Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Injuries from single-vehicle crashes and snow depth

1988; Elsevier BV; Volume: 20; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/0001-4575(88)90019-x

1879-2057

Bengt Brorsson, Jan Ifver, H Rydgren,

Agriculture and Farm Safety

Swedish official statistics on road traffic accidents shows a remarkable variability among different winter seasons in single-vehicle crashes resulting in personal injuries--one of the major causes of personal injury in road traffic. This study presents results from analyses investigating the role played by snow as an injury-reducing factor. The regression model specified implies, when applied to Swedish data, that an increase in snow depth by 1 cm--for snow depths less than 40 centimetres--reduces the number of crashes with occupant injury by 3%. This finding has implications for assessing trends in traffic safety through the use of routine statistics on motor vehicle occupant injuries and also shows that roadside design is a decisive factor in the generation of injury to the individual in single-vehicle crashes.