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Affiliation
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a Xnovo Technology , Galoche Allé 15, 4600 Køge, Denmark , allan@lyckegaard.dk. |
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Abstract
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OBJECTIVE. This study aims at evaluating the effectiveness of Electronic Stability Control (ESC) on single vehicle injury accidents while controlling for a number of confounders influencing the accident risk.
METHODS. Using Police registered injury accidents from 2004 to 2011 in Denmark with cars manufactured in the period 1998 to 2011 and the principle of induced exposure, two measures of the effectiveness of ESC were calculated: The crude odds ratio and the adjusted odds ratio; the latter by means of logistic regression. The logistic regression controlled for a number of confounding factors, of which the following were significant. For the driver: Age, gender, driving experience, valid driving license and seat belt use. For the vehicle: 1. year of registration, weight and ESC. For the accident surroundings: Visibility, light and location. Finally for the road: Speed limit, surface and section characteristics.
RESULTS. The present study calculated the crude odds ratio for ESC-equipped cars of getting in a single vehicle injury accident to be 0.40 (95% C.I. 0.34-0.47) and the adjusted odds ratio to be 0.69 (0.54-0.88). No difference was found in the effectiveness of ESC across the injury severity categories (slight, severe and fatal).
CONCLUSIONS. In line with previous results, this study concludes that ESC reduces the risk for single vehicle injury accidents by 31% when controlling for various confounding factors related to the driver, the car and the accident surroundings. Furthermore, it is concluded that it is important to control for human factors (at a minimum age and gender) in analyses where evaluations of this type are performed.
Language: en |