title: The effect of age and gender on motor vehicle driver injury severity at highway-rail grade crossings in the United States.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Based on the Federal Railway Administration (FRA) database, there were 25,945 highway-rail crossing accidents in the United States between 2002 and 2011. With an extensive database of highway-rail grade crossing accidents in the United States from 2002 to 2011, estimation results showed that there were substantial differences across age/gender groups for driver's injury severity.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study applied an ordered probit model to explore the determinants of driver injury severity for motor vehicle drivers at highway-rail grade crossings.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The analysis found that there are important behavioral and physical differences between male and female drivers given a highway-rail grade crossing accident happened.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Older drivers have higher fatality probabilities when driving in open space under passive control especially during bad weather condition. Younger male drivers are found to be more likely to have severe injuries at rush hour with high vehicle speed passing unpaved highway-rail grade crossings under passive control. Synthesizing these results led to the conclusion that the primary problem with young is risk-taking and lack of vehicle handling skills. The strength of older drivers lies in their aversion to risk, but physical degradation issues which result in longer reaction/perception times and degradation in vision and hearing often counterbalance this attribute.
authors.affiliation: University Transportation Research Center, City College of New York, New York, NY, 10031, USA. Electronic address: hao@utrc2.org.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hao
authors.affiliation: University Transportation Research Center, City College of New York, New York, NY, 10031, USA.
authors.forename: Camille
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kamga
authors.affiliation: Intelligent Jersey Institute of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University Heights, Newark, NJ, 07102, USA.
authors.forename: Janice
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Daniel
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000401:mortality / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001334:Automobile Driving; D001336:Automobiles / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011336:Probability; D011890:Railroads / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D015599:Trauma Severity Indices; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014887:Weather; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Age and gender; Highway-rail grade crossing accidents; Injury severity; Ordered probit model