Being a 'safe driver' matters way less for road safety than how the road and the car were actually built.
March 19, 2026
Original Paper
Examining Human, Environmental, Vehicle, and Infrastructure Influences on Road Safety Outcome
SSRN · 6435939
The Takeaway
While most safety campaigns focus on personal responsibility and avoiding 'bad' driving choices, this study finds that human factors have limited explanatory power. Instead, structural determinants like road infrastructure and vehicle standards are the primary drivers of safety, suggesting that accidents are more a failure of engineering than of human character.
From the abstract
Road safety remains a global challenge, with accident risks shaped by the interplay of human, environmental, vehicle, and infrastructure factors. This study examines the direct effects of these four dimensions on road safety outcomes using PLS‐SEM. Guided by the TPB, Systems Theory, and the Haddon Matrix, the research integrates behavioral and systemic perspectives into a unified framework. Findings reveal that systemic determinants, particularly road infrastructure, vehicle safety, and environm