Analysis of traffic casualties 2013-2014 (Preliminary)

Victor

Since 31 October 2013, I've been tracking the press releases on the Garda website at http://garda.ie/PressReleases/Default.aspx and tallying them with news stories.

I've come up with the following summary.

Category Sub-category Number % Per 100,000 population
Fatalities Total 200 100.0%

Gender Male 140 70.0%
Female 60 30.0%

User type Pedestrian 42 21.0%
Pram user 1 0.5%
Wheel chair user 1 0.5%
Pedal cyclist 9 4.5%
Motor cyclist 26 13.0%
Pillion passenger 1 0.5%
Passenger 29 14.5%
Car user (unknown type) 8 4.0%
Driver (other vehicles) 83 41.5%

Age 0-4 6 3.0% 1.68
5-9 6 3.0% 1.87
10-14 4 2.0% 1.32
15-19 17 8.5% 6.01
20-24 20 9.8% 6.56
25-29 16 8.1% 4.48
30-34 9 4.6% 2.33
35-39 15 7.3% 4.03
40-44 19 9.5% 5.74
45-49 14 6.8% 4.42
50-54 12 6.0% 4.37
55-59 8 4.0% 3.27
60-64 11 5.3% 4.80
65-69 11 5.3% 6.05
70-74 9 4.3% 6.48
75-79 8 3.8% 7.35
80-84 10 4.8% 13.55
85+ 3 1.3% 4.28
Unknown 6 3.0% Not applicable

Vehicle type (some overlap*) Pram 1 0.5%
Wheel chair 1 0.5%
Pedal cycle 9 4.5%
Motor cycle 27 13.5%
Quad bike 2 1.0%
Car 181 90.5%
4x4 22 11.0%
Van 7 3.5%
HGV 14 7.0%
Bus 3 1.5%
Tram 1 0.5%
Tractor 5 2.5%
Construction vehicle 1 0.5%
Unknown 3 1.5%

Road type Motorways 7 3.5%
Other national roads 59 29.5%
regional roads 66 33.0%
Local roads 64 32.0%
Off-road 4 2.0%

Location Urban 56 28.0%
Rural 144 72.0%

Council area Carlow 4 7.34
Cavan 0 0.00
Clare 6 5.13
Cork City 2 1.68
Cork County (excluding metropolitan area)* 13 6.49
Cork metropolitan area ** 7 3.51
Donegal 15 9.32
Dublin City North 6 1.95
Dublin City South 6 2.73
DL-R 2 0.97
Fingal 6 2.19
South Dublin 7 2.64
Galway City 0 0.00
Galway County 10 5.71
Kerry 13 8.96
Kildare 4 1.91
Kilkenny 4 4.19
Laois 8 9.94
Leitrim 2 6.29
Limerick City 2 3.50
Limerick County 8 5.94
Longford 4 10.26
Louth 6 4.89
Mayo 9 6.89
Meath 6 3.26
Monaghan 8 13.22
Offaly 2 2.60
Roscommon 4 6.26
Sligo 1 1.53
Tipperary (North) 5 7.11
Tipperary (South) 10 11.31
Waterford City 1 2.14
Waterford County 2 2.98
Westmeath 5 5.82
Wexford 2 1.38
Wicklow 7 5.13

* Where more than one person was killed in a collision, each vehicle has been counted for each fatality.

** The Cork metropolitan area is taken as the former towns of Cobh, Kinsale, Midleton and the former rural areas of Cork, Kinsale and Midleton. Population 199,488 (2011).

Victor

Highlights:

Motor cyclists have re-emerged as suffering a disproportionate number of fatalities.

The number of 17-25 year old males in the country has dropped sharply with the recession, with this being the group most likely to emigrate. They are also the group that had been most likely to die in traffic collisions. This has contributed to the reduction in the number of fatalities in this group. However, the effect is likely overstated here as the full population cohort from census 2011 has been included.

The 80-85 year old group is over-represented in the number of fatalities, relative to their proportion of the overall population. This probably reflects both a loss of skills at that age and relative frailty.

People do die in motorway collisions.

Rural areas have a disproportionate number of fatalities.

Rural council areas have a disproportionate number of fatalities, although there doesn't appear to be a definite pattern to this - Monaghan was the least safe area (followed by Tipperary (South) and Longford), while Cavan was the safest (followed by Wexford and Sligo).

Limerick City was the least safe urban area (followed by South Dublin and Dublin City South), while Galway City and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown were the safest urban areas.

