Traffic accidents in connection to road work in Sweden

Transcription

1 Transport Research Arena 2014, Paris Traffic accidents in connection to road work in Sweden Eva Liljegren, PhD * The Swedish Transport Administration, Gothenburg, Sweden Abstract Each year at least 300 traffic accidents occur in connection to road work in Sweden in which people are injured or killed. The two types of accidents that are most common are rear-end collisions and accidents with vulnerable road users. About 95% of all persons that are killed or injured in traffic accidents in connection to road work are road users, not road workers. The most common type of accident when a road worker gets injured in a traffic accident is during winter maintenance related work. In 4% of the accident a protection barrier or vehicle with a TMA (Truck Mounted Attenuator) was involved. Barriers and TMA seem to be very efficient protection for both road workers and ordinary road users. This paper aims to give a comprehensive understanding of traffic accidents that occur in connection to the many various types of roadwork, all year round, in one entire country. Keywords: Road work; work zone; road construction, accident; road safety; winter maintenance; TMA Résumé Chaque année, au moins 300 accidents de la circulation se produisent dans le cadre de travaux routiers en Suède où les gens sont blessés ou tués. Les deux types d'accidents les plus courants sont des collisions par l'arrière et les accidents avec les usagers de la route vulnérables. Environ 95% de toutes les personnes qui sont tuées ou blessées dans des accidents de la circulation dans le cadre de travaux de voirie sont des usagers de la route, pas des travailleurs de la route. Le type le plus commun d'accident quand un travailleur de la route est blessé dans un accident de la circulation est en travaux connexes d'entretien hivernal. Dans 4% des accidents une barrière de protection ou un véhicule avec un TMA (atténuateur monté sur camion) a été impliqué. Les barrières et les TMA semblent être une protection très efficace pour les travailleurs de la route et les usagers ordinaires. Ce document vise à donner une compréhension globale des accidents de la circulation qui se produisent dans le cadre des nombreux types de travaux de voirie différents, toute l'année, dans un pays tout entier. Mots-clé: Les travaux routiers; zone de travail, la construction de la route, accident, la sécurité routière, l'entretien hivernal; TMA * Eva Liljegren. Tel.: address: eva.liljegren@trafikverket.se

2 Traffic accidents in connection to road work in Sweden 1. Introduction In Sweden, roadwork is carried out each year on all roads and streets, as it is most parts of the world. The type of roadwork varies over the year; it includes such activities as snow removal, fixing of potholes, grass cutting and repairing barriers. Roadwork is essential for the road s robustness and capacity, as well as for accessibility by and the safety of users. However, each year in Sweden at least 300 traffic accidents in which people are injured or killed occur in connection with roadwork. By understanding the causes behind these accidents it is possible to attempt to prevent them from reoccurring by changing regulations and increasing awareness. There are many ways to define roadwork. It is often defined as an area of a road, highway or street undergoing construction, maintenance or utility work activities. Often times it is in an area that is well marked by signs, work vehicles, barriers and special lights. However, roadwork can also be done in other ways, for example by a single vehicle that moves while working. In these cases it is difficult to use traditional methods--such as signs, pavement markings and barriers--to warn road users. In Sweden, which is located in Northern Europe, a large portion of the maintenance work is different types of winter road maintenance. In most cases this means a single vehicle that moves while working. Roadwork can also consist of large, complex projects, such as extensive repair work and construction of new roads and bridges. This work may last for many months and affect traffic for a long period of time. There are also quite different types of roadwork, such as the placing and replacing of road edge marker, wherein each step takes a short time and the vehicle moves forward intermittently. The intervals in speed can be difficult to determine for the road users that want to pass the maintenance vehicle. One of the most common types of roadwork is paving, during which traffic often passes through a road construction area full of signs, road lane changing devices, maintenance vehicles and road-workers both inside and outside of their vehicles. Since roadwork can consist of many different types of jobs, it is difficult to conduct comprehensive studies of traffic accidents at roadwork. One difficulty is finding these accidents recorded in the accident statistics. There are few studies carried out in other countries that comprehensively cover roadwork accident statistics. Studies often focus on specific geographical areas, such as States, and do not address all types of roadwork. Many studies focus on one specific type of roadwork or a particular type of injury severity, usually