‘Failure to Look Properly’ Collision Analysis, North East England, 2008 – 2012

This research report analyses the statistics on casualties from collisions that occurred in the north east region of England between 2008 and 2012, where at least one driver or rider involved was judged by the reporting or recording police officer to have ‘failed to look properly’, and thus contributed to the collision occurring.

The main reason why this topic was chosen for detailed investigation is that while ‘failure to look properly’ is the most commonly recorded contributory factor in collisions in the north east (and also in the country as a whole), being listed as a factor in 38% of all collisions, there is relatively little published research into the specific details of the collisions.

The main results from this report show that:

• Between 2008 and 2012, 39% of total casualties on the north east’s roads were from collisions where at least one of the vehicle drivers or riders involved ‘failed to look properly’;
• While the overall number of casualties has fallen by 11% over the period, the more severe casualties have increased by 2012 over the numbers seen in 2008 – serious injuries by 8% and fatalities by 93%.
• People are more likely to ‘fail to look properly’ on urban roads where there is a 30mph speed limit, and especially when negotiating a junction.
• Finally, most people who ‘failed to look properly’ were car drivers, and they were most likely to hit another car in the collision, although the report itself does go into a lot more detail on the different vehicle types that are most likely to hit other road user groups (see pages 21 and 22).