Work and non-work-related vehicle crashes: The contribution of risky driving practices

Background: This study compared the characteristics of non-work and work-related crashes using linked population data on police-reported road crashes and hospital admission records in order to shed new light on the contribution of risky driving behaviour. Method: A retrospective analysis was conducted of vehicle crashes involving injured car drivers and motorcyclists identified in linked police-reported and hospitalisation records during 1 January 2001-31 December 2011 in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Working status was identified from hospitalisation records. Univariate and multiple variable logistic regression was conducted. Results: There were 38,240 car drivers and motorcyclists identified, of which 10.2% were travelling for work-related purposes. For car drivers, work-related crashes were less likely to involve alcohol (OR 0.17; 95%CI 0.13-0.22) or fatigue (OR 0.80; 95%CI 0.69-0.93), occur at an intersection, or involve a dry road, but were more likely to have worn a seat belt (OR 1.66; 95%CI 1.06-2.58), occur in a metropolitan area and at speeds greater than 50. km/h than non-work-related crashes. For motorcyclists, work-related crashes were less likely to involve alcohol (OR 0.12; 95%CI 0.07-0.21) or excessive speed (OR 0.68; 95%CI 0.55-0.85), occur on a curved section of roadway, involve a dry road, or occur on roadways with speed limits of between 100 and 110. km/h, but operators were more likely to have worn a helmet (OR 2.40; 95%CI 1.24-4.66), and crashes were more likely to have occurred in a metropolitan area, than non-work-related crashes. Conclusion: Alcohol, fatigue and speed are less likely to be involved in work-related vehicle crashes compared to non-work-related crashes. Individuals injured while driving for work purposes were more likely to engage in safety promoting behaviours, such as wearing a seat belt or a motorcycle helmet, compared to individuals not driving for work purposes. It appears that there could be a higher motivation to conform to safe driving behaviours for individuals while driving for work.