The influences of human factors on road accidents in Romania in the period 2013 – 2022.

The main objective of the study is to establish a correlation between the main causes of road traffic accidents in Romania and “human factors”. The aim of the study is to show that accidents are attributed exclusively to human mistakes in a higher percentage than. The data used in the research are taken from the database of the Traffic Police-for Road traffic accidents during 2013-2022 and from the database of the Romanian Road Authority - ARR - for road safety inspections during 2018-2021. From the perspective of human factors, the research will give answers on the nature of the causes that lead to the production / favouring of road accidents in Romania and will propose solutions to address road risks to improve road infrastructure safety. As a case study, the research will focus on the human factors that contribute to road accidents on National Road 2. Compared to other national roads, on DN 2 road accidents occur with the highest number of fatalities, approximately 8.28% of all road deaths nationwide. The analysis of findings from road safety inspection reports carried out on DN2 shows that there is a correlation between road infrastructure non-conformities and causes of road traffic accidents.


Introduction
According to EU statistics, as presented in the National Road Safety Strategy -SNSR, 2022-2030 [1], Romania consecutively registers the highest annual rate of road deaths among all Member States of the European Union.In addition, the perceived quality of road infrastructure in Romania is at the lowest level in the entire EU.
Reality shows that some aspects of the road infrastructure or road environment can influence driver behaviour.The road (including the road environment), the vehicle and the human (driver and vulnerable users) are key factors of the road transport system.Each of these factors can individually contribute to accidents.In most cases, complex combinations and interactions between factors favour the occurrence of road accidents.The Road Safety Manual published by the Permanent International Association of Road Congresses -PIARC, pp.422-441 [2], shows that interactions between road and vehicles are determined by physical factors, interactions between vehicle and driver are determined by ergonomic needs, and interactions between man (driver, users) and the road (road environment) are determined by "human factors".Thus, unwittingly, drivers or road users can make errors in assessing road risk, leading to a significant number of road accidents because of involuntary mistakes.
The Executive Director of the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), Antonio Avenosso, criticizes in an open letter, published by the Financial Times, the perpetuation of the "myth" related to the main cause of road accidents, namely human error [3].Mr Antonio Avenosso states that this myth: "human error causes 90% of road accidents", "is misleading and dangerous", above all because it is repeated and perpetuated.To accurately assess the claims made and identify the causes of accidents attributable to "human factors"', it is essential to carry out detailed analyses of accident data in parallel with the results of road safety inspections.
In Romania, traffic police bodies go to the scene of serious accidents to make research, measurements, collect information and write down details for drawing up the database of road accidents [4].One of the criteria for compiling the database is the "root cause of the accident".There are 42 main cases in the proceedings.There is a significant correlation between the establishment of "main causes" and the provisions of the Romanian Government Emergency Ordinance No 195/2002, concerning traffic on public roads [5].As a rule, each "case in the main proceedings" has a corresponding breach of a legal provision.The analysis of the causes main led to the identification of a correlation between each cause and the key factor responsible for the accident.
During the last years (2017-2022), at national level, "speed not adapted to road conditions" was the main cause of serious accidents, contributing 16.33% of the overall total [6]."Speed not adapted to road conditions" is responsible for 17.18% of road deaths and 18.29% of serious injuries.If we refer only to the statistical data of the national road family, the "speed not adapted to road conditions" is responsible for 21.38% of serious accidents resulting in 18.32% deaths and 24.68% serious injuries.Starting from this finding, the research ranks the most dangerous national roads in Romania in terms of road deaths registered between 2017 and 2022.The case study is represented by the DN2 national road, on which the highest percentage of road deaths of the national road family was recorded.For DN2, the results of road safety inspections conducted by the Road Authority Romanian -ARR between Bucharest and Adjud are presented.The road segment was selected due to its unusual crosssectional configuration, which stands out from that of other national roads.There are two traffic lanes of 3.5 m and reinforced verges of 2.5 m.This configuration favors the movement of vehicles at high speeds and the performance of overtaking maneuvers of vehicles.This segment of the DN2 road, which constitutes 62% of the total length of the road, accounted for 80% of serious accidents and 83% of road deaths between 2017-2022.
The Road Authority Romanian -ARR has the competence to carry out road safety inspections on the entire national public road network.Cumulative statistical data of periodic road safety inspections and supplementary data for accidents resulting in road deaths are available on the institution's website [7].Between 2018 and 2022, ARR carried out regular road safety inspections covering approximately 9.5% of the total length of the national road and motorway network.Currently, the procedures for road safety inspections have been changed through the provisions of OG nr.3/2022 [8] which, amends Law nr.265/2008, on traffic safety management on road infrastructure [9].Accordingly, targeted road safety inspections will primarily focus on road sections with a high level of road hazard, identified based on road infrastructure safety assessment.
The Romanian Road Safety Handbook (pages 17-21) stresses the importance of analyzing road risks generated by "human factors" in road safety procedures [10].These factors are a significant component in the system of ensuring road traffic safety.Human errors can occur when an individual's cognitive capacity is exceeded, when coordination of basic tasks related to driving and moving is deficient, judgment is impaired, and there is a discrepancy between the individual's perception and surrounding reality.Changing the behavior of the human requires a process that unfolds over time.
The American Road Safety Handbook for Highways (Chapter 2-HUMAN FACTORS) deals with human factors and shows how human factors affect the interaction between drivers and roads [11].About 90% of the information drivers use to perform driving tasks is visual.Visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, peripheral vision and visual search are aspects of the driver's vision that must be considered when designing roads as well as when conducting road safety inspections.The road must meet the expectations that drivers develop in both the short and long term.
The PIARC Road Safety Guidelines set out the basic requirements of road infrastructure-specific human factors [12]: • the road should provide enough reaction time -roads with forgiving edges, • the road must provide a field of vision allowing the driver to check that the vehicle is kept safe in the lane -ensuring visibility and readability, • the future configuration of the road must correspond to the expectations of the driver formed by recent perceptions -predictable roads.Research shows that accident databases do not contain enough information to determine what percentage of "human factors" caused or contributed to road accidents.The nature of information about serious accidents and the structuring of data by the Traffic Police does not allow an assessment of the level of interaction between the factors responsible for the occurrence of an accident.

