The identification of multiple accident correlates in high risk drivers with specific emphasis on the role of age, experience and prior traffic violation frequency. Paper presented at the Behavioral Factors that Determine Accident Rates Symposium, Sa...

This paper considers the identification of accident correlates from a multivariate perspective. Rather than considering potential risk factors (e.g., age, gender, and attitude) as isolated single variable correlates, multivariate approaches evaluate entire sets and systems of risk factors in combination in order to (1) determine the relative and unique importance of individual risk factors and (2) elucidate the structure of interrelationships among the variates. The review concludes that a number of human factors influence driver accident propensity, but no single variable, or combination of variables, account for a substantial percentage of the variation in the accident frequency of general driving. Prior driving record variables, particularly a driver's prior traffic citation history, are the most consistent and powerful predictors of subsequent accident risk. (A)