Spatiotemporal Heterogeneity Analysis of Provincial Road Traffic Accidents and Its Influencing Factors in China

To objectively evaluate the road traffic safety levels across different provinces in China, this study investigated the spatiotemporal heterogeneity characteristics of macro factors influencing road traffic accidents. Panel data from 31 provinces in China from 2009 to 2021 were collected, and after data preprocessing, traffic accident data were selected as the dependent variables. Population size, economic level, motorization level, highway mileage, unemployment rate, and passenger volume were selected as explanatory variables. Based on the spatiotemporal non-stationarity testing of traffic accident data, three models, namely, ordinary least squares (OLS), geographically weighted regression (GWR), and geographically and temporally weighted regression (GTWR), were constructed for empirical research. The results showed that the spatiotemporal heterogeneity characterizing the macro factors of traffic accidents could not be ignored. In terms of impact effects, highway mileage, population size, motorization level and passenger volume had positive promoting effects on road traffic accidents, while economic level and unemployment rate mainly exhibited negative inhibitory effects. In terms of impact magnitude, highway mileage had the greatest impact on traffic accidents, followed by population size, motorization level, and passenger volume. Comparatively, the impact magnitude of economic level and unemployment rate was relatively small. The conclusions were aimed at contributing to the objective evaluation of road traffic safety levels in different provinces and providing a basis for the formulation of reasonable macro traffic safety planning and management decisions. The findings offer valuable insights that can be used to optimize regional traffic safety policies and strategies, thereby enhancing road safety.