Driver injury severity analysis for two work zone types

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine whether the effects of factors contributing to the severity of driver injuries vary between long-term and short-term work zones. Multinomial logistic regression analysis is adopted to model the relationship between the influencing factors and drivers' injury and fatality risks. A case study is created using drivers' injury severity data from the NASS general estimate system, and two separate multinomial logistic regression models are developed. By comparing the model results, it is found that the light conditions, day of the week, age, gender, airbag availability, restraint use, vehicle age and most harmful event show homogeneous effects on the drivers' injury and fatality risks in the two work zone types. However, the weather, speed limit, traffic control device and number of lanes exhibit opposing effects on the drivers' injury and fatality risks in the two work zone types.