fatal accidents. In 2012 approximately road traffic accidents with personal injuries happened in Sweden, according to Trafikanalys (2013). At least 385 accidents with personal injuries occurred in connection to road work, meaning that less than 2,5 % of the total number of accidents were road work accidents. The same year 285 persons were killed in road traffic accidents in Sweden and three of them died in connection to road work. Data for 2013 from Transportstyrelsen indicates that approximately 265 persons will die due to road traffic accidents that year. In December 2013 eight of these persons, 3 %, had died in accidents in connection to road work. This paper aims to give a comprehensive understanding of traffic accidents that occur in connection to all types of roadwork, all year round, in one entire country. The result is primarily based on five reports published by the Swedish Transport Administration (STA) on different issues with traffic accidents in connection to roadwork. The reports were published between 2010 and 2013; all were written by the author of this paper. 2. State of the art In a study carried out by Friberg (2007), data from accidents in connection to road work in seven European countries were presented. In the study it was stated that the quality of the data was poor in some countries and several of the countries claimed that they were not satisfied with how the data was collected, except for data of fatal accidents. The data showed that the percentage of accidents at road work compared to the total number of road traffic accidents varied from 0,5 % to 6% in the different countries. In countries such as Holland, Belgium and Great Britain, where the data was considered of good quality, less than 2 % of the accident were reported as road work accidents.

3 In a Danish study from Vejdirektoratet (2011) it is stated that many accidents that occurred in connection to road work are probably not registered in the accident database. The data from Denmark record almost accidents with personal injuries from 2001 to The number of accidents are declining over the years as in other road traffic accidents in Denmark. The number of accidents in connection to road work compared to all traffic accidents vary from 1,5 % to 2,2 % during these ten years. Fatalities vary from 0,7 % to 2,6 % of the total number persons killed. The most common type of accident is a rear end collision. Andersson (2011) analyses traffic accidents at highways in Denmark during five years. Her conclusion is that more than 7 % of all accidents that occurred on the highways were in connection to different type of road work. The most common type of accidents were single vehicle accidents and rear end collisions. Her study consists of 245 accidents and out of these two accidents involved injured road workers. In both accidents a vehicle that was protecting the road workers was hit. Pegula (2010) study of fatal injuries at road construction sites in the US from 2003 to 2007 shows that these types of accidents account for 2 percent of fatal occupational injuries overall. During this time period 639 fatal occupational injuries occurred at road construction sites. About 38% of the workers were killed by constructionrelated vehicles or equipment. The percentage of workers killed by cars, tractor-trailer trucks and vans was 33%. One fact highlighted in the study was that almost 10% of the workers killed were struck by a dump truck that was backing up. Accounting for roughly the same percentage of fatalities were workers killed while directing or flagging traffic, a type of roadwork that is often considered one of the most dangerous since the worker has less protection than workers who are behind barriers or in vehicles. Statens Vegvesen (2010) conducted a study of fatal traffic accidents at roadwork zones in Norway. According to the study almost half of the people killed were vulnerable road users. Furthermore, the study shows that in twothirds of accidents there was something in the roadwork that did not work as it should. An example of this was the absence of a heavy barrier against water and incorrect road markings that made the optical help through the roadwork dangerous. As in the US report cited above, the Norwegian report shows that, to a high degree, construction vehicles are involved in the fatal accidents. In Norway, about 22% of the fatal accidents involved roadwork vehicles. 3. Methodology and sources Since 2003 the official statistics of road traffic injuries in Sweden are based on data extracted from the national information system, STRADA (Swedish Traffic Accident Data Acquisition). The system is based on information from the police and the hospitals. Reporting traffic accidents with personal injuries has been a mandatory assignment for all police districts in Sweden since 2003; during this same time, it has been voluntary for the hospitals. Thus, data from hospitals was limited when the system was put in use But as more and more hospitals volunteer, the more information the system contains. The official statistics are based only on accidents reported by the police since all hospitals do not yet report accidents. However, employing hospital data when analyzing traffic accidents decreases