3. Accidents in the Dusk
  2) Type of Fatal Accidents Linked to Sunset

  Figure 3 shows the number and component ratio of victims by type of accidents. Many fatalities tend to occur in person-to-vehicle accidents, single vehicle accidents, corner collisions, and frontal crashes. When combined, these four types account for more than 80% of traffic accident deaths. The following study, which focuses on months and hours, is conducted on 15-year statistics from 1990 through 2004 to ensure precision.

Figure 3.  Component Ratio of Traffic Accident Death by Accident Type

  Deaths resulting from person-to-vehicle accidents, which account for the largest share of traffic-accident deaths, are displayed by month and by hour in Figure 4. Needless to say, it is mostly pedestrians (about 99%) who are killed in such accidents. As shown, the deaths indicate clear seasonal fluctuation during the hours from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. In the hour following 5:00 p.m., the number of deaths ranges from 100 at the lowest to 870 at the highest, while the range is from 100 to 560 between 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., showing that the level of light is a significant factor in fatal accidents. The sharp rise in traffic accident deaths between 5 and 6 p.m. during the year-end period is probably due to factors other than light level, so the analysis hereafter focuses on the hour between 6 and 7 p.m.
The line marked "light" in the graph legend denotes average number of deaths for each hour from 8 a.m. through 3 p.m., and the line marked "dark" is average number of fatalities for each hour between 9 p.m. and 4 a.m. the following day.

Figure 4.  Shift in the Number of Deaths in Person-to-Vehicle Accidents by Hour and Month

  Figure 5 reveals monthly fluctuations of the traffic accident fatalities resulting from the aforementioned four accident types during the one hour following 6:00 p.m. It is evident that person-to-vehicle is the only type of accident that shows a clear seasonal fluctuation. Although not shown in the graph, the same tendency is obvious in accidents that occur in the 5 p.m.-6 p.m. and 7 p.m.-8 p.m. time ranges

Figure 5.  By-Month Deaths Resulting from the Four Major Types of Accident (One hour from 6:00 p.m.)

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Institute for Traffic Accident Research and Data Analysis (ITARDA)