Causal Factors in Road and Traffic Related Injuries

In the world as a whole 1.24 million people die per year due to road traffic accidents, approximately 1363 of these deaths are from Australia. These deaths are serious results of road traffic accidents that have three foremost causal factors, which include human where the accidents are due to human mistakes, there's also vehicle, which is a result of mechanical fault, and the final one is environmental, which are things that are out of your control and what you can't change like the weather. All these things have a long lasting impact on young people.

Human causal factors have the largest road traffic injuries at 90-95 per cent. These human factors refer to the things people do or do not do. Speeding, drink driving, driving while drug affected, fatigue, and the use of mobile phones are all human factors that we have control over but continue to do. The leading cause of deaths for 1-44 year olds is due to motor vehicle accidents. The leading cause of injury for 15-24 is motor vehicle accidents. Risk factors for these accidents can be linked to individual's attitudes and behaviours. Speeding represents 37% of accidents, in 2010 there was a total of 405 road deaths and 161 of them were from speeding alone. In 2009 drink driving and drug affected driving was a result of 40% of accidents, however over the years accidents due to drink driving has now decreased to 23%. Alcohol is a contributing factor in 20% of deaths for driver 18-20 and 50% of deaths in drivers 21-25. A P plater driving under the influence of alcohol and if caught will lose there licence straight away, as there blood alcohol concentrate lever should 0.00. Fatigue signifies 16% of accidents so if you experience any of these symptoms Yawning, Poor concentration, tired eyes, Restlessness, Drowsiness, Slow reactions, Boredom and Oversteering do not ignore them because fatigue can be prevented. Between 1999-2008 there had been a 28 per cent reduction in causalities. A survey was conducted to find the amount of people that owned a mobile phone, and how many people use it while driving. The survey found that 93% of Australian drivers owned a mobile phone and 59% use it whilst driving. 31% of the drivers read their messages and 14% a sending the message whilst driving. Similarly 28% of drivers use a hand free kit when using their mobile phone. Young Australian 18-24 and 25-39 accounted respectively 94% and 91% use their mobile phones, and it is the highest recorded percentage. Although there are laws against holding your mobile phone at the same time as driving between 39 and 73 per cent of drivers still do it. All these human errors can contribute to a shorter life, a life long injury, a set period of time away from driving, or maybe even a jail sentence if you were in the wrong and someone died as a result of the accident, these wrong decisions are factors that could affect young people.

The next causal factor that is related to road and traffic related injuries are vehicle. 5-10% of accidents occur due to do vehicle related failures. These accidents are as a result of faults in the car, such as manufacturing faults, things in the car may fail, such as the brakes and if their brakes fail you can't stop which means that you are a massive hazard on the road. The age of the car also contributes to vehicle factors, because the older the car the more of a chance that the car has to experience faults, as over the years the technology and the understanding of these faults has increased and the newer models have newer technology such as the anti skid braking (ABS), which allows the car to stop from skidding if braking suddenly. As well as that your steering can break which means you lose control of the car, and your accelerator may also stick which means you can't stop the car. Studies