Biomaterial Database

Determinants of road traffic crash fatalities across Indian States. 2013

Michael Grimm, and Carole Treibich

Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. grimm@iss.nl

This article explores the determinants of road traffic crash fatalities in India. In addition to income, the analysis considers the sociodemographic population structure, motorization levels, road and health infrastructure and road rule enforcement as potential factors. An original panel data set covering 25 Indian states is analyzed using multivariate regression analysis. Time and state fixed-effects account for unobserved heterogeneity across states and time. The rising motorization, urbanization and accompanying increase in the share of vulnerable road users, that is, pedestrians and two-wheelers, are the major drivers of road traffic crash fatalities in India. Among vulnerable road users, women form a particularly high-risk group. Higher expenditure per police officer is associated with a lower fatality rate. The results suggest that India should focus, in particular, on road infrastructure investments that allow the separation of vulnerable from other road users on improved road rule enforcement and should pay special attention to vulnerable female road users.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007182	Income	Revenues or receipts accruing from business enterprise, labor, or invested capital.	Income Distribution,Income Generation Programs,Savings,Distribution, Income,Distributions, Income,Income Distributions,Income Generation Program,Incomes,Program, Income Generation,Programs, Income Generation
D007194	India	A country in southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and Pakistan. The capitol is New Delhi.	Republic of India
D008297	Male		Males
D011156	Population Density	Number of individuals in a population relative to space.	Overpopulation,Population Size,Underpopulation,Densities, Population,Density, Population,Population Densities,Population Sizes
D005006	Ethnicity	A group of people with a common cultural heritage that sets them apart from others in a variety of social relationships.	Ethnic Groups,Nationality,Ethnic Group,Nationalities
D005260	Female		Females
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000063	Accidents, Traffic	Accidents on streets, roads, and highways involving drivers, passengers, pedestrians, or vehicles. Traffic accidents refer to AUTOMOBILES (passenger cars, buses, and trucks), BICYCLING, and MOTORCYCLES but not OFF-ROAD MOTOR VEHICLES; RAILROADS nor snowmobiles.	Traffic Collisions,Traffic Crashes,Traffic Accidents,Accident, Traffic,Collision, Traffic,Collisions, Traffic,Crashes, Traffic,Traffic Accident,Traffic Collision
D001336	Automobiles	A usually four-wheeled automotive vehicle designed for passenger transportation.	Cars,Automobile,Car
D012307	Risk Factors	An aspect of personal behavior or lifestyle, environmental exposure, inborn or inherited characteristic, which, based on epidemiological evidence, is known to be associated with a health-related condition considered important to prevent.	Health Correlates,Risk Factor Scores,Risk Scores,Social Risk Factors,Population at Risk,Populations at Risk,Correlates, Health,Factor, Risk,Factor, Social Risk,Factors, Social Risk,Risk Factor,Risk Factor Score,Risk Factor, Social,Risk Factors, Social,Risk Score,Score, Risk,Score, Risk Factor,Social Risk Factor