F2010F001
Analysis of Bus Accident Statistics
ANALYSIS OF BUS ACCIDENT STATISTICS
Dr Matolcsy Mátyás*
Key words: bus, accident statistics, casualty rate, safety
The conclusions drawn from accident statistics are the basic tools in the improvement of road safety including vehicle safety. The paper discusses some theoretical ideas being important in collecting, analysing and comparing accident statistics: statistical sample, sample size, limit of validity, generality/peculiarity. The sample may depend on the bus categories being involved (city bus, tourist coach, double deck bus, small bus, etc.) the type of the accident (rollover, frontal collision, fire, etc.) and the casualties (injured in the accident, fatality in the accident, casualty on board, etc.) The relation between accident statistics and the in-depth accident analysis is also discussed. The different ways of collecting bus accident information are discussed showing their advantages and drawbacks. The paper presents the accident statistics collected by the author containing information about more hundred bus accidents and also refers to other statistics. The major accident types are analysed on the basis of the statistics: rollover, frontal collisions, fires, collision with trains and to compare them in respect of their severity the concept of casualty rate is introduced. The paper clearly points out that to improve the road safety - based on accident statistics - is a completely different task as to improve the vehicle safety, e.g. to improve the occupant safety of buses in rollover. The accident statistics could be a very useful tool to check the effectiveness of safety orders, provisions (e.g. introducing new international safety regulation). As an example, UN-ECE Reg.66 is examined. The bus rollover statistics, as a direct and indirect feedback is studied that requirements of R.66 are really effective, good enough to improve significantly the occupants safety in rollover. The bus accidents are rather rare compared to other vehicle categories; this is due to the small number of buses in the total road vehicles fleet. Therefore every available bus accident statistics is useful and welcomed. The paper collects - as references - many available sources about bus accidents, accident statistics. Finally, as conclusions, the paper gives some advices how to collect, evaluate and use bus accident statistics in the safety improvement process of buses and shows why is the cost/benefit analysis a rather week tool in this improvement process.
* Scientific Society of Mechanical Engineers, Hungary co-president 1026 Budapest, Fő u. 68 e-mail: mmatolcsy@gmail.com tel.: 36-1-200 4110
Session(s), the paper may belong to: first F3 second D1
This paper is original, it was not published before
This abstract is supplemented by a PDF, which can be viewed here.
Session: Buses