Aspects of Road‐Accident Death Analyses
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 118, Issue 2
Abstract
The time period between an urban road accident and death due to it, is investigated. Age and sex of injured persons were found to have no significant effect on time till death. The analysis distinguishes between a set of data that includes persons killed on site and a data set from which they are excluded. The probability density function (pdf) of the length of these time periods, when expressed in hours, was found to be satisfactorily described by a Weibull distribution for both cases. When these lengths are expressed in days the Gamma distribution gave the best fit. Linear relationships between the cumulative percentage of injured persons dead by time (and log(r) are also established with very high correlation coefficients, but are proposed only for time period lengths less than 30 days. Ways in which the results of this analysis can be used towards unification of road accident death recording in the various countries, so that valid international accident statistics comparisons are possible, are indicated.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
1.
Baker, S. P., O'Neil, B., Haddon, W., and Long, W. B. (1974). “The injury severity score: a method for describing patients with multiple injuries and evaluating emergency care.” J. Trauma, 14(3), 187–196.
2.
Benard, A., and Van Elteren, P. (1953). “A generalisation of the method of m rankings.” Proc. Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, Royal Academy of Netherlands, 56 (A), 358–369 (in Dutch).
3.
Brühning, E., Praxenthaler, H., and Zimmerman, G. (1983). “Road traffic safety—how does the Federal Republic of Germany compare with Great Britain, France, the Netherlands and Japan?” Internationales Verkehrswesen, 2/83, 1–6.
4.
Gissane, W., and Bull, J. (1962). “Injuries from road accidents.” Practitioner, 188, 489–493.
5.
Gissane, W., and Bull, J. (1964). “A study of motorway (Ml) fatalities.” British Medical J., 1, 75.
6.
Haddon, W., Valien, R., McCarroll, J. R., and Umberger, C. J. (1961). “A controlled investigation of the characteristics of adult pedestrians fatally injured by motor vehicles in Manhattan.” J. Chronical Diseases, 14 (6), 655.
7.
Handel, Von K. (1962). “Zentralblatt für Verkehrs‐Medizin.” Verkehrs‐Psychologie, 8(2), 97–100 (in German).
8.
Huelke, D. F., and Davis, R. A. (1969). “A study of road accident fatalities in Wayne County, Michigan.” Report No. Bio‐9, Univ. of Michigan Highway Safety Res. Inst.
9.
Hutchinson, T. P. (1975a). “Factors affecting the severity of injury to adult pedestrians involved in road accidents.” Proc. 5th Int. Conf. of Int. Association for Accident and Traffic Medicine, International Association for Accident and Traffic Medicine.
10.
Hutchinson, T. P. (1975b). “Factors affecting the times till death of pedestrians killed in road accidents.” Injury, 6(3), 208–212.
11.
Hutchinson, T. P. (1987). Road accident statistics. Rumsby Scientific, London, United Kingdom.
12.
Jeffcoate, G. O. (1963). “The time that elapses between a fatal road accident and death resulting therefrom.” RRL ReportRN/3814, Transport and Roads Research Laboratory, Crowthorne, Berkshire, England.
13.
Lienhard, J. H., and Meyer, P. L. (1967). “A physical basis for the generalized Gamma distribution.” Q. Appl. Math., 25(3), 330–334.
14.
McCarroll, J. R., and Haddon, W. (1962). “A controlled study of fatal auto mobile accidents in New York city.” J. Chronical Diseases, 15, 811.
15.
Mood, M. A., Graybill, F. A., and Boes, D. C. (1982). Introduction to the theory of statistics. McGraw‐Hill Company, Tokyo, Japan.
16.
Preston, B. (1981). “Road safety: international comparisons.” Transport Reviews, 1(1), 75–100.
17.
Robertson, J. S., and Tonge, J. I. (1968). “Duration of survival in traffic accident fatalities.” Medical J. Australia, 2(14), 571–579.
18.
Sachs, L. (1984). Applied statistics. Springer‐Verlag, New York, N.Y.
19.
Sevitt, S. (1973). “Fatal road accidents in Birmingham: times to death and their causes.” Injury, 4(4), 281.
20.
Slatis, P. (1962). “Injuries in traffic accidents.” Acta Chir. Scand. Suppl. Helsinki, Finland, 297.
21.
Smeed, R. J. (1953). “The international comparison of accident rates.” Int. Road Safety and Traffic Review, 1(1), 16–26.
22.
Smeed, R. J. (1968a). “Variations in the pattern of accident rates in different countries and their causes.” Proc. 9th Int. Study Week in Traffic and Safety Engrg., University of Munich, 4.
23.
Smeed, R. J. (1968b). “Aspects of pedestrian safety.” J. Transport Economics and Policy, 2(3), 1–25.
24.
Spiegel, M. R., (1975). Probability and statistics. Schaum's Outline Series, McGraw‐Hill, New York, N.Y.
25.
Statistics of road traffic accidents in Europe 1986. (1987). United Nations, New York, N.Y.
26.
Tight, M. R., Hakkert, A. S., Allsop, R. E., and Lentzbach, W. (1986). “A comparison of road safety in the Federal Republic of Germany and Great Britain.” Proc. 14th PTRC Summer/Annual Meeting, Planning and Transport Research and Computation.
27.
Transport statistics, 1988. (1990). National Statistical Service of Greece, Athens, Greece.
28.
World road statistics 1983–1987. (1988). International Road Federation, Washington, D.C.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
Copyright © 1992 ASCE.
History
Published online: Mar 1, 1992
Published in print: Mar 1992
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.