Abstract
PURPOSES : This study was initiated to analyze the characteristics of bus traffic accidents, by bus types, using the decision tree in order to establish customized safety alternatives by bus types, including the intra-city bus, rural area bus, and inter-city bus. METHODS : In this study, the major elements involved in bus traffic accidents were identified using decision trees and CHAID algorithm. The decision tree was used to identify the characteristics of major elements influencing bus traffic accidents. In addition, the CHAID algorithm was applied to branch the decision trees. RESULTS : The number of casualties and severe injuries are high in bus accidents involving pedestrians, bicycles, motorcycles, etc. In the case of light injury caused by bus accidents, different results are found. In the case of intra-city bus accidents, the probability of light injury is of 77.2% when boarding a non-owned car and breaching of duty to drive safely are involved. In the case of rural area bus accidents, the elements showing the highest probability of light injury are boarding an owned car, vehicle-to-vehicle accidents, and breaching of duty to drive safely. In the case of intra-city bus accidents, boarding owned car, streets, and vehicle-to-vehicle accidents work as the critical elements. CONCLUSIONS : In this study, the bus accident data were categorized by bus types, and then the influential elements were identified using decision trees. As a result, the characteristics of bus accidents were found to be different depending on bus types. The findings in this study are expected to be utilized in establishing effective alternatives to reduce bus accidents.
