Peter W Jones MInstP

List of contents.

(1)  D&C HGV accidents

(2)  Cost of HGV accidents

(3)  ALKO on line ad for Trailer Control

(4)  HoC Stats for HGV accidents

ITEM (1)

Paragraph 1998

(Corrected 7/05/11)

I regret that my system will not copy satisfactorily the figures as supplied by Devon and Cornwall Police, but the tables shown by scrolling down a short distance should be readable. 

MY CALCULATIONS, based on the D&C Police figures, SHOW THAT THERE WERE  ON AVERAGE OVER THE YEARS 2006 TO 2010  305 HGV ACCIDENTS  PER YEAR IN DEVON AND CORNWALL  involving personal injury. 

 PARAGRAPH 2001 BELOW SHOWS THAT  THERE WERE ON AVERAGE DURING THE YEARS 1990 TO 1994  295 HGV ACCIDENTS PER YEAR ON AVERAGE IN DEVON AND CORNWALL involving personal injury.

IN D & C THE HGV ACCIDENT RATE HAS THEREFORE INCREASED BY ABOUT 0.3% IN 16 YEARS. This is insignificant, but all other groups of vehicles for which there are comparable records (except solo motor cycles) on a national basis, have reduced considerably their accidents rates.

NB

 The D&C Police report states that wef 01/01/2008 the criterea used for including HGV vehicles in these statistics was slightly changed. In my opinion the system change will have marginally reduced the number of HGV accidents recorded.

Freedom of Information Act Request No: 001871/11

I would now like to know (under foi rules) the number of HGV accidents that were reported by the police to the DfT for each of the last five years.
If there are any records in Devon and Cornwall I would like similar information for trailers under 3500kg in weight (Caravans, Horse Box trailers, [for instance]), together with, in this case only, the comparable figures for 1990 to 1994

The Performance and Analysis Department have provided the following information:

Data Source
Original data taken from the Forces Collision Computer System (AccsMap) based on details entered on the national collision recording form NCRF.
Data Processing
Data filtered (in SPSS vehicle files) on dates required 1st January 2006 to 31st December 2010 (based on the date of the collision).
For HGV figures, data filtered on the vehicle types HGV (13), Goods vehicle 3.5 tonnes mgw and under (19), Goods vehicle over 3.5 tonnes mgw & under 7.5 tonnes mgw (20) and Goods vehicle 7.5 tonnes mge and over (21).
For information on trailers under 3500kg data filtered on the Towing and Articulation fields,
Data aggregated on collision reference so you can get the number of collisions as there could be more than one HGV involved in the collision.
Please note that due to Force recording changes of Damage Only collisions which came into effect from 1st January 2008 caution should be taken when comparing years. Please see the below explanation.
We cannot answer the second part of the question around trailers for the period 1990 to 1994 as we no longer have access to download that specific data anymore from the old collision computer system. So data is only supplied for the same period as question one, 1st January 2006 to 31st December 2010.

The table below shows the number of collisions involving HGV’s in Devon and Cornwall from 1st January 2006 to 31st December 2010 by severity and calendar years. These figures are submitted to the DFT as a matter of course.

Collision Severity 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Fatal 11 15 9 8 8
Serious 21 39 27 22 31
Slight 247 319 290 257 222
Damage only * 777 831 478 329 264
Total 1056 1204 804 616 525

The figures show that when comparing the calendar years of 2010 with 2006, fatal collisions involving HGV’s have decreased by 3 (-27.3%).
Comparing the same period as above all injury collisions involving HGV’s has decreased by 18 (-6.5%).
The table below shows the number of vehicles involved in collisions that were towing something in Devon and Cornwall from 1st January 2006 to 31st December 2010 by severity and calendar years.
Please note that there can be more than one vehicle involved in the collision that was towing something, so the table below is not the actual number of road collisions.

