This paper makes use of a linked hospital database, the Road Casualty Information System (RoCIS) from Hong Kong, to examine age as a risk factor in pedestrian traffic casualties (PTC). In order to conduct a more in-depth analysis of the age factor in affecting the severity of injuries, pedestrian traffic casualties were divided into four age groups. A set of five injury severity variables were calculated for different age groups. For PTC, all injury severity indicators increased by age. The picture was less clear for non-pedestrian traffic casualties (NPTC). Theoretically, there are many confounding factors, such as gender, vehicle class and injury patterns, to injury severity. The relationships of these risk factors with the five injury severity variables are analyzed by logistic regression. Overall, the results clearly point to the importance of age as a risk factor. In all models, the elderly have higher chances of serious injury and fatality. The odd ratios imply that elderly PTC were about twice more likely to die and to suffer from serious injury than younger ones. In addition, multiple injuries and heavy vehicles also increased the chance of severe injury among PTC. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E216178.
Samenvatting