Are accidents poisson distributed? A statistical test

Alan Nicholson*, Yiik Diew Wong

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

44 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The common and convenient assumption in accident count analysis, that accidents are Poisson-distributed, is reexamined. Two statistical tests, for evaluating the assumption are described and compared. It is shown that a test based upon a combinatorial analysis is much more accurate than the alternative chi-square test when accident counts are expected to be small. The more accurate test is used to reinterpret data on accident count variability, the results indicating that the Poisson distribution is appropriate for the analysis of accidents at individual sites.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)91-97
Number of pages7
JournalAccident Analysis and Prevention
Volume25
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 1993
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

  • Human Factors and Ergonomics
  • Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality
  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

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