title: The statistical analysis of highway crash-injury severities: a review and assessment of methodological alternatives.
abstract: Reducing the severity of injuries resulting from motor-vehicle crashes has long been a primary emphasis of highway agencies and motor-vehicle manufacturers. While progress can be simply measured by the reduction in injury levels over time, insights into the effectiveness of injury-reduction technologies, policies, and regulations require a more detailed empirical assessment of the complex interactions that vehicle, roadway, and human factors have on resulting crash-injury severities. Over the years, researchers have used a wide range of methodological tools to assess the impact of such factors on disaggregate-level injury-severity data, and recent methodological advances have enabled the development of sophisticated models capable of more precisely determining the influence of these factors. This paper summarizes the evolution of research and current thinking as it relates to the statistical analysis of motor-vehicle injury severities, and provides a discussion of future methodological directions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Wayne State University, 5050 Anthony Wayne Drive, Detroit, MI 48202-3902, United States. savolainen@wayne.edu
authors.forename: Peter T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Savolainen
authors.forename: Fred L
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Mannering
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lord
authors.forename: Mohammed A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Quddus
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D006801:Humans; D015233:Models, Statistical; D015599:Trauma Severity Indices; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000145:classification* / Q000209:etiology