Factor Comparison between Electric-Tricycle Crashes and Manpower-Tricycle Crashes

摘要

Tricycles are common transportations in developing countries such as China, because they are energy-saving and environmentally friendly. In recent years, tricycle crashes have represented a rapid increase in China, causing enormous casualties and property losses. There are two types of tricycles. They are respectively MPTs (manpower-tricycles) and ETs (electric-tricycles). The purpose of the research is to compare ETCs (electric-tricycle crashes) with MPTCs (manpower-tricycle crashes) and make safety analysis of them. In this research, statistical data about tricycle crashes from 2005 to 2014 are cited to analyze the tendency of crashes. Meanwhile, based on samples of 150 ETCs and 60 MPTCs and taking human factors and road conditions into account, an ordered logit model is established to analyze the significance of main contributing factors of crashes. The results illustrate that MPTCs and ETCs may share some of the same characteristics: 1) Ramming into truck instead of other collision objects may increase the severity of a crash; 2) Low speed limit is an effective way to decrease the severity of a crash. Factors such as "scratch," "urban" or "suburban," and "intersection" can intensify the severity of MPTCs while "side," "central," and "night" are factors that worsen the condition of ETCs. In terms of casualties in crashes, it's easy to find that the rate of fatalities and injuries of ETCs is around 8% higher than that of MPTCs. The results provide valuable and helpful experiences in decreasing the severity of unpredictable crashes.