Analysis of Factors Influencing the Accident Severity of Hazardous Materials Transportation

Hazardous materials transportation accidents cause many casualties and property losses annually, and an effort needs to be made to identify the influencing factors associated with these types of accidents. In this study, a multi-order logistic model was built to explore the relationships between driver, vehicle, equipment, roadway, environment, and the severity of the number of casualties in the accidents. The raw accident dataset was obtained and preprocessed, and transformed into an analytical dataset, followed by using single factor analysis to identify whether the selected possible influencing factors had significant differences in the mean level of road transport accident severity, and the independent variables entering the model were finally determined. Results show the key indicators affecting accident severity are driver factors, vehicle and equipment factors, roadway factors, and environmental factors. Driver fatigue and lack of qualification, vehicle and equipment failure, continuous and steep downhill segments, and wet and waterlogged roads increase the probability of serious accidents. In addition, opposite collisions and leaks and fires that cause explosions and rollovers will increase the severity of casualties. Several countermeasures are suggested with the goal of reducing the number and severity of hazardous materials transportation accidents.