BLUF

We hear a lot about human error being the cause of most vehicle accidents—but is it?

Summary

Between January and June 2021, more than 20,000 people died on American roads—the highest total for the first half of any year since 2006. However, urban mobility writer David Zipper argues we are being misled about human error being the major cause of vehicle accidents. The key points of Zipper’s article are as follows: 

Officially, about 94 per cent of vehicle accidents in the US are listed as human error. 

Journalists have been responsible for disseminating the ‘misleading 94 per cent line’ on influential platforms.

The actual percentage of human-error vehicle accidents in the US is much lower, and the idea that most accidents are caused by human error is a ‘fundamental misconception’. 

The true cause of road deaths involves roads and road infrastructure and a lack of safety features in most cars. 

US road fatalities have risen by more than 10 per cent over the past decade, despite falling across much of the developed world. 

In the European Union, traffic deaths dropped by 36 per cent between 2010 and 2020. 

Zipper argues this is because European regulators have pushed carmakers to build safer vehicles and because governments regularly adjust road designs after a crash to reduce the likelihood of recurrence.

Blaming accidents on US road users enables car companies to deflect attention from their designs and allows traffic engineers to escape scrutiny for dangerous street designs.

If a driver is speeding at the time of the collision, they are held responsible and other factors—such as foggy weather and bad roads—are often overlooked.

Seeking to find a single cause for a crash is a fundamentally flawed approach to road safety but still underpins most thinking regarding American traffic enforcement and crash prevention. 

Insurance companies, too, are structured to hold someone accountable.

The recently passed infrastructure bill in the US should encourage some safety improvements.

Zipper argues that what the US needs most is a re-examination of how carmakers, traffic engineers, and the travelling public together bear responsibility for saving lives.

Learn more about the idea that human error isn’t responsible for as many car accidents as we think.

References

Oct 2020 Street Bog USA The 94% Error: We Need to Understand the True Cause of Crashes

Oct 2020 Forbes The Tricky Business Of Determining Fault After A Car Accident

May 2021 Bloomberg Self-Driving Cars Pose Crucial Question: Who to Blame in a Crash