Female Involvement in U.S. Fatal Crashes Under a Three-Level Hierarchical Crash Model: Mediating and Moderating Factors

Men have long held the lead in motor-vehicle crashes; however, research indicates that women are closing the gap. The reasons for this relative increase are unclear. To further investigate this problem, the authors applied a simplified version of the hierarchical levels of driving behavior (HLDB) model to investigate female involvement in fatal crashes in the United States. The HLDB model recognizes that decisions at higher levels affect decisions at lower levels. At the top level, the model assumes that the driver’s condition (e.g., inattention, fatigue, impairment) has an effect on the next level (e.g., speeding or other failures to obey traffic laws), which subsequently affects the basic maneuvering skills (i.e., the lowest level). Data for this study were drawn from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System for the years 1982 to 2007. Single-vehicle crashes were used to indicate crash responsibility. Basic descriptive and multilevel analyses were applied to investigate female involvement at each level of the HLDB model. Compared with males, female drivers were less likely to be involved in crashes associated with the highest HLDB level, but more likely to be involved in the lowest level. The relative high prevalence of females in skill-related crashes, however, occurred only when associated with speeding. Variations in this finding due to age and gender were also found. Findings from this study should help to develop more efficient (better targeted) traffic safety prevention policies.

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Media Type: Print
  • Features: References; Tables;
  • Pagination: pp 1-11
  • Monograph Title: Women's Issues in Transportation: Summary of the 4th International Conference. Volume 2: Technical Papers
  • Serial:

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01339636
  • Record Type: Publication
  • ISBN: 9780309160834
  • Files: TRIS, TRB
  • Created Date: May 11 2011 2:21PM