Database analysis
Two databases were used during the research.One of them includes the dispositions for the execution of the intervention works on the road infrastructure for the elimination/ reduction of road risks on the road DN2-E85.The dispositions are in the inspection reports that are drawn up by road safety auditors, employees of the Romanian Road Authority -ARR.The second database of Romanian Police includes the serious road accidents resulting in dead persons and serious injuries, from 2017-2022.

Responsible factors in the occurrence of road accidents
Following the analysis of each "main cause", according to the situation in Table 1, an allocation of causes was made for each of the key factors responsible for the occurrence of a road accident -man, road (road environment), motor vehicle.To find out the influence of the determinants in the occurrence of a road accident, the weight of each factor to which the accidents resulting in casualties and injuries are allocated during the reference period is calculated.The values calculated with the Excel -PivotTable tool is shown in Table 2.The analysis of the results in Table 2 shows that the "man" factor is responsible in proportion of 99.43% for the occurrence of serious road accidents, respectively 70.6% driver responsibility and 28.8% responsibility for vulnerable participants.
The PIARC Road Safety Manual, p.46, Figure 3-1, [2], presents the results of studies showing that the interaction between the factors responsible for road accidents must be considered in the analysis of 1303 (2024) 012048 IOP Publishing doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1303/1/0120485 road risks, especially the interaction between the human factor and the road factor (road environment).By intervening on road elements, immediate gains can be achieved to increase road safety.

The main cause of serious accidents on the DN 2 national road
While at national level the main cause of serious accidents is "speed not adapted to road conditions" [6], Table 3. Main causes of serious accidents on DN2.shows the order of main causes of serious accidents recorded on DN2.The main causes of serious accidents on DN2 are: "irregular pedestrian crossing", which contributes significantly to deaths (18.70%) and serious injuries (7.75%), "falling asleep while driving", which has a major impact on the number of fatalities (16.60%) and serious injuries (12.47%) and "speed not adapted to road conditions", which contributes significantly to deaths (11.76%) and serious injuries (14.89%).
Compared to the situation at national level, where the main cause of road deaths is 'speed not adapted to road conditions', on the DN2 national road, irregular pedestrian crossing is the main cause of a significant number of road deaths.
These conclusions suggest that interventions to reduce serious accidents on the DN2 should focus on preventing irregular pedestrian crossings, managing driver fatigue, and promoting speed appropriate to road conditions.

