Introduction. Road traffic injuries are now regarded as the eighth leading cause of death globally. For example, in 2016, 102,362 traffic injuries took place in Spain in which 174,679 drivers suffered injuries. These findings necessitated the development of the current study which focuses on the prime factors that cause this type of injuries. The aim of this study, therefore, is to explore the behavioral factors that entail a higher risk of suffering either a serious or a fatal injury for drivers. Methods. The findings are based on information and data provided by “Dirección General de Tráfico” (DGT) in Spain on traffic injuries that occurred in the year 2016. Reviewing a wide range of the literature, the authors identified the most influential variables and created a model using the Bayesian networks. The variables that define the model are grouped into four factors: vehicle factor, road factor, circumstantial factor and human factor. Results. The results suggest that the principal variables that determine a higher probability of serious or fatal injuries in traffic injuries are: lack of using appropriate safety accessories, high-speed violations, distractions as well as errors. Finally, the research shows the severity probability based on reason of displacement (“in itinere,” on business, or in leisure).

The aim of this study was to quantify the probability of committing a speed infraction by young drivers and to investigate to what extent listening music could affect young drivers’ emotions as well as their driving performances at the wheel. To achieve this aim, employing Bayesian networks, the study analysed different music styles, in which they resulted in sample drivers’ speed infractions. Gender and drivers’ experiences at the wheel were the other factors, which were taken into account when interpreting the study results. Variables taken into account in this study included type of music whilst driving, gender of drivers, and drivers’ driving experiences. These variables further incorporated into the study of other telemetric variables including acceleration, number of revolutions per minute (RPM) of the engine, brake, traffic, and other types of infractions other than speed, which were considered as dependent variables. A driving simulator was used, and different driving simulation studies were carried out with young people aged between 20 and 28 years. Each participant carried out three simulations by listening to different type of music in each journey. The study defined a conceptual model in which the data were analysed and evaluated mathematically through Bayesian networks. A sensitivity analysis was performed to evaluate the influence of music on driving speed. Based on the different variables, the study further analysed the probability of speed infractions committed by drivers and their adequate speed. The range of frequency probabilities varied between 96.32% (which corresponds to experienced male drivers who do not listen to music) and 79.38% (which corresponds to less-experienced female drivers who listen to music), which resulted in their happiness or aggression.