Road accidents involving just one car are particularly lethal, figures from Road Safety Institute Vias showed. The Institute stressed that fighting factors that lead to these accidents are desperately needed to curb them.
In Belgium, almost one in five accidents with at least one death or injury do not involve other parties; they are known as 'one-sided' or 'unilateral' accidents. These are the cause of around 37% of all road deaths.
"This means that more than one in three of all traffic fatalities in our country occur in unilateral accidents," Vias' spokesperson Stef Willems noted. However, among drivers of cars, this number is even higher: more than half (53%) of fatalities are due to such accidents.
Less traffic
These accidents are more common in places with less traffic. In Wallonia, for example, there are 70 municipalities where more than 40% of all accidents involving injuries are one-sided. In Flanders, the proportion is generally below 30%, while in the Brussels-Capital Region it drops below 15%.
"Densely populated municipalities are characterised by many different types of road users, making accidents between motorists and other road users more frequent," Willems explained. In the past decade, most one-sided car accidents occurred on motorways (29%), while inside built-up areas this was fewer than one in ten.
This also explains why more unilateral accidents happen at night. Between 01:00 and 04:00, around half of accidents are one-sided, while between 07:00 and 19:00, this is less than a fifth. "These accidents occur most often on a Tuesday at 03:00 (62%). By contrast, on Wednesday afternoon, only 9% of accidents involve only one vehicle," he noted.
Human factors
Driving under the influence of alcohol is a major cause of all types of accidents, but this is particularly the case in one-sided crashes. Cyclists and motorcyclists are about three times more likely to be driving under the influence in one-sided accidents than in the total number of accidents, while this is 3.5 times more often the case for drivers. For truck drivers, it is even five times more.
In 70% to 80% of unilateral accidents, human factors are identified as the cause, including losing control of a vehicle's steering wheel, for example, or falling off a bicycle or motorbike. Environmental factors, such as poor road surface condition, contribute to the cause of 20% to 30% of single-vehicle accidents. In fewer than 5% of cases, accidents are caused by a fault in the car.
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Motorists most often collide with (lamp)posts (26%), trees (22%) and crash barriers (17%). Cyclists most often collide with bollards (43%), central reservations (15%), trees (11%) and guardrails (11%).
"One-sided accidents are an important issue in road safety policy, mainly because of their severity," Willems stressed. "By adopting general measures against dangerous behaviour such as speeding, drink-driving or fatigue behind the wheel, we can also reduce the number of such accidents."
Mobility Minister Georges Gilkinet stressed that the government must continue to fight the factors that lead to accidents. He noted that this requires cooperation with all services concerned.
