However, there's significantly more work to be done both to improve international co-operation and to develop our understanding of the causes of accidents and their resulting injuries. The advancement of accident research as a scientific discipline will continue to lead the way in terms of casualty reduction programmes.

Analysis of traffic accident data has been the basis for many successful road safety counter-measures, including those aimed at changing human behaviour and those which focus on engineering developments. Examples include the following:

• the reduction in the number of road user casualties caused by drink-driving in the UK is, in part, a result of earlier accident studies, which identified the scope and nature of the problem. Current road-side breathalyser tests have proven to be an effective deterrent
• in 1983 seat belt use became mandatory in the UK for all front seat occupants and significant numbers of lives and injuries have been saved. Earlier accident and crash test research by TRL and others provided the evidential basis for the law
• TRL provided a significant amount of real-world crash evidence to justify the need for the European car front-impact and side-impact crash test regulations and Euro NCAP.

Road safety will improve if we continue to investigate and learn from accidents to understand in more detail why they occur. The future challenge is to ensure we collect the most useful information and make best use of the data we have. TRL benefits from employing many different experts who specialise in different safety disciplines, including highway engineering, behavioural science and vehicle engineering. These experts, along with others, work closely to ensure that in the future we'll find better and, ideally, quicker ways to identify measures to reduce the risks of collisions or, if they do occur, the likelihood of serious injury.

For most road safety projects, accident research is the starting point in a chain or ‘loop' of events. The real-world data provides the evidence in terms of priorities with respect to the number and type of road user casualties and highlights the mechanisms which have resulted in crashes and injuries. Road safety experts then use this information to identify the most effective counter-measures.

Accident research involves both macro and micro studies with respect to the casualty population. Macro studies record and investigate road accidents at a national and international level, whereas micro studies utilise in-depth and forensic investigation techniques to examine a much smaller number of crashes, but to a much greater level of detail. To tackle successfully the future road casualty problem, it's necessary to combine the macro and micro data to formulate strategies.

Macro

The level of detail recorded by macro or national road casualty reporting systems is normally sufficient to describe the overall characteristics of the accident and the injured casualty population. However, due to the huge number of incidents which occur, it isn't practical for much more than an overview of the key facts to be documented. The generic details of injury traffic crashes are typically collected by national police forces under the direction of their governments. Statistically the crash information is structured to describe the collision, vehicle and casualty details. This is the primary source of data used to monitor trends over time and to prioritise road user types by their casualty frequency, with respect both to the number of casualties and the distribution of their injury severity outcomes.

Micro

In order to develop strategies and counter-measures which reduce the number of deaths and injuries on the road, a more detailed understanding of the nature and characteristics of the crashes than is routinely recorded at the national (macro) level is often required. So called in-depth or micro accident studies typically investigate a relatively small number of traffic crashes in a great amount of detail. For many years, multi-disciplinary teams of scientists, engineers, trauma specialists and health experts have all collaborated to investigate road traffic crashes to understand more about their causes and the causes and mechanisms of the resulting injuries.

Why Come to TRL?

TRL has a robust, enviable reputation in the automotive and transport industry for working with clients such as the Department for Transport, the European Commission, vehicle and component manufacturers and motor sport teams. Our work in this area is a true example of how our innovation, knowledge-led technology, research and consultancy really does save lives.

TRL's state-of-the-art facilities including impact rigs, test track, private road network and modelling suites means vehicle testing can be done on site by world-recognised experts in the field of vehicle safety and engineering.

If you're interested in learning more about the topics covered in this section, or you can't find what you're looking for and would like to talk to someone in detail about a specific topic, please complete the enquiry form at the foot of this page - one of our experts will contact you as soon as possible.