Citation

Brorsson B, Ifver J, Rydgren H. Accid. Anal. Prev. 1988; 20(5): 367-377.

Affiliation

Department of Social Medicine, Uppsala University, Sweden.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1988, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

3265625

Abstract

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.