Accident prototypical scenarios, a tool for road safety research and diagnostic studies

The concept of prototypical accident scenario has been used since the late 1980s in French road safety research. A prototypical scenario can be define d as a prototype of the accident process corresponding to a series of accid ents which are similar in terms of the chain of facts and causal relationsh ips found throughout the various accident stages. This concept provides a m eans of combining and generalising the knowledge obtained from accident cas e studies, based on in-depth investigation methods or on detailed analyses of police reports. Applications of this concept are developed in both the f ield of traffic accident research and safety studies (diagnoses) in prepara tion for engineering measures or local safety policies. This paper presents the prototypical scenario concept, its theoretical background, and the way it is used for safety research and studies. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.