Ulykker på motorveje - HVU

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• Drivers’ knowledge and understanding of the interaction between speed,
visibility and stopping distance should be improved through information.
Poor concentration
Poor concentration can be linked to risk blindness. Motorways are considered
to be safe and drivers do not to expect to find objects on the road, such as
shed loads. This, in many cases, results in poor driver concentration and
response and reaction times to, for example, unexpected objects on the road
that are too long. This can also mean that drivers choose a speed that is too
high, because they do not expect to have to brake.
The monotonous nature of motorway driving may at times contribute to poor
driver concentration and higher reaction times to unexpected situations.
Drivers may also not understand how far their vehicle travels in the period
of time they look away from the road.
• The relationship between monotonous, uncomplicated driving and poor
concentration in motorway driving should be investigated further. Further
research into the effect of distractions on motorway users’ concentration
would be very relevant to this work.
Speed
Over 50% of drivers involved in accidents were exceeding the speed limit. In
most cases, however, vehicle speeds were only marginally over the limit. Few
drivers had speeds of over 130 kph. In two-thirds of the accidents studied,
speed contributed to the accident occurring or the level of damage or injury.
This applies not only to those driving very fast, but also to the two-thirds of
drivers in the study whose speeds were between 110 kph and 130 kph.
The analysis showed that there were two very different groups of drivers.
Those driving at speeds that were too high for the poor weather or reduced
visibility conditions and those driving at critical speeds in good weather. The
first group were ordinary road users whose behaviour could be characterised
as being relatively unexceptional. The second group of drivers are better
characterised in terms of exhibiting high risk behaviour and poor road
regulations compliance.
• Information, campaigns and training aimed at road users should be targeted
at correcting experienced road users’ incorrect evaluation of their own
driving skills and at their poor understanding of how great a role speed
plays in accidents.
High-risk behaviour
One in five accidents involved high-risk behaviour where the drivers had
consciously challenged their own personal limits as well as those of the
vehicle and had usually been driving at very high speeds or were driving
under the influence of alcohol.
Temarapport • ULYKKER PÅ MOTORVEJE