Citation

Le Breton P, Vervialle F. Proc. Road Saf. Four Continents Conf. 2005; 13: 16p.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005, Conference Sponsor)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

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Abstract

Like many countries, France has an accident register that contains information that are provided by law enforcement officers. These registers have a number of features in common: they have several levels, contain a large number of variables and minor accidents are under-reported. Data processing for this type of register is often performed by using contingency tables without applying any statistical tests. This technique does not allow us to rank the different variables according to their contribution or reveal the multivariate nature of accident causation. The paper shall therefore propose a processing methodology that takes account of the points mentioned above and that is based on a division of accidents into three classes. To this end, the paper shall make use of odds ratios and logistical regression. The paper identifies the statistically significant factors that increase accident severity. These factors are particularly important when they involve large number of cases. This applies to drink-driving, young drivers, older pedestrians, a rural location, lateral obstacles and heavy goods vehicles (HGVs). On the basis of additional risk exposure considerations, the authors can add motorcycles to this list. These factors correspond to those, which are frequently mentioned in the context of road traffic accident studies.