Academic Journal
Contributing factors to the severity of crash injury and vehicle damage involving Japanese lightweight vehicles (K-car): Considering unobserved heterogeneity.
| Τίτλος: | Contributing factors to the severity of crash injury and vehicle damage involving Japanese lightweight vehicles (K-car): Considering unobserved heterogeneity. |
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| Συγγραφείς: | Wang L; School of Traffic and Transportation Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410075, China. Electronic address: 244211023@csu.edu.cn., Lee JJ; School of Traffic and Transportation Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410075, China; Department of Civil, Environmental & Construction Engineering, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA; School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia. Electronic address: lizaining@csu.edu.cn., Hu J; School of Traffic and Transportation Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410075, China. Electronic address: Junjie_Hu@csu.edu.cn., Mao S; School of Traffic and Transportation Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410075, China; Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Torino 10129, Italy. Electronic address: suyimao@csu.edu.cn. |
| Πηγή: | Journal of safety research [J Safety Res] 2026 Sep; Vol. 98, pp. 40-54. Date of Electronic Publication: 2026 Jun 08. |
| Τύπος έκδοσης: | Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't |
| Γλώσσα: | English |
| Στοιχεία περιοδικού: | Publisher: Pergamon Press Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 1264241 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1879-1247 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00224375 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Safety Res Subsets: MEDLINE |
| Imprint Name(s): | Publication: Elmsford, NY : Pergamon Press Original Publication: [Chicago] National Safety Council. |
| Ιατρικοί όροι (MeSH): | Accidents, Traffic*/statistics & numerical data , Automobiles*/statistics & numerical data , Wounds and Injuries*/epidemiology , Safety*, Japan/epidemiology ; Humans ; Injury Severity Score ; Risk Factors |
| Περίληψη: | Introduction: This study investigates the safety performance of lightweight vehicles by analyzing the factors influencing injury severity and vehicle damage in Japan. Method: Likelihood ratio tests were initially employed to validate the temporal stability of the crash data. Subsequently, random parameter bivariate probit models with heterogeneity in means were estimated to account for unobserved heterogeneity and correlations between crash outcomes. Results: An out-of-sample prediction analysis reveals a quantifiable structural safety gap for lightweight vehicles, which is often masked by the risk-compensatory behaviors of older drivers. The model demonstrates a significant negative correlation between the injury severities of the two drivers involved, indicating a "zero-sum" energy transfer effect, while the weak injury-damage correlation suggests a "decoupling" effect attributable to modern passive safety designs. Key findings indicate that injury severity is predominantly exacerbated by environmental factors like adverse weather and slippery surfaces, whereas vehicle damage is driven by geometric incompatibilities with road features like curbs. Conclusions and Practical Applications: As the first study to apply this advanced modeling framework to lightweight vehicle safety, our findings offer evidence-based insights for optimizing emergency medical protocols, structural reinforcement standards, and driver assistance systems. (Copyright © 2026 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.) |
| Competing Interests: | Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. |
| Contributed Indexing: | Keywords: Crash severity; Lightweight vehicle; Unobserved heterogeneity |
| Entry Date(s): | Date Created: 20260915 Date Completed: 20260915 Latest Revision: 20261006 |
| Update Code: | 20261006 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.jsr.2026.05.017 |
| PMID: | 42744492 |
| Βάση Δεδομένων: | MEDLINE |
| ISSN: | 1879-1247 |
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| DOI: | 10.1016/j.jsr.2026.05.017 |