Why is the relative accident rate reduced with the presence of passengers?
A traffic accident is triggered by a number of factors. The driver is expected to drive carefully out of consideration for passengers, such as driving more slowly and paying more attention than usual to outside objects. Driving at low speed particularly reduces the probability of traffic accidents by not only lowering the casualty rate in collisions but also raising the possibility of accident avoidance after perceiving a danger.
However, the danger recognition speeds of primary parties, as shown in Fig. 6 by age group, are higher when driving with passengers, indicating that the presence of passengers does not necessarily lead to reduced speed (Note 3).
Note 3) A danger recognition speed is the driving speed of the vehicle at which the party of an accident perceives the other party before it is hit and recognizes the danger of an accident. This does not necessarily mean the average driving speed of all drivers.
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Figure 7 shows the relative accident rate ratio in the daytime classified by the party hit (secondary party) and driver gender. "Stationary object, etc." is related to collisions caused by a vehicle alone, "Pedestrian" represents accidents in which a person and a vehicle collided, and "Car", "Motorcycle" and "Bicycle" involve collisions between vehicles. The presence of passengers is shown to be least effective (high relative accident rate ratio) for preventing collisions with stationary objects. The preventive effect of passengers is greatest (low relative accident rate ratio) for collisions with bicycles, followed by pedestrians.
It is easier to notice automobiles and motorcycles than pedestrians because of their size and supposable movement (on roadway), and that is possibly why the supportive effect of passengers is not fully exerted in recognizing these vehicles. On the contrary, the presence of passengers is considered to be more significant in helping the driver recognize bicycles, being smaller in size and moving more irregularly than vehicles, and make the appropriate judgment.
Two possible reasons for the relatively poor preventive effect of the presence of passengers on collisions with stationary objects, etc., which are often caused by steering errors, are that the greater traffic volume in Japan compared to that in Europe and the U.S. creates an increased possibility of collision with a vehicle or a pedestrian, and that the presence of passengers is more effective in terms of recognition and judgment rather than safe steering.
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