Modeling traffic fatalities to assess the significance of gender in road safety

Road crashes continue to be the leading cause of death across all age groups despite several efforts being taken by the government and non-government organizations. The brunt of traffic fatalities affects males and females differently. Studies on assessing gender-wise exposure to road safety are limited in the Indian context. Therefore, an attempt is made to understand the role of gender in fatality risk assessment. The aim is to evaluate the change in exposure to different motorization growth scenarios for males and females. The fatality-risk model is developed based on the interaction between the victim (pedestrian, bicyclist, two-wheeler, car, and bus) and threat (pedestrian, bicyclist, two-wheeler, car, bus, and environment) road users combined with the at-risk distance traveled by modes for Bangalore Metropolitan Region, India. Male and female traffic fatalities are estimated based on the interaction severity between victim and threat modes. The results show that pedestrians, bicyclists, and two-wheeler users are more vulnerable. Both males and females demonstrate an increased risk of traffic fatalities with the rise in the motorization mode share due to the severity of interaction of vulnerable modes with another motorized mode such as two-wheelers and cars. The most significant reduction in road crashes for both genders is observed for the High Bus scenario, which assumes that 80 % of the total motorized distance is traveled by bus. Maximum traffic deaths are estimated for the High Car scenario; the fatalities remained high even with 100 % motorization indicating higher risk with high motorization rates. The study outcomes would help practitioners and decision-makers to make informed policy decisions. Further, the fatality risk is assessed considering the interaction of at most two road users, and the study can be extended to the simultaneous evaluation of multiple road users.