Identifying and recording near misses can be a more powerful safety tool than actual crash data, providing traffic managers with the power to identify and fix black spots before injuries occur. Christopher Court-Dobson reviews a technique that is maturing fast with pilots across the UK and US and evaluates the pros and cons of different technological approaches
In 1931 industrial safety pioneer H W Heinrich demonstrated a statistical relationship in accident occurrence; for every major accident are 29 minor accidents, and 300 near-misses – dubbed Heinrich’s Accident Triangle. Since then, the principle of counting ‘near misses’ to identify unseen dangers has been applied across safety disciplines, from fire hazards and aviation to healthcare and construction.
Road safety has lagged behind due to the sheer volume of vehicles and the practical problems of recording near misses. But, two technologies ever-in-the-spotlight, AI computer vision and connected vehicles, are changing that, prompting interest and enthusiasm from traffic managers like Darren Divall, road safety manager for Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) in the UK.
