Identification of Road Traffic Fatal Crashes Leading Factors Using Principal Components Analysis

Abstract

Traffic crash fatalities create primary safety concern beyond the traffic congestion and delay. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify the principal components/factors associated with road traffic crash in the U.S. through retrospective reviewing based on more than two million records of fatal crashes and 38 years (1975-2012) of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration official's Fatal Accident Reporting System (FARS) database. This study portrays an integrated geographic information system and SAS application in order to find the major factors forcing traffic crashes. The resulting geospatial analysis and principal components analysis yielded critical significant factors causing fatal traffic crashes. The outcomes of this research could be used in transportation safety policy making and planning significantly.