Mole wrote:
Just seen this on PH:
http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default ... ryId=16964Which I think is something Paul's been after for some time now!
Apologies if it's being discussed elsewhere!
Yes and no.
It's absolutely crucial to get the blame out of crash investigation and use the information to feed policy.
But I'm worried about big investigations of big crashes. Most fatal crashes are 'freaks' to some extent with few repeats of the totallity of attendent circumstances.
I'd rather see a less detailed investigation (but nevetheless down to root cause) of much greater numbers of smaller crashes or even near miss incidents.
I'm a huge believer in working on the bottom of Heinrich's accident triangle, not the top.
Best of all would be 'self help' accident or incident investigation with root causes considered and gathered to inform policy.
We could also investigate a random sample of middle or high severity crashes in high detail to 'confidence check' the wider results. This would be similar to the ongoing 'On the Spot' project presently underway, although I suspect 'On the Spot' doesn't dig far enough into root causes.
But guess what we'd learn? Shortfalls from the
Safe Speed Highway Code in 100 words are the basis of 98% of crashes.
An important part of the self help investigation process would be to deliver the diagnosis to the individual to help them avoid personally repeating the mistake.