The role of vision-related problems in fatal road accidents in Finland.

Purpose: To evaluate the significance of vision-related problems in fatal motor vehicle accidents (FMVAs) based on a systematic investigation process by multidisciplinary road accident investigation teams (RAITs).

Methods: Retrospective registry-based study of all FMVAs during the years 2012-2016 in Finland in which driver causing the accident had a valid Finnish driving licence and the operated motor vehicle required having a driving licence.

Results: There were a total of 968 FMVAs.

Evaluation of the benefits of vehicle safety technology: the MUNDS study.

Real-world retrospective evaluation of the safety benefits of new integrated safety technologies is hampered by the lack of sufficient data to assess early reliable benefits. This MUNDS study set out to examine if a "prospective" case-control meta-analysis had the potential to provide more rapid and rigorous analyses of vehicle and infrastructure safety improvements. To examine the validity of the approach, an analysis of the effectiveness of ESC using a consistent analytic strategy across 6 European and Australasian databases was undertaken.

Sudden death at the wheel due to a disease attack.

Purpose: To (1) examine the prevalence of fatal disease attacks while driving, (2) evaluate the potential risk of a driver's acute incapacity to drive, (3) compare the risks related to the driver's incapacity to drive with other major risks related to fatal motor vehicle accidents (fMVAs), and (4) assess how these accidents are reported in official statistics.

Methods: The data consist of information from the Finnish Road Accident Investigation Teams (RAITs) on fMVAs in Finland during 2008-2009, in-depth analyses of accidents in the Uusimaa district in 2008-2009, and data from Statistics of Finland (StatFi) concerning accidents in the Uusimaa district.

Results: In 2008-2009 as a whole, 488 fMVAs were encountered in Finland, and 73 of these were in Uusimaa.

[The driver's illness as a cause of traffic accidents].

Fatal motor vehicle accidents (fMVAs) as well as accidents involving pedestrians or bicyclists in Uusimaa county in 2008 were reviewed. Of the fMVAs, acute disease attacks while driving caused 26.5% (9/34) of the drivers' deaths.

Observational failures/distraction and disease attack/incapacity as cause(s) of fatal road crashes in Finland.

Objective: To study the incidence of health-related conditions and observational failures/distraction (OFD) as an immediate cause for fatal motor vehicle accidents (FMVA) and to correlate them with driver's age.

Methods: Retrospective study of all FMVA in Finland secondary to OFD from January 1995 to December 2005 and FMVA secondary to a disease attack/incapacity (DA) from January 2003 to December 2004. The data were based on the final investigation reports of the Finnish Motor Insurers' Centre.