Can you find some comparative road traffic accident statistics for me?
 I'm looking for a breakdown of the likelihood of being involved in a
traffic accident in the UK eg by age, driving experience, class of
driver and/or type of vehicle - depending on what's available.

How much more accident-prone than average is a 17-year old male riding
a motor bike on L-plates?

Dear Michael2-ga

The most comprehensive site, and one from which all others (insurance
companies, police and councils) obtain their main data, is the
Department for Transport: Transport Statistics - Road Accidents.
http://www.transtat.dft.gov.uk/roadsafe/

The latest information is for 1998. The data is broken down into key
statistics and a detailed summary. There are graphs and data showing
age, gender, type of injury, location day and hour the accident
occurred.

I believe that this site should provide the information you require.

Please do not hesitate to ask for clarification of any part of this
answer.
 
answerfinder-ga

Search strategy
road +traffic +accidents +statistics +uk
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=road+traffic+accidents+statistics+uk

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Request for Answer Clarification by michael2-ga on 23 Sep 2002 03:25 PDT

Thanks for the link.  Is it possible to estimate the answer to my
second query, please, on the information given?  Or are there any
other statistics that would provide a lead on that?

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Clarification of Answer by answerfinder-ga on 23 Sep 2002 05:40 PDT

Dear Michael2-ga

Thank you for your clarification request. It would appear the referred
site did not contain the very specific information you required.
Clearly this group is most likely to become an accident statistic: 
Young motorcycle drivers (18-24) accounted for 51% of all motorcycle
drivers killed and 41% of all injured in 2000.
National Road Authority (Ireland)
http://www.nra.ie/full/blue/safety.html#12

The information you need will no doubt have been calculated by an
insurance company. I have therefore emailed Norwich Union, the largest
insurers of riders of motorcycles, requesting the information. I shall
post the answer when I get it.

answerfinder-ga

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Clarification of Answer by answerfinder-ga on 23 Sep 2002 06:34 PDT

Dear Michael-ga
I refer you to the “The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents
(RoSPA) Motorcycling Safety Position Paper - February 2001”
http://www.rospa.co.uk/pdfs/road/motorcycle.pdf
In a very detailed examination, once again, only ages of those
involved in accidents are shown, not their experience. However the
report does make these comments:

“……there is a clear relationship between age and accident risk for
motorcyclists: younger riders are more likely to be killed or
seriously injured than older riders, with 16 - 19 year old riders
having the highest casualty rate, followed by riders aged 20 - 24
years. However, the extent to which this is due to exposure, age or
riding experience is unclear, and there has been relatively little
research into the role of age and experience in motorcycle accidents,
nor into the effectiveness of CBT and other motorcyclist training
programmes…..”

“……..(New Zealand research)……age was a more important factor in
motorcycle accident risk than experience. This study compared 490
motorcycle riders who had been involved in road accidents on
non-residential roads between 1993 and 1996, with a control group of
1,518 riders who had not been involved in an accident. Of the
crash-involved riders, 18% were aged 15 - 19 years (as were 11% of the
control group), 32% (and 26% respectively) were aged 20 - 24 years and
49% (and 63%) were aged 25 years and over. 21% of the crash-involved
riders had less than two years riding experience, 30% had between 2
and 5 years experience and 50% had more than five years riding
experience. The corresponding figures for the control group were 16%,
28% and 56%.”

Another report concluded: “that younger riders have more accidents
because they are young, rather than because they lack experience, and
their accident risk is associated with a willingness to break the law
and violate the rules of safe riding.”

I have completed the google research and await the Norwich Union
reply.

answerfinder-ga

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Clarification of Answer by answerfinder-ga on 26 Sep 2002 03:56 PDT

Dear michael2-ga
Thank you for rating on this question.
I have received an acknowledgement from the insurance company (e-mail
section) with apologies for the delay in answering. They have passed
the query onto another department and so I still await their answer.
answerfinder-ga

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Clarification of Answer by answerfinder-ga on 01 Oct 2002 04:34 PDT

Dear michael2-ga
Re your question on motor cycle accident statistics. I regret that I
have still not had a reply from Norwich Union. I shall pursue the
matter if I have not heard in four days.
Regards
answerfinder-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by michael2-ga on 01 Oct 2002 04:46 PDT

That's appreciated.  Thank you.

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Request for Answer Clarification by michael2-ga on 20 Jan 2003 08:20 PST

I don't suppose you ever got an answer from NU did you?  I'm not
totally surprised if not.

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Clarification of Answer by answerfinder-ga on 20 Jan 2003 10:50 PST

Dear michael2-ga
I am very embarrassed about this clarification as I failed to keep you
informed.
I emailed the Norwich Union twice and they failed to responsed with
any meaningful answer from the appropriate department (whatever that
was!).
I am so sorry for not informing you of this.
answerfinder-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by michael2-ga on 20 Jan 2003 12:41 PST

OK, no problem.  Thanks for trying anyway.

Thanks for all your efforts.  I accept that nobody seems to have done
the research needed to answer my second question exactly (or if they
have it is in the hands of the insurers), but you've put in 5 stars
worth of work.  I look forward to hearing of the reply to your email.