Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

Understanding Traffic Accidents: A Study Using National and Nashville Data

Publication Date

Spring 4-10-2024

College

Sciences and Mathematics, College of

Department

Math and Computer Science, Department of

BURS Faculty Advisor

Dr. Christina Davis

Presentation Type

Poster Presentation

Abstract

There are over 6 million accidents on average every year in the U.S. More than 38,000 people lose their lives because of these accidents. There are a lot of potential factors that play into why these accidents occur in the first place. Some of these components may be obvious, such as driving under the influence, traveling much faster than the speed limit, and more. Others may not be as obvious, such as sex, age, car type, etc. For this project, I attempt to conduct a variety of tests on the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) dataset to find possible causes of accidents from recent years. The FARS dataset is a comprehensive national database offering detailed insights into the fatal injuries that have occurred during motor vehicle traffic collisions across the United States. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) oversees the collection of this data, ensuring its ongoing accuracy and reliability. The NHTSA also provides a 600-page user manual for the dataset, as there are many codes within the dataset that need to be filtered before the data can be analyzed. To accompany this research, I also plan on analyzing the Nashville Traffic Accidents dataset that is provided by data.nashville.gov. This dataset is a list of accident data provided by the Metro Nashville Police Department. The analyses on this dataset will allow me to take a deeper dive into Nashville’s specific problems when it comes to accidents, unrelated to nationwide issues.

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