6. Conclusion
This study investigates determinants of passenger vessel accident injuries using Poisson regression and empirical data on ferry, ocean cruise, and river cruise vessel accidents (obtained from the U.S. Coast Guard). Unlike previous studies, the relationship between passenger and crew injuries in passenger vessel accidents is examined. The empirical results suggest that the number of passenger injuries is positively related to the number of crew injuries in ferry, ocean cruise and river cruise passenger vessel accidents. Thus, the safety of passengers on board passenger vessels depends on the safety of crew members on board these vessels. An important policy implication of the study is that the safety of passengers and crew members aboard ferry and cruise passenger vessels can be improved via the training of vessel crew members to ensure their safety in the event of a vessel accident. With cruise vessels increasing in size and carrying greater numbers of crew members and passengers, an emphasis on improving the safety of passenger-vessel crew members may lead to significant safety benefits for crew members and passengers.
Although the study has identified the links among vessel damage severity, crew injury and passenger injury, we were unable to investigate specific causes and types of crew injuries under different vessel accident scenarios for lack of data. Effective crew safety training can be achieved, and crew injury can be significantly reduced, only when our understanding of the causes of injuries under various vessel conditions is improved through future investigations. Similarly, due to data limitation, crew-training level was not explicitly modeled in the current study. A future study should include variables capturing crew-training levels, so that the effectiveness of training on crew safety and in turn passenger safety can be assessed. Finally, future studies should examine specific interactions between passengers and vessel crew under different accident scenarios to improve our understanding of the relationship of passenger and crew injuries, so that a more comprehensive safety program for passenger vessels can be developed.