Road Accidents & Agricultural Vehicles Richard Gard Associates Ltd (rgard@agmed.freeserve.co.uk)

Photo Yorkshire Air Ambulance

Casualty Road Accidents (S19) Agricultural Vehicles 2000-2005 inc

• Accidents 4840

• All vehicles 10542

• Agricultural vehicles 4878

• Casualties 6766

Accidents each month (S19)Casualty road accidents - agricultural vehicles 2000-

2005 inc

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

J F M A M J J A S O N D

Road Accident Manoeuvres (S19)

Casualty Accidents Agricultural Vehicles 2000-2005 inc

0

500

1000

1500

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2500

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Agri vehicle manoeuvres

Acc

iden

ts (

4878

) Key: 2-parked 9-turning right 16-going ahead left hand bend

17-going ahead right hand bend 18-going ahead other

Casualty Road Accidents (S19)Agricultural Vehicles 2000-2005 inc

All Vehicles Agri Vehicles

Fatal injury 200 38

Serious 1166 177

Slight 5400 845

Total 6766 1060

Fatalities (newscuttings database)• Accidents (278) Fatalities (293)

– 58 Ag veh 59– 90 Car 98– 96 M/c 100– 17 Ped 18– 7 Van 8– 6 Cyclist 6– 1 HGV 1– 1 Pick up 1– 1 Go kart 1– 1 Lorry 1

59 Agri Veh Fatalities Newscuttings database

• 17 Specials (eg passenger/fell out/driver not in cab)

• 21 Single vehicle 15 overturned• 10 Dual Carriageway 2 overturned• 2 Trains 2 overturned• 1 Turning right 1 overturned• 8 Other Impact no overturn

Trailer Disconnection newscuttings database

Accidents Single vehicle 2 or +vehicles 59 24 35

(9 fatal) 3 6

Cause 34 18 16

Result 25 6 19

Trailer Disconnection newscuttings database

• Trailer Balanced Unbalanced nk• Accidents 59 19 32 8

• Cause 34 12 14 8

• Result 25 7 18 0

Towing & Overturns Casualty S19 database

Casualty agricultural vehicle accidents 2000-2005 inc (4878)

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

all ag veh

overturned

%

vehicles towing

Observations from the Agricultural Vehicle Road Accident Data

• Identified areas of higher casualty risk:– Other road users

• Right hand turns by agricultural vehicles, particularly for motorcyclists

• Cars colliding with the rear of agricultural vehicles (high differential speed)

• Disconnection of tractor and trailer

– Agricultural vehicle occupants• Agricultural vehicle rollover

• Collisions from behind on dual carriageways (HGVs at high differential speed).

• Ejection and contact injuries within the cab (Low level of belt use an important factor).

Agricultural Vehicle Road AccidentsCountermeasures for Industry consideration

– Right turns• Journey planning to avoid right turns. Improved direction indicators.• Improved junction layouts. Better signing.

– High differential speed• Improved conspicuity/warning. Use of three-point seat belt.• Collision warning/mitigation systems for other vehicles.• Reduced agricultural vehicle use on dual carriageways.

– Rollover• Further investigation of causes. Use of seat belt.• Occupant friendly interior cab design.

– Trailer disconnection• Better maintenance/enforcement.• Improved/standardised hitch design.