Comparing single vehicle and multivehicle fatal road crashes: A joint analysis of road conditions, time variables and driver characteristics

• Explaining the difference between single (SV) and multivehicle (MV) crashes.
• Road conditions had an eminent role in differentiating between SV and MV crashes.
• Driver characteristics were not significant after correcting for road conditions.
• Time variables were not significant after correcting for road conditions.

The difference between single vehicle crashes and multivehicle crashes was investigated in a collection of fatal crashes from six European countries. Variables with respect to road conditions, time variables, and participant characteristics were studied separately at first and then jointly in a logistic multiple regression model allowing to weigh different accounts of single vehicle as opposed to multivehicle crash occurrence.The most important variables to differentiate between single and multivehicle crashes were traffic flow, the presence of a junction and the presence of a physical division between carriageways. Heavy good vehicles and motorcycles were less likely to be involved in single vehicle crashes than cars. Moreover crashes of impaired drivers with more passengers were more likely to be single vehicle crashes than those of other drivers. Young drivers, rural roads, nights and weekends were all shown to have a higher proportion of single vehicle crashes but in the multivariate analysis these effects were demonstrated to be mediated by the road conditions named above.