Accident severity is of special concern to researchers
in traffic safety since this research is aimed
not only at prevention of accidents but also at reduction
of their severity. One way to accomplish the latter
is to identify the most probable factors that affect
accident severity. This study aims at examining not
all factors, but some believed to have a higher potential
for serious injury or death, such as accident location,
type, and time; collision type; and age and
nationality of the driver at fault, his license status,
and vehicle type. Other factors were not examined
because of substantial limitations in the data obtained
from accident reports. Logistic regression was used in
this study to estimate the effect of the statistically
significant factors on accident severity. Logistic regression
and other related categorical-data regression
methods have often been used to assess risk factors
for various diseases. However, logistic regression has
been used as well in transportation studies. A brief
literature review follows of the use of this type of
regression in traffic safety research.