A comparison of approaches for investigating the impact of ambient light on road traffic collisions

Abstract

A recent paper proposed a more precise approach for investigating the impact of ambient light (daylight versus after dark) on road traffic collisions. The present paper first repeated that analysis of road traffic collisions in the UK to test reproducibility; it then extended the analysis to determine whether the greater precision affected the outcome of road traffic collision analyses. Results of the previous analysis were reproduced in terms of the direction of the effect, but the repeated analysis found greater differences between daylight and darkness. The odds ratio determined using the new method led to higher odds ratios than the analyses used in some past studies, suggesting that past studies may have underestimated the detrimental effect of darkness on road traffic collision risk.