Iwannahurl

Victor wrote: »

The 80-85 year old group is over-represented in the number of fatalities, relative to their proportion of the overall population. This probably reflects both a loss of skills at that age and relative frailty.

What would you regard as "a loss of skills"?

Do you have any breakdown, among the fatalities, of road user type by age?

Victor, the categories of road users, do you have this info broken down by county too?

If so it shouldn't be too much work to present all this data in an interactive map

Victor

Iwannahurl wrote: »

What would you regard as "a loss of skills"?

Slower reactions, loss of sight, hearing, etc.

Do you have any breakdown, among the fatalities, of road user type by age?

Somewhat. Often, the press release will say something like "a male in their 40s", which means I allocate 0.5 to each of the 40-44 and 45-49 groups. Sometimes age (or some other factor) isn't stated at all.

0-4 5-9 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64 65-69 70-74 75-79 80-84 85+ Unknown Total
Wheel chair user 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 1.0
Pram user 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0
Pillion passenger 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0
Pedestrian 4.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 3.0 2.5 3.0 0.5 0.5 1.5 3.5 3.5 4.0 3.0 3.5 1.5 0.0 42.0
Pedal Cyclist 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.5 1.5 1.5 2.5 1.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 9.0
Passenger 2.0 3.0 2.0 4.0 4.5 2.5 0.5 1.5 3.0 1.0 1.0 2.0 1.0 0.0 0.5 0.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 29.0
Motor cyclist 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.0 3.0 4.3 0.3 4.3 3.0 1.0 3.5 1.5 0.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.0 26.0
Driver 0.0 0.0 0.0 9.0 8.5 7.5 3.0 4.0 8.0 8.0 6.0 3.0 4.5 4.5 4.5 2.5 6.0 0.0 4.0 83.0
Car user 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.0 1.0 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.0 0.0 1.0 1.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 8.0
Total 7.0 5.0 4.0 17.0 19.0 16.7 9.2 14.7 19.0 13.5 12.0 8.0 10.0 11.0 9.0 7.0 9.5 2.5 6.0 200.0

Victor

Deleted User wrote: »

Victor, the categories of road users, do you have this info broken down by county too?

Wheel chair user Pram user Pillion passenger Pedestrian Pedal Cyclist Passenger Motor cyclist Driver Car user Total
Carlow 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 0 4
Cavan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Clare 0 0 0 1 0 1 2 2 0 6
Cork City 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 2
Cork County 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 10 0 13
Cork Metro 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 2 2 7
Donegal 0 0 0 4 0 1 3 7 0 15
Dublin City North 1 0 0 1 0 1 3 0 0 6
Dublin City South 0 0 0 4 0 1 1 0 0 6
DL-R 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2
Fingal 0 0 0 2 1 1 1 0 1 6
South Dublin 0 0 0 2 1 0 1 2 1 7
Galway City 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Galway County 0 0 0 2 1 3 0 4 0 10
Kerry 0 0 0 3 1 4 0 5 0 13
Kildare 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 2 5
Kilkenny 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 4
Laois 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 4 0 8
Leitrim 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 2
Limerick City 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 2
Limerick County 0 0 0 3 1 0 1 5 0 10
Longford 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 4
Louth 0 0 0 2 0 1 1 2 0 6
Mayo 0 0 0 2 1 0 1 5 0 9
Meath 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 3 0 6
Monaghan 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 5 0 8
Offaly 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 2
Roscommon 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 4
Sligo 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1
Tipperary (North) 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 2 5
Tipperary (South) 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 7 0 10
Waterford City 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Waterford County 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 2
Westmeath 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 1 0 5
Wexford 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 2
Wicklow 0 0 0 1 0 1 3 2 0 7
Total 1 1 1 42 9 29 26 83 8 200

If so it shouldn't be too much work to present all this data in an interactive map

It seems this information is already mapped via MapRoad: http://maproadpms.ie/

http://www.compass.ie/pavement-management-system/

galwaycyclist

Good work on this. I am aware of a cyclist fatality in County Galway in April 2014 - is this outside the period of study?

http://www.rte.ie/news/player/2014/0424/20567579-cyclist-killed-in-loughrea-co-galway/

Mucco

Do you know how many of the pedestrian fatalities are due to cyclists cycling on the footpath or breaking red lights?

mrbike

Mucco wrote: »

Do you know how many of the pedestrian fatalities are due to cyclists cycling on the footpath or breaking red lights?

