Citation

Kweon YJ. J. Saf. Res. 2015; 53: 17-21.

Affiliation

Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research, Virginia Department of Transportation, Charlottesville, VA, USA. Electronic address: Young-Jun.Kweon@VDOT.Virginia.gov.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, U.S. National Safety Council, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jsr.2015.03.003

PMID

25933993

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Virginia saw a 20% reduction in traffic fatalities in 2008, an unprecedented annual reduction since 1950, and safety stakeholders in Virginia were intrigued about what caused such large a reduction and more generally what affects traffic safety from a macroscopic perspective.

METHOD: This study attempted to find factors associated with such a reduction using historical data of Virginia. Specifically, the study related 18 factors to seven traffic safety measures.

RESULTS: In terms of annual changes, the study found that typical crash exposures were not generally associated with the seven measures, while two economic indicators (unemployment rate and U.S. Consumer Price Index [CPI]) were strongly associated with most of them.

CONCLUSIONS: Annual changes in the CPI and unemployment rate account for about half of the annual changes in total and fatal crash counts, respectively. On average, a 1 point increase in CPI and a 1% increase in the unemployment rate are associated with about 2,500 fewer traffic crashes and about 40 fewer fatal crashes annually in Virginia, respectively.

Language: en