Head-on crash causes, injuries and efforts to reduce the number of frontal impact collisions

A frontal collision, or head-on crash, occurs when a car’s front end is hit by or hits another vehicle. Even with the advent of air bags and increased use of seat belts, deaths and serious personal injuries resulting from head-on collisions continue to be a problem.

According to a 2008 report from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials titled “Driving Down Lane Departure Crashes,” about one in five fatal nonintersection crashes involves two cars colliding head-on. Seventy-five percent of frontal impact collisions occur on rural roads, 75 percent on undivided two-lane roads, and a third of crashes involve a curve in the road.