the number of unrecorded cases, especially when it comes to accidents involving unprotected road users because many of these accidents are only reported by the hospitals, not by the police. One of the biggest challenges in studying roadwork accidents is to find the right types of accidents in the accidents statistics. Many roadwork accidents are minor (there are no personal injuries), for example, accidents with snowplowing vehicles. In such cases the accident is not reported and will not be part of these types of studies. However, even if there are no personal injuries, the accidents can cause problems for other road users, for example if the road has to be closed while towing the vehicles involved in the accidents. The accident can also be very costly if the vehicles are severely damaged in the collision. It is possible for the police to record that an accident occurred at a roadwork, just as it is possible to record the fact that an accident occurred at a pedestrian crossing or a bridge. But the majority of the accidents identified as roadwork accidents have not been reported by the police as such. It may be that the police are not aware that the

4 accident occurred at a roadwork, for instance if the accident occurred way back in a queue caused by roadwork. It is also possible that the police do not understand that the type of work being done at when the accident occurred is classified as roadwork. One such example is accidents that happen with winter maintenance vehicles. Not one of these accidents in Sweden was reported by the police as accidents in connection to roadwork. Winter road maintenance is classified by the Swedish Transport Administration as a type of roadwork. But because the police do not report them in the accident database STRADA, a free text search in the database is the only way to find them. Accidents reported both by police and by hospitals have to be used. In a study of winter road maintenance accidents from the keywords "plow", "sand" and "salt" were used. More than 4,000 accidents were found by this search. Of these, a total of 190 accidents were considered winter road maintenance accidents and thus were relevant for the study. In the other cases the keywords were found in the description of the accidents but the accidents had nothing to do with winter road maintenance. For example the keywords were found in accident descriptions containing sentences such as "The road was not plowed" and "The salting vehicle came after the accident". This demonstrates some of the challenges in identifying the right type of accidents. Unfortunately the police write very sparsely in many accident reports, so even with free text search it is difficult to find accidents in the material. It is therefore very likely that more accidents related to winter road maintenance occur. It is also likely that several accidents occur in the long queues formed behind snowplow trucks, especially rear-end collisions. These accidents can happen so far behind the winter maintenance vehicle that neither police nor the people involved in the accidents realize that the queue is a result of a slow moving vehicle. The hospitals that report traffic accidents are not able to report that the accident occurred at a roadwork. Therefore the only way to find hospital-reported roadwork-related accidents is through extensive free text search. In most cases, especially accidents involving minor injuries, the patients' own descriptions of the accident included is more useful than the hospitals' staff reports. The accidents that have been identified as roadwork-related accidents in Sweden have been found by free text search using about thirty different keywords. If only police-reported roadwork-related accidents had been used, about two-thirds of the accidents analyzed in this paper would have had omitted. Since 1997, the Swedish Transport Administration conducted in-depth studies of all fatal accidents involving road traffic. The investigations are comprehensive and include the causes of why the accidents occurred and also recommended actions to prevent similar accidents. Data from in-depth studies of roadwork-related accidents has also been used in the studies this paper is based on. Additionally data from other sources--such as the rescue service, road contractors and vehicle manufactures--has been used. On a couple occasions, the reports' authors also conducted interviews with road workers who have been in accidents. And, one of the reports is based on a survey carried out with more than one hundred road worker. 4. Result 4.1 General During the years , at various types of roadwork at least road traffic accidents occurred wherein road users and road workers were injured or killed. Most likely more accidents have occurred; but it is hard to find them in the statistical data. Of the accidents, 42 were fatal accidents, 520 were accidents with serious injuries, and the rest were accidents with minor injuries. In four of the fatal accidents a road worker was killed. Approximately 5% of the total number of people injured or killed in road traffic accidents at roadwork sites were road workers. This means that approximately 95% of the persons injured or killed were ordinary road users, not road workers.

