01475825

Component

While in the last 40 years Danish roads have observed a decrease in the number of fatalities, research has not investigated the contribution of legislative, enforcement, technological, infrastructural and human factors to this reduction. In the context of a Danish car market with remarkably high registration tax causing potential buyers to hold longer onto old cars, the relationship between technological enhancements of vehicles and severity of crashes requires particular attention. The current study investigates the relationship between car generation (i.e., car’s first registration year) and injury severity sustained by car drivers involved in accidents in Denmark between 2004 and 2010. A generalized ordered logit model is estimated while controlling for several characteristics of the crash, the vehicle and the persons involved, and scenario analysis is performed for assessing the effect of car generation on drivers’ injury severity. Results illustrate that newer car generations are associated to significantly lower probability of injury and fatality, and that replacing older cars with newer ones introduces significant and not to be overlooked benefits for both population and society.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ANB20 Safety Data, Analysis and Evaluation.

01470560

13-1246

English

16p

2013

Transportation Research Board 92nd Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; References; Tables

Automobile ownership; Crash severity; Fatalities; Injury severity; Technological innovations; Vehicle characteristics; Vehicle safety

Vehicle age

Denmark

Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment; I80: Accident Studies; I91: Vehicle Design and Safety

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2013 Paper #13-1246

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Feb 5 2013 12:20PM