Yes we do. It's zero.

Victor

Mucco wrote: »

Do you know how many of the pedestrian fatalities are due to cyclists cycling on the footpath or breaking red lights?

I had a look at ~500 fatal collisions over 5 years involving pedestrians. Only two of them involved both pedestrians and cyclists, the rest motorists.

Of the two, one was a situation where a cyclist was cycling the wrong way down a one-way street. there was no contact, but the pedestrian stumbled and fell on the kerb. I wasn't able to find details of the other incident. I checked a few subsequent years after that and there were no further incidents.

So, motorists about 99.6% responsible for fatalities.

Victor

galwaycyclist wrote: »

Good work on this. I am aware of a cyclist fatality in County Galway in April 2014 - is this outside the period of study?

http://www.rte.ie/news/player/2014/0424/20567579-cyclist-killed-in-loughrea-co-galway/

Thanks for pointing this out. I had sorted the spreadsheet incorrectly and the data became corrupted. Table corrected.

Going Forward

Very interesting thanks.

I've often wondered whether there's a need to add a further category in the area of Local Roads. They can vary from 6 feet wide and upwards.

The LR data can't be analysed to a great extent without knowing further information IMO.

Also, I think we've stopped using accident black spot designations, it would be interesting to know if fatalities are now either occurring in the same non remedied locations or have other areas gained new "black spot" status. I know of a number of purely local spots whilst there are no fatalities (yet) cars are crashing on at least a monthly basis!

Also, are redacted accident forensic reports ever published?

Iwannahurl

Details of crashes are supposed to be recorded by An Garda Siochana on a CT68 form and transferred to Pulse.

The data are forwarded to the RSA and compiled for their annual Road Collision Facts reports. Local Authorities and the NRA are also provided with the recorded information.

If road conditions are regarded as having been a contributory factor in specific cases, then there should be an Engineer's report produced also. Copies of such reports may be available under FOI.

CT68 forms (in use since 1959) have been updated in the last year or so, following criticism that crucial data were not being recorded: http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/reform-of-data-recording-at-serious-crashes-253904.html

There is a new process for the verification of collision locations which will enable efficient and exact mapping of locations which is of key importance for road risk assessments.

http://www.garda.ie/Documents/User/Annual%20Report%202013%20-%20English.pdf

Carawaystick

Going Forward wrote: »

Very interesting thanks.

I've often wondered whether there's a need to add a further category in the area of Local Roads. They can vary from 6 feet wide and upwards.

The LR data can't be analysed to a great extent without knowing further information IMO.

Also, I think we've stopped using accident black spot designations, it would be interesting to know if fatalities are now either occurring in the same non remedied locations or have other areas gained new "black spot" status. I know of a number of purely local spots whilst there are no fatalities (yet) cars are crashing on at least a monthly basis!

Also, are redacted accident forensic reports ever published?

It's not just Local roads that vary, R and N roads vary considerably too. The N66 has 100km sections with about 5m wide pavement and 90deg bends, while the r132 has grade separated dual carriageway in parts.

I'd have a classification field of the type of road an maybe even the pavement width too.

Mucco

On a related note, I've recently come across this map from the UK. Do we have similar in Ireland?
http://www.crashmap.co.uk/

AlekSmart

Going Forward wrote: »

Also, are redacted accident forensic reports ever published?

From my own perspective,this is THE major factor to be addressed in the use of Statistical Dats to promote better risk awareness and avoidance amongst Road Users.

In virtually every other mode of transport Rail,Sea,Air the relevant investigative authorities spend significant resources on fully investigating the causes of accidents.

These reports,both Initial,Interim and Final then end up fully within the Public Domain,and most importantly their findings are usually incorporated into revised methods of operation and vehicle specification.

This is by far and away,most noticable in the Aviation sector,where such modifications and alterations are commonplace and traceable directly back to individual incidents.

The relevant authorities really need to get this process back out into the Public Arena,where it can do the most good.

Anybody who read the pre-Christmas series of articles in the Irish Times may well have an inkling of the issues at hand.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/anatomy-of-a-car-crash-part-1-1.2025739

Iwannahurl

Mucco wrote: »

On a related note, I've recently come across this map from the UK. Do we have similar in Ireland?
http://www.crashmap.co.uk/

The RSA have one: http://www.rsa.ie/RSA/Road-Safety/Our-Research/Ireland-Road-Collisions/