Profiling head on crashes in South Australia

Abstract

This report provides a profile of head on crashes in South Australia using police-reported crash data from the Traffic Accident Reporting System (TARS) and data from the Centre for Automotive Safety Research (CASR) at-scene in-depth crash investigations. TARS data revealed that head on crashes are: ten times more likely to be fatal, about 2.5 times more likely to occur in a 100 or 110 km/h zones, four times more likely to occur on a curve, and more likely to involve a truck or a motorcycle than all crashes. Only 5% of head on crashes occurred as a result of a vehicle overtaking. CASR’s at-scene in-depth crash investigations of 24 head on crashes revealed further insights. These including identifying the top contributing factors as a medical condition, fatigue, drugs and speed; the top mitigating interventions as centre barriers, speed limit reductions and wide centre medians; and the top prevention interventions as lane keep assist, wide centre medians and ESC. The higher injury severity associated with head on crashes highlights the need to better understand these crashes and to develop and implement effective interventions to mitigate and prevent these crash types and associated injuries.