INGENIEUR
expenses, insurance administrative costs and
property damage. With the high death rate and
huge economic losses, Malaysia needs to act fast
to drastically reduce these alarming figures.
Understanding Accident Causation
Factors
Road transport is still the most effective, efficient,
and successful way to move people and goods
to places where they need to go. However, the
emergence of road accidents is detrimental to the
safety of road users and an indicator of the failure
of the road transport system.
Every road accident is usually a unique
event and its causes are frequently preceded
by one or more common factors of the system’s
components. These factors generally fall into
three basic categories:
● ●
road and environment factors (road
deficiencies),
● ●
vehicle factors (vehicle defects), and
● ●
human factors (human errors and health).
Figure 1 shows the percentage contribution of
the various factors in road accident cases.
Vehicles and road infrastructure are man-
made by design and hence, they are controllable.
However, road users are much more complex and
somewhat difficult to deal with. Human factor is
frequently associated with most road crashes and
it is a critical piece of the puzzle.
Figure 1: Accident contributing factors.
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2018
VOL 76
55 OCTOBER-DECEMBER
JUNE 2013
ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION
Road traffic accidents are random harmful events
that cause fatalities, injuries or damage to assets
and are caused by one or a combination of the
factors mentioned above. Nevertheless, accidents
can be avoided, or the numbers reduced, if we
understand how they happened and what caused
them.
Proper investigation and data collection are
crucial for us to understand the factors involved
and identify the fields we need to focus on and
influence. Then, we will be able to identify the
causes, implement the right counter measures
and get the right value for the money that may be
spent.
Accident investigation and reconstruction
consists of a set of procedures incorporating
numerous fields of expertise ranging from on-
the-scene work such as recording/gathering
physical evidence, site surveying, photography,
photogrammetry, friction measurements, vehicle
damage profiling, through to comprehensive
collision analyses, processing of 3D simulations
and animations, research and preparation of
comprehensive reports and plans.
A complete and comprehensive investigation
should cover the three major factors involved in
any road accident i.e. road, human and vehicle.
This is shown in Figure 2 on the next page.
In general, the objectives of an accident
investigation and reconstruction are as follows:
● ●
To determine the factors that have
contributed to injury or death during the
crash;
● ●
To identify the main factor that may have
caused the crash; and
● ●
To propose mitigation measures to avoid or
reduce similar accidents in the future.
However, the objectives of an investigation may
be influenced by the objectives and interests of
the concerned party conducting the investigation.
Hence, they may not cover the full scope of the
whole process.
Safety aspects of the road and its environment
are of paramount importance to PWD Malaysia.
Hence, its main focus of an investigation is on the
key engineering elements of the road with less
focus on vehicle and human factors. Nevertheless,
understanding how an accident occurred may be