Kilometers per Accident
This is an indicator of safety, reflecting both standards of driving and maintenance within the organization, and driving standards generally.
Ideally the type of accident should be taken into account, with each weighted according to its severity, but this introduces a large element of subjectivity; some operators calculate repair costs as a guide. In practical terms, the number of accidents in total, and the number of fatalities, are the most useful measures.
The definition of an accident may vary: some undertakings record only “reportable” accidents, in other words those which by law must be reported to the police; this definition may exclude relatively serious accidents where only accidents involving injury are reportable. Others record only those involving personal injury. It is normally appropriate to record all accidents involving damage to vehicles and injury to passengers, employees or third parties.
Details of all fatal accidents should be recorded, including the number of fatalities in each case. If possible, it is useful to distinguish between accidents for which the transport operator or driver is blameworthy, and those attributable to a third party, although it is not always possible to make this distinction impartially or accurately.
The number of kilometers per accident will vary considerably, depending largely on the type of operation, and driving standards generally. Where all accidents involving injury and damage are recorded, a typical figure for urban services in developing countries may lie between 10,000 and 60,000 kilometers per accident.
Alternatively, this indicator may be expressed in terms of the number of accidents per 100,000 kilometers.