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Rush hour peak for winter car accidents identified
Date: 20 February 2019 | Author: Sean Keywood
Winter car accidents are most common in the 10 minutes between 5pm and 5.10pm, according to accident management firm AX.
It says analysis of more than 57,000 incidents revealed that almost one in six evening accidents occur during this period, while perhaps unsurprisingly the 4pm to 6pm rush hour accounts for nearly a fifth of incidents on any given day.
The second-most common time for accidents came out as the school-run period between 2pm and 4pm, with a particular spike between 3pm and 3.10pm.
The data also shows that the period from November to March sees accident rates spike by 7.45% compared with the summer months, while March is second only to November for the occurrence of car-to-car incidents.
According to AX, the most common type of winter road crash is a rear-end collision at 34.25%. This is followed by: hitting a parked car (31.51%); a third party pulling in front of a car (12.88%); a third party reversing into a stationary car (7.79%); and an incident while changing lanes (6.70%).
AX director of sales and operations Scott Hamilton-Cooper said: "It is little surprise to see that the majority of accidents take place during the afternoon and evening hours, when many of us are busy trying to get home or rushing to pick up our kids.
"Stopping distances double in the rain and are as high as 10 times more in icy and snowy conditions.
"This goes some way to also explaining why 31% of incidents we manage involve a moving car hitting a parked one as the driver loses control."