Severity Type of tow 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Fatal Articulated vehicle 0 1 0 0 3
Single trailer 2 1 2 0 0
Total 2 2 2 0 3
Serious Articulated vehicle 2 3 5 2 3
Double or multiple trailer 0 0 1 0 0
Caravan 1 0 1 0 4
Single trailer 1 6 4 1 2
Other tow 0 0 0 0 1
Total 4 9 11 3 10
Slight Articulated vehicle 15 16 26 9 18
Double or multiple trailer 2 0 1 1 0
Caravan 7 4 10 6 10
Single trailer 12 27 26 20 16
Other tow 3 8 1 3 3
Total 39 55 64 39 47
Damage only * Articulated vehicle 42 27 51 18 19
Double or multiple trailer 0 0 3 1 3
Caravan 19 24 22 25 9
Single trailer 51 26 46 43 21
Other tow 4 7 12 7 7
Total 116 84 134 94 59
Year Total 161 150 211 136 119

* Changes to recording of road collisions came into effect as from 1st January 2008.
Damage only collisions will not be recorded unless there is a clear and specified purpose for doing so, specifically:
Section 170 RTA 1988 not complied with (fail to stop)
Police vehicle involved
Other emergency services vehicle responding to an incident involved
The collision is one that provides a realistic prospect of securing a conviction against one of the drivers (Threshold Test aspect of the Full Code Test for Crown Prosecutors’)
Single vehicle loss of control

 (Item  2)

External Accident Cost of Heavy Goods Vehicles
Gunnar Lindberg
Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI)
S-781 27 BORLÄNGE, SWEDEN
gli@du.se
To be presented at the UNITE seminar
Paris September 2001

Extracted from Paragraph 5

In total 9% of the accident cost falls on the HGV user, 77% on other motor vehicle users and 2% on unprotected users; 11% is so called system external costs and falls on the society in general, it consists mainly of the hospital and medical costs payed by the general social security system. The total cost of personal injuries from police reported accidents where HGV where involved was 224 Meuro in 1999.

Item  3

The following is the script of the ALKO ad previously mentioned in my blog

www.universityminibustrailers.wordpress.com 

The photograph and the other decorative features of this ad failed to paste in with the script.

AL-KO ATC Trailer Control

Over two years ago, the Caravan Industry came under attack from a powerful European lobby, whose objective was to significantly tighten the Driving License rules for people driving and towing leisure vehicles within the European Community. AL-KO believed that our vehicles, and the vast majority of drivers are inherently very safe indeed and that any attempt to limit how and what could be driven would damage the Industry. What was also evident from the safety lobby was that when caravan “Snake” accidents happen, the effects are extremely visual, and quickly hit the headlines. Although these events are very rare indeed, they cause the maximum amount of negative publicity, and are most distressing for those involved.

AL-KO has created an automatic system which detects signs of Caravan Instability, to take preventative action at the earliest stage, before disaster takes place. It was also vitally important that the existing caravan braking systems was used to quickly control the problem.
Thus taking the Car & Caravan combination down below the “critical speed, and prevent a disaster situation”

AL-KO ATC is the emergency braking system for caravans and works in a similar way to ESP systems for cars. The sophisticated, but simple electronic system monitors the lateral movement of a caravan during travel. When difficult driving conditions are experienced, such as evasive manoeuvring, high side winds and turbulence encountered while overtaking HGV’s, AL-KO ATC takes control to regain stability and prevent dangerous snaking accidents.

Lateral acceleration sensors in the AL-KO ATC unit, monitor’s for slight side movements or a large swinging motion of a caravan. Even before an ESP system has detected the swinging movements of the car, AL-KO ATC applies the brakes on the caravan to slow the outfit down, before the situation becomes critical. The braking operation lasts only for a few seconds, long enough to re-establish control and to bring the car and caravan back to a safe driving condition.

AL-KO ATC can be retrofitted to most caravans that have an AL-KO Chassis and is being launched to the Original Equipment Manufacturers, ready for the 2008 model year caravans. AL-KO ATC will be launched to the aftermarket at the International Caravan and Motorhome Show at the National Exhibition Centre on 16th October.

To download additional information about AL-KO ATC please

click here.

To enquire about ATC please email marketing@al-ko.co.uk

Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list by police force the number of accidents involving (a) heavy goods vehicles, (b) passenger service vehicles and (c) minibuses for each of the last five years. [18668]
Mr. Norris: The information requested is shown in the following three tables. Figures for 1995 are not yet available.

(5) Incorporated into the Metropolitan Police figure.