Mixed logit model based diagnostic analysis of bicycle-vehicle crashes at daytime and nighttime

Cycling provides an important alternative to environmental-friendly transportation modes in urban areas. However, cyclists are vulnerable road users and often suffer severe injuries once crashes occur, which has impeded the growth of bicycle uses. Identification of factors that influence injury severities of crashes involving cyclists can help policy-makers form efficient strategies to mitigate crashes. Moreover, crashes involving cyclists at daytime and nighttime are very likely to present different patterns. Hence, the objective of this study is to explore the underlying factors to injury severity in crashes involving cyclists in the daytime and nighttime separately. Mixed logit model approach is employed due to its advantage of accounting for heterogeneity in observations and four factors are found to have random effects in the mixed logit model for daytime. The differences of crash mechanisms at daytime and nighttime are discussed, and the results of this research would help to develop effective policies that aim to mitigate the injury severities of cyclists while promoting the use of bicycles.& COPY; 2021 Tongji University and Tongji University Press. Publishing Services by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

Cycling serves as an important alternative to environmentally-friendly transportation in urban areas. However, cyclists are susceptible to severe injuries in the event of crashes, which hinders the growth of bicycle usage. Identifying factors that influence injury severity in cyclist-involved crashes can assist policymakers in devising effective strategies for mitigating accidents. Additionally, crashes involving cyclists during the daytime and nighttime may exhibit differing patterns.