Effects on accidents of changes in the use of studded tyres in major cities in Norway: A long-term investigation

• Published in: Accident analysis and prevention 2013-05, Vol.54, p.15-25
• Main Authors: Elvik, Rune, Fridstrøm, Lasse, Kaminska, Joanna, Meyer, Sunniva Frislid
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Accident modification function; Accident Prevention - instrumentation; Accident Prevention - statistics & numerical data; Accident Prevention - trends; Accidents; Accidents, Traffic - prevention & control; Accidents, Traffic - statistics & numerical data; Accidents, Traffic - trends; Automobiles; Binomials; Biological and medical sciences; Cars; Cities; Covering; Evaluation study; Humans; Mathematical models; Medical sciences; Miscellaneous; Models, Statistical; Negative binomial regression; Norway - epidemiology; Prevention and actions; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Regression; Regression Analysis; Seasons; Studded tyres; Tires; Tyres; Urban Health - statistics & numerical data; Urban Health - trends; Weather; Wounds and Injuries - epidemiology; Wounds and Injuries - etiology; Wounds and Injuries - prevention & control
• ISSN: 0001-4575; 1879-2057
• DOI: 10.1016/j.aap.2013.02.004

► The percentage of car using of studded tyres has declined substantially in major Norwegian cities after 1990. ► The paper evaluates the effects on accidents of reduced use of studded tyres. ► An increase in the number of injury accidents is found. ► The effect on accidents is well described by an accident modification function. This paper reports the findings of two studies made eleven years apart in Norway (Fridstrøm, 2000; Elvik and Kaminska, 2011) to evaluate effects on accidents of changes in the use of studded tyres in major cities in Norway. The first study covered the period from 1991 to 2000, the second study covered the period from 2002 to 2009. In both these periods, large changes in the percentage of cars using studded tyres were found in the cities that were included in the study. There was, in most cities, a tendency for the use of studded tyres to go down. Effects of these changes on injury accidents were evaluated by means of negative binomial regression models, using city and day as the unit of analysis, and including more than twenty explanatory variables in order to control for confounding factors. The effects of changes in the percentage of cars using studded tyres were well described by an accident modification function (dose–response curve), relating the size of changes in the number of accident to the size of the change in the use of studded tyres. Accidents during the season when the use of studded tyres is permitted were found to increase by about 5 percent if the use of studded tyres was reduced by 25 percentage points (e.g. from 50 to 25 percent) and to decline by about 2 percent when the use of studded tyres increased by 20 percentage points.