The Poisson–Weibull generalized linear model for analyzing motor vehicle crash data

Over the last 20–30 years, there has been a significant amount of tools and statistical methods that have been proposed for analyzing crash data. Yet, the Poisson–gamma (PG) is still the most commonly used and widely acceptable model. This paper documents the application of the Poisson–Weibull (PW) generalized linear model (GLM) for modeling motor vehicle crashes. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the application of the PW GLM for analyzing this kind of dataset and compare the results with the traditional PG model. To accomplish the objectives of the study, the modeling performance of the PW model was first examined using a simulated dataset and then several PW and PG GLMs were developed and compared using two observed crash datasets. The results of this study show that the PW GLM performs as well as the PG GLM in terms of goodness-of-fit statistics.

► The Poisson–Weibull (PW) model has not been used extensively in research.
► The objectives of this study were to evaluate the performance of the PW model.
► The modeling performance was examined using simulated and observed crash datasets.
► The PW model performs as well as the Poisson-gamma model in terms of goodness-of-fit.