Weather and traffic accidents in the Czech Republic, 1979–2020

Brázdil, Rudolf; Chromá, Kateřina; Zahradníček, Pavel; Dobrovolný, Petr; Dolák, Lukáš

doi:10.1007/s00704-022-04042-3

Cited by 11 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…The systematic collection of weather-related fatalities was reflected in their analysis for the periods of 2000-2019 [35] and 1961-2020 [2]. Vehicle accidents accompanied by severe weather for the period of 1979-2020 were also investigated separately [36]. Czech flood-related fatalities from 1980 became part of the FFEM-DB [5,13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The 100-Year Series of Weather-Related Fatalities in the Czech Republic: Interactions of Climate, Environment, and Society

Brázdil

Chromá

Dolák

et al. 2023

Water

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The paper investigates weather-related fatalities over the territory of the Czech Republic in the 100-year period from 1921 to 2020. The unique database, created from documentary evidence (particularly newspapers), includes, for each deadly event, information about the weather event, the fatality itself, and related circumstances. A total of 2729 fatalities were detected during the 100-year period and were associated with various weather categories including frost (38%), convective storms (19%), floods (17%), fog (11%), snow and glaze ice (8%), windstorms (5%), and other inclement weather (2%). A detailed analysis was performed for each individual category. Fatalities occurred throughout the country, with a main maximum in winter (January) and a secondary maximum in summer (July), corresponding to the occurrence of extreme weather. Deaths were mainly interpreted as direct, caused by freezing to death/hypothermia or drowning, and occurred in the afternoon and at night in open countryside or on rivers and water bodies. Males outnumbered females, and adults outnumbered children and the elderly. Hazardous behavior was more frequent than non-hazardous behavior among victims. The information on fatalities and the structure of their characteristics strongly reflects historical milestones of the country, political and socioeconomic changes, as well as changes in lifestyle. Although important weather effects were observed on the deadliest events, the character of the data did not allow for clear evidence of the effects of long-term climate variability.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The 100-Year Series of Weather-Related Fatalities in the Czech Republic: Interactions of Climate, Environment, and Society

Brázdil

Chromá

Dolák

et al. 2023

Water

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“…Taking all accident events during normal and inclement weather conditions together, the corresponding proportions decreased to 2.6–4.2% for snow and 2.0–2.9% for glaze ice. The annual numbers of all traffic accidents and accidents with only damage, fatalities and injuries (Figure 8) for these two weather categories correspond to the general development of vehicle transport in the CR (see Brázdil et al ., 2022a for more detail). More interesting are their annual proportions on the totals of four traffic accident characteristics for all cases of inclement weather (see polygonal lines in Figure 8), which display a great interannual variability, better reflecting a dependence on the severity of individual winters.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, Brázdil et al . (2022a) found that among seven inclement weather categories accompanying traffic accidents, the highest correlations occurred between those during snow and numbers of snowfall days.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Severity of winters in the Czech Republic during the 1961–2021 period and related environmental impacts and responses

Brázdil

Zahradníček

Chromá

et al. 2023

Intl Journal of Climatology

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This paper analyses temperature and snow patterns of winters (December–February) averaged for the territory of the Czech Republic during the 1961–2021 period and their broad environmental impacts and responses. Series of mean, maximum, minimum, absolute maximum and absolute minimum temperatures show significant increasing linear trends, while decreasing trends were detected in numbers of frost, ice and extremely cold days, duration of cold waves, snowfall days, sums of heights of new snow, days with snow depths ≥1 cm, mean and maximum snow depths. The winter severity, derived from five temperature and five snow variables and expressed by temperature/snow scores, indicates decreasing severity of winters for 1961–2021, in which temperature severity is more pronounced than that of snow. Decreasing winter severity is in line with decreasing frequency of cyclonic and directional circulation types according to objective classification, while the trend in anticyclonic types was opposite. Types with maritime airflow from the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean contribute to milder and types with continental airflow from the east to colder winters. The coldest winters, 1962/1963 and 1984/1985, and the mildest winters, 2006/2007 and 2019/2020, were analysed in greater detail. Concerning of different analysed environmental impacts, they are influenced not only by severe winter weather, but also by political, socioeconomic and general environmental changes in the country. In line with decreasing winter severity were only statistically significant decreasing trends in proportions of traffic accidents connected with snow and glaze ice on the roads and volumes of damaged wood due to high weights of snow and ice deposit, expressed as salvage felling. Series of other environmental impacts (e.g., fatalities attributed to weather, impacts on the economy and society) reflect rather severity of individual winters and express high interannual variability without any representative trends.

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“…European countries are intensively researching the impact of weather on driving safety. The reports of road traffic crashes in the Czech Republic from 1979 to 2020 and in Germany from 2006 to 2017 show that snow has the greatest influence on crashes [7,8]. Based on an analysis of 10,646 traffic crashes on 43 major roads in Finland from 2014 to 2016, Malin et al [9] discovered that the likelihood of crashes was more than three times higher during the winter.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Snowy and Icy Weather on Vehicle Sideslip and Rollover: A Simulation Approach

Wang,

Zhao,

et al. 2024

Sustainability

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Many northern hemisphere countries have experienced exceptionally heavy snow, blizzards, and cold snaps in recent years, causing considerable public concern about the high crash rate and safety issues in road traffic. This study used the CarSim dynamics simulation to recreate several vehicle driving scenarios in snow and ice conditions. To explore the influence of speed, curve radius, and road adhesion coefficient on vehicle sideslip and rollover, four lateral stability evaluation indicators, namely lateral offset, lateral acceleration, yaw rate, and roll angle, are chosen. Unfavorable combinations of these factors result in vehicle deviation from their intended trajectory and dramatically increase the likelihood of sideslip and rollover incidents. In particular, road adhesion coefficients ranging from 0.10 to 0.20 lead first to sideslip, while coefficients of 0.21 to 0.35 lead straight to rollover. Additionally, in the initial segment of the curve, cars are more susceptible to lateral instability. Curve radius has the greatest influence on sideslip when the three influencing factors are combined, while speed is the key component affecting rollover incidents. Smaller curve radii and higher speeds are major factors in such incidents. The results are helpful for proper road alignment parameter selection and dynamic speed-limit measures. This can provide a theoretical basis for traffic management departments to take targeted measures, which is of great significance to improving road traffic safety in snowy and icy weather.

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Weather and traffic accidents in the Czech Republic, 1979–2020

Cited by 11 publications

References 37 publications

The 100-Year Series of Weather-Related Fatalities in the Czech Republic: Interactions of Climate, Environment, and Society

The 100-Year Series of Weather-Related Fatalities in the Czech Republic: Interactions of Climate, Environment, and Society

Severity of winters in the Czech Republic during the 1961–2021 period and related environmental impacts and responses

Influence of Snowy and Icy Weather on Vehicle Sideslip and Rollover: A Simulation Approach

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