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A Multi-level Analysis of the Relationship Between Urban Built Environment and Severe Injury Traffic Crashes

  • Transportation Engineering
  • Published:
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Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between urban built environment and traffic crash occurrences in San Diego County by employing a multi-level Poisson regression model. This model is intended to address the so-called ‘Modifiable Areal Unit Problem’ by properly capturing the spatial correlations that might exist among crash occurrences within or across zones specified for data aggregation. A preliminary inspection based on a geographic information system reveals that the crash occurrences of Traffic Analysis Zones (TAZs) tend to show similar spatial pattern if they belong to the same city. This observation motivated us to incorporate hierarchical random components into a Poisson regression model to complement its systematic components (i.e. explanatory variables) related to socio-demographic characteristics, travel characteristics, or urban built environment. This approach turns out to improve the model’s explanatory power in assessing the relationship between urban built environment and traffic crash occurrences while controlling other variables. A key finding from this study is that crash occurrences of individual TAZs tend to decrease with the expansion of their urban portion.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Cho Chun Shik Graduate School for Green Transportation, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, 34141, Korea

    Kitae Jang

  2. National Infrastructure Research Division, Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements, Sejong, 30149, Korea

    Kwangho Kim

  3. Division of Architecture & Urban Design, Incheon National University, Incheon, 22012, Korea

    Hwan Yong Kim

  4. Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Incheon National University, Incheon, 22012, Korea

    Sanghyeok Kang

Authors
  1. Kitae Jang
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  2. Kwangho Kim
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  3. Hwan Yong Kim
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  4. Sanghyeok Kang
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Correspondence to Sanghyeok Kang.

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Jang, K., Kim, K., Kim, H.Y. et al. A Multi-level Analysis of the Relationship Between Urban Built Environment and Severe Injury Traffic Crashes. KSCE J Civ Eng 22, 1427–1435 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12205-017-1251-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12205-017-1251-0

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