5 Fig1: Number of traffic accidents with injuries in Sweden in connection to road work The number of reported traffic accidents has increased steadily since However the increase is most likely a result of the fact that more hospitals are reporting accidents into the accident data system. In 2003, when STRADA was introduced, only a few of the Swedish counties used the system. In 2013 there is only one hospital in Sweden that does not report traffic accidents. The number of accidents reported by the police has remained at roughly on the same level every year, which reinforces the conclusion that the increase is likely due to more comprehensive reporting. 32% of the accidents were reported only by the police, not by the hospitals. However, 38% of the accidents were reported only by the hospitals, not the police. 32% of the accidents were reported by both the police and the hospitals. This shows the importance of using different sources to gain a wider understanding of traffic accidents because hospitals report to greater extent accidents involving vulnerable road users. Singel vehicle accidents 20% Road departure collision 2% Miscellaneous 4% Head on collision 6% Side collision 3% Vulnerable road users 30% Rear end collision 34% Overtaking accident 1% Fig 2: Types of accidents in connection to roadwork in Sweden The two types of traffic accidents that are most common in Sweden regarding roadwork are rear-end collisions and accidents involving vulnerable road users (pedestrians, bicycles, mopeds and motorbikes), according to Liljegren (2012). Approximately 82% of all rear-end collisions took place on state owned roads, often highways. The most common type of rear-end collisions occur in a queue. A more thorough description of rear-end collisions will be presented later on in this paper. More than 75% of accidents involving vulnerable road users were on the municipal road network. Many of the traffic accidents with vulnerable road users are never reported by the police but only reported by the hospitals. The

6 largest group of seriously injured are vulnerable road users, particularly pedestrians but also cyclists. A typical accident with a vulnerable road user is for example a cyclist falling of the bicycle due to gravel, cables or construction equipment on the road. 54% of the accidents happen on state owned roads, 39% on the municipal road network, and the rest on other types of roads. However the percentage of accidents with severe injuries is the same on state roads as on municipal roads. That is due to the fact that accidents with vulnerable road users are more common on community roads. Also, the average age of people injured is higher than in other accidents. And, the injuries are classified as more severe since they include different types of fractures and because the people are more often hospitalized than in other accident types. Accidents on highways account for about 30% of all accidents on the road network. One explanation is that the speed is generally high on these roads and traffic volume greater. The fact that there are so many accidents on road E4 (248 accidents) is reasonable given that road E4 is a long road with a large traffic volume and that it goes through the whole of Sweden, including the northern parts, where several of the accidents with winter maintenance vehicles occurred. Traffic accidents at roadwork follow the traffic rhythm; that is, most accidents occur where and when there is the most traffic. Between four and five in the afternoon the percentage of accidents is higher than during any other hour. A large proportion of these accidents are rear-end collisions. Liljegren (2013:b) claims that it is difficult to draw any general conclusions regarding fatal accidents because there are so few of them (42 out of a total of 2818 accidents). Some of the fatal accidents are not typical road traffic accidents in connection to roadwork. And some of them include factors such as drunk driving, driving without a license, extreme speed and absence of seatbelt usage. However two types of accidents are more common when it comes to fatal accidents in connection to roadwork. The most common type (14 accidents) is single vehicle accidents. The second type is rear-end collisions (11 accidents). Most of the accidents happened in daylight, when the weather was good, and on roads with a lot of traffic. The most common type of roadwork related to fatal accidents was construction work and where the accident took place somewhere inside the road work zone. However, several of the rear-end collisions happened before the actual work zone started. 4.2 Rear end collisions A classic rear-end collision accident occurs in a queue. Often a car driver notices that there is roadwork ahead and slows down while the car driver behind is not as attentive and drives into the first car. Another type of rear-end collision is when a road user drives into the rear of a roadwork vehicle, such as a snowplowing vehicle or a TMAtruck. It is however, stated in a study by Liljegren (2011) much more common that road users, mainly cars, drive into each other than hit something belonging to roadwork, such as vehicles or other types of equipment. Rear-end collisions often occur at the back of queues, long before the actual roadwork starts. Sometimes these accidents are so far from the actual roadwork that the signs for roadwork have not yet started. There have been very severe rear-end collisions in Sweden, including fatal accidents, where the queues were more than five kilometers long. The warning signs for the roadwork rarely start earlier than two kilometers from the roadwork. This means that road users are not aware that there is a roadwork in front of them and are therefore not prepared for queues. This is especially dangerous on highways on which the average speed is high and there are normally no queues. Why