't disagree, but I think the impact of these may be overplayed.

Road fatalities by country, per capita:

CountryContinentDeaths per 100k populationDeaths per billion km drivenTotalYear of data
20px-Flag_of_Monaco.svg.png
Monaco
Europe0.002021
40px-Flag_of_Maldives.svg.png
Maldives
Asia1.692019
40px-Flag_of_Japan.svg.png
Japan
Asia2.12,6782023[18]
40px-Flag_of_Norway.svg.png
Norway
Europe2.13.0[2]1162022[11]
40px-Flag_of_Singapore.svg.png
Singapore
Asia2.11212019
40px-Flag_of_Sweden.svg.png
Sweden
Europe2.13.3[2]2272022[11]
40px-Flag_of_Iceland.svg.png
Iceland
Europe2.34.9[2]92022[11]
40px-Flag_of_Andorra.svg.png
Andorra
Europe2.522021
20px-Flag_of_Denmark.svg.png
Denmark
Europe2.63.9[2]1542022[11]
40px-Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom_%281-2%29.svg.png
United Kingdom
Europe2.63.8[nb 2]1,7492022[11]

Lifted from Wikipedia and haven't checked all the sources, but that puts the UK 10th in the world for lowest road traffic fatalities. The countries above us are either Scandi or a bit statistically-insignificant. My village has a greater population than Monaco for example.

This isn't to say there aren't things we could do to improve road safety, but I'm really personally not convinced that we have significant numbers of junctions etc which are leading to road deaths in the UK. Yes we should fix them, but I think their importance may be over-rated. Most people approaching unusually-designed junctions actually take more care, as the evidence behind the magic roundabouts in Swindon/MK shows. It usually forces people to slow down and switch from muscle memory to conscious decision.

(I don't know why the Monaco and Denmark flags are smaller)
 

DelW

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Most people approaching unusually-designed junctions actually take more care, as the evidence behind the magic roundabouts in Swindon/MK shows. It usually forces people to slow down and switch from muscle memory to conscious decision.
Not affecting your argument, but the other "magic roundabout" is in Hemel Hempstead, not MK, and features six entries vs Swindon's mere five. Milton Keynes may be the city of roundabouts, but for numbers not rarity value :D
 

The exile

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CountryContinentDeaths per 100k populationDeaths per billion km drivenTotalYear of data
20px-Flag_of_Monaco.svg.png
Monaco
Europe0.002021
40px-Flag_of_Maldives.svg.png
Maldives
Asia1.692019
40px-Flag_of_Japan.svg.png
Japan
Asia2.12,6782023[18]
40px-Flag_of_Norway.svg.png
Norway
Europe2.13.0[2]1162022[11]
40px-Flag_of_Singapore.svg.png
Singapore
Asia2.11212019
40px-Flag_of_Sweden.svg.png
Sweden
Europe2.13.3[2]2272022[11]
40px-Flag_of_Iceland.svg.png
Iceland
Europe2.34.9[2]92022[11]
40px-Flag_of_Andorra.svg.png
Andorra
Europe2.522021
20px-Flag_of_Denmark.svg.png
Denmark
Europe2.63.9[2]
Most people approaching unusually-designed junctions actually take more care, as the evidence behind the magic roundabouts in Swindon/MK shows. It usually forces people to slow down and switch from muscle memory to conscious decision.
Given trying to edit this down. Your point applies where people realise it’s a weird junction, but some of the most dangerous are ones that look innocuous, or where, like at a mini-roundabout near me, the.warning signs are at a point where you’re having to concentrate on avoiding oncoming vehicles on a narrow bit of round and the actual road markings are now so worn as to be easily overlooked. The road looks like a through main road.
 

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