The Impact of Aging Drivers and Vehicles on the Injury Severity of Crash Victims.

Content Provider	Europe PMC
Author	Santolino, Miguel Céspedes, Luis Ayuso, Mercedes
Editor	Tchounwou, Paul B.
Copyright Year	2022
Abstract	Against a general trend of increasing driver longevity, the injuries suffered by vehicle occupants in Spanish road traffic crashes are analyzed by the level of severity of their bodily injuries (BI). Generalized linear mixed models are applied to model the proportion of non-serious, serious, and fatal victims. The dependence between vehicles involved in the same crash is captured by including random effects. The effect of driver age and vehicle age and their interaction on the proportion of injured victims is analyzed. We find a nonlinear relationship between driver age and BI severity, with young and older drivers constituting the riskiest groups. In contrast, the expected severity of the crash increases linearly up to a vehicle age of 18 and remains constant thereafter at the highest level of BI severity. No interaction between the two variables is found. These results are especially relevant for countries such as Spain with increasing driver longevity and an aging car fleet.
ISSN	16617827
Journal	International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health [Int J Environ Res Public Health]
Volume Number	19
DOI	10.3390/ijerph192417097
PubMed Central reference number	PMC9778893
Issue Number	24
PubMed reference number	36554977
e-ISSN	16604601
Language	English
Publisher	Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI)
Publisher Date	2022-12-19
Access Restriction	Open
Subject Keyword	traffic crashes severity dependence random effects driver age vehicle age
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis Pollution Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health