do rear-end collisions occur? Unfortunately, the accident descriptions are usually very sparse. For example the reporting police can write, "Traffic element 1 ran into traffic element 2 at a roadwork." That information reveals nothing of the cause of the accident and nothing of the type of roadwork. Therefore, in most cases it is not possible to determine what caused the accident. However, more detailed descriptions of accidents, usually from the patient's own description of the accident, can sometimes be of help. The most common explanation is that the lanes were changing, meaning that one lane was closed off or two lanes merged into one. In some cases, accidents occurred when half of the road was closed off and the remaining lanes had to be used by traffic going in opposite directions. Dazzling sunshine and snow smoke caused by winter maintenance vehicles are two other common explanations; both explanations mean that road users could not see the roadwork or roadwork vehicle in time. Common to most of these accidents is that motorists are not prepared for "sudden" changes, such as the speed has decreased considerably due to changing lanes, or that there is a traffic signal or person directing traffic.

7 Approximately 92% of people who are injured in rear-end collisions suffer from minor injuries, compared to about 80% of all types of roadwork-related accidents. The reason rear-end collisions result in more minor injuries is largely due to how the police and hospital grade accident severity. In a rear-end collision, the most common injury is to the cervical spine. A common type of injury is stretching of the cervical spine, often referred to as a "whiplash". In most cases, these injuries are classified as minor; in many cases they are not reported in at all because people do not seek emergency care. Sometimes a whiplash injury is not noticed until long after an accident and will therefore not be reported as an accident. 53% of people injured in roadwork-related rear-end collisions had a strain or sprain in the cervical spine that could indicate a whiplash injury; 89% of these injuries involved being hit from behind. In proportion to their share of vehicle mileage, women are overrepresented in rear-end collisions. To a very large extent, it is mainly cars that run into other cars in rear-end collisions. According to research carried out by the Swedish insurance company Folksam (2013), whiplash injuries are the type of injuries that give rise to most disability cases caused by traffic accidents in Sweden. About 70% of all injuries leading to disability are due to whiplash injuries. Fractures, such as arm and leg fractures, are usually classified as serious injuries by the reporting police. However, in many cases these injuries heal completely and there will be no long-term disability. A whiplash injury, on the other hand, can sometimes be lifelong. The research from Folksam (2013) also shows that women are more prone to suffer from whiplash injuries than men because car protection systems are often constructed for male drivers and passengers. 4.3 Accidents with winter operation vehicles About half of the budget for the operation and maintenance of state roads in Sweden consists of the cost of winter road maintenance. From November to March there are winter road conditions in most parts of Sweden. In the northern parts of the country this period is even longer. During winter the roadwork mainly includes plowing, salting and sanding as to keep the roads open to traffic and safe to travel on. A study by Liljegren (2010:a) shows that approximately 13% of all roadwork accidents occurred with winter road maintenance vehicles. The most common types of accident were head-on collisions and rear-end collisions. In several of the accidents, it is posted in the accident descriptions that road users did not see the oncoming vehicle or the snowplowing vehicle because of the snow smoke formed behind and beside the vehicle. Road users often notice the maintenance vehicle too late. In addition to the snow smoke, a contributing factor is the large difference in speed between regular road users and winter maintenance vehicles. This applies especially on roads with higher speeds, such as highways. Snowplows often run at speeds of about 40 km/h on roads where other traffic may run at 110 km/h. Another possible explanation for rear-end collisions with snowplowing vehicles is visibility problems due to poorly illuminating vehicle lights. Today s energy-saving lights are cooler and do not melt the snow falling on them as quickly as the older types of lamps did. In 2010, Liljegren (2010:b) conducted a survey that included 112 people who worked as drivers for winter road vehicles on state owned roads. Many of the drivers were subcontractors and often worked for trucking companies. All types of drivers were part of the study, from those who mainly drove trucks on highways to those who plowed with a tractor on pedestrian roads. Over 90% of the drivers thought the road users showed no or little respect for their work. Most critical were the drivers who, at some point, had been operating in-tandem plowing (plowing with two or three vehicles at the same time). More than half of the drivers said that every year road users reacted to them by honking their horns, gesturing with their hands, or doing something similar. Mostly this was done on highways. 63% of those who had been operating in-tandem plowing had been involved in incidents. Most drivers operating in-tandem plowing stated that road users often tried to drive past the winter maintenance vehicles while they were operating. Most likely this behavior is due to the fact that long queues can form behind the snowplow, making it very difficult to pass. Today there are no rules or criteria in Sweden for when traffic can or should be allowed to pass during plowing.

8 4.4 Accidents with road workers About 95% of all people killed or injured in traffic accidents in connection to roadwork are road users, not road workers. For road workers, the most common type of accident (69%) involves being injured in a traffic accident during winter maintenance-related work, such as snow removal. Road workers were directly involved in approximately 70% of the accidents with winter maintenance vehicles, either by hitting another vehicle, by being hit, or in single vehicle accidents. Road workers were injured in approximately 22% of these accidents; in half of these cases the road workers were driving a tractor. Accidents with winter maintenance vehicles are often single vehicle accidents. The driver often drove a tractor that suddenly stopped due to the snow blade hitting a manhole, a tree, an edge or something similar. In connection with the unexpected stop, the driver was thrown forward, often into the windscreen or the steering wheel. In some accidents, drivers fell out of the tractor through a side window or side door. Common types of injuries in accidents with tractors are to the face, neck and hands. Tractor drivers were likely not using a seat belt. According to the survey mentioned above, almost a third of the winter maintenance vehicle drivers never used or only sometimes used a seatbelt. Seatbelt use was lowest by drivers who primarily drove a tractor or wheel loader. One reason given for not using a safety belt was that there were no safety belts in some of the tractors and wheel loaders. Another reason given was that some drivers do not think that some types of roads are dangerous to work at, for example roads used by pedestrians and bicyclists. However, this research shows the opposite. Although the usage of safety belts is higher for drivers who drive trucks than tractors, it is still far from everybody who uses them. In February 2013 there was a serious accident when a truck plowing snow drove off the road, overturned and ended up lying on its roof. The driver suffered multiple fractures and spent nearly two weeks in the hospital. He had not been using a seatbelt even though there was one in the truck. In an interview the driver revealed that he was grateful that he did not use the seatbelt because he thought that he would then have been stuck hanging upside down, unable to free himself. He also thought that he would have suffered more severe injuries if he had used his safety belt. According to a medical doctor, who has gone through the driver's medical reports, the driver would have fared much better if he had been wearing a safety belt. Volvo Trucks' accident investigation team came to the same conclusion. If the truck had spun around several times there was a risk that the driver could have been thrown out; if that had happened, the driver risked even more severe injuries, even death. It is worth mentioning that according to the Swedish law all truck drivers must use a safety belt while driving. The second most common type of accident when a road worker was injured happened when the worker was a pedestrian. That means the worker was not in a vehicle but working on the ground, paving, directing traffic or doing other tasks. Unfortunately it is not possible based on accident reports to determine for all accidents what type of roadwork the pedestrian was performing. In a few cases, there has been an explanation (e.g. paving or directing traffic); but in most cases it is just written that a road worker was injured without further explanation. When it comes to fatal accidents with road workers, thorough investigations have been carried out, as is done with all fatal accidents in road traffic. During the period from 2003 to 2012, four road workers were killed in traffic accidents in Sweden. The first person was driving a large truck while plowing and was killed in a head-on collision with another truck. The second person died while driving a steamer: the steamer was hit from the rear by a truck and the driver was thrown from the steamer. The third road worker killed was driving a car, inspecting roads, when a truck drove into the rear of his car, not noticing that the car was driving slower than the average speed on that road. Finally, the fourth person to be killed was standing behind his vehicle when another vehicle, also a maintenance vehicle, drove into him; they were both carrying out road marking work. 4.5 Accidents with barriers and TMA In the more than 300 traffic accidents involving personal injury occurring during roadwork every year, 4% involve a collision with a truck-mounted energy-absorbing protection (TMA) or a barrier. This percentage may seem very low. But the most common type of roadwork-related accidents are rear-end collisions between cars or accidents involving vulnerable road users; these accidents do not involve TMA and barriers. Between the years 2003 and 2012 four fatal accidents occurred in Sweden with barriers or TMA. Three of these accidents involved different types of steel or concrete barriers and one involved a TMA-trailer.

9 The fact that there are so few accidents reported of barrier and TMA collisions may be due to these accidents being hard to find in the statistics. Probably more such accidents do occur. But it is hard to tell from the accident descriptions since it can be noted that a driver drove into a barrier at a roadwork without specifying if the barrier was part of the roadwork or was a permanent structure. It is the same problem with finding accidents involving TMA since it is not always clear if a truck that has been hit in the rear is a roadwork vehicle or a truck used for transportation. It could also be that TMA and barriers actually work well in preventing both road users and road workers from becoming injured in an accident: If no person is injured in an accident, the accident will not show up in the statistics. A special study by Liljegren (2013:a), comprised of the investigations of ten accidents with TMA, was carried out to see what happened to the road user who drove into the TMA and to the driver of the TMA-vehicle. In two of the ten accidents there were severe injuries. In one of these accidents it was a road worker who was injured, in the other, a truck driver. In two other accidents, there were no injuries. In the remaining six accidents, injuries were minor. The most common injuries were to the head, neck and shoulders. A total of ten people were injured in these ten accidents, including four road workers. Without the TMA the outcomes of the accidents could have been much worse. More than one of the accidents would likely have been fatal. In all but one case it seems TMA have acted without an issue. In several of the accidents the collision forces have been so great that the TMA was completely demolished. Despite the obvious massive violence, TMA probably still had a soothing effect and reduced injuries in these accidents. In one of the accidents the driver of the car hit the TMA with a probable speed of around 130 km/h. The police recorded the accident as one with severe personal injuries; but the hospital reported the accident as minor. After the collision the driver of the car walked out of the car on his own. The driver of the TMA-truck was reported unharmed but said later in an interview that he had had some mild pain in his neck and shoulder. Nevertheless it is remarkable that type of collision force could result in only minor injuries. 5. Conclusions This paper aims to give a comprehensive understanding of traffic accidents that occur in connection to the many various types of roadwork, all year round, in one entire country. Different methods and data have been used as it is difficult to find the relevant accidents otherwise. However, some accidents that should be part of the statistics are most likely not included due to difficulties in identifying them as accidents occurring in connection to roadwork. An incident and accident reporting system that is used by all participants in road maintenance would make it easier to identify relevant accidents but also to study accidents with no personal injuries. Measures to increase safety at road work are often directed at minimizing the road workers injuries. This seems to work rather well in Sweden as 95% of the persons injured in the accidents are ordinary road users. Barriers and TMA play an important role separating road users and road workers. Almost 70% of the worker who were injured in traffic accidents had been working with winter road maintenance. Half of these persons had been driving a tractor. One of the main reasons for being injured was the fact that they were not using a safety belt while working. Therefore there is a need to create a better understanding among the drivers of the importance of why safety rules must be obeyed. Roughly one third of the road users that have been injured in the accidents had been involved in rear-end collisions, making this the most common type of accident. More than half of the persons suffered a strain or sprain in the cervical spine. This could indicate a whiplash injury which leads to a life-long disability. In order to prevent rearend collisions it is of great importance to warn the road users long ahead the actual road work but also to find ways to make other road users aware of e.g. snow plows and their lower speed. Neither of the Swedish reports that this paper is based upon, examines the long term effect of the accidents. It is therefore not possible to tell if anyone, road worker or road user, suffered from permanent injuries or disabilities. Additionally there is no information to what degree the road workers involved in accidents have developed psychological problems or have stopped working with road works due to the accidents they have been involved with.

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