The likelihood of fatalities in crashes involving tractors is higher than that in crashes involving non-agricultural vehicles; this has been demonstrated in developed countries, and such crashed could lead to more serious consequences in developing countries, which have larger agricultural populations and more tractors. Using data in reports for 4925 tractor crashes that occurred in Guangdong Province from 2006 to 2014 archived in the road traffic crash database of the Ministry of Public Security of China, this paper uses a logit model to empirically investigate the impacts of four factors, i.e., driver, vehicle, road and environment, on crash liability and serious injuries among tractor drivers and other vehicle drivers, and performs comparative analyses on the two groups of drivers. These following conclusions are drawn from this study. First, abnormal vehicle safety conditions and a lack of physically separated facilities can induce risky tractor driver behavior, which in turn can cause crashes and serious injuries. Second, age ≤25 years, having plates, no traffic signals, and gravel or dirt roads increase the risk of being at fault in crashes for tractor drivers but have no effect on the injury severity; driving tractors illegally on the road, straight roads and good weather conditions are more likely to cause serious injuries but have no significant effect on the crash liability. Finally, drivers of tractors and other vehicles with rural hukou are less likely to cause crashes but more likely to cause serious injuries; for all vehicles, no serious injuries are caused at intersections, but serious injuries are more likely to be caused in winter and at night with no street lighting. • We analyze the data of tractor traffic accidents in China. • Human, vehicle, road and environmental risk factors are considered. • This study compares the risk factors of tractors and other vehicles. • Abnormal vehicle safety conditions and a lack of physically separated facilities are major risks. • The research results have important policy significance for reducing tractor traffic accidents and their severity.
Zhang et al. (Sun,) studied this question.