Road traffic collisions generally fall into one of five common types:
- Lane departure crashes, which occur when a driver leaves the lane they are in and collides with another vehicle or a roadside object. These include head-on collisions and roadway departure collisions.
- Collisions at junctions, including rear-end collision and angle or side impacts
- Collisions involving pedestrians and cyclists
- Collisions with animals
- Collisions with buildings
Other types of collision may occur. Rollovers are not very common, but lead to greater rates of severe injury and death. Some of these are secondary events that occur after a collision with a roadway departure crash or a collision with another vehicle.
If several vehicles are involved, the term 'serial crash' may be used. If many vehicles are involved, the term 'major incident' may be used rather than 'pile up'.