National roads
DN2-E85 is identified as the most dangerous national road in Romania in terms of the number of people killed in road accidents during 2017-2022.By processing the serious accident database with the Excel -PivotTable tool, Table 4 shows the ranking of the 5 most dangerous national roads.The values in the table represent the statistics for serious accidents and their consequences in relation to the family of national roads in Romania.These statistics make it possible to compare roads from a road safety perspective.The DN2, for example, has a higher rate of fatalities, relative to road length, compared to DN1, DN6, DN7 and DN15, suggesting that DN2 needs increased attention in terms of road safety measures.

Road safety inspection
Between September 2018 and February 2022, the Road Authority Romanian -ARR carried out 89 periodic road safety inspections on the national roads and motorways network [7].For the DN2 national road, in Table 5 presents the results of the quantitative analysis of the information contained in the road safety inspection reports carried out on the road segment with a consolidated verge width of 2.5 m.
Table 5. Distribution of provisions on DN2 segments with a reinforced verge of 2,5 m.
The analysis excluded the road segments that were under the administration of local authorities, such as the Buzau belt and the road sections that ensured the transit through the urban localities of RM.Salty, Adjud and Bacău.
Table 6 provides an overview of the results of the analysis of inspection reports and the provisions which have been grouped according to the criteria used to assess road traffic safety.Almost half of the provisions analysed are allocated to the visibility criterion.To this criterion, provisions have been allocated that include works for restoring/completing road markings or signs and trimming vegetation obstructing visibility over infrastructure elements or between road users.All these deficiencies and non-conformities of the infrastructure can cause errors of assessment of the driver, respectively the lack of reaction time that generates errors in driving.
From the observations on the movement of the vehicle flow on DN2 was found that the width of the road platform and long alignments allow and even favour the frequent carrying out of the overtaking manoeuvre.On the other hand, wide angles of vision are created that lead to driving behaviour to increase the speed of travel compared to driving on other roads that do not have such a wide width or that have another structure of the lateral marking of the road boundary [11].

Conclusions
Through this research, a correlation was made between the causes of serious accidents and the factors responsible.The results show that the accident database compiled by the traffic police does not help determine the percentage of accidents determined by "human factors".The results show that the human factor is responsible for serious accidents in a proportion of almost 100%.The database does not contain elements to help identify causes of accidents that are the result of the interaction of responsible factors, e.g., man -road (road environment).It can be concluded that cooperation between police and road safety auditors is necessary to identify appropriate ways to collect additional data from the scene of serious accidents.These data must enable a clear analysis of the conditions under which the accident occurred and enable the elements of the infrastructure responsible for human error to be identified by the driver or other road users.
Based on the results of road safety inspections conducted on a critical segment of Romania's most dangerous road, DN2, a quantitative analysis of the provisions issued by road safety auditors was performed.This involved establishing a correlation between the road traffic safety evaluation criterion (RTS) and the nature of the corrective measures required for each directive related to road infrastructure non-compliance.Comparing the approximately 50% allocation to the provisions related to driver visibility issues with the approximately 90% representing the portion of information volumeprimarily visual -used by drivers for driving tasks, it can be concluded that the infrastructure of DN2 road is responsible for serious driving errors that lead to severe accidents.
Linking road safety assessment criteria to road risk relief provisions can be a way of analysing and addressing the structuring of road safety procedures, including the collection of serious accident scene data.
It is crucial that the ongoing professional development of specialized inspectors and the periodic training programs for road safety auditors be enriched with information and procedures to assist in identifying those elements of road infrastructure related to human factors.

Table 1 .
The distribution of the main causes of road accidents by responsible factors.

Table 2 .
The percentage distribution of serious accidents and their consequences on each factor.

Table 3 .
Main causes of serious accidents on DN2.

Table 4 .
National roads according to the rate of deaths from serious road accidents.

Table 6 .
[13]allocation of provisions on road traffic safety assessment criteria.As a result of road safety inspections, the auditors issued provisions to carry out specific road infrastructure improvement works aimed at reducing certain types of road risks.Each provision has been allocated to a specific criterion for assessing road traffic safety.The provisions are contained in Annex 5 of Order of the Minister of Transport no.606/2017[13].These provisions are classified into 13 chapters and comprise 50 types of specific works.