Modeling and comparing injury severity of at-fault and not at-fault drivers in crashes

This paper examines and compares the effect of selected variables on driver injury severity of, both, at-fault and not at-fault drivers. Data from the Highway Safety Information System (HSIS) for the state of North Carolina was used for analysis and modeling. A partial proportional odds model was developed to examine the effect of each variable on injury severity of at-fault driver and not at-fault driver, and, to examine how each variable affects these two drivers' injury severity differently. Road characteristics, weather condition, and geometric characteristics were observed to have a similar effect on injury severity in a crash to at-fault and not at-fault drivers. Age of the driver, physical condition, gender, vehicle type, and, the number and type of traffic rule violations were observed to play a significant role in the injury severity of not at-fault drivers when compared to at-fault drivers in the crash. Moreover, motorcyclists and drivers 70 years or older are observed to be the most vulnerable road users.