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1331196 
Journal Article 
The statistical analysis of crash-frequency data: A review and assessment of methodological alternatives 
Lord, D; Mannering, F 
2010 
1 
Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice
ISSN: 0965-8564 
44 
5 
291-305 
WOS:000277900500002 
Gaining a better understanding of the factors that affect
the likelihood of a vehicle crash has been an area of research focus for many decades. However,
in the absence of detailed driving data that would help improve the identification of cause and
effect relationships with individual vehicle crashes, most researchers have addressed this
problem by framing it in terms of understanding the factors that affect the frequency of crashes
- the number of crashes occurring in some geographical space (usually a roadway segment or
intersection) over some specified time period. This paper provides a detailed review of the key
issues associated with crash-frequency data as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the
various methodological approaches that researchers have used to address these problems. While the
steady march of methodological innovation (including recent applications of random parameter and
finite mixture models) has substantially improved our understanding of the factors that affect
crash-frequencies, it is the prospect of combining evolving methodologies with far more detailed
vehicle crash data that holds the greatest promise for the future. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All
rights reserved. 
Highway safety; Literature review; Regression models; Count-data models; Crash data