| As can be seen in the four case examples above, the types of accidents in which an automobile overturns are diverse. Among the types of accidents as shown in Fig. 7, the most frequent, at 59%, is the type caused by a single vehicle. Side collision (29%) comes in second, followed by frontal collision and rear-end collision.
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Why does an automobile turn over in these types of accidents? Figure 8 summarizes the mechanisms of vehicle rollover in terms of vehicle behavior.
Firstly, vehicles tend to turn over after skidding sideways. For example, a sideways skid may be triggered by spinning of a vehicle caused by abrupt steering or by colliding with a fixed object such as a pole, as shown in Fig. 9. In the case of accidents involving two vehicles, any collision-whether it is frontal, side or rear-end-may induce sideways skidding. When a lateral skid is combined with the friction of the road surface against the side of the vehicle or with the bumping of tires against the curb during a skid, as illustrated in Fig. 8 (1), the vehicle can overturn
Running onto the curb or a gentle slope when a vehicle runs off the road (Fig. 8 (2)) and the wheels dropping off the road surface (Fig. 8 (3)) are likely causes of vehicle rollover. Some combinations of (1)-(3) are also reported. In the final analysis, rolling over of a vehicle can happen in any